Did You Hear? 'Morgans' Getting Early DVD Release

The Sarah Jessica Parker-Hugh Grant romantic comedy Did You Hear About the Morgans? didn't do what it was supposed to do. With a $58 million budget, the flick has only made about that much in return, which is better than not doing that, although it raises a very appropriate question: Why the hell did that movie cost $60 million? Slumdog Millionaire cost $15 million and they shot it in India! The answer to that question, of course, is the film's two stars, who, it's safe to say, aren't movie stars at this point. Sure, Parker has the Sex and the City sequel but look beyond that and it's a graveyard. Nobody cares. Hugh Grant, an actor I used to respect before this kind of drivel was all he got out of bed to make, has been very inconsistent. It's a long way from About a Boy. So because these "stars" aren't getting it done at the box office, Sony is pushing the DVD and Blu-ray release a lot earlier than normal (March 16th), either in hopes that you'll remember the commercials for the theatrical release more favorably and be suckered into renting or buying it or because the studio hopes to just get it off the books sooner than later. Normally, DVDs are released 122 days after the theatrical opening at a bare minimum. That standard is roughly four months, although it's changing before our eyes. There was hullabaloo last year when Paramount shuffled G.I. Joe into stores after only three months and did the same thing with its flop The Goods. It pissed off exhibitors, but I guess it didn't rankle other studios too much, because here we are. Again. Sony had the dimwitted idea to let people with a Bravia HDTV rent Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs on VOD for about $20 a month before the DVD was released, and the same studio is doing it again here. Morgans will be out 88 days after its first Friday in theaters. I doubt it will make of an impact for this film, which should come and go as quickly if not faster when it's more expensive than it did at your neighborhood cineplex, but a closer look at the upcoming DVD releases shows that both Sherlock Holmes and Alvin and the Chipmunks are due out just over three months after their opening dates (March 30th), and the same goes for Old Dogs and The Princess and the Frog (March 9th and 16th, respectively). So it's here to stay, I think.