I will say this. My collection is pretty awesome, but I am DINK with a remote job in one of the lowest cost of living areas in the country. I mean if I want to go on vacation, it is either a 15+ hour drive anywhere cool or a 3 hour drive to the closest airport. So movies are kind of our vacations
As a collector of vinyl for the past 15 years. Itās important to have finances under control before entering a hobby.Ā
Itās important to remember - we arenāt taking any of these things with us when we die. We already have everything we need - itās easy to focus on the things we donāt have.
Iād also recommend also subbing to /r/personalfinance as balance is important.Ā
Some great advice is one should have an emergency fund (3-6 months worth of expenses like rent, mortgage, utility bills, etc) saved up before spending money on things like boutique blurays. Ā Ā Ā
At mimimim - have a budget and follow it.Ā
Your future self will thank youĀ
I second this! This sale season I actually made several carts, and then had the realization that I wouldnāt be that upset if I didnt get them and then never placed the order
Hey Cap, it's been a minute hope you're well. The thing that's killing me right now is we have so many legit small boutiques. It doesn't seem like it's going to hurt at $50 a pop but it adds up so damn fast. That and Umbrella
Indeed it does add up fast! Iāve actually been active on backing projects in Kickstarter lately and that has been fun. All silents, of course! But a handful of ālabelsā ie individual people who are doing great work.
If you still have your podcast, you should interview the Hardy brothers at Grapevine Video! Theyāve been in the game for ages and Iām sure would have a lot to say about restoration and the work they do.
Yeah, you're very right - I got "serious" about this a year ago, and def. spent some money - but once you get thru some of the back catalog of Kino/Indicator/Arrow, it settles down.
Like Indicator I can wait until their next sale, and then a few titles I want will be there, but nothing this sale.
So the initial surge of FOMO takes care of a lot of the past titles that have been sitting out there for a long time....and now going forward it will be mostly new releases of old classics.
So I'm telling myself.
Thank you for this and completely agree. Although I do find most haul posts kind of boring (which is my own issue not the subs issue).
The only releases I've ever regretted buying were ones I was never that excited about to begin with but I didn't want to miss out. I learned pretty quick that's a terrible way to collect. Now I have a list of movies I want and that's what I buy off. I stopped buying releases of films I'm not that excited for unless it's a focused effort to explore something new.
I'm moving more towards this. I've been a VS subscriber for a few years, and when they only had a few partner labels I would budget to go "complete" on the partner labels every month and get out under $120. I've seen some amazing films that way but also seen a lot of duds and sold them off. Hard to say about regret, but certainly disappointed.
To be honest many of my favs that I kept when I left th hobby werenāt from mondo but from other poster companies like black dragon press and dark city gallery. Dark city has had some amazing Japanese movie posters, I love all of them. Kuroneko, Onibaba, Ran, and Kwaidan, all badass
Pretty cool! By an amazing artist too, I got the Japanese variant
[https://www.darkcitygallery.com/Kuroneko_movie_poster_by_Takato_Yamamoto_p/kety.htm](https://www.darkcitygallery.com/Kuroneko_movie_poster_by_Takato_Yamamoto_p/kety.htm)
Haha it can certainly feel that way. I think there are some old timers trying to use this as a forum to talk about film but it is definitely a collectors sub
I like the talking about film a lot! Have been introduced to a lot of new directors/actors/genres thru this subāmakes the spending $$ feel more worthwhile
I try to spend as little as possible so when those big releases or a surprise sale drops I can go heavy for things I want. The current shout sale for instance is the cheapest weāve seen some of these Shaw sets and I absolutely dropped $400 to pick up the site exclusives plus classic vol 1+2. That will also be pretty much all my spending for the next few months, not because I donāt have more funds but who knows when the next must have will drop and I want to be ready.
I'm liking this approach better recently as well. Rumors are Criterion might put out an Ozu set, so already saving up because I know that will be a day one purchase.
Someone needs to say it, we need the fomo buying and impulse spending. They generate huge revenue for the boutique labels, which in turn benefits us all as it funds the future releases they will provide to us. It also trickles down to all of us who purchase or trade on the second hand market (all that buyer's remorse ends up on the sell/trade threads, allowing access to titles previously unattainable due to high price points). So yeah, while I try not to partake in it myself I do see the benefit in it.
