'Scoob!' coming to iTunes on May 15, bypassing theaters and rental windows entirely

Comments

• Reply 1 of 14

  Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member

  May 7, 2020 4:05PM

  Twenty-five dollars! … Zoinks!
  
  

  
• Reply 2 of 14

  acheron2018 Posts: 33member

  May 7, 2020 4:13PM

  It only makes sense. When the biggest best experience possible was 500i on a 25 inch screen, theaters made sense.  

  
  

  Now when even people well below middle class routinely have 4K on a 48 inch screen, going to a theater to
  

  * Pay $10+ per person.  For the “privilege” of
    * paying $30 for popcorn and a drink
    To then  
     * listen to people talk
     * and babies scream
     * with your feet sticking to the floor
  
  ALL WHILE YOU HAVE TO PEE from your $11 96oz drink...
  
  The math just doesn’t work anymore. 

  
• Reply 3 of 14

  ArloTimetraveler Posts: 110member

  May 7, 2020 4:15PM

  Scooby Dooby Doo,  where are you !?! Not at my house.

  edited May 2020
• Reply 4 of 14

  mbdrake76 Posts: 43member

  May 7, 2020 4:15PM

  And again, what's to stop Warner Bros. from pulling the title from iTunes entirely later down the line (without notice), preventing any "redownloads" or future streaming? Apple needs to do more to ensure that (a) if this does happen, customers are notified in advance and (b) put a stop to the practice entirely (if you sell content to iTunes, they get to keep a copy in perpetuity for those people who have bought it, even if it's no longer being offered for sale).

  
• Reply 5 of 14

  pulseimages Posts: 603member

  May 7, 2020 4:40PM

  AMC can complain all they want but their vehicle for showing movies is quickly dying. Even before the pandemic the theater experience has been waning with higher prices and lower attendance rates. The AMC near me has fallen into disrepair with torn up recliners and a rodent infestation. 

  https://www.nbcboston.com/on-air/as-seen-on/mouse-infestation-causes-partial-shutdown-at-framingham-movie-theater/2088806/
  
• Reply 6 of 14

  Wesley Hilliard Posts: 190member, administrator, moderator, editor

  May 7, 2020 4:45PM

  mbdrake76 said:

  And again, what's to stop Warner Bros. from pulling the title from iTunes entirely later down the line (without notice), preventing any "redownloads" or future streaming? Apple needs to do more to ensure that (a) if this does happen, customers are notified in advance and (b) put a stop to the practice entirely (if you sell content to iTunes, they get to keep a copy in perpetuity for those people who have bought it, even if it's no longer being offered for sale).

  While such dread may exist for those who like the physicality of their movie collection, I’ve only seen a few rare issues with availability, usually due to some server error. If digital purchases disappearing is still a concern, you can still get a big HDD and save everything you buy in case of such an apocalyptic measure.
  
  Just as a disk or VHS might break years after purchase, a digital copy might get pulled. I’ve yet to hear of something high profile being pulled in the years of me purchasing content exclusively digitally on iTunes, but if a movie does disappear suddenly, it’s available elsewhere. That risk is so low however, I’ll take the near infinite longevity of a digital copy and not needing to get up to change a movie as a trade.
  
  Another bonus of digital content: The members of my family plan, including my sister who lives states away, can take advantage of my collection. Theoretically as long as there is a company hosting iTunes content and an internet connection, my collection will last well after I die.
• Reply 7 of 14

  ihatescreennames Posts: 1,904member

  May 7, 2020 5:18PM

  mbdrake76 said:

  And again, what's to stop Warner Bros. from pulling the title from iTunes entirely later down the line (without notice), preventing any "redownloads" or future streaming? Apple needs to do more to ensure that (a) if this does happen, customers are notified in advance and (b) put a stop to the practice entirely (if you sell content to iTunes, they get to keep a copy in perpetuity for those people who have bought it, even if it's no longer being offered for sale).

  I have yet to see that happen with movies purchased through iTunes and as mentioned above purchased movies can be downloaded. In fact, years and years ago (back in the SD movies days) I received a code for a free digital copy of “Enemy of the State” with Will Smith. I entered the code and downloaded the movie. Years later when it was announced that all movies purchased through iTunes would be upgraded to HD at no charge I checked to see if I could re-download “Enemy of the State” in HD. I couldn’t as the movie was no longer available on iTunes. It was still available in my library, though, and I could still watch it. After that I would periodically search for EotS on iTunes just to see if it was back and for a long time it wasn’t. However, it’s back now AND my copy has been upgraded to HD.

  
• Reply 8 of 14

  ITGUYINSD Posts: 515member

  May 7, 2020 6:50PM

  acheron2018 said:

  It only makes sense. When the biggest best experience possible was 500i on a 25 inch screen, theaters made sense.  

  
  

  Now when even people well below middle class routinely have 4K on a 48 inch screen, going to a theater to
  

  * Pay $10+ per person.  For the “privilege” of
    * paying $30 for popcorn and a drink
    To then  
     * listen to people talk
     * and babies scream
     * with your feet sticking to the floor
  
  ALL WHILE YOU HAVE TO PEE from your $11 96oz drink...
  
  The math just doesn’t work anymore. 

  Agreed, but speaking of math, if I have to watch it in my home on my TV, would I rather pay $25 or wait a month and pay $2 for redbox blu-ray or $5 for on-demand? 
  
