cinema review

There have been some terrific DVDs since the format was introduced in 1997. By the end of 2004 nearly every major film will finally be available on DVD. Studios still have new films, and plenty of minor (but still important) titles in their back catalogs, and it will take them years to deplete their stock.

Even when every film ever released is out on DVD (a day I’ll cheer), studios will have their hands full re-releasing previous efforts in better editions, and with HD-DVD only a few short years away, we can look forward to upgrading the most important films to a higher-definition standard (if a winner emerges from the current format war, that is - time will tell whether Blu-Ray or HD-DVD will be the Beta of the High-Def Generation).

There were some commonalities among the releases on the list. Most of them are multi-disc special editions packed with features. Some of the most popular features among the winning discs were long, feature-length documentaries, audio commentary tracks (often more than one), trailers, subtitle trivia tracks, and deleted scenes (preferably with director’s commentary).

One thing’s for certain: you can’t go wrong with any of the discs on the Top 100 list (or even the Runners-Up list).

About the Top 100 List

The 2004 Top 100 DVD Census List was voted on by over 850 members of various dvd- and home theatre-related fora, as well as in-store patrons to various video rental stores.

The poll asked voters to choose their Top 10 Best DVDs of all-time, taking into account both the quality of the film, DVD presentation, and supplemental features. Their #1 choice received 10 points, #2 9 points, and so on. The points were then tallied and the following Top 100 list represents the highest-rated discs as chosen by our democratic process.

Statistics and Studio Role-Call

Breakdown by Release Year

The trends, as you can see in the table below, make sense. As DVD gets better and better every year, more of the titles on the Top 100 will be replaced by more recent titles, re-releases with better transfers or extras, and new special editions that push the envelope.

More than a third of the list’s discs were released in the past year. With some big titles due out this year, including the long-awaited Star Wars: Original Trilogy, 2004 looks to be a banner year - although we could probably say that every year. DVDs just keep getting better and better (as a whole).

Breakdown by Studio

Most of the major studios are well-represented on the Top 100 Census (and 25 runners-up). Warner Bros. leads the charge, with 26 total titles on the list, thanks in no small part to their New Line titles, HBO Video, and Warner Music discs. That the Criterion Collection is next should surprise no one. They have consistently produced great discs for classic and foreign films, and the word “Criterion” is almost synonymous with quality.

Twentieth Century Fox and Disney (including all Buena Vista branches) also performed very well on the Top 100. Disney got into DVD late in the game, but after their ill-conceived Limited Edition titles, have produced some of the best special edition sets in the past few years.

Universal also performed fairly well, followed by Columbia Tristar.

Some of the smaller studios didn’t perform as well, but MGM’s and Paramount’s discs weren’t nearly as popular with voters as discs from the other major studios. We’ll look at some possible reasons below.

MGM, Artisan, and Paramount: What Went Wrong?

With their West Side Story and Dances with Wolves disc, MGM proved that they could produce great 2-disc special editions. However, with their vast catalog, MGM should be performing better. Their “Special Editions” are often not all that special, as most of them are single disc affairs (even the new Fargo and Rain Man discs, which didn’t make the cut here). Much of their recent back catalog output has been in horrible Pan & Scan-only editions, which many DVD enthusiasts won’t purchase, since they’re not in the Original Aspect Ratio (OAR). Non-OAR is a big no-no to DVD consumers, and is a reason why MGM’s discs performed noticeably poorly on the Top 100.

Artisan has produced some great 2-disc special editions over the past few years, and released them at a low price point. It’s surprising that more of their discs aren’t on the list. The likely explanation is that they don’t release as many DVDs as the larger studios, and thus can’t compete on sheer number.

Paramount is another story. They rarely release discs with substantial extras, and many of their catalog titles appear as bare-bones movie-only DVDs, or worse, as bare-bones non-anamorphic movie-only DVDs. Rumours say that Paramount is planning a number of high-profile re-releases in 2004, so perhaps their standings will improve next year. If the Adventures of Indiana Jones is an indication, we’ll have much to look forward to from Paramount. Releasing The Godfather discs as separate releases with new transfers would be a good start.

Next: The Discs that Didn’t Make the Cut »