Originally Posted by
desslock
It is interesting that you say that. Because I receive many movies here to review, and particularly with the international DVD's - the US distributor does nothing except slap some enticing, easily sellable title on it, and churn it out. Not only do they not contribute to the creative process, but in many cases they screw it up.
One good example is how early this year I received a DVD on a film which basically was about some Czech twinks doing it in some ski chalet. It was probably filmed in 2005... but by the time it got here the DVD title was "Ridin' High on Bareback Mountain"
I get Brazilian movies all the time which have no translation from the Portuguese, and some even have basic stories - but they will be titled something completely generic, like "A Piece of the Action" or "Brazilian Nuts"
In other words, to me they are like glorified beer distributors - companies who because of some structural requirement, people have to go to them to get their products to the public.
One of the remarkable innovations of the Internet is that producers don't have to look to these kinds of middlemen as much as before. And I think in ten years or so, purchasing movies online and burning them to your disc, like iTunes today, will become much more commonplace.
Steve