MovieChat Forums > Wandafuru raifu (1999) Discussion > why is this DVD so expensive?

why is this DVD so expensive?


on Amazon it's going for $63. I bought it for $20 about 3 years ago. Does anyone know why it tripled in price? I was going to buy it for some friends as a gift, but don't want to spend $63.00 and i doesn't seem to exist on ebay.

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It's probably so expensive because it's out of print.

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there's no indication that is apparent. How can digital video be out of print. Strange.

thanks for your response.

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Well, the first indication that the DVD is out of print is just how expensive it is and how the sources that list it for sale (eg, Amazon) cite independent vendors, not the DVD company.

The second indication that it is out of print is that many of those independent vendors describe it as such.

Further research, moreover, shows that the company that released the DVD, New Yorker Films, went out of business in 2009, thereby rendering all of their products out of print. New Yorker Films was later rescued by Aladdin Distribution LLC, but that company did not revive the entire library of New Yorker Films, so the "After Life" DVD remains out of print (as indicated by a visit to newyorkerfilms.com, which redirects inquiries about purchasing the "After Life" DVD to outside sources).

Generally speaking, though, the first indication is enough: if a DVD is only sold by independent vendors at a very high price, then that's because it is out of print.

As for how digital video goes out of print, well, it happens all the time for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, rights revert back to a different company (which is usually why certain Criterion Collection and anime DVDs go out of print); other times, companies simply stop making a certain DVD after a few years because it fails to make a proper profit; in some cases, including this one, the DVD company itself goes out of business (and as in this case, sometimes the home video rights to a particular film don't get picked up by another company, so no new home video copies of the film get made at all).

I know your pain: I tragically don't own a copy of Mike Leigh's "Secrets and Lies" because it too is out of print.

Anyway, while it's still pricey, many of the independent vendors one can access through amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and ebay.com sell used copies of "After Life" for a pretty reasonable price. Good luck!

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