The Arrow Thread

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Yes, it could very well be the case that some of these are pushed back even further into October and beyond though.

I understand that it is a bit of a nightmare from a budgeting point of view when things are delayed - especially if you're someone who pre-orders a lot. Fortunately, I've already paid for and reserved my copy of the Borowczyk boxset via the Kickstarter campaign and pre-ordered Stray Cat Rock from Arrow direct and have therefore already paid for it via Paypal too.

[Rik]

I think most peoples annoyance with the delays is if they've preordered direct from Arrow, meaning they've paid for them and maybe(as Stephen has pointed out) budgeted to suit AKA skinted themselves, so when they're delayed it's frustrating to say the least.

I was going to preorder a couple of titles from them to get the t-shirt, but the ones I'm interested in a far cheaper on Amazon, so in effect the t-shirt isn't free

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Rik

I think most peoples annoyance with the delays is if they've preordered direct from Arrow, meaning they've paid for them and maybe(as Stephen has pointed out) budgeted to suit AKA skinted themselves, so when they're delayed it's frustrating to say the least.

Not only that, but in the weeks or months between placing the preorder and the item being shipped, the money is in Arrow's bank account earning interest instead of yours. A system whereby you can choose to be charged when the item ships would be very welcome.

[Rik]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

Not only that, but in the weeks or months between placing the preorder and the item being shipped, the money is in Arrow's bank account earning interest instead of yours. A system whereby you can choose to be charged when the item ships would be very welcome.

Good point, never thought about it like that!

[SShaw]

I am perhaps a little more cynical.

I believe that Arrow has a cash flow problem.

The delays are too regular for this to be just unfortunate coincidence.

I think their business model is to announce releases well in advance, and before any significant production work has begun, in order to generate cash through preorders on their website.

I think the desperation comes across also in their regular sales, I am surprised that so many people are pre-ordering so many titles rather than waiting for the sales, and the steel book releases - which again can only be about generating cash flow.

Rabid Dogs/Kidnapped is a good example. Announced more than a year ago the recent update talks about problems finding usable elements. I'm sorry, but most companies develop their product before announcing it. They don't announce it, start taking money, and then begin the development.

This practice needs to stop, otherwise Arrow will become (remain?) a company who can't be trusted to do anything other than be late.

I for one won't be making any further preorders from Arrow until such time they start charging on the day of dispatch.

[BAKA]

I can't really see that personally. Certainly the delays, but also the removal of the early bird pre-order price promotions have pushed a lot of people into purchasing elsewhere. The timings of their big sales seem consistent with previous years too. Their load in September is massive too, they'd have to have plenty of cash reserved to press, print, distribute, promote all of those releases in such a short period. I can't imagine they'd be sponsoring a screen at FrightFest if they had such cash flow problems either.

It's not exactly like we're forced into buying direct either. I have most of Arrow's titles pre-ordered at Amazon now, because it's often cheaper.

[Nemesis]

Originally Posted by SShaw

I am perhaps a little more cynical.

I believe that Arrow has a cash flow problem.

The delays are too regular for this to be just unfortunate coincidence.

I think their business model is to announce releases well in advance, and before any significant production work has begun, in order to generate cash through preorders on their website.

I think the desperation comes across also in their regular sales, I am surprised that so many people are pre-ordering so many titles rather than waiting for the sales, and the steel book releases - which again can only be about generating cash flow.

Rabid Dogs/Kidnapped is a good example. Announced more than a year ago the recent update talks about problems finding usable elements. I'm sorry, but most companies develop their product before announcing it. They don't announce it, start taking money, and then begin the development.

This practice needs to stop, otherwise Arrow will become (remain?) a company who can't be trusted to do anything other than be late.

I for one won't be making any further preorders from Arrow until such time they start charging on the day of dispatch.

But delays are not exclusive to Arrow; all other boutique labels have been hit this year - Exposure has pushed back Stagefright several times; MoC had to push back Nashville and If; BFI had to push back the Herzog box set a month and now Arrow has had to push back its titles.

I think that there is a common denominator among most of these labels - David Mackenzie, the encoder that they regularly use. If he's in demand as he should be, then delays could be a possibility and could be impacting each other's slates.

I don't agree with the cash flow theory because Arrow has consistently delivered and in most of these cases the delay is only a month - Rabid Dogs is an exception for an obvious reason. But the sales could be a way of funding licences for new titles.


EDIT - The big mistake that I think Arrow made is that it dribbled out the delays over several days; it should have come up with one annoucement for all titles.

[BAKA]

Day Of Anger is apparently the last postcard, thanks to someone on Blu-ray.com!

[Michael Brooke]

Originally Posted by Nemesis

The big mistake that I think Arrow made is that it dribbled out the delays over several days; it should have come up with one annoucement for all titles.

I promised myself I wouldn't get too involved with this discussion (although some of the wilder speculation has been highly amusing, especially the citation of the extreme outlier Rabid Dogs as "a good example"), but I'm afraid this last bit is simply not true.

The announcements were actually all made yesterday afternoon, spread over the course of roughly an hour (feel free to check Facebook and Twitter for corroboration), precisely because Arrow didn't want to "dribble out the delays over several days"!

[Nemesis]

Originally Posted by Michael Brooke

I promised myself I wouldn't get too involved with this discussion (although some of the wilder speculation has been highly amusing, especially the citation of the extreme outlier Rabid Dogs as "a good example"), but I'm afraid this last bit is simply not true.

The announcements were actually all made yesterday afternoon, spread over the course of roughly an hour (feel free to check Facebook and Twitter for corroboration), precisely because Arrow didn't want to "dribble out the delays over several days"!

Like you, Michael, I don't want to get drawn into this too much either. But I will not accept that I told an untruth as you seem to imply: as per your suggestion, please feel free to check Arrow's facebook page on 23rd July where it says and I quote "Unfortunately, owing to complications at our manufacturing plant we have had to delay the releases of both Branded to Kill and Bound until August 18th."

23rd July was three days ago; the remainder of the titles were officially delayed yesterday.

So, please explain to me how "dribbling out" is not true?

And while I don't wish to split hairs, but is it really sensible to make several announcements over one hour, when one alone would have done?