A collection of 1940s thrillers — all brand-new to DVD — has just been released. But unless your cable/satellite subscription includes Turner Classic Movies, or unless you take TCM's magazine or frequent its Web site, you'd never know it.
The "Universal Cult Horror Collection" is a five-disc set composed of B-level pictures that Universal churned out on a regular basis during the 1930s and '40s, when shorter, low-budget features were needed to fill out the lower half of double-bills.
But you have to go to TCM's Web site (www.tcm.com) to find it. It's not even listed at the Universal Home Entertainment site.
Releasing DVDs exclusively to a particular sales venue is pretty commonplace these days. Sometimes a specific store is the only place licensed to sell a certain title. Or sometimes a movie that can be purchased everywhere has something extra at one store — a collectible toy, unique packaging, a bonus disc ...
The first time I noticed this was in the summer of 2003 with the DVD release of the James Bond movie "Die Another Day." If you purchased the film at Best Buy, you received a free bonus DVD of the hourlong documentary "Bond Girls Are Forever."
The documentary isn't much, of course; strictly fluff for fans. But it was a clever freebie to lure Bond buyers into the store.
A more significant exclusive cropped up in 2006, again at Best Buy, a set of five Universal films titled "The Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection." This was significant because among the B-movie titles was "The Incredible Shrinking Man," a genuine classic for which fans had been clamoring. (The next year, it was followed by "Volume 2," also exclusive to Best Buy.)
And 2009 has been an especially fruitful year for exclusive DVD releases.
In June, Amazon.com was selling the new "Woodstock" set with bonus performances available nowhere else.
In August, four Lifetime cable movies based on Nora Roberts novels were released exclusively to Walmart.
Last month came the aforementioned "Cult Horror" set arrived at TCM.
And next Wednesday, Walmart will be the only place to buy the DVD of the half-hour TV special "Merry Madagascar," a spinoff of the "Madagascar" cartoon films. It arrives in Walmart stores (along with other "Madagascar"-themed products) the day after its debut on NBC-TV.
None of this means that these DVDs are exclusive to these stores forever, of course. "Bond Girls Are Forever" later showed up as a bonus feature on "Casino Royale." The "Classic Sci-Fi" sets arrived in other local stores as well as online marketplaces a year after "Volume 2" was at Best Buy. The Nora Roberts films went to other sales venues last month.
Exclusive releases are a trend, no doubt about it. But how wise are they?
You may be made aware of these exclusives if you receive e-mail updates from the stores, or if you happen to see the DVD on the shelf, or if you catch an ad somewhere (although none of these were heavily advertised).
But what if you're a vintage B-movie fan or a Nora Roberts fan and you don't happen to stumble upon these exclusives? It seems to me that the most likely buyer has been cut out of the marketplace.
Obviously, the "Cult Horror" set at TCM makes sense. Golden oldies are TCM's bread and butter, and its Web page is a go-to site for old-movie buffs.
But finding the "Classic Sci-Fi" sets at Best Buy, for example, was a bit more iffy. I try to keep up with everything being released on DVD — especially vintage titles from the major studios — and I was caught completely off-guard when I just happened to see the first set while browsing.
It would be interesting to see the sales charts for these exclusives, the audiences just seem so specific and the venues so hit-and-miss.
And DVDs aren't the only things involved in this trend. Video games and music CDs are also on the "exclusive" merchandising path — although the awareness factor for those products seems to get a bigger advertising boost.
e-mail: hicks@desnews.com