The Extras
The Extras
Moviezyng & the Warner Archive 17th Anniversary Sale
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Sale starts 12 pm Central Time (US), March 23rd. Get the details on Moviezyng's new and improved website from Blair Zykan of Allied Vaughn Entertainment. Moviezyng is the exclusive retailer for the Warner Archive's 17th Anniversary sale, and Blair provides all the details you need to know to shop the over 600 titles that will be available. Blair also explains how Moviezyng is being rebuilt as a collector-first store for physical media. Blair explains how the new site improves search and browsing, how shipping and rewards change the real cost of buying, and updates us on street date delays.
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Moviezyng's Exclusive Warner Archive 17th Anniversary 4 for $54 Sale runs from March 23-31. Additional titles for just $13.50 each! Be sure to use Archive17 at checkout to get your discount. See the Moviezyng website for more details.
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Hi Tim Millard here. Big news, the Warner Archive is having a 17th anniversary sale starting today and running to the end of March 2026. If you'd like to get more information on how you can get involved in that sale? Well, my guest today is Blair Zychan of Allied Vaughn Entertainment, and he's going to take us through that process, how you can order through their consumer website, moviesing.com, and tell us a little bit about the sale and the new revamped website and how it's so much easier for consumers to navigate and order. And now they have a rewards program as well. So we'll get into all that with Blair in our conversation here. Blair, it's good to have you on the podcast. It's great to be here, Tim. I so appreciate you uh inviting me on. You talk to George all the time. I talk to George on the podcast all the time, but we don't really get on the podcast and talk. You and I sometimes talk behind the scenes as well. But it's good to have you on so that people can meet you, see you, and hear about all the great changes that are happening at MovieZing. Uh and I did want to talk about that before we dive into the Warner Archive sale, which I know is why a lot of people are tuning in right now. So tell us a little bit about this consumer retail site, MovieZing.
Collector-First Site Rebuild
Allied Vaughn And Warner Archive
Blair ZykanWell, MovieZing uh started about 10 years ago. And its original purpose was to be able to provide studios and filmmakers and content providers who may not have their own direct-to-consumer operation, provide them a web store that they could direct traffic to, and one which could they could work collaboratively with to create sales and promotions for their particular titles. But one of the interesting pieces or evolutions over the last 10 years has been a combination of where the collector has become such a more vital component of the overall uh audience and uh fan base for physical media, combined with, let's say, the big box stores, uh dot-com stores, uh maybe not putting as much attention or emphasis toward physical media. And so starting about six months ago, we underwent a tremendous refresh uh of the moviezing store. And if somebody has not been to moviesingc.com over the last 60 days, well, you haven't seen MovieZing. Yeah. Uh and uh that's that's a little bit of what I guess what we're here to talk about today uh is uh some of the uh changes that we made in order to really make it a collector first uh destination.
Tim MillardRight. Kind of to go back to the Allied Vaughn part of this, I know Allied Vaughn has a relationship with Warner Archive. Tell us a little bit about that.
Search Tools And Catalog Segments
Blair ZykanWell, we've been partners with uh uh with the Warner Archive Collection since its inception in 2009. And uh I was a part of the company uh then and was uh a participant in the work that went into the first 150 titles that launched on March 23rd, 2009. And now, of course, we've got over 4,000 titles both in 4K, Blu-ray, DVD, box sets, you name it. Uh we've got uh you know just uh an amazing array of uh historical films and even more contemporary products that uh uh that are available under a license that uh Allied Vaughn operates in conjunction with Warner Archive. And uh MovieZing is a wholly owned subsidiary of Allied Vaughn Entertainment.
Tim MillardWell, one of the things I noticed is that in the last three or four years, it feels like the relationship between Allied Vaughn and the Warner Archive has gotten much stronger, much deeper.
