Picture This: Surprise: Afi's Top 100 Movies Were Tailored For Video And Dvd Audiences

STAR BILLING: Who says home video is in the back of the studio bus? For as long as we can remember, home video executives have groused that their operations get no respect, despite generating wholesale revenue of more than $8 billion last year. Well, the American Film Institute (AFI) balloting for the top 100 movies of all time has made a hash of those complaints.
Whether or not your favorite made the list, one thing is perfectly clear: The results were designed solely for cassette and DVD exploitation. Fewer than 20 of the AFI winners were released from the starting point of 1912 through 1939, long considered Hollywood's richest year.
Movies from the '80s and '90s, never considered masterpieces, are right up there with silent classic "Birth Of A Nation," which means the viewing public should have no problem identifying features they have or haven't seen‹but want to own. Forget the back of the bus: Home video is now seated in back of the driver.
In hindsight, this should not have come as a surprise. After all, AFI's criteria for winning selections included video sales and rental figures, TV syndication revenue, and box office, judged equally with critical recognition, historical significance, and awards. Commercial considerations were key to gaining Hollywood support. No fools they, the studios saw the ballot and the publicity surrounding CBS' three-hour telecast of the winners as a major sales opportunity.
AFI consultant Gene Silverman, a distributor who later became president of PolyGram Video, agrees "absolutely" that the path to the top 100 was laid out for VCR households. "Among consumers, it has generated an awful lot of talk," he adds. That's translated to business. Deluxe Video Services, which dubs and delivers cassettes for Fox, Universal, Columbia TriStar, and Paramount, says it spotted an uptick in catalog orders immediately after the June 16 broadcast. One title seen coming off Deluxe's assembly line: Columbia TriStar's "Lawrence Of Arabia" (1962), the fourth-place finisher.
Warner Home Video, a Technicolor Video Services customer, wasted no time with a full-page ad in The New York Times and elsewhere listing 33 titles it owns or distributes. The studio's "Citizen Kane" (1941) and "Casablanca" (1942) finished at Nos. 1 and 2. AFI, Hollywood, and the Video Software Dealers Assn. agreed on a joint top 100 promotion, but Silverman says that doesn't preclude efforts like Warner's. "We're very supportive of what they're doing individually."
Amid the hoo-ha, DVD was not ignored. NetFlix.com announced the "immediate availability" of 35 digitized features. Indicative of the voting, half of the DVD titles were made after 1970, half from the mid-'20s through the '60s. AFI, which gives courses in digital technology, thinks DVD should have a role in its next sales foray. Later this year, the organization will release DVD versions of the CBS program and the 10 made-for-cable documentaries airing on Time Warner's TNT, says a source. "We're close to a distribution deal. We can't say more," he adds.
Silverman wants continued emphasis on the top 100: "All of us should be encouraging future promotions to stimulate sales and rentals. Isn't this what we've been searching for? It's an ongoing awareness campaign." Old and not-quite-so-old movies might do the trick.
DVDOINGS: Paramount Home Video reportedly has told Deluxe Video Services to ready its packaging lines for the studio's first DVD titles. Deluxe, already cranking out millions of VHS editions of "Titanic," says it has no idea what titles to expect or when.
Due from Fox Lorber Aug. 11: "Stalingrad," "The Three Musketeers," "The Four Musketeers," Akira Kurosawa's "Ran," "Dead Heart," "In The Realm Of The Senses," Jean-Luc Godard's "My Life To Live," "Lou Reed: Rock And Roll Heart," "Emmanuelle 2," and "Buffet Froid." All are $29.98, except the two-disc "Stalingrad" and "Ran," at $34.98 each.
Republic Pictures launches its "Silver Screen Classics" line with "High Noon" and "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers" at $24.98 . . . Buena Vista Home Entertainment ships "Judge Dredd," "Phantoms," and "Titanica" Aug. 18 at $29.99 list.