Hollywood Studios Kill 'Family-Friendly' DVD Service

[SecularMotion]

A coalition of Hollywood studios has scored a victory against a company that has been marketing and distributing films stripped of objectionable content.

In November, Paramount, Warner Bros., MGM, Disney, Universal and Fox filed a lawsuit against Family Edited DVDS, Inc. and its leader, John Webster, with claims that the company took such movies as Iron Man 2, The Hurt Locker, Prince of Persia and Date Night, altered them, and was distributing them to consumers as "family-friendly." The studios alleged that by selling its films in DVD-R format and stripping away copyright protection measures, the company had violated copyright laws and made them susceptible to further infringement by pirates.

The parties have come to a settlement.

According to the terms of the agreement, Family Edited DVDS has agreed to pay $274,000 to resolve the claim. Per the agreement, a judge has also permanently enjoined the company from further distribution of unauthorized edited versions of its films.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/thr-esq/hollywood-studios-kill-family-friendly-160709

[DainBramaged]

1. BUT BUT their god said edit or die.........

:headbang:

[tanyev]

2. If you don't like what's in them, then just don't watch them.

[exboyfil]

5. The question becomes

is Hollywood missing an opportunity to stick some green in their pockets? This company was able to make a profit providing this service even when buying the DVDs at retail. Don't leave any money on the table I say.

[jeff47]

10. If they were

I'm sure they'll find a way to get that money.

[pstokely]

17. Directors don't like someone else editing their movies

nt

[ejpoeta]

3. the companies would have been smarter to maybe work WITH these folks

to distribute films that have the objectionable stuff taken out. kind of like you can get songs with the bad words taken out. I realize they don't want to have to share any of their money with anyone else, but it would have been a smarter move.

[blondeatlast]

7. I had the same thought. I'm not crazy about the idea, but it appeals to some

and it way the hell beats the "family values" types from having a huge, public hissyfit.

[jeff47]

12. Better solution: Don't watch movies with objectionable stuff

Hollywood makes movies to make money. If people aren't buying tickets/DVDs because of the content, they'll make different movies.

This band-aid solution means Hollywood gets to keep making 'objectionable' movies and still getting profit from the people who object.

[backscatter712]

16. It's a lot more fun if you don't find movie violence objectionable.

Then you can watch the movies straight, with the explosions, profanity, sex and dismemberments intact!

:evilgrin:

[ejpoeta]

23. sometimes there are movies that would be ok without all the swear words.

while I agree that you could just not let the kids watch the movie, sometimes that stuff they put in there is just to have it there. gratuitous and not in any way part of the storyline. that is not always the case, but is in a lot of stuff. even stuff meant for kids to watch!! i believe there is a place for this kind of thing if parents want to let their kids watch something but can't because of something in it. I personally just don't let my kids watch anything I don't think is appropriate, and have never tried to use anything like this company does.... but I can see a purpose for it. They take this stuff out so they can put it on tv..... I think they could find a market for these scrubbed movies.

[jeff47]

27. That's my point

If a service exists to remove the swear words, then Hollywood will feel no pressure to cut back on the vulgarities. Better to have people not watch the movies, if your goal is to 'clean up' the movies.

I don't happen to share that goal, but if your goal is to cause a change, then pressure must be applied.

[spanone]

4. good...no one has the right to edit and sell these films without permission

[Major Hogwash]

6. If they edited "Goodfellas" it would last 14 mintues. No one gets killed either.

Paulie said "you know what I'm talking about?"
Then the cops came in, the judge said guilty, and he said "now I'm a schmuck."

LoL

[white_wolf]

8. I'm sorry not all movies are meant to be "family-friendly"

not that I thought any of the ones listed were all that bad. Besides there are plenty of very good movies that are "family-friendly." Toy Story 3 comes to mind.

[RC]

9. Family Friendly

Exposed skin and sexual innuendo BAD
Splattered brains sliding down the wall OK

[pstokely]

18. Gays BAD War OK

Capalert has some funny fundie movie reviews

[Love Bug]

29. No kidding!

I recently watched Total Recall on TV and noticed all of the swear words were bleeped out but the violence was left intact. Funny what people find 'objectionable'...

[Dappleganger]

11. That's a pretty low fine for what they did.

[jeff47]

13. Probably not much money in it

Otherwise Hollywood would already be doing it.

[edbermac]

14. So if there was a film showing the Crucifixion, they'd remove it?

Jesus being whipped, wearing a crown of thorns, being nailed hand and foot to the cross, sounds pretty violent to me.

[piratefish08]

24. bronze-age snuff film GOOD - swear words BAD

[backscatter712]

15. If they wanted to keep doing business,

I'd suggest doing what Rifftrax does - they do not distribute the movies themselves, just audio tracks and some software to sync them with a stock copy of the DVD.

So if this God Squad firm wanted to keep making them Flanders-Friendly, they should distribute a software program, and some data that would dynamically apply the edits - in the form of cuts, audio-bleeping of swear-words, that sort of thing, so that they don't have to distribute the movies themselves.

[pstokely]

19. There's already a DVD player that does that

Clearplay, no Blu Ray Clearplay yet

[callous taoboy]

20. Does anyone have a family-friendly "Sopranos" Box set I could borrow?

BWAAA Ha Ha Ha HA!

:rofl:

[Dappleganger]

22. Sure!

Let me go dig inside my kids' toy box for a few minutes...

[ejpoeta]

25. wasn't there a joke about that like on mad tv once? when sopranos went to tnt or something.

they showed it and it was like three minutes long without all the bad stuff. hilarious.

[pstokely]

26. Pax

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp4QVYNAFcQ

[callous taoboy]

21. Has anyone seen the edited version of "The Big Lebowski?"

They edited everything out but the various forms of "Fuck" (Fuckin' A, Fuckers, etc). It is a blast to watch, lasts about 10 minutes.

[RandomThoughts]

28. The meaning of "family friendly"

Means removing anything spiritual or supernatural in films or songs.

In metaphor that is the scorching of the sky.

[cbdo2007]

30. by watching the movie, they're still supporting whatever violence, language, nudity,

etc. that is in the movie, because they're still paying for it.

So essentially, "family friendly" means taking a stand without really taking a stand. That's what I hate about the Christians nowadays picking and choosing what is good or bad, mostly just based on what they're interested in. If you don't want to watch movies with violence and language in them, maybe Iron Man 2 isn't for you. You don't get a free pass from Jesus just because you didn't witness the violence and language, you still paid for it.