Companies that edit movies to delete objectionable language, sex and violence have been ordered to stop (article here).
For the last few years, subscribers to companies like CleanFlicks, Play It Clean Video, and Hollygood Films have received two copies of every DVD they ordered: the studio version and the edited version. Studios objected to these companies from the start, but now a federal judge has ruled that the editing violates the copyright of the studios.
The ruling is probably a good one: the studios own the copyright to an artistic work and should have control over how its presented to the public.
But I wonder if the studios understand why edited films are so popular with their customers. Families like a lot of the stories and cool special effects of many films, but we can do without the foul language, vivid gore, and steamy sex scenes. When my kids were small, we had to say "no" to a number of video rentals where we had no problem with the basic story but didn't want to put up with the language. And it's not just about the kids: movies like "Titanic" and "Jerry McGuire" would have been just fine without the nudity.
What I don't understand is why the studios don't release their own edited version to the public. They create it for network television, basic cable, and in-flight entertainment anyway. So why not offer that version as an option through companies like Blockbuster and Netflix?
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