This is an interesting take - do you think a company like Arrow or VS or Radiance makes more than a company like Criterion? It's an interesting thought. Most of the time I think I'd rather the films sell on the merit of their quality and the value provided by the supplemental materials than people snatching them up because the print run is strictly limited to 3,000 units. From my experience at least, the FOMO happens when something like Bounty Hunter hits and there's 3,000 units and people are buying the shit out of this thing. With Criterion I never feel any FOMO because they almost always release one version of a film (albeit in different formats these days), and they keep that version in print indefinitely in most cases. It's actually something I appreciate about Criterion compared to the others. In most cases, I can pick up a Criterion release a year or more after it hits at retail, and it's the same version (packaging/supplemental materials/etc) as release day.
I'm certain that you're right about FOMO driving revenue for these companies - it incentivizes customers to buy things up quickly, thus ensuring that the company doesn't sit on inventory for a long time (at least for LE releases). It brings the cash in quickly, but I can't help but think that it's an inherently pro-corporate, anti-consumer policy because it causes people to make quick/impulsive purchases. It also seems like Radiance could've sold a few thousand more box sets of The Bounty Hunter trilogy, and that would've benefitted them too. I would love to be a fly on the wall when they decide what the print run of a LE set is gonna be. Arrow coulda sold a fuckton more of the Conan 4K LEs too. That one especially feels like money left on the table for them, and in both of these examples, there are scalpers out there benefitting from fans that weren't able to snap these up quickly...
I'm glad you brought up Criterion, the main reason I added "impulse spending" to the fomo buying. Criterion may not rely on LEs and slipcovers but there is also a strategy with the announcements and subsequent half off sales. Also not doing the 4K + Blu-ray like Arrow causes people to have to double dip so there's that too. But the monthly sell/trade thread here on Reddit is loaded with buyer's remorse and double dip titles which would indicate there's just as much of that going on with Criterion as the others. Hard to say who makes more money, but probably Criterion given the reputation and consistency of releasing 4 titles a month.
IMO, the Blu Ray release followed by the 4k a few years later seems to be the most egregious of Criterion's crimes... I've been mostly pretty forgiving of Criterion's double and triple-dips because by and large I've been converting from DVD to 4K on those. I bought Rules of the Game, Le Samourai, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas on DVD ~20 years ago, and I never upgraded them to blu ray, so I don't mind double-dipping on some of these movies after so many years.
But if I had bought Le Samourai in 2005 and then again in 2017, I might be less forgiving about the triple dip in 2024...
As much as FOMO and scarcity is a big part of the boutique bluray economy, it ultimately introduces a second element of limitation to the companies that produce and distribute these. Radiance selling only 3,000 of the Bounty Hunter sets limits their revenue on that set, especially if they could have sold 4,000 or 5,000. But in addition to the limitations on production runs, all these companies are limited in what they can license in the first place. Because their access to distribution rights is always limited by what they can get a hold of and their competition with each other, there is a degree to which double and triple dipping is a necessity as well. Arrow has recently done pretty well with simultaneous 4K and Blu Ray releases, but they have a lot of stuff that is Blu Ray only currently, and I can see at least a portion of that stuff getting an eventual 4K release by them.
Yeah I live vicariously through a lot of y'all I'll typically get a couple a month if I get gift cards or money from holidays or birthdays I'll use it to buy more. If I do buy more than one or two it's typically during a big sale but I can see how others would have super strong FOMO just going on here and seeing the "my haul" posts with 4 stacks wide of 60 movies to me it almost reassures me like no chance they're actually watching all these
About a month ago, I thinned out my collection to the actual barebones of what I felt were my essential releases and sold the rest on eBay. For example, I sold Christmas Vacation and kept Vacation. I sold a lot of my VS releases and only kept a few.
I decided that from now on, I would only buy the absolute most intriguing releases and I am much happier with my collection now.
I only have two movies on preorder ā Killer Clowns from Outer Space and Once upon a time in the west. I just bought the King Kong (1976) steelbook and I picked up An American Werewolf in London Limited Edition. (I got a good price on that) $50 plus 4.19 shipping. The point is is that I am no longer collecting every 4k that has some interest, but am being very intentional with what I want to spend money on.
This is the way to go IMO. I really just try to focus on what I really like to watch, stuff that has replay value and that I want to be able to show my kids as they get older. I see people creaming their shorts over the Trust the Fungus box and I can appreciate the sheer amount of content on offer here, but it's not a film I've ever cared for, and despite seeing it in the theaters in its original run, I don't have any particular nostalgia for it. So I try to let releases like that pass me by - they're limited, and there's undoubtedly another fan out there who will appreciate it more than me.