Blair ZykanIt's been a terrific partnership throughout the 17 years. Uh I think what consumers see is the um the types of titles that are being introduced, uh harvesting deeper parts of the collection, bringing out restored versions, such as the searchers uh on 4K, uh, but also uh wonderful box sets. And uh one of the things that I'm excited about as well is all the animation, the classic animation titles that were coming out now. So not only uh shop from uh current titles, uh, but a really exciting uh uh slate of titles that uh that uh will be coming out over the course of uh 2026.
Tim MillardYeah, I think one of the frustrations that I've noticed, you know, when talking about the Warner Archive with the fans is there is no Warner Archive website you go to, you know, where you could say, okay, I want to look at for the back catalog or I want to search for this or that. And I think Moviesing has kind of moved into a position where you can do that, where people who want to search uh the current releases, but also the back catalog can go to your website there at MovieZing and you know, type it in the search bar and find it. And it can, it can basically bring up the whole back catalog, right?
Replicated Vs On-Demand Discs
Blair ZykanUh, Ken. One of the things that we tried to do with uh the uh the rebuild of MovieZing, and I talked about making it really a collector first destination. And we we worked with collectors, uh, did surveys. I've personally spoken with probably 500 collectors over the last eight or nine years, and especially as uh as we were looking to uh redo the site uh over the last year. And uh collectors uh shared with us really good information on what they want to see. And navigation and discovery is one of the most important. And so uh, one, the search engine that operates movies in uh does a great job of uh really pulling the right kinds of titles based on the search terms. Well you're searching on titles, you can search on uh on actors and actresses, you can search on brands, but even more important than that, uh, we went through and took the Warner catalog overall and have segmented it into the three areas that collectors want to look at. So we've got uh Warner Archive is its own segmentation, the Warner Home Entertainment titles, they have a section, as well as the uh the reissued titles that uh we've been working with Warner Brothers over the last uh year and a half to bring out products that had gone uh, let's say out of print and now have migrated over uh to uh Ally Vaughn Entertainment. And there too, you can uh navigate. And so we're making it as easy as we possibly can for that collector to find what they're looking for, but even more than that, uh to uh browse and discover titles that they didn't necessarily know were available on physical media, but now they can find them all at MovieZing. And probably one of the key pieces there is uh because uh MovieZing carries every title, not just every title of uh for the Warner Archive collection, but we carry it in stock because we ship straight from the Allied Vaughn Entertainment warehouse, and that gives us a chance to uh ship more quickly uh as well as uh in stock all the time.
Tim MillardRight. We'll come back to that because I did want to ask you about some of that shipping, but while you were talking, it just triggered in my mind. So, for example, one of the titles that went out of stock, Looney Tunes Platinum Collection, was that one that you helped us get back into stock here because it was being priced way out of the range of of uh of the realm of collectors, and now it's available again for under $30.
Blair ZykanUh you're correct in that. And that's uh that's an example of titles that uh have gone out of print and just didn't make sense uh to distribute in the old model uh and where we're we're able to uh work with Warner Brothers and uh in a way that uh brings those titles back to life.
Tim MillardAnd if I recall correctly from some of our previous conversations, I mean this new model is really helping keep the price down as well uh because you can do it at a cheaper, more cost-efficient way.
Blair ZykanAaron Powell The way we operate, and and I it'd be important to say, I think these titles that uh uh that we're bringing out, our whole effort is what we call a minimum inventory and make it very efficient. We don't fill warehouses, multiple warehouses with uh giant inventories. Uh we run um uh a lean operation from the standpoint of uh keeping those titles available. You balance both the inventory that you have on hand so that you can ship very quickly, uh, but not have so much inventory where uh it becomes a uh a factor that could influence or lead to uh higher prices.
Tim MillardYeah. And let's lay to rest maybe a myth with the Warner Archive where people say, well, that is that a made-on-demand type service? And and what does that mean? And is the quality then as good as the regular quality? Maybe you could explain that for fans.
