Editing Direct-to-video (section)

==Reasons for releasing direct to video==
A production studio may decide not to generally release a TV show or film for several possible reasons: a low budget, a lack of support from a TV network, negative reviews, its controversial nature, that it may appeal to a small [[niche market]], or a simple lack of general public interest. Studios, limited in the annual number of films to which they grant cinematic releases, may choose to pull the completed film from the theaters, or never exhibit it in theaters at all. Studios then generate revenue through video sales and rentals.<ref name="barlow2005-19">{{cite book | title = The DVD Revolution: Movies, Culture, and Technology | last = Barlow | first = Aaron | year = 2005 | publisher = Praeger/Greenwood | isbn = 0-275-98387-0 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/dvdrevolutionmov0000barl/page/19 19] | quote = Films that flop in theaters or which are never theatrically released can prove profitable through longer-term video and DVD sales. | url = https://archive.org/details/dvdrevolutionmov0000barl/page/19 }}</ref> Direct-to-video films are marketed mostly through colorful box covers, instead of advertising, and are not covered by publications like ''[[Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide]]''.{{r|alvarez19941230}}

The first direct-to-video release to go into production was ''E. Nick: A Legend in His Own Mind'' in 1984 produced by [[CineTel Films]].<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|date=November 28, 1983|page=1|title=Premiere made-for-home-video feature firmed for production|last=Kleiman|first=Rena}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=E. Nick |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0302517/ |website=IMDb |access-date=30 January 2024}}</ref>

Direct-to-video releases have historically carried a stigma of lower technical or artistic quality than theatrical releases.<ref name=Goodale>{{Cite news | last =Goodale | first =Gloria | title ='Straight to Video' Picks up Steam | newspaper =[[Christian Science Monitor]] | date =October 23, 1998 }}</ref> Some films released direct-to-video are films which have been completed but were never released in movie theaters. This delay often occurs when a studio doubts a film's commercial prospects to justify a full cinema release or because its [[release window]] has closed. In film industry slang, such films are referred to as having been "vaulted".<ref name=Bernstein>{{cite news|last = Bernstein | first = Adam | title = Silent Films Speak Loudly for Hughes | newspaper = [[The Washington Post]] | at=TVWeek p. Y06 | date = 2004-12-12 }}</ref> Like [[B-movie]]s shown in [[drive-in theater]]s in the mid-20th century, direct-to-video films employ both former stars and young actors who may become stars later.{{r|alvarez19941230}}

Direct-to-video releases can be done for films which cannot be shown theatrically due to controversial content, or because the cost involved in a theatrical release is beyond the releasing company.<ref name=UsaToday>{{Cite news | title =More Films Jump Straight to DVD | newspaper =[[USA Today]] | at=Section: Life, p. 03d | date =August 6, 2003 }}</ref>

Animated sequels and feature-length episodes of animated series are also often released in this fashion. The first feature-length animated film to be released direct-to-video in the United States was ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation]]'' in 1992.<ref name="toon">{{Citation | title = VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever 2000 | chapter = Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation | chapter-url = http://www.movieretriever.com/movies/1083557/Tiny-Toon-Adventures:-How-I-Spent-My-Vacation | last = Connors | first = Martin | author2 = Jim Craddock | publisher = Thomson Gale | year = 2000 | location = Farmington Hills | page = [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781578590421/page/923 923] | isbn = 978-1-57859-042-1 | url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781578590421/page/923 }}</ref> The practice of creating and releasing regular fiction specifically for video did not really take off until 1994, with [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]]'s ''[[The Return of Jafar]]'' and [[Universal Pictures Home Entertainment|Universal]]'s ''[[The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure]]'', neither of which was intended to hit theaters at any point in its production.<ref name=UsaToday/> Several of the animated sequels, like [[MGM Home Entertainment|MGM]]'s ''[[The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue]]'' from 1998, have sparked criticism due to the deliberate neglect of the original source material by creative content limits<ref>{{cite news |last=Ellin |first=Harlene |date=1998-12-24 |title=The mystery of 'NIMH II': Why did they even bother? |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1998/12/24/the-mystery-of-nimh-ii-why-did-they-even-bother/ |access-date=2025-03-30 |work=Chicago Tribune |page=7B |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> as these franchises will abruptly discontinue. Some sequels, including those based on ''[[An American Tail]]'' and ''[[Balto (film)|Balto]]'' (both by [[Universal Pictures Home Entertainment|Universal]]), have suffered a great deal of distribution challenges and frequent basic changes, causing them to be delayed until further notice.<ref>{{cite web |title=Production length and costs |url=https://www.animationsource.org/balto/en/articles/Production_length_and_costs/84798.html&id_film%3D11 |website=animationsource.org |access-date=May 31, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161231021211/http://www.animationsource.org/balto/en/articles/Production_length_and_costs/84798.html&id_film=11 |archive-date=December 31, 2016}}</ref> Several other film series will be continuous if they become more successful, like ''[[Scooby-Doo]]'' for instance (their video debut ''[[Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island]]'' became one of the best-selling DTV films of all time.<ref>{{cite web | last=Delgado | first=Mariana | title=Why 'Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island' Is One of the Best & Scariest Films of the Franchise | website=Collider | date=September 1, 2021 | url=https://collider.com/best-scariest-scooby-doo-movie-zombie-island-reason-why/ | access-date=April 26, 2024}}</ref>).

By 1994, an average of six new direct-to-video films appeared each week. [[Erotic thriller]]s and [[Motion Picture Association film rating system#MPA film ratings|R-rated]] [[action film]]s were the two most successful genres.{{r|alvarez19941230}} [[Family film]]s  became more important than such genres later in the 1990s, as retailers stocked more copies of blockbuster films instead of more titles. According to the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'':<ref name=matzer19970416>{{cite news|title=Direct-to-Video Family Films Are Hitting Home|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-04-16-fi-49283-story.html |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=4 June 2011|first=Marla|last=Matzer |date=1997-04-16}}</ref>

{{quote|Often, the downfall of live-action family films at the box office is their strength on video. Their appeal is to families with young children, who may go to only a couple of movies per year but who will watch many videos multiple times. The teens and young adults who drive blockbuster box office statistics stay away from family movies.}}

Some [[horror film]]s that are unsuccessful in theaters, like ''[[Witchcraft (1988 film)|Witchcraft]]'', begin successful direct-to-video series.{{r|alvarez19941230}} Studios may also release sequels or spin-offs to a successful live action film straight to DVD, due to a lack of budget in comparison to the original.

===Pornography===
During the [[Golden Age of Porn]] in the 1970s, many pornographic films were released in theatres, some of which became some of the highest-grossing films in their release years, and in the pornography industry altogether. Toward the 1980s, porn began to shift to video release, because video allowed the producers to work on extremely low budgets and dispense with some film production elements, like scripts, and the increased privacy and convenience of the format change were preferred by the target market. During the late 1990s and onward, [[Pornography|pornographers]] began releasing content on the Internet.