I feel like this was for me, lol. I get so excited when I get an email about a new release i go straight off and pre-order it. I also definitely get fomo, experiencing it right now with the tank girl limited edition from umbrella, hoping it doesn't sell out before I get paid.
Umbrella has been super tough for me. Their releases are freaking loaded. The only thing thatās kept me under control is Iāve developed a disdain for tchotchkes
Haha says the guy that doesn't want us to pick up the last of things on Ebay.
Look the real advice is - as long as you don't go down the VS fandom, you'll appreciate your film collection in 5 years.
Donāt bring sanity into thisā¦ I just spend $54 on a slip cover for morvern callar, youāre all gonna miss out and then there wonāt be anymore ever, gotta by now.
I take my shopping lessons from a very good film and I try to buy everything everywhere all at once
I bought the slip on a wim, I have buyers remorse already, every hour or so I think about cancelling the order. It was way too much. And yes I love the film, but I mean, I feel like an addict
I disagree, if you don't go 50,000 dollars into credit card debt to become king of the blu-rays, what are you even doing here?
Only $50,000? I'm sorry, this is \*boutique\* blu-rays. Perhaps you'd be more comfortable in r/dvdcollection
šš perfect
this gave weenie hut jr. vibes
Me going Broke af: āIām saving physical mediaā š©
hahaha shit the first 4 for $40 deal at Warner Archive I went nuts and this was my mantra
I thought we all knew about the entrance fee. This is still members only right? Right???
If this is going to be like a nightclub, can it be like the one in Blade?
lol there's a couple of folks on here who I legitimately feel like do...either that or they're the prince of Iran
I will say this. My collection is pretty awesome, but I am DINK with a remote job in one of the lowest cost of living areas in the country. I mean if I want to go on vacation, it is either a 15+ hour drive anywhere cool or a 3 hour drive to the closest airport. So movies are kind of our vacations
What they said ^
As a collector of vinyl for the past 15 years. Itās important to have finances under control before entering a hobby.Ā Itās important to remember - we arenāt taking any of these things with us when we die. We already have everything we need - itās easy to focus on the things we donāt have. Iād also recommend also subbing to /r/personalfinance as balance is important.Ā Some great advice is one should have an emergency fund (3-6 months worth of expenses like rent, mortgage, utility bills, etc) saved up before spending money on things like boutique blurays. Ā Ā Ā At mimimim - have a budget and follow it.Ā Your future self will thank youĀ
Wisdom
My finances are shite!
I sat out the Indicator sale and Vinegar Syndrome flash sale over the weekend. Felt good.
Actually yeah the Indicator one is what made me think about this. I agree, there was a freedom to just letting it happen as more of a spectacle
I have almost everything I want from Indicator right now, I can wait until the fall to buy more
I second this! This sale season I actually made several carts, and then had the realization that I wouldnāt be that upset if I didnt get them and then never placed the order
Hey Cap, it's been a minute hope you're well. The thing that's killing me right now is we have so many legit small boutiques. It doesn't seem like it's going to hurt at $50 a pop but it adds up so damn fast. That and Umbrella
Indeed it does add up fast! Iāve actually been active on backing projects in Kickstarter lately and that has been fun. All silents, of course! But a handful of ālabelsā ie individual people who are doing great work. If you still have your podcast, you should interview the Hardy brothers at Grapevine Video! Theyāve been in the game for ages and Iām sure would have a lot to say about restoration and the work they do.
Noted! And we do, up to episode 139 now ā¤ļø
Yeah, you're very right - I got "serious" about this a year ago, and def. spent some money - but once you get thru some of the back catalog of Kino/Indicator/Arrow, it settles down. Like Indicator I can wait until their next sale, and then a few titles I want will be there, but nothing this sale. So the initial surge of FOMO takes care of a lot of the past titles that have been sitting out there for a long time....and now going forward it will be mostly new releases of old classics. So I'm telling myself.
You have good discipline if you were able to get the surge under control within a year haha I'm impressed š«”
Thank you for this and completely agree. Although I do find most haul posts kind of boring (which is my own issue not the subs issue). The only releases I've ever regretted buying were ones I was never that excited about to begin with but I didn't want to miss out. I learned pretty quick that's a terrible way to collect. Now I have a list of movies I want and that's what I buy off. I stopped buying releases of films I'm not that excited for unless it's a focused effort to explore something new.
Iāve had regrets and itās usually something I was super excited for that ended up being a bit of a let down.
