Comments on: Redbox Using Alternate Cover Art for Workaround Titles

By: Future Perfect » New Interactions for the American Urban Vocabulary

Future Perfect » New Interactions for the American Urban Vocabulary — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 06:16:45 +0000

[...] If you shut your eyes and listen carefully you can hear the sound of a machete cleaving its way through the neck of a dying, bloated cash-cow by the name of Blockbuster. That roar? That’s you and you and you and me standing by the sidelines cheering in relief at knowing we’re never going to put up with that kind of experience again. redbox’s parent company, Coinstar who modestly pitch themselves as ‘the world’s leading supplier of valuable services that make life easier for consumers’ has reinvented the rental of tangible media through destination site big-box video stores and consumers are lovin’ it. And that sharp intake of breath? That’s the major studios compelled to watch the slaughter from the side lines but who are now wondering how they are going to pay for their dry cleaning bill from blood splatters. [...]

By: mc.incid

mc.incid — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:58:36 +0000

It’s illegal to create unlicensed marketing items for any product, as Redbox does not have permission to use those design elements and tags/copy in that combination. Redbox doesn’t even indicate whether or not it has permission to use the photograph it’s using.

Bottom line, this infringement is done for profit, and knowingly represents a copyrighted motion picture in an illegal way. Depending on how they want to do it, either the studio could sue because the work isn’t licensed, or the licensed designer could sue for infringement.

It’s a poor move on Redbox’s part; surely they’ve noticed that movie theaters don’t just go around creating their own versions of the licensed posters and other promotional materials provided to them. What makes Redbox so special?

By: AL

AL — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:09:02 +0000

All this (alternate cover art) does is make me look closer at the title before renting it (to ensure I’m getting the correct title and not a similar-titled knockoff). Displaying plain text and a “no cover art” available tag would have the same affect on me. I do think alternate cover art is the more appealing option. So, no, it hasn’t affected my rental habits, but I can also see where it might be confusing to some.

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 03:23:35 +0000

I think the only problem could be that sometimes there are movies that I didn’t plan on seeing in the theatre and I need to see the cover art to remind me of them when it’s rental time. I usually go to Redbox with a specific rental in mind but plan to pick up a second title of a movie that wasn’t worth paying theatre prices to see. I would assume that if they can’t show the cover art on the screen they can’t show it on the POP display, either, so the question isn’t whether this will reduce rentals, the question is, “By how much?”

By: The Turnip

The Turnip — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:58:45 +0000

Click on the movie to see who is starring in it. The same actors are not going to get top billing in “THE” movie, the original or a knock-off. Easy as that.

By: Mokona

Mokona — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:43:11 +0000

Same here… I saw Bruno listed on the display, but the cover was a sunny meadow. Struck me as a little odd!

I agree with the other posts – I don’t mind the alternate cover art, but I want to be sure it is the specific movie I am looking for, not some knockoff movie trying to cash in, or the original (if the new release is a remake). We don’t get the dvd covers on the redbox cases or the cds, so it really shouldn’t matter as long as it is identified thoroughly when the selection is made.

By: D. Kashless

D. Kashless — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:49:16 +0000

Exactly. I totally agree.

By: starman15317

starman15317 — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:10:51 +0000

I thought that redbox didnt carrry unrated versions of movies unless the 1 disc dvd of a film has both versions on the same disc (like the Funny People dvd)

By: starman15317

starman15317 — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:07:59 +0000

the month b4 the original Inglorious Bastards was in Redbox, I rented it online. Pretty cool explotation-esque movie, but i feel like i wasted a rental because now it’s in redbox

By: Hazmina

Hazmina — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:00:56 +0000

Don’t they already give you a trailer for certain titles on the website? Adding previews to the box though, in my opinion, would be a bad idea because although some of us already know what we are gonna rent some folks don’t and they stand at the box for like 10-20min deciding and the previews would only prolong them.. bad for those of us who already know what we want and maybe only need to return a movie.