ALIEN RAIDERS
And the Decline of Video Rental Stores

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E.C. McMullen Jr.
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E.C. McMullen Jr.'s
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CEDO LOOKED LIKE PEOPLE
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ETHAN PECK)

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A SIERRA NEVADA
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ALIEN RAIDERS half sheet movie poster
Click on the poster for the movie review.

Was ALIEN RAIDERS the First Victim of the Decline of Video Rental Stores?

RAW/FEED was a Great Idea at the Wrong Time

Though intended for Home Video Rental distribution by Warner Bros. ALIEN RAIDERS took the film festival circuit tour anyway, ostensibly to drum up support for Warner's new Direct to Video arm, Raw/Feed and their 2006 line of Video Rental collections for Brick & Mortar Video Rental shops.

It was on that film festival tour that this movie Wowed and Won, in both audience and awards, leaving many to wonder if Ben Rock's ALIEN RAIDERS would get the push to go theatrical, like Universal's 2004 remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD1.

Such a distribution reset was not unique. SAW, created by then unknowns James Wan and Leigh Wannell2 did so well in limited release that Lionsgate tossed out their idea of Direct to Home Video and gave it a wide theatrical release.

Imagine how different the 21st Century Horror movie landscape would be if SAW had gone Direct to Video?

In fact, it had happened before SAW, with THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, but I'm sure you get the idea so let's not get lost in the woods.

TRIVIA

1 thus launching the multi-billion dollar careers of Zack Snyder and James Gunn.

2 thus launching a multi-billion dollar franchise in movies and careers that helped shoot Lionsgate to the top of the Minor Leagues.

3 Raw Feed was created for Warner Bros. by Writer and Producer John Shiban (THE X-FILES, SUPERNATURAL), Hollywood and Democrat Party Power Player, Tony Krantz, and Director and Writer Daniel Myrick (THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, THE OBJECTIVE).

Daniel and Ben worked together on THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, they are friends, Dan offered Ben a directing job, and of course its Who You Know not What You Know.

After all, who would you trust your money and reputation to? The friend you know and trust, or the stranger saying "Trust me."?

Anyway!

Warner Bros. took notice and wisely reset their course for ALIEN RAIDERS, removing it from their Raw/Feed3 Direct to DVD division and ramped up a theatrical release, right?

No.

This is the company that, celebrating their 75th Anniversary, merged with America Online in 1998 and, for an encore, sold off their 6 Flags theme parks.

So no, in 2009 with Major Video rental chains crashing everywhere, Warner Bros stayed committed to their Raw Feed Direct to DVD game plan.

Why?

Well let's look at what was going on then.

Warner Bros. had a 1997 exclusive video rental deal with Blockbuster Home Video.

Begin with the fact that Warner chose to keep this in play in the midst of the Video Rental stores stagger and crash in the mid 2000s. Their fall was obvious and reported upon thoroughly For Years4. No one needed Daniel the Exile to read the writing on the wall.

During its promotional 2008 film festival tour, ALIEN RAIDERS actually had the legs to sweep up awards and nominations - in film festivals where it was only meant to make a promotional appearance (!). Yet Warner Bros. still chose to throw it into - what was at that time - an obvious pit. A trilogy of errors often seen in Hollywood business decisions that creates the abyss that I call a modern day Cinema Obscura: Great movies that, due to various reasons fall by the wayside (like the ham-handed handling by a studio of "experts" that allegedly should've known better).

Such was the case with Ben Rock's ALIEN RAIDERS.

The Hollywood Video rental store chain's mismanagement, already sinking into the sea, was finally obliterated in 2005 by the Netflix kaiju, before the upstart had barely started - it wasn't even streaming.

Another Brick & Mortar chain, Movie Gallery, by their own mismanagement, bought out Hollywood Video (in a failed attempt for MG to resuscitate Itself). How poorly thought out was That move?

Hollywood Video (buried - 2005)

Tangent -

4Keep in mind that its all over the industry magazines and press about how these Video Rental places are faltering. In polls Consumers repeatedly point out that the Video rental business model is to blame.

How so? People despised Late Fees that, instead of merely charging for another night (The early Netflix model), doubled or quadrupled rental fees with added punitive charges (Additional Daily Rates or ADR). Then more nonsense fees like "Rewind" (VHS) were tacked on and every year the "new fees" list grew.

How onerous did your parents think that B.S. was? So bad that Walmart stopped Blockbuster's business growth dead by selling discs instead of renting them. Video rental store growth was hitting a wall being built by customers who would rather spend more and buy the damn movie than rent and pay all the extra tacked-on fees: Costs that often added up to more than the retail price of the movie!

Movie Gallery closed over 500 stores the following year, 2006. That was the year Netflix - which only rented discs by mail - came ashore and kicked over the crumbling sand castles of West Coast Video and Tower Record / Videos: the same year ALIEN RAIDERS got the green light.

Tower Records and Video (buried - 2006)

Without the B&M VR chain competition, Blockbuster was perfectly situated to run the table. Instead its own poor leadership put it right in the path of Netflix's behemoth after it destroyed the Tokyo of all the other chains.

2007: Netflix delivers its billionth DVD and launches its streaming service.

- The same Netflix that Blockbuster could have bought out in 2000 when it was a fast rising tadpole. -

After Blockbuster was flattened by Netflix in the rental market, Redbox kiosk (founded in 2002) landed the following year, 2007 (the year ALIEN RAIDERS went into its November December production) and proceeded to pick its bones clean. In 2008, nearly all the B&M chains went "Adios!" (via bankruptcy filings and court): The same year ALIEN RAIDERS - distributed by Warner Bros/Raw Feed, Exclusively for Home Video Rental! - said "Hello!" at the U.S. film festivals.

2008: Hulu streaming service launches.

By 2009 Blockbuster was heavily in debt with no way out and began closing stores by the hundreds. ALIEN RAIDERS is released to Home Video Rental.

2009: Netflix goes International and utterly defeats cable TV providers like Comcast in court.

West Coast Video (buried - 2009)

Movie Gallery (buried - 2010)

By the time Warner Bros. (still sticking to their 1997 exclusive video rental deal with Blockbuster) sent ALIEN RAIDERS to Direct to DVD, there were virtually no Video Rental chains left!

UPDATE 2010:

A year after WB released ALIEN RAIDERS to the barren desert of video rental chain stores, Blockbuster went from closing hundreds of stores in 2009 to closing locations by the thousands in 2010. With the company over a billion in debt, Warner Bros. chose to renew their relationship with the them with another exclusive movie release deal.

That move turned out so well that less than 2 months later, Blockbuster was de listed from the New York Stock Exchange.

That move turned out so well that a few months after that, Blockbuster filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.

UPDATE 2011:

Bankruptcy drags on as Blockbuster liquidates its hundreds of stores - all 235 of them - in Canada. Dish Network buys Blockbuster out, quickly regrets it, winds up with only 500 stores left. Blockbuster no longer exists as a corporate entity. It's now nothing more than a name on a service. Stores are individually closed to honor the obligations of their leases. Embittered franchise owners are all that's left and they have to fend for themselves.