Continuity mistake: When Buffy is talking to Cameron in his car near the start, the amount of light on Cameron's face coming through the windshield changes between cuts a few times. Sometimes the top is up over his eyes, sometimes it's down by his nose, etc. Also, depending on the angle, sometimes there's a purple glow on his face and sometimes not.
TedStixon
11th Dec 2023
Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997)
11th Dec 2023
Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997)
Continuity mistake: When Buffy and the guy are talking at the beach in the beginning, right before they hear a voice scream "Somebody help me!", the guy starts to turn to look at the tide. However, in the next shot, he's instantly facing Buffy again and then turns to face the tide a second time.
5th Dec 2023
General questions
For a period of time starting in the mid-2000s, it became common for most major DVD releases to have both 1- and 2-disc editions. Typically, the 2-disc edition just had more bonus content and cost a few dollars more, while the 1-disc edition had less content and was cheaper. I never understood this. This was before streaming became huge, so it didn't incentivize buying the DVD, nor did the 2-disc edition cost much more, so it couldn't have had much impact on profit. So why was this even a thing?
Answer: From my experience, the 2-disc versions provided two different formats. Typically, the 1-disc version was Fullscreen and, depending on its release, did have additional content like commentaries and deleted scenes. The 2-disc version included a Widescreen version as well as extra materials, extended cuts, remastered versions, or special edition, etc. Later, when Blu-Ray came out, the 2-disc set usually included a standard DVD version. Some DVDs were sold as 2-sided without a lot of extra content but having a Fullscreen and Widescreen version.
This doesn't really answer the question. I'm not referring to those. I'm more so referring to titles like "Spider-Man 3" or "Super 8". Their DVDs only came in widescreen, but had two versions. A single-disc edition with just the movie and a few special features, and a 2-disc edition that had more special features. I'm curious as to WHY many titles had single and two-disc editions with the only difference being the amount of special features. It just seems more logical to release just the 2-disc edition. This answer basically just explains that 2-disc existed.
I apologise for misunderstanding the question, because what you described in my experience was atypical. And in my opinion, it makes sense to release two versions, but I'm afraid to answer why if I turn out to still not understand the question.
No problem. It's a very weird, specific question, hahaha. Wouldn't surprise me if there isn't even really an answer beyond just "they decided to try it for some reason."
Answer: Simply put MONEY.
Profits are almost always, if not always, a factor. The two-disc versions with "extras" might have been enough to get certain movie buffs to buy them, even though they already had the single-disc version - but I doubt very many people actually did so.
5th Dec 2023
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Trivia: The only film in the "Spider-Man" trilogy to have neither a VHS release nor a fullscreen DVD release. VHS had been quietly discontinued between the release of "Spider-Man 2" and "Spider-Man 3," while widescreen HD-TVs were beginning to become more prevalent and had started their gradual takeover, making the fullscreen format antiquated by the time it came out.
29th Nov 2023
Saw X (2023)
Trivia: Director Kevin Greutert has stated that the film was made with the intention of it being Tobin Bell's swan-song in the role of Jigsaw, and a proper send-off for the character, though he stressed "never say never" when asked about a sequel or Bell possibly returning in the future.
29th Nov 2023
Saw X (2023)
Trivia: Director Kevin Greutert is one of the only crew members to be directly involved with all ten movies. He edited "Saw" 1-5 and "Jigsaw," directed "Saw VI," "Saw 3D," and "Saw X," and was an executive producer on "Spiral: From the Book of Saw."
29th Nov 2023
Saw X (2023)
Trivia: An assistant editor was working on a cut of the "Eye Vacuum" trap one day when the doorbell rang. He was shocked to find police at the door. Turns out, someone in a neighbouring building overheard the edit and misinterpreted the screams in the footage as someone actually being tortured to death, so they called the cops. The officers were very amused when they found out he was just editing a movie. Director Kevin Greutert later joked, "It must have been a pretty realistic performance!"
23rd Nov 2023
Saw X (2023)
Continuity mistake: Henry writes down the web address "theperdersonproject.net" on a napkin for John. In the next scene, when John checks the napkin, the writing is slightly different. It almost matches, but a few of the letters are ever-so-slightly bigger or smaller, and the spacing is subtly different.
21st Nov 2023
R.S.V.P. (2002)
17th Nov 2023
The Mummy (1999)
Trivia: Director Stephen Sommers has said that part of the reason he wanted to work on this film was because the original 1932 version of the movie was the only classic Universal monster movie to scare him as a child. He thought Dracula was a little too sexy and cool to be totally scary, while Frankenstein was more tragic and sad than frightening... whereas he found the original mummy just plain old creepy.
17th Nov 2023
The Mummy (1999)
Trivia: One of the background extras in the film was unknowingly given the exact same cloak worn by Alec Guinness in the original "Star Wars." It had inadvertently been mixed in with various generic monk robes at a costume company that works on film and television productions, and was later rented out to this film. It was identified a few years later as the "Star Wars" robe and sold in an auction for over $100,000, making "The Mummy" its last confirmed on-screen appearance.
14th Nov 2023
Session 9 (2001)
Trivia: A massive subplot was removed from the film. It was going to be shown throughout the film that a crazy homeless woman was secretly living in the hospital. She'd eerily observe the workers and be a red herring to throw off the audience. SPOILERS. Finally, after she witnesses Gordon kill everyone, she would sneak up and kill him as "revenge." However, her subplot was removed as audiences were confused (thinking she was Mary from the audio tapes) and the director wanted to streamline the plot.
