Wow, way to slap the collective face of people that purchased your product...

Kudos actually, it takes moxie to do this straight faced!

I hope that they'll:

* Reconsider doing a swap
* Pull the Dick-and-Jane versioned subs from retail

It's a small film that appeals to people who'll really value having subtitles that have an over-sixth-grade reading level. Going above and beyond will add a lot of value to their overall brand - I'm assuming they'll have other cool, quirky films coming down the pipeline, and wouldn't they like to be seen as heroic distributors who lovingly care for their titles and fans?

That said, it's heartening that they listened, quickly realized their error and brought back the proper subtitles. Yay!

They should offer an exchange program - that way, those who did not send in their crap versions can sell them for profit on eBay a few years later as a collector's item.

In fact, I'd be willing to bet that there are enough stoner hipsters out there who, if faced with this possibility, would rather keep their version and buy the real version so they can have ironic viewing parties.

I'd be one of those hipsters - but only if I'm given the choice to send the old one back. If not, I'd be all indignant and not want to give them any more of my money.

Hint, HINT.

One more case where the early adopter loses.

Heh looks like the early adopters will be forced to pirate a movie they already purchased.

@post_break: That's exactly what I thought of. Acknowledging the fact that fans would not like it is even worse.

That's okay, they don't have to provide the subs, the internet will take over where the producers leave off and then some. $5 says everything you want (including 1080p rip) is already on news/torrents/etc. and can be downloaded faster than buying the original.

Why do these companies keep shooting themselves in the foot? Some sort of God complex?

I don't know how much it costs a company to offer digital copies but couldn't they at least offer that to customers with a proof of purchase when the new version becomes available?

@Trai_Dep: "That said, it's heartening that they listened, quickly realized their error and brought back the proper subtitles. Yay! "

Actually, they listened, said "oh good, we can sell two products off of the same movie." Step 3 = profit.

@shepd: Or, for those who want to buy the original (or already have), and already have their HTPC network set up and routinely rip their DVD's anyway in order to get rid of all of the crap and to compress them, can just download the subtitles -- in most any language -- and drop 'em in the same directory as the movie file, and choose any version of the subtitles that they want to.

Anyone think they were trying to catch the Twilight crowd with the dumbed down version?

I ran (as a projectionist) this film last year, and it is a great vampire movie, with some great dialog.

For example:

Boy: How old are you?
Girl (vampire): I'm 12, but I have been 12 for a very long time...

This is absolutely unacceptable. To make people who already paid for a movie with f*cked up subtitles pay for that same movie again is abhorrent.

You think this is bad, pity the poor fans of The Mary Tyler Moore Show who bought the first four seasons individually. Fox is now going to release the complete series next, forcing those whom have bought the first four seasons to buy them again as the only way to get the final three. The remaining seasons will not be released as single seasons, or even as a unit. You buy the whole shebang or nothing. On Amazon, it currently has a 199 one votes, and 34 five star votes by the company plants. So if you look at it that way, those who have to buy just one disc over again, have it pretty good....by comparison.

I wonder how this will impact Netflix. I have this in my queue and I don't want to get the crappy version. Had I already purchased the DVD, however, I'd be pretty pissed off. Hopefully they come to their senses and at least allow swaps.

EECB to Mark Cuban?

I want to know why they felt the need to release the DVD with new idiot-proof subtitles in the first place? Do we really want to support a company that thinks so lowly of their customers?

Great film though but I'm glad I didn't buy the DVD and will certainly think twice before buying anything from Magnet/Magnolia again.

@am84: that's teh thing supposedly netflix has copies with proper subs on them. I voiced all of this to magnet in my email plus teh fact that the "narrative subtitles" option on the DVD does nothing the subititle track is just blank.

Note to Magnet: NOT A GOOD SOLUTION. Now all the people that were pissed about the crappy subtitles will be pissed they have to check for small print to be sure they're actually getting the movie they want.

