It seems that Fox Home Entertainment is taking a new approach to its DVD business. According to Variety, Fox will be launching a new initiative that will split its DVDs into two separate classes, one for retail sales and another for rental.

It was said this will start with the recently-announced March 31 releases Slumdog Millionaire and Marley & Me. The units branded for retail sales will include more special features and the rentals will include much less. For instance, Slumdog Millionaire's rental disc will only include trailers, while the retail version will include bonus features like deleted scenes and commentaries. These bonus features will be available, however, on Blu-ray rental versions, but the Digital Copy included in the retail version will not be included in the rental version.

Not all of the rental versions of these discs will be barebones releases, though, and it was said that content for each version will vary from disc to disc. Other titles that will be included in this strategy are The Day the Earth Stood Still (April 7), Notorious (April 21), The Wrestler (April 21) and Bride Wars (April 28).

The studio confirmed the program with a statement:

"We have developed product variations to feed different consumer consumption models and behaviors. For rental customers, we're delivering a theatrical experience in the home while promoting upcoming releases; for retail [or sell-through] customers, we're offering a premium product that expands the entertainment experience of that particular property to further enhance ownership."