  I mean, who really NEEDS to see Scoob! right this minute for $25?  I'll choose to wait.  The $23 in savings buys a lot of popcorn and candy and soda at the grocery store!

  
• Reply 9 of 14

  Beats Posts: 3,073member

  May 7, 2020 8:33PM

  acheron2018 said:

  It only makes sense. When the biggest best experience possible was 500i on a 25 inch screen, theaters made sense.  

  
  

  Now when even people well below middle class routinely have 4K on a 48 inch screen, going to a theater to
  

  * Pay $10+ per person.  For the “privilege” of
    * paying $30 for popcorn and a drink
    To then  
     * listen to people talk
     * and babies scream
     * with your feet sticking to the floor
  
  ALL WHILE YOU HAVE TO PEE from your $11 96oz drink...
  
  The math just doesn’t work anymore. 

  
  Unless you appreciate audio like myself. Those theaters aren't running 48 inch Samsung TVs. They're engineered with high quality audio visual equipment. The sub-woofer alone costs more than your TV.

  
• Reply 10 of 14

  Beats Posts: 3,073member

  May 7, 2020 8:35PM

  mbdrake76 said:

  And again, what's to stop Warner Bros. from pulling the title from iTunes entirely later down the line (without notice), preventing any "redownloads" or future streaming? Apple needs to do more to ensure that (a) if this does happen, customers are notified in advance and (b) put a stop to the practice entirely (if you sell content to iTunes, they get to keep a copy in perpetuity for those people who have bought it, even if it's no longer being offered for sale).

  
  WTF?! They're doing this? I had to reset my Apple TV a year ago and the 2 best video games (Minecraft, Duck Tales) were taken off the App Store so I lost them. Funny thing is I paid the most for these games. What a scummy move. Apple should have a policy where if you remove a movie/game/etc. everyone's iTunes accounts are refunded. That would stop these as*holes.
• Reply 11 of 14

  fastasleep Posts: 6,418member

  May 8, 2020 1:18AM

  ITGUYINSD said:

  acheron2018 said:

  It only makes sense. When the biggest best experience possible was 500i on a 25 inch screen, theaters made sense.  

  
  

  Now when even people well below middle class routinely have 4K on a 48 inch screen, going to a theater to
  

  * Pay $10+ per person.  For the “privilege” of
    * paying $30 for popcorn and a drink
    To then  
     * listen to people talk
     * and babies scream
     * with your feet sticking to the floor
  
  ALL WHILE YOU HAVE TO PEE from your $11 96oz drink...
  
  The math just doesn’t work anymore. 

  Agreed, but speaking of math, if I have to watch it in my home on my TV, would I rather pay $25 or wait a month and pay $2 for redbox blu-ray or $5 for on-demand? 
  
  I mean, who really NEEDS to see Scoob! right this minute for $25?  I'll choose to wait.  The $23 in savings buys a lot of popcorn and candy and soda at the grocery store!

  I'm sure at this point some people will readily throw $25 at iTunes to get their kids to shut up for 90 minutes.

  
• Reply 12 of 14

  JBSlough Posts: 92member

  May 8, 2020 4:55PM

  mbdrake76 said:

  And again, what's to stop Warner Bros. from pulling the title from iTunes entirely later down the line (without notice), preventing any "redownloads" or future streaming? Apple needs to do more to ensure that (a) if this does happen, customers are notified in advance and (b) put a stop to the practice entirely (if you sell content to iTunes, they get to keep a copy in perpetuity for those people who have bought it, even if it's no longer being offered for sale).

  You do know you can download purchased movies and tv shows to your Mac or on an external drive.
• Reply 13 of 14

  cottonthePrt Posts: 9member

  May 9, 2020 5:55AM

  So far Apple has not restricted anyone's video purchases that I've heard of. The problem is with the whole thing going belly-up. Today it's impossible to think of Apple going out of business, but I would have said the same about Sears in 1995. We saw Ultraviolet go under with a convoluted process to try and move your purchased videos (I lost two movies, which I got via "free" codes). All it takes is a license change, a time in the future when Sony/Universal/etc has more clout than Apple at the table and you have the potential to lose your download. Not to mention region issues ( I'm an American who lives in Japan, I battle "not available in your region" all the time with legally paid for content). Blu-rays and DVD have region coding as well, but it's easy to bypass in hardware with a cheap player, and those discs will never not play (I've never had any bitrot on me, although I have had CD-Rs bitrot) 
• Reply 14 of 14

  fastasleep Posts: 6,418member

  May 12, 2020 2:10AM

  cottonthePrt said:

  So far Apple has not restricted anyone's video purchases that I've heard of. The problem is with the whole thing going belly-up. Today it's impossible to think of Apple going out of business, but I would have said the same about Sears in 1995. We saw Ultraviolet go under with a convoluted process to try and move your purchased videos (I lost two movies, which I got via "free" codes). All it takes is a license change, a time in the future when Sony/Universal/etc has more clout than Apple at the table and you have the potential to lose your download. Not to mention region issues ( I'm an American who lives in Japan, I battle "not available in your region" all the time with legally paid for content). Blu-rays and DVD have region coding as well, but it's easy to bypass in hardware with a cheap player, and those discs will never not play (I've never had any bitrot on me, although I have had CD-Rs bitrot) 

  Apple going out of business? Let me just pour one out in advance for your digital copy of Avatar you won't be able to watch for the six hundredth time in this nightmarish hellscape future you've imagined.