20 years ago the first officially Lucasfilm sanctioned ‘Star Wars’ convention was held in Los Angeles. The convention was amazing, and to this day stands as the one greatest Star Wars fan event ever.
Many filmmakers in Hollywood today were fans at the convention, and I recently uncovered a rare videotaped introduction for George Lucas by none other than Darth Vader. (Yes, with actual lines recorded specifically for this event by James Earl Jones, not an impersonator…)
There’s so much more to tell about this event, and in the near future I hope to share more about it with everyone.
Until then, enjoy this little taste… Before the Menace… Before the Clones… Before the Revenge…
The nightmare continues… and I don’t mean that John Carpenter’s masterpiece “Halloween” has been remade by Rob Zombie; the remake joins the ranks of films lost to the internet before theatrical release.
The new Rob Zombie film that opens this weekend has been leaked in DVD quality to the internet. Stereo sound, and all of the gore you’d expect. This isn’t good news.
When you have a film as expected as this one, this leak could be disastrous to the film’s release. Especially the opening weekend. Given the fact that this is a work print, it could also be destructive to the DVD release if the key deleted scenes are included in the work cut. From reports, this cut is a widely commented July cut of the film that didn’t test as well as the studio would have liked, and therefore there were many edits and the ending was supposedly reshot.
More and more films are showing up on the internet in the highest quality, and these leaks are leaving a major wake in their path. “Highlander: The Source,” “Hostel: Part II”, “Sicko” are just a few that have suffered.
Given the huge investment made by the studios, you can expect that the whole studio system will begin to lock up and lock down all outside production. Folks, with film industry strikes on the horizon, leaks of films on the net, and an overall eight-hundred-pound-gorilla mentality, you can expect to see the studio system of internal production departments increase in the near future with Fort Knox security being employed. Just wait and see…
(Okay, well maybe they were given the hero treatment in Malaysia, and not so much at home, but that photo is priceless and very reminiscent to New York Ticker-tape parades…)
Paramount recently announced the most expensive single season of a show ever placed on home video. Star Trek: The Original Series: Season 1: Remastered, exclusively on HD-DVD for $218.
Joining Universal Pictures, Paramount and Dreamworks Animation have chosen a side in the High Definition disc war; HD-DVD. Privacy of sales figures have always been a major focus for all of the studios. This is one of the biggest reasons that the studios are high on the DVD format. Distribution is direct from the studio, and all records stay within the company.
While the Dreamworks SKG films are not exclusive to either format, it was reported today at Yahoo News that the studios have definitively chosen HD-DVD over Blu-ray.
Sony, the most major player in the Blu-ray camp; and receives royalty payments for every Blu-ray disc sold, in essence receives the sales statistics for all Blu-ray releases. This is incredibly powerful information when you want to negotiate a deal with another studio for anything from sequel rights, co-production deals, and could easily be used to sway talent by sharing ‘true’ figures as a lure to Sony.
Knowledge is power in Hollywood, and with accurate figures going to Sony, they are ideally poised to be ‘The Godfather’ of the industry, making offers that the other studios couldn’t refuse.
Whenever its reported that Blu-ray is leading the HD disc competition, I return back to the blackmail aspects of the battle. Remember, this is the beginning of a next stage in movie sales; with looming strikes over disc royalties, information such as these verifiable figures could easily set a negative precedent.
While most figures are generic, and would be reported as ‘Paramount pressed 5000 discs today’ and not by title, the fact that Blu-ray plants are being carefully monitored by Sony at the moment due to the many problems they have been having with their first generation discs, it’s clear that this title monitoring could easily, and are likely occurring.
While I personally feel that Blu-ray has the better technical format, I expect HD-DVD to win in the long run for political reasons. Stay tuned for further updates…
It is every Producer’s biggest nightmare. Your film is released in full quality, stereo mix, etc. on the internet almost a year before it is supposed to be released. Late last year this EXACT event happened. Anyone who truly wanted to see the film, obtained a copy, and did. While the Producers claimed that the film wasn’t finished, reports are that every aspect of the film was polished, and overall, it was an enjoyable film. However, when no theatrical release date was set, the question of what was going to happen with the film came up. It’s reported by the Adrian Paul Newswire blog that the film is now destined for it’s premiere as a television movie for the SciFi Channel on September 15th at 9 PM followed by an encore showing at 1AM.
This is a shame, and something to seriously appreciate when you’re making a picture. Often events such as these happen when someone involved ‘burns’ someone else. As a fellow Producer, I truly hope that they catch the individual who leaked the film. As for the picture itself? I recommend that you take the time on September 15th to see it!
Well, the cat is out of the bag. Yours truly and my good friends and partners Michael Matessino and Daren Dochterman have recorded an exclusive commentary for our film Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Director’s Edition.
As of today, it’s posted and available exclusively from startrek.com.
Click here to go directly to the page to read about the project, and get your commentary today!
Enjoy! If you have any questions, feel free to post them here.
Sometimes I see studios offering props from films on ebay. Usually they are small pieces that don’t mean much, but are nice to have. The point of the sale is another form of marketing, and rarely are they selling the item for the money.
You also have to appreciate that just about every prop, especially if it’s a key item, has anywhere from 3 to 10 identical copies, so you never truly know if it’s real, or actually used. Worth it? Usually not.
This week, there’s something different on ebay:
Yes, for a mere $24,000 (the current bid), this Transformer… err… car… can be yours!
To me, ‘Bumblebee’ was my favorite Transformer in the movie. While I wouldn’t mind owning the updated Camero in the film, there is no denying that this is a very cool car to own.
If during our virtual travels we come across something so foolishly extraordinary that we think to ourselves “brilliant,” or “genius,” or “holy shit,” we jump on it and bring it to school for ’show and tell’ for everyone to take a gander. Introducing the 2 Live Fools’ Top 10 list of Viral Videos of the Moment.
Bruce Campbell’s Old Spice Commercial in Hungary. This is genius. Just when we thought Old Spice was for our dads…
It’s about time someone takes a shot at Steve Jobs for trying to make us believe that this iPhone does everything. Thank you Conan!
Back by popular demand and in full 2 Live Fools regalia, here is the return of our 60 second movie reviews based on the movie’s trailer (even though they seldom are 60 seconds and in this case, we’ve both seen Spidey 3)
MANILA, Philippines - The canine versions of Starsky and Hutch have arrived in Manila, where they sniffed through locked steel doors, pointing authorities to stacks of pirated movies during a mall raid Monday.
Fresh from a successful one-month stint in Malaysia, where they angered movie pirates by helping authorities uncover 1.3 million discs and burners worth about $3.3 million, Lucky and Flo are now training their noses on the Philippines. Nervous stall owners scurried away or locked themselves behind steel shutters when the two Labradors, trained in Ireland to detect optical discs, led government agents and representatives of the Motion Picture Association-International through the Makati Cinema Square mall.
AP Photo
The two female dogs — wearing neon vests stamped with their names — sniffed through glass cabinets, bags and boxes. The pirated discs they found included recent releases such as “300″ as well as “Borat” and “Apocalypto.” In the first hour alone, Edu Manzano, chairman of the Philippine government’s Optical Media Board, said they seized at least 300,000 pirated discs and arrested 11 people, who face charges of copyright infringement and violation of anti-pornography laws.
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