I imagine a lot of "damaged" discs will come in and a lot of "trades" will happen in the next few weeks.

I wonder how many copies of the bad version were purchased by Netflix. Since they're probably not going to replace those any time soon, I'm out of luck. I have no interest in owning this movie, but I've really looked forward to seeing it. In fact, the version with the lousy subtitles is probably sitting in my mailbox right now.

Netflix, with all their buying clout, should definitely demand that the distributor replace all the defective copies they purchased.

What idiot decided that it was a good idea to release a version of a movie to video that was different from the theatrical release? Yes, they release unrated and director's cut versions all the time, but those are clearly marked, and in most cases, the option exists to watch the theatrical version OR the unrated/director's cut version.

A subtitle file takes up almost no space relative to the capacity of a DVD or BR disc. Why not include both versions? The only conclusion I can come to is that these people wanted to reach a wider than normal audience for a foreign film and assumed that the audience was stupid. So they "fixed" the subtitles so they wouldn't be so wordy, and they didn't include the theatrical version of the subtitles as an option because it would have been "confusing" to see "English" and "English (theatrical)" as options in the subtitle menu.

Why did a second version of the subtitles exist at all? It means they put time, effort and money into wrecking the DVD release.

This really pisses me off. I've been looking forward to this movie for months.

Hey, Magnolia, here's some advice to heed in the future: People who need their subtitles dumbed down DO NOT BUY foreign films with subtitles.

@logicalnoise: We just watched a Netflix copy of the film last week and it definitely had the "dumbed-down" subs.

It also defaulted to the horrible English-dubbed version of the film which is a separate pet peeve of mine for foreign-language movies.

Reason number 3,234,653,958 why people pirate movies.

Can they not add the theatrical subtitles to the Blu-Ray version via download? I thought that's the sort of thing BD-Life was for.

Dumbed down subtitles? If you're that dumb, you're not going to watch a movie with subtitles in the first place.

@mbd: Excuse me, I think you mean:

Oskar: "What age are you?"
Eli: "One and two."

Aaaaand scene.

@Ben Miner:

Moar like "This is absolutely unacceptable. Make people who already paid for a movie with f*cked up subtitles pay for that same movie again? Bittorrent."

@pulsar0510:

hey man, I enjoyed those dumbed down subtitles myself

i remember sitting on my couch, eating 4 hot pockets and watching the best of NASCAR crashes 2008 on my tv's PIP at the same time

I know that most stores won't let you return opened DVDs but couldn't the early versions be exchanged? Just call your early, already bought versions "defective" and let the store and supplier deal with it. If they have a problem on their end, let them deal with Magnet.

@Dan Seitz:
Sounds like what I would do if I had bought the bad subtitle version.

I bet people will just pirate the newer copy rather than purchase another blu-ray disc. What do they go for these days, $50?

@balthisar: Yeah... cause so many people are going to do that.

Did anyone here actually buy the movie or is everyone just defending a ghost?

@wallspray: @wallspray: I for one am defending a vampire....

They altered the movie. Shouldn't the owner of the film sue them? This sounds the same as religious people buying dvds and reediting them for families.

@wallspray: bought it first day via amazon. and unless I hear something by the end of teh week amazon is going to get a returned movie marked as defective.

@Cocotte: I would bet sales took a dive too once word got out that people weren't getting what they thought they were.

This is intriguing though. It could become a whole new business model for Hollywood. You could draw up two different contracts, one for the actor's likeness and one for the actor's voice. If they want too much money for their voice, dub over their lines in the film with some unknown VA! Ka-ching! Nobody will ever be able to tell the difference.

@Kensuke Nakamura: Great comment. Supposedly this disc supports Bluray profile 2.0 features, so I think in theory you could do that very thing (you'd have to have a BD-Live capable player though, such as PS3).

Now, whether they choose to do that sort of thing is another matter entirely.

