Best and Worst DVD Cover Art

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Originally Posted by Swedish Chef
Can anyone tell me why the Criterion Collection (a self-proclaimed "series of important classic and contemporary films") has done not one, not four, but two transfers of Michael Bay movies?


The answer is twofold. First on a representational level, they wanted a couple examples of the mainstream, big budget, effects-laden pieces of Pop Culture that routinely rule the box office. Bruckheimer & Bay, while having little to no artistic merit, are definitely representative of the late '90s slick blockbuster. If you want to have a sense of the entire scope of cinema history, you'd need at least a couple examples of just about everything.

Not every movie in The Criterion Collection (DVD or LaserDisc) is an acknowledged "classic" in the sense most people would apply that word to film. Yes they have many titles from the likes of Kurosawa, Bergman, Hitchcock, Fellini, etc., but they also have titles such as Equinox (1970), The Blob (1958) and The Atomic Submarine (1959), I think none of which would be readily praised for their artistry, even by the people at Criterion, yet are representative of a kind of B-movie that had popularity for a couple decades.


The second reason is to fill the coffers with moneys from the segment of the DVD market that doesn't usually buy Criterion products. Armageddon was just the fortieth title released and The Rock was the hundred and eighth (Ang Lee's The Ice Storm is due out in March and will be the four-hundred twenty-sixth title released by Criterion, and that number doesn't even include their new Eclipse Series boxed sets which adds another thirty-seven films). Plus both Michael Bay films were issued by Criterion on Laser Disc before DVD even came to be, so they already had all the supplemental material collected and ready to go.



So...like that.
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This is my favorite DVD cover...


How could that be the best when the little man is out of focus?
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RIP www.moviejustice.com 2002-2010
As for the worst, it's the opposite of that: when they ditch the original movie poster for the dreaded "floating heads" of a key star or two or even worse throw some cheap-ass generic thing on there that doesn't even clue you in to what movie it's supposed to be. For the first, check out Open Range. It had a pretty cool poster, but obviously some genius in the marketing department decided a stock shot of some galloping horses being haunted by the floating heads of the film's three biggest stars would be a whale of a lot better. What the fart?


Or a modern classic like An American Werewolf in London that had a memorable poster only to be replaced by a floating head of a special effect against a generic blue filtered London skyline. THAT was a good idea.



Or where they ALMOST decide to use the original poster concept...but then chicken out and screw it up by imposing floating heads, like for David Fincher's Zodiac. How totally unnecessary.



As for an example of a cheap-ass stock photo from some service that gives you no clue what it even is other than in it's most generic sense, I give you the DVD for the 1956 Western The Proud Ones. Now the people who might actually be interested in purchasing or renting this movie are exactly the same people who would appreciate knowing that Robert Ryan, Virginia Mayo, Walter Brennan and Jeffrey Hunter are in it. Instead they've tried to keep it totally generic, I assume so that a thirteen-year-old who really liked the 3:10 to Yuma re-make and thinks Kurt Russell totally should have gotten the Oscar for Tombstone might accidentally rent The Proud Ones...which almost surely they will hate. What a great trick! Those who want to watch it may pass it up, and those who have no use for it may pick it up on a whim. Terrific.

Priceless Holden. I completly agree.

Off topic, but kind of related to your comments on The Proud Ones. It upsets me when I go into Wal-Mart and see something like The Fountain sitting on the self, but the fullscreen edition. People who are interested in The Fountain will not buy the fullscreen version, and people who want fullscreen movies, will likely not pick up The Fountain.

But that said, they could have done worse with the film... they used a head popping up from the ground and from the sky instead of a floating head.




You ready? You look ready.
How could that be the best when the little man is out of focus?
He didn't say it was the best, he said it was his favorite.
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Aye boy don't spit in my drink!
Originally Posted by iluv2viddyfilms
Good deal!

In any event, I was joking. I actually love that cover. Very good movie too.
You had me going too!

And I gotta say the Smokin' Aces DVD is absolute garbage compared to this one sheet created for the movie's theatrical release. They should've just copy and pasted the poster onto the DVD covers!





What's wrong with the Spinal Tap cover? Just because it's all black doesn't make it a bad cover.
This thread isn't just for bad covers - i was just comparing how both are exactly the same.

But if it was all black then it wouldn't say SPINAL TAP on the front either.
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I don't like how these films titles get changed around. I think the original titles without their series name before them - gives them more power as an individual film.





But I can easily say the newer versions of the films picture and sound quality is a million times better than the originals - I like the old titles better.



Welcome to the human race...
This thread isn't just for bad covers - i was just comparing how both are exactly the same.
Why should they be any different, though? I think the black cover works pretty well, all things considered.

But if it was all black then it wouldn't say SPINAL TAP on the front either.
I didn't literally mean all-black. You can see it's not all black, but if you had to describe the cover to somebody, you'd say it was all-black. You wouldn't count the title.
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Why should they be any different, though? I think the black cover works pretty well, all things considered.
I never said they should be different and keep in mind this is Best and Worst



Great movie , pretty bad DVD - espicially compared to the poster.



And what's up with the Rotten Tomatoes thing on the top ? By their standards Superman 1 and 2 are better than this movie .





This is the kind of marketing stupidity that makes me scream.



Super High Me is a little documentary/spoof from comedian Doug Benson (who you may recognize from VH1's "Best Week Ever") where he takes the basic concept from Morgan Spurlock's fast food binger Super Size Me and uses marijuana instead of empty calories. A one-joke premise if there ever was one, but this isn't about the inherent quality of the movie. Take a look at the DVD cover above (which replicates the poster art, spoofing Spurlock's mouth full of fries) and the second cover which is also available for Super High Me below...



Yes, that's right: this is the "conservative art" DVD cover. Exact same movie inside, but this one replaces the numerous joints for a cloud of smoke. What in tarnation is the point of this? If you have the kind of business or home, for that matter, where you are presumably worried about a young, impressionable person seeing a photo of a man comically smoking a dozen reefers at once...is this a movie you are ever going to stock or purchase in the first place?!? Who is this protecting, exactly? Is WAL-MART going to put the smoke-only version on their store shelves because they like the idea of making a buck off of the movie but don't want to "offend" with the cover? Doubt it.


Maddeningly ridiculous....in a marketing sense, of course.



^^^ Yeah, that is stupid. Looks like the man's a robot that's starting to go haywire.



Original movie poster for Friday the 13th part VII: The New Blood...


DVD cover art for Friday the 13th part VII: The New Blood....



BORING!

Same goes for Friday the 13th's 5, 6 and 8 on DVD.





As far as I am concerned, that one is fine.

However . . .



That being just a few cases away from Strawberry Shortcake, Scooby Doo, etc . . . when my daughter was picking out a cartoon. She was maybe 7. That pissed me off, and I'm willing to bet that they are still stuck in between the wall, and DVD rack. Oops!



This is my favorite DVD cover...

That person is waaaaay too out of focus. For that to be accurate, that field would have to be very far away and rising at a very steep angle, or that person, landscape and house would have to be very small, like miniature scale small. Whoever was working the design should have backed off the blur.

But, the color correction is done really well, which in my mind, more than makes up for the blurred blob of a person. If the movie looks like that, I'd want to see it.
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