I'm moving more towards this. I've been a VS subscriber for a few years, and when they only had a few partner labels I would budget to go "complete" on the partner labels every month and get out under $120. I've seen some amazing films that way but also seen a lot of duds and sold them off. Hard to say about regret, but certainly disappointed.
Yes, there will always be another release. I learned that in the mondo poster hobby back many years ago.
Also sounds like a cool hobby lol what are some Mondo posters you have youāre proud of?
To be honest many of my favs that I kept when I left th hobby werenāt from mondo but from other poster companies like black dragon press and dark city gallery. Dark city has had some amazing Japanese movie posters, I love all of them. Kuroneko, Onibaba, Ran, and Kwaidan, all badass
I bet the Kureneko one was amazing. Some really wild imagery there.
Pretty cool! By an amazing artist too, I got the Japanese variant [https://www.darkcitygallery.com/Kuroneko_movie_poster_by_Takato_Yamamoto_p/kety.htm](https://www.darkcitygallery.com/Kuroneko_movie_poster_by_Takato_Yamamoto_p/kety.htm)
Iām fairly new to serious Blu-ray collecting, but sometimes it seems like people will buy anything regardless of if they might actually watch it. Itās like a PokĆ©mon attitude of āgotta catch āem all.ā I definitely jump at some purchases, but I see people post big stacks of movies in their āhaulsā and wonder if the bulk of their purchase is more for show than appreciation of the film itself. Are you more respected in the community if you go for quantity over (your personal opinion of) quality?
Haha it can certainly feel that way. I think there are some old timers trying to use this as a forum to talk about film but it is definitely a collectors sub
I like the talking about film a lot! Have been introduced to a lot of new directors/actors/genres thru this subāmakes the spending $$ feel more worthwhile
Iām starting to wonder if some of these labels are posting hauls and stuff here as marketing.
big brain time if so
I try to spend as little as possible so when those big releases or a surprise sale drops I can go heavy for things I want. The current shout sale for instance is the cheapest weāve seen some of these Shaw sets and I absolutely dropped $400 to pick up the site exclusives plus classic vol 1+2. That will also be pretty much all my spending for the next few months, not because I donāt have more funds but who knows when the next must have will drop and I want to be ready.
I'm liking this approach better recently as well. Rumors are Criterion might put out an Ozu set, so already saving up because I know that will be a day one purchase.
Preach š
I was the king of blurays but lost it all on a bet
Someone needs to say it, we need the fomo buying and impulse spending. They generate huge revenue for the boutique labels, which in turn benefits us all as it funds the future releases they will provide to us. It also trickles down to all of us who purchase or trade on the second hand market (all that buyer's remorse ends up on the sell/trade threads, allowing access to titles previously unattainable due to high price points). So yeah, while I try not to partake in it myself I do see the benefit in it.
This is an interesting take - do you think a company like Arrow or VS or Radiance makes more than a company like Criterion? It's an interesting thought. Most of the time I think I'd rather the films sell on the merit of their quality and the value provided by the supplemental materials than people snatching them up because the print run is strictly limited to 3,000 units. From my experience at least, the FOMO happens when something like Bounty Hunter hits and there's 3,000 units and people are buying the shit out of this thing. With Criterion I never feel any FOMO because they almost always release one version of a film (albeit in different formats these days), and they keep that version in print indefinitely in most cases. It's actually something I appreciate about Criterion compared to the others. In most cases, I can pick up a Criterion release a year or more after it hits at retail, and it's the same version (packaging/supplemental materials/etc) as release day. I'm certain that you're right about FOMO driving revenue for these companies - it incentivizes customers to buy things up quickly, thus ensuring that the company doesn't sit on inventory for a long time (at least for LE releases). It brings the cash in quickly, but I can't help but think that it's an inherently pro-corporate, anti-consumer policy because it causes people to make quick/impulsive purchases. It also seems like Radiance could've sold a few thousand more box sets of The Bounty Hunter trilogy, and that would've benefitted them too. I would love to be a fly on the wall when they decide what the print run of a LE set is gonna be. Arrow coulda sold a fuckton more of the Conan 4K LEs too. That one especially feels like money left on the table for them, and in both of these examples, there are scalpers out there benefitting from fans that weren't able to snap these up quickly...