@balthisar:

Man, that's a lot of work and violates the rule that paying more should get you more. When paying more gets you less, you've been ripped off.

Paying for media should entitle you to the same privileges as pirating it. The moment it doesn't, the producers have kicked themselves square in the nuts (is that physically possible?). Companies that don't learn this are doomed to fail after a long period of Zombification.

@logicalnoise: well thats dishonest too, as it is not really defective.

Does Amazon not have a "I don't want this so I am returning it" option?

This is absolutely appalling, how is changing the subtitles to a movie and releasing it to the public without telling anyone NOT FRAUD!?

Similar situation but in the car parts industry:

We screwed up the alternator pulley and made it too big, you can now buy the fixed version but everyone who bought the messed up one is screwed because we won't do an exchange.

??????????

@wallspray: Sure it's defective. It mentions nowhere on the package that the subtitles are changed from the theatrical version. Just because it's messed up ON PURPOSE doesn't make it any less defective.

@wallspray: nothing on the packaging indicated inferior subtitles that were not from the theactrical presentation. In my opinion that's defective.

I pre-ordered via amazon. I sent an email today to Magnet/Magnolia and Mark Cuban saying if they do not replace the defectively subtitled discs for those who bought it unknowingly (i.e., MINE), I'll never pay to watch a Magnolia feature in the theater or in my home again, and I'll encourage everyone I know to do likewise. Don't p*ss me off if you want my money.

@logicalnoise: You are using faulty logic. I am by no means saying it's right to change the subtitles, but changed subtitles does not make a DVD defective.

Movies are often changed between theatrical versions and DVD sales. Now they are often small changes, but either way they do not print on the packaging that there are changes, regardless of how subtle.

@clyde55:

OMG!!! IT'S BAAAACK!!! YAAAAY REPLY!

Okay, now that I've got that out of my system...

Warner Bros. did the same thing with the Dark Knight deluxe edition soundtrack. Promised was previously unreleased material, but it's not integrated into the original soundtrack. Basically, all they did was slap it onto another disc so you are forced to buy the first soundtrack again.

I really wanted it, but when I found this out, I decided NOT to buy it. I had bought the Sweeney Todd film soundtrack and then the deluxe edition, but they expanded it and inserted the songs that weren't on the first one in their proper order. I didn't mind replacing it, as it was actually different.

Since WB didn't do this, I ain't buying it twice. If I want to hear the music that's not on the soundtrack I'll have to watch the movie again. (That won't be too much burden since it's my favorite, heh!)

@clyde55: Or the people who bought the DVD release of either WKRP in Cincinnati or Beverly Hills 90210, only to find that the original soundtracks of then-popular songs had been replaced with no-name songs whose rights were cheaper.

I am not these people. However, I stand firm in the belief that having questionable taste in TV shows doesn't mean you deserve this treatment.

That is all. I'm going to watch more Forever Knight on Hulu now.

Don't judge me.

To Wallspray:

After hearing my friends rant and rave about how great this movie was, I bought the Blu-Ray disk from Borders for $35. I didn't see it in the theaters and when I watched the disk, I thought the movie was completely awful - long stretches of the dialogue make no sense whatsoever. I was about to just dismiss it and think that maybe I just don't understand Swedish movies when I found the Icons of Fright article - and I became enraged.

I wrote Magnolia (no response). I tried to take my disk back to Borders and the assistant manager refused to take it back. My argument was basically that the movie was defective since it was so different from the theatrical version and theatrical reviews from critics and friends prompted me to buy it in the first place. But no dice.

I want my money back so I can order the UK or OZ versions and actually understand the movie!!!!

@wallspray: Imagine it was a film where 1/8 (the good 1/8) of the lines were removed from the audio channel. Same diff for this audience, since most rely on the subtitles.

@wallspray: this a similar issue to the outrage of the changed sountrack on some tv shows. teh studios couldn't or wouldn't acquire teh old music rights and just swapped them changing the experience and providing a different product than was advertised.