Blair ZykanSure. All of the Blu-rays and 4Ks uh for the Warner Archive collection and the new releases that we come out, that's all replicated product. Yeah. Uh but we operate as a very efficient operation in terms of our sourcing and as well as how we manage inventory, manage shipping, so that um the goal is always in stock, always available. Yeah. Uh that said, uh, there are titles in Blu-rays, and people know Allied Vaughn Entertainment as also having its own on-demand manufacturing capability. And of course, we do have that. And we manufacture uh there are titles uh for studios that we manufacture on demand as Blu-rays, as well as DVDs. And I know sometimes uh the uh consumers maybe place a higher value on a replicated product versus a uh a manufactured on-demand or recorded product. Our guarantee is the same for both. I've been involved in the with the company in the manufacturing processes for uh 25 years now. Uh so you get a feel over 25 years to uh uh what are the uh the reliability rates and all of those. And our performance metrics for DVDs and Blu-rays on recorded or versus replicated, both perform very well. We provide the same guarantee. If it doesn't play, if it has a defect, we take care of it. Uh and uh so the customers can purchase uh with confidence, regardless of the manufacturing method.
Tim MillardYeah, and I think uh you since you brought that up, you're a large enough company that you can have an email or or somebody who can answer any questions that there might be if there is a defect on any product. And and that has happened, and I think you've put the the email out there for the uh people to reach out to you, and that's a nice thing to have with the larger company of Allied Bond.
New Homepage And Zing Rewards
Blair ZykanWhat you have with um with Movie Zang, we're a collector first uh web store, but we serve both casual, casual buyers as well as the uh the ardent collectors. Our philosophy is it's right or we make it right. Uh, and that's stated right on our site in terms of our our guarantee. But we bring the power and the knowledge that comes from being Allied Vaughn Entertainment, who works with 350 studios uh and operates uh uh you know both the manufacturing facility and warehousing. But we also bring with that Movie Zing, which we're not a large big box web store, uh, but we have 37,000, uh, 38,000 titles. Uh but what we provide there is the expertise that comes from being a part of Allied Vaughn, but also the personal service that comes from both Allied and MovieZing being a 100% employee-owned company. Everyone that the consumer interacts with is an owner, and we act like it and we care like it. And where that's part of our mission is to take great care of that uh collecting community. Yeah, yeah.
Tim MillardWell, let's go back now to talk a little bit about this website. I have it up. I'm looking at it. One of the first things I really like is it's just so much easier than the old website because you're using the big, the big tiles to you know to drive people to the main interest areas. You've got your current sales.
Four For 54 Sale And Shipping
Blair ZykanWe're trying a whole lot of new things with the reintroduction of movie sing. Part of it's celebrating a totally fresh new new site. And part of it is we want to create the collector's favorite place to shop. Uh and we wanted to go uh take a totally different approach and say, hey, let's be a place where the collector looks first and let's uh let's reward them. And then not only that, uh speaking of reward, uh, we uh launched in conjunction with the new movie Zing a Zing Rewards program uh where every purchase earns points. And the goal there is, let's say, let's suppose you buy you buy one of those pre-orders titles. Every dollar you spend earns points. And the goal is to make it so that uh that when titles are not necessarily a title that isn't on sale, the collector can then use those points and still be able to get a uh a discount on that title. Uh, with the overall goal being uh be a part of uh movie zing and a part of the Zing Rewards, and you'll never pay full price again. Nice, nice.
Tim MillardThe other thing I like about this is you've got this whole tone that you've created. We're making physical media fun again. I love that because it is fun. I mean, we're here to have fun and collect and own our favorite TV movies animation. Then you've got uh some of the top sellers or uh or titles that you want to promote. And then lower you have the month's top 10. I like that. Makes it easy, nice big tiles so that you uh you can see everything there and you're not fighting through some groceries or other items that you really aren't interested in because you're here for physical media. And then if you scroll down, you do have our good friend George on here. You got a little clip from George uh and and some of the others who you work with. So I'm enjoying the new redesign. I like it. Now let's talk specifically about this Warner Archive anniversary sale. Tell us what you have planned.
