VCX President David Sutton told XBIZ the Cal-Vista line, which covers 63 titles in all, is one he had been looking to acquire the rights to for several years.
“NuTech got the license from Cal-Vista, and they kind of flooded the market,” Sutton said. “The price dropped on these titles, but it shouldn’t have. We’re looking to merge the Cal-Vista titles with our own and bring the price back up because there is a great market for these classic films. We want to rescue this line.”
Under the terms of the deal, VCX acquired only the rights to sell DVDs in North America, which Sutton said was the lion’s share of the market. The license for most of the titles in the line runs through 2010.
According to Sutton, who specializes in the classic market, titles from the so-called Golden Age of porn continue to sell quite well.
“All told, there are only 1,500 total classic titles our there,” he said. “You have to remember that when these films were made, they were released into a market that only had about 150 movies per year. They were a big deal, and all the stuff that went with them — obscenity trials, alleged mob ties, stuff like that — helped to fuel the demand.”
While Sutton said VCX does advertise its titles, the strongest promotion comes from the mainstream media.
“Every time VH1 or MTV does an expose, our titles are featured,” he said. “Sales go through the roof when the mainstream media does a story about the Golden Age of porn. These are really self-promoting titles.”
The response so far to the Cal-Vista line has been very positive, Sutton said.
In the meantime, VCX has been busy promoting its own line of classic titles.
In the past two months, VCX has released five classic titles as definitive two-disc editions.
The titles include “Babylon Pink,” “Devil in Miss Jones,” “Debbie Does Dallas,” “Insatiable” and “Neon Nights.”
“These are special releases,” Sutton said. “A lot goes into them, including never-before-seen footage, promotional materials and the original edited-for-cable softcore versions. We also got commentaries on the titles from film historians, actors and directors.”
Sutton said he sees the definitive two-disc editions as a way to highlight some of the stars of VCX’s classic catalog.
