Special Features Boost DVD Sales

DVD sales are hitting record highs, and much of the credit, say home video executives, should go to the dazzling special features that have elevated them out of the “used movie” business and given them an entirely new product to sell to consumers.

Take Fox’s “X-Men” DVD. Nearly 3 million units of the sci-fi thriller were shipped to retailers. And since the DVD’s Nov. 21 release, sales are a whopping $40 million.

“DVD allows you to reinvent the product,” said Mike Dunn, executive vice president of Fox Home Entertainment, who notes that the wealth of special features in “X-Men” include star Hugh Jackman’s original screen test, an animated production storyboard and a 22-minute behind-the-scenes documentary.

Fox is so high on special features that on a recent Friday, more than 200 DVD Web enthusiasts were invited to the Fox studio lot for a demonstration and meet-and-greet with director Bryan Singer.

Singer said he began thinking of the DVD even before he began shooting the movie.

“There are always scenes you feel you need to cut from the final film, and now you have a place to show them,” he said. “And there is a kind of theater that occurs in the making of a film, and you want to show people that theater too.”

Fox isn’t the only studio with a commitment to special features on DVD. Universal Studios Home Video, which made a big splash last summer with its 25th-anniversary edition of “Jaws,” is basking in the success of its “Jurassic Park” and “Lost World” DVDs, which together sold more than 3 million units to join the top-selling titles of all time.

“Special features allow us to create events,” said Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Video. “They’re an absolute requirement to do big numbers on DVD.”

The “Jurassic Park” and “Lost World” DVDs, which came out Oct. 10, include a wealth of special features, from director’s commentaries to outtakes. But perhaps the most enticing feature is a ROM link that gives buyers exclusive access to live Internet chats with the cast and crew of “Jurassic Park 3,” scheduled for theatrical release late next year.

A recent convert to this strategy is Buena Vista Home Entertainment, part of Walt Disney Co. A latecomer to DVD, Buena Vista began releasing stripped-down versions of its animated classics in the fall of 1998. The studio recently made an abrupt turnaround, releasing jam-packed special editions such as “The Ultimate Toy Box,” a three-disc set that includes “Toy Story,” “Toy Story 2” and a third disc consisting of nothing but extras--six hours’ worth, to be exact.

“We realized the opportunity DVD affords us to make it an all-new entertainment experience,” said Buena Vista President Bob Chapek. “It’s beyond watching the movie--an experience that either takes you into the movie or somehow with the movie makers.”

It’s a game even the little guys can play. Artisan Home Entertainment last year went all out to add extras to its DVD of “The Limey,” which stars Peter Fonda and received only a limited theatrical run. The disc was packed with commentaries by Fonda, co-star Terence Stamp and director Steven Soderbergh, as well as a documentary on the ‘60s and a variety of theatrical trailer and TV spots.

Artisan Sales and Marketing President Jeff Fink won’t talk numbers but said the company realized a “significant upside in sales compared to what we would have done if the product had been brought out on VHS only.”

Video retailers agree. “We believe special features are one of the reasons consumers are spending more time watching movies after their DVD machine purchase as opposed to before,” said Mark Wattles, chairman and chief executive of Hollywood Entertainment Corp., the nation’s second-largest video chain, with 1,806 stores nationwide.

“It’s clearly a better experience than VHS--and if you give them a better experience, they’ll watch more movies.”

When DVD was launched in 1997, special features were considered a novelty, a minor selling point to the format’s superior sound and visual quality. But as the format caught on with consumers as well as with Hollywood’s creative community, special features went from the back seat to the driver’s seat.

“Now, there is great cooperation between the video and theatrical production departments in getting materials really early,” said Marshall Forster, senior sales vice president for Columbia TriStar Home Video.

Video marketers say getting the film’s director involved is key. “When we get a director who’s really switched on to the format, we get out of the way,” Fox’s Dunn said. “They [directors] bring a lot of passion to DVD, and it pluses it up dramatically.”

But while directors and other Hollywood types are essential to the development of DVD extras, what ultimately ends up on the disc is increasingly up to the consumer--as indicated by the Fox screening for DVD Web buffs.

“The Internet has changed the way we listen to consumers,” Dunn said. “You hear what they actually want, and then you try to deliver those elements.”

*

Thomas K. Arnold is editor at large of Video Store magazine.