Worldwide Shipping And Preorders
Blair ZykanWe have taken the theme of past sales, uh, and this is uh a four for 54 sale. Those that have participated in previous sales, well, they'll notice that uh it's a a little bit of a price increase over the previous year. However, a couple of important pieces to note. Last year it was a four for 49, and the shipping cost was under the old moviesing store, and uh the shipping cost had an incremental uh increase uh on a per disc basis uh for every disc after the first one. With the four for 54 and with the new movie zing, we've cut our shipping cost uh for uh multi-unit purchases by as much as 60, 75%. And so for the customer, uh, and give you an example, with a four for fifty-four, uh an average order based on previous years, it's got to be at least four, but we typically get orders of six, seven, eight, twelve, fifteen uh units. And for customers that are buying in that four to eight or ten uh unit range on a on an order, the amount of savings that they save on the shipping cost uh will offset the vast majority of the increase going from 49 to uh 54. And then combine that with register for zing rewards, and you accumulate points, and you've got a very comparable sale to uh to last year.
Tim MillardA couple things uh triggered in my mind as we're talking. One is you mentioned shipping. I assume you're talking about in the U.S., but do you also ship internationally?
Blair ZykanWe do we ship worldwide to uh 55 countries.
Tim MillardYeah. And so international fans, because I know this is a pain point for many of our listeners and followers, is I want to go and I want to order the the newest Warner Archive or other Warner Archive. You know, it's harder to find where it's available or to get it shipped or in a timely manner and things of that nature. I often direct people to Movie Zing, but maybe you can tell us exactly how you serve that international consumer.
Blair ZykanSure. Um, we use a freight forwarder that then uh takes it from our warehouse, processes it, uh, and our warehouse is uh located in uh Aurora, Illinois, and people will see that address on the uh the website. Uh and so um ABC Logistics takes the uh the orders, gets them to the individual country uh uh for destination, and this is all fully tracked door to door. And then once in country, turns them over to the uh local postal service, which then handles uh delivery. We've done a lot of shopping uh and always look at our international shipping rates. I think people will be very pleased with the uh the shipping rates that uh that that we get. And there too, we're we're basically consumer pay is what we pay. We don't make money on shipping. Our goal is not that. Our goal is to uh make it affordable uh for both US and uh and uh international customers to get there, and they can uh see that shipping cost uh real time when they're calculating their checkout.
Tim MillardOne of the other things that international buyers struggle with is boy, it takes me a long time to get that pre-order. I can't seem to get it for weeks or months or whatever. If they were to do a pre-order, let's say, of the uh next month's Warner Archive releases, if they put in that pre-order, will they have it shipped on the street date internationally?
Replication Delays And Improvement
Blair ZykanThat's a that's a great question, Tim. So um it it's definitely an advantage of purchasing from Movie Zing where we're shipping straight out of the Allied Vaughn Entertainment warehouse. Uh and customers that buy from MovieZing, if the stock has arrived in time, orders uh generally ship from MovieZing to arrive on or shortly after the street date. Of course, international shipping takes longer. Right. Uh so that I would put the caveat that that it would apply more toward U.S. continental U.S. shipping to arrive at that timeframe. Uh we ship via media mail uh in the uh continental U.S. uh and that's generally, let's say, a five to seven day or four to seven day, depending on what part of the country you're in. If the uh the stock is available, uh uh those orders will arrive generally speaking, the week of the uh the week of the street date of the title. But even even international orders uh will generally arrive faster because all of the inventory, no matter who the customer purchased from, the inventory eventually had started from the A V Entertainment Warehouse. And there are occasions where a retailer may not have brought in stock right away. And so movie Zing will get it to them faster.
Tim MillardSo if I heard you correct, because it's it's kind of like from the source, there's a chance that it uh it at least will get in process more quickly. However long it takes is without a doubt.
Other Studios And Huge Catalog
Blair ZykanIt does get in, yep, it does get in process more quickly.