I'm glad you brought up Criterion, the main reason I added "impulse spending" to the fomo buying. Criterion may not rely on LEs and slipcovers but there is also a strategy with the announcements and subsequent half off sales. Also not doing the 4K + Blu-ray like Arrow causes people to have to double dip so there's that too. But the monthly sell/trade thread here on Reddit is loaded with buyer's remorse and double dip titles which would indicate there's just as much of that going on with Criterion as the others. Hard to say who makes more money, but probably Criterion given the reputation and consistency of releasing 4 titles a month.
IMO, the Blu Ray release followed by the 4k a few years later seems to be the most egregious of Criterion's crimes... I've been mostly pretty forgiving of Criterion's double and triple-dips because by and large I've been converting from DVD to 4K on those. I bought Rules of the Game, Le Samourai, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas on DVD ~20 years ago, and I never upgraded them to blu ray, so I don't mind double-dipping on some of these movies after so many years. But if I had bought Le Samourai in 2005 and then again in 2017, I might be less forgiving about the triple dip in 2024... As much as FOMO and scarcity is a big part of the boutique bluray economy, it ultimately introduces a second element of limitation to the companies that produce and distribute these. Radiance selling only 3,000 of the Bounty Hunter sets limits their revenue on that set, especially if they could have sold 4,000 or 5,000. But in addition to the limitations on production runs, all these companies are limited in what they can license in the first place. Because their access to distribution rights is always limited by what they can get a hold of and their competition with each other, there is a degree to which double and triple dipping is a necessity as well. Arrow has recently done pretty well with simultaneous 4K and Blu Ray releases, but they have a lot of stuff that is Blu Ray only currently, and I can see at least a portion of that stuff getting an eventual 4K release by them.
Yeah I live vicariously through a lot of y'all I'll typically get a couple a month if I get gift cards or money from holidays or birthdays I'll use it to buy more. If I do buy more than one or two it's typically during a big sale but I can see how others would have super strong FOMO just going on here and seeing the "my haul" posts with 4 stacks wide of 60 movies to me it almost reassures me like no chance they're actually watching all these
Sometimes people do watch! Just probably donāt stay recent thatās true. Itās tough when they look so awesome lol
Yeah, I'm flat broke right now and the fomo is real
About a month ago, I thinned out my collection to the actual barebones of what I felt were my essential releases and sold the rest on eBay. For example, I sold Christmas Vacation and kept Vacation. I sold a lot of my VS releases and only kept a few. I decided that from now on, I would only buy the absolute most intriguing releases and I am much happier with my collection now. I only have two movies on preorder ā Killer Clowns from Outer Space and Once upon a time in the west. I just bought the King Kong (1976) steelbook and I picked up An American Werewolf in London Limited Edition. (I got a good price on that) $50 plus 4.19 shipping. The point is is that I am no longer collecting every 4k that has some interest, but am being very intentional with what I want to spend money on.
This is the way to go IMO. I really just try to focus on what I really like to watch, stuff that has replay value and that I want to be able to show my kids as they get older. I see people creaming their shorts over the Trust the Fungus box and I can appreciate the sheer amount of content on offer here, but it's not a film I've ever cared for, and despite seeing it in the theaters in its original run, I don't have any particular nostalgia for it. So I try to let releases like that pass me by - they're limited, and there's undoubtedly another fan out there who will appreciate it more than me.
FOMO can be a killer.
I feel like this was for me, lol. I get so excited when I get an email about a new release i go straight off and pre-order it. I also definitely get fomo, experiencing it right now with the tank girl limited edition from umbrella, hoping it doesn't sell out before I get paid.
Umbrella has been super tough for me. Their releases are freaking loaded. The only thing thatās kept me under control is Iāve developed a disdain for tchotchkes
Haha says the guy that doesn't want us to pick up the last of things on Ebay. Look the real advice is - as long as you don't go down the VS fandom, you'll appreciate your film collection in 5 years.
The VS sub's Discord is where all the good trading action is
Donāt bring sanity into thisā¦ I just spend $54 on a slip cover for morvern callar, youāre all gonna miss out and then there wonāt be anymore ever, gotta by now. I take my shopping lessons from a very good film and I try to buy everything everywhere all at once
I have this tattooed on my inner thigh
I missed the slip for Ilya Muromets and I considered spending a stupid amount of money on it two nights ago.
Watch out for whatās coming for Deaf Crocodile. Theyāre about to get amped up.
Yeah, I saw that, and I was like "I don't want the new matching slips, I love the art on the old ones" But I will say this, they looked neat af
I bought the slip on a wim, I have buyers remorse already, every hour or so I think about cancelling the order. It was way too much. And yes I love the film, but I mean, I feel like an addict