31st Oct 2023
Five Nights at Freddy's (2023)
Trivia: The video-game franchise was so popular, the movie was profitable for production studio Blumhouse before it was even released, with the film recouping its budget thanks to the millions it made from the streaming and theatrical distribution rights being sold. It subsequently broke the record for the biggest Halloween weekend box-office opening with an estimated $78 million, and became the second-highest opening for a video-game movie, behind only "The Super Mario Bros." movie.
31st Oct 2023
Five Nights at Freddy's (2023)
31st Oct 2023
Five Nights at Freddy's (2023)
31st Oct 2023
Five Nights at Freddy's (2023)
Trivia: The waiter who asks Jane and the others if they'd like to order lunch is played by YouTuber Matthew Patrick, who has a video series called "Game Theory" and has done dozens of videos based around the "Five Nights at Freddy's" video-games. Him saying "That's just a theory!" when someone mentions breakfast being called "the most important meal of the day", is an inside joke. (He ends every "Game Theory" video by saying "That's just a theory... a game theory!").
31st Oct 2023
Five Nights at Freddy's (2023)
Trivia: The filmmakers wanted to honor the fact that the villains are animatronic robots and decided to use practical effects instead of CGI. The Jim Henson Creature Shop actually built fully-functional animatronic puppets for each character, in addition to suits that could be worn by actors for movements that were too complex for the animatronics to do.
27th Oct 2023
No Hard Feelings (2023)
Continuity mistake: In the opening scene, when Maddie says, "How the fuck am I supposed to pay my taxes just bartending?!" her hands go from being in front of her to down by her sides between cuts.
27th Oct 2023
The Frighteners (1996)
Trivia: Dammers' death was originally far less graphic, with him being shot in the chest and there being little-to-no on-screen blood. However, the MPAA gave the movie an R-rating, shocking director Peter Jackson since he shot it to be PG-13. As an act of defiance, he went back and used CGI to change Dammers' death and make it far more graphic and "R-rated," by having his head explode with a fountain of blood and gore. Dammers' original death was later used in the edited-for-TV version of the film.
27th Oct 2023
The Fifth Element (1997)
Trivia: Gary Oldman did the movie as a favor to Luc Besson, who helped him raise money for another film he was trying to make. Oldman reportedly wasn't too keen on the film... in fact, he hated it and didn't understand why so many people found it appealing. When asked what he thought about it being a major cult-classic in an interview once, he simply laughed and said, "I know, I know... that's just the wacky world we live in!"
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: OP here. From everything I've been able to find, it pretty much just looks like it was just a bit of a gimmick. Put some extra bonus content on a second disc, call it a "Special Edition" or "Collector's Edition" or "Limited Edition," and charge an extra $5 for it. People who wanted just the movie could buy the single disc for the standard price, and people who wanted more special features paid a slightly more expensive "premium price." And it would subtly boost profits.
TedStixon
I think you're right - the extra content largely existed already, there was no significant cost to produce it, and mastering a second version of the DVD wouldn't cost much in the grand scheme of things either, so any extra amount would have been pure profit. Showgirls (first example I found) apparently made $37m in cinemas and $100m in DVD sales. A couple of extra dollars per unit would add up. It might also serve as "anchoring" if that's the right term - having a more expensive 2 disc version makes the single disc version look like better value to the casual buyer (while also appealing more to the movie buff). There are certainly some films I splashed out on for the fancier version because I was a fan (and then of course never really watched the extras much!), but going back a while there was literally no other way to see this extra content unless you bought the special edition.
Jon Sandys ★
From the perspective of why they were simultaneously released (and with a relatively small difference in price), I'd agree. But this is different from why two-disc versions were released some time after the one-disc version (and with a substantial difference in price). That is, the reasons why this initially happened are different from why it continued to happen.
KeyZOid
I was trying to refer to concurrent releases in my question. Unfortunately, the character limit meant I could not give any examples. I was referring to titles like "Spider-Man 3" or "Transformers." I used to go to the store at midnight to buy new DVD releases around the time those movies came out, and there would almost always be a single disc DVD with just the movie and a few features, and a 2-Disc set with more special features released on the same day. (A 2-disc special/anniversary edition being released a few years later for an older title makes sense, and is a different matter entirely. I'm referring to when multiple editions of the same new release were put out at the same time.)
TedStixon
Yes, I finally figured this out! You are asking about a specific time period and looking for a straightforward answer, without putting things in historical perspective (the developing technology and decreasing costs of mass-producing DVD movies). The extras (plus a little more) that used to be included on the standard editions were now on a second disc with the package costing about $5 more. It probably came down to "will customers [be stupid enough to] pay extra money for this two-disc DVD?"
KeyZOid
It probably came down to 'will customers [be stupid enough to] pay extra money for this two-disc DVD?' "and unfortunately when I was a teenager, I was, hahahaha. But yeah, the more I look into it, the more it does just seem like a total gimmick. (I feel like a good modern comparison might be steelbooks... cool packaging, but usually sold for a very high markup even though it's the same exact discs.)
TedStixon
My "victimization" came much earlier. I had the standard release versions of movies and, later, when I started to see much more expensive two-disc versions, I thought, "Who would buy these now?" Well, I think I ended up buying 3 versions of "Terminator 2." [Why?]
KeyZOid