Some stores turn Traitor before street date

Stores expect more confusion with non-Tuesday titles

By Jennifer Netherby and Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 12/16/2008

DEC. 16 | Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target stores broke the Friday street date on Anchor Bay Entertainment’s Traitor and put the title on sale today, forcing other retailers to scramble to get it out on their own store shelves and angering others who were still waiting for their shipments of the title.

Distributors Ingram, VPD and Baker & Taylor sent e-mail notices out this morning telling their retailers they were free to put Traitor out after Anchor Bay lifted the street date following violations by the mass merchants.

Anchor Bay president Bill Clark said only, “We made the decision to release Traitor on Friday, Dec. 19, which is a non traditional street date. We took the precautions as we do with each of our releases and the boxes are clearly marked with the Friday, Dec. 19, street date." He did not address the fact that the title turned out to be for sale and rental on Tuesday.

A Wal-Mart spokesperson said by email that the retailer did put the title on sale Tuesday, which was "a new release date arranged by the studio."

Many expect more problems in the days ahead with off-Tuesday holiday releases and last-minute street date changes. Distributors and retailers said on Monday that they received an e-mail from Warner Home Video indicating that the studio is bumping The Women release date to Friday, Dec. 19, rather than holding to its planned Sunday, Dec. 21, release date.

Some executives are concerned about more street date violations in the coming week because of the confusion.

“I think that Pandora’s box has been opened and it’s going to be a mess at least for the next few weeks,” Ingram Entertainment executive VP of purchasing and operations Bob Webb said.

With Traitor, a confusing mix of stores are offering the film now while others as of today were holding to the Friday release.

Amazon.com and Netflix were holding to the Friday release on their sites, while Blockbuster Online had the film listed as immediately available. Some L.A.-area Hollywood Video and Blockbuster stores were already renting the title. In Southern Arizona, Best Buy stores were selling Traitor, while a nearby Hastings said the film wasn’t available to rent until Friday.

Blockbuster started renting Traitor at its stores nationwide Tuesday after getting an email from Anchor Bay giving them the go-ahead since they had the product at stores, spokesman Randy Hargrove said, noting that the rental chain is keeping a close eye on street dates. "We're making our stores aware of street dates for titles because of some shifts in traditional dates," he said.

Similarly, Video Buyers Group stores all began renting Traitor Tuesday after getting word from distributor Ingram.

Retailers that haven’t received their DVD shipments of Traitor were left with the option of waiting until it arrives from their distributor later in the week or buying fill-in copies from their mass merchant rivals.

National Entertainment Buying Group president Todd Zaganiacz was told that he wouldn’t be getting the units he ordered through Rentrak until Thursday.

“This is the first time where we didn’t have the product,” a frustrated Zaganiacz said. “It has happened in the past, but we had the product.”

Seattle’s Scarecrow Video, who ordered through VPD, also hadn’t received its Traitor shipment, and store buyer Mark Steiner doesn’t expect to get it until Thursday.

“I have two e-mails from distributors that say feel free to put out the title, but I don’t even have it so I can’t put it out,” he said. “This is what happens when you have all of these screwy street dates.”

Executives with Rentrak and VPD weren’t immediately available for comment.

Ingram Entertainment customers had received their shipments.

Because Traitor had a non-Tuesday street date, distributors shipped it either with product streeting on Dec. 16 or Dec. 23, which is why some retailers received their product and some didn’t.

Even retailers that have the discs had to rush to get them on store shelves.

“It’s confusing,” said Steve Torr, InMotion Entertainment’s director of software purchasing and rental services. “Because of how we set up merchandising, we have a place for everything. And now on the fly we have to change everything. We need to make sure all of our locations are aware of it. And this is in the heat of the holiday season, where people are having to take time out of their day to handle it.”

Most said they weren’t surprised by problems given the confusing array of holiday street dates. Traitor was slated for Friday, while Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s Burn After Reading and Death Race are due on Sunday. New Line’s The Women was set for Sunday, but has been bumped up to Friday.

Most retailers hope studios will stick to a consistent street date in the future.

“There have been a number of street date changes this holiday season, as studios look to take advantage of the natural traffic that is in the stores,” said Best Buy spokesman Brian Lucas. “We are concerned that the changing dates create confusion for the avid entertainment customer who is used to buying titles on Tuesday, and we believe the market will go back to a constant Tuesday release date post holiday.”