I just wanted to go on record for Nick that if MoC ever institutes a subscription model like this, I'll sign up the day you announce it.zedz wrote:EDIT: Actually, would a pre-pay / subscription model work for this? MoC could propose a list of potential titles, future purchasers could sign up for them and as soon as the subscription list for a given title reaches critical mass their credit cards are charged and the package goes into production. There would need to be some kind of exclusivity (e.g. MoC was world rights for these titles and gives an undertaking that no comparable cheap edition will be coming out within five years or something). Or you could use the music example and have the subscription version a seriously souped-up version of a regular release (e.g. The Mother and the Whore on Moc; The Complete Jean Eustache via MoC's Cochon-In-Muck-Pay-Through-the-Nose Subscription Service.
Frankly, I'm baffled as to why Criterion and MoC haven't been doing this for years. But since it's hardly an original idea, they've clearly thought it over, crunched the numbers, and determined that it's not worth it. I remember, for instance, that when Eclipse first got rolling, Peter Becker said that they were contemplating a subscription program, which, obviously, never panned out.
(And if they ever should release Melville's "Le Samouraï" I'll order 2 copies (wishful thinking here)