Tim MillardWell, you mentioned something that I wanted to also ask you about, and that is some of the delays that have been happening with Street Date, and some of that is due to not having enough in stock and things of that nature. But there was also some of that, I think, caused by replicators. There's really only one replicator that that all the studios are relying on. Do you see that continuing, or do you think that it potentially is getting better?
Blair ZykanI think we will see it get better. Okay. And I think we actually have seen improvement in that area over the last couple of months. Okay. Uh, in particular. And some of the dynamics there, you know, can get influenced by, you know, replicator uh uh supply-demand, uh, logistics coming from replication facility into uh the uh into uh our warehouse, otherwise. And it's been a little bit topsy-turvy, uh, you know, kind of times in uh over the last uh you know, four to six months, but we're seeing improvement. Good, good, good.
Tim MillardWell, uh, I think uh the main thing we wanted to be sure and talk about was this sale. Very excited about the sale. I love how you explained that yes, there's an increase in the price, but because of the shipping, that will offset uh a good chunk of that, hopefully. The other thing I did want to ask about is I know you also represent Warner Brothers Home Home Entertainment, but then you also represent some of the other studios. Maybe you could run through a list uh real briefly of some of the other studios you you sell their product and just how much of their library do you sell?
Affiliate Link And Closing Thoughts
Blair ZykanSure. Um it's probably easier to say who we don't carry uh because that list is pretty much zero. Right now we have uh hundreds of uh hundreds and hundreds of titles from Universal, the Universal Vault Collection, a whole uh uh an array of uh, oh gosh, you know, notable titles that are that have that have come out, uh ranging anywhere from like uh like Woody Woodpecker and uh and uh from an old classic animation to uh uh fresh new releases uh uh from Sony. Uh we have um both classic films. We've got 4K, we were the company that brought out uh the Seinfeld complete box set series in 4K and Blu-ray. We work with uh we right now have uh about 500 Disney and and ABC and sort of Disney family titles, uh, all the way to whether it's uh uh Cinniverse to uh as sort of mini major studios, uh, all the way through um boutique studios and down into individual filmmakers. Uh we add about 200 plus titles every month to the Allied Vaughn Entertainment catalog. And we've got probably over 38,000 titles right now.
Tim MillardI noticed a lot of independent producers, directors, people who have put out movies uh use you as well.
Blair ZykanThat's correct.
Tim MillardYeah. Yeah. If you're looking for a hard-to-find title, you might you might want to try here uh at the movies inc because you do have so many of those people coming to you directly. You are correct. Well, uh was there anything I forgot about the uh the sale or anything uh that we haven't really covered, Lair?
Blair ZykanWell, I think you'll have l a link that they can look at in the um in the comment section of the video or the audio. Click on the link and uh support Tim's podcasts and uh take that link over to Moviesing. Uh it'll take you straight to the collection page for all the um 600 plus titles that will be uh available via the uh the Warner Archive uh sale, and we'll look forward to seeing everybody over there.
Tim MillardThat sounds great. Thanks for coming on the podcast and uh explaining it. Uh there's just a lot of questions with the changing landscape of uh physical media these days, and I I think hearing directly from you and seeing where some people, some agencies, some uh retailers are shrinking their physical media presence. I've noticed you doing the opposite there at Allied Vaughn and MovieZing. You're actually increasing. And that's a a great sign, and I love seeing that. So thanks, uh thanks so much, Blair.
Blair ZykanWell, thank you. Thank you again for the uh the invite and the uh the long-term support of of both Allied Vaughn Entertainment and MovieZing. Well, hey, I hope you found that informative.
Tim MillardBlair had a lot of good information for those of you who want to browse the Movie Zing website, see how it's changed, and to be part of the Warner Archive 17th anniversary sale on Movie Zing. And I do want to let everybody know that we have signed up to be an affiliate of MovieZing, so we will receive a commission. And if you've been thinking about how you can help support the podcast, this is one way. Doesn't cost you a penny. If you just click on our link and then do your purchasing afterwards, we will get credit for that. So I want to thank you for your support in that manner. Until next time, you've been listening to Tim Millard. Stay slightly obsessed about physical media.