What is the purpose of different regions?
Most films are released theatrically in the United States first. Around three to six months later, those same movies are released in Japan, Europe and other nations It is then around five through ten months after the initial release that the film will come out on DVD in the States. Unfortunately, this DVD release conflicts with the theatrical showing of the film in other nations of the world. So, in order to stop people from importing the movie, instead of seeing it in the theaters, different regions were created. Furthermore, regions also allow companies to charge different prices for the discs depending on location, usually commanding a premium in the US and Japan while the products will sell for much less in most other nations.
Most films are theatrically released in the United States first; around six months later those same films are theatrically released in Japan and Europe. An additional six months after that the film will be released to the rest of Asia, followed by Australia and Mexico as they are released in order of region coding. It is approximately six to twelve months after the initial theatrical release that the film will come out on DVD in the United States. This DVD release in the states conflicts with the theatrical release of that same film in other countries throughout the world. In order to stop people from importing the film. Instead of going to see the movie in movie theatre’s in their own country and then buying the movie once released on DVD, different DVD regions were created. Furthermore regions were created so companies can sell DVD’s for inflated prices in the United States, where people will pay the higher prices. This also allows the companies to sell them for prices more aligned w