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Posted by
David C. Fein
August 20th, 2007
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…
UPDATE: Deadline Hollywood Daily Reports MILLIONS of “Promotional” Dollars given to both studios as part of the deal.
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Posted by
David C. Fein
August 7th, 2007
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!
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Posted by
BigFool
August 2nd, 2007
This one’s a sweet one! Listen to the Fools give the lowdown and secret to getting a month to month contract with AT&T for the iPhone. Also, as the HD DVD wars escalate, Dave and Marc cut through the hype and tell all about what is happening now! They also reveal the best way to go if you want an HD-DVD player, but don’t know what to do. The Fools pay homage to two great filmmakers you should know about, and touch upon the current trend of censorship in our lives.
Have fun listening!!!
HD-DVD-BlueRay Wars- iPhone - Censorship [65:26m]:
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Posted by
David C. Fein
July 24th, 2007
Have the Blockbuster Online guys hacked Netflix???
Last night I went to log in to Netflix to watch a streaming episode of Masters of Horror only to find their website down with a promise of restoration by 8PM. I came back at 8, and it said 11PM, I came back at 11, it said 2AM. This morning I returned to the site, at 8AM, and it wait ‘be back up at 9AM… 9 AM said 11AM, and now it simply reads “temporarily unavailable.
It’s reported that Netflix shares are now at an all time low, and that the company recently reduced the price of all of their plans by roughly $1. What they didn’t expect was the site to go down.
The Boston Herald reports that Netflix claims that they will be back online by 4PM but doesn’t state the reason for the outtage.
You can be sure that some hacker at Blockbuster is getting a huge bonus today. Amazing when you consider the power of a intelligent nerd in a closet… Hail nerds!
Cheers!
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Posted by
Marc Fusco
July 23rd, 2007
A little late out of the gate, let’s just say this podcast has developed a fine bouquet. The Fools will give you a little secret on opening weekend marketing hype and why the studios do what they do to open bad movies in a big way. One such an example is the great lengths Fox went to just to open the new Fantastic Four flick and piss off the U.S. Government at the same time. Also, the Fools will break down the break down of the reality show The Lot. Don’t miss one of the funniest filmmaking stories ever from the set of Knocked Up.
You won’t be disappointed!
Opening Weekend Market Hype - The Lot [71:54m]:
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Posted by
David C. Fein
July 9th, 2007
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!
Buy this 1977 Yellow Chevy Camaro who goes by the name ‘Bumblebee’ Now!
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.
Let the bidding war begin!
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Posted by
David C. Fein
June 18th, 2007
It’s the end of the war! BluRay wins! Hands down! Uhh… That’s what I’ve been reading. I don’t agree. If Walmart said they will no longer carry HD-DVD… well, that would be the nail in the coffin, but Blockbuster just made a poor business decision, and people declare the end of the war. This simply is a business decision.
Why did Blockbuster go BluRay? More than any other reason, I’d have to go with Disney’s films. Blockbuster stores have many sections, and right next to new releases would be family when it comes to most rentals. When you consider the studios exclusive to BluRay, Disney, Sony, Fox, etc. While HD-DVD has Universal exclusively, you have to go where the content is.
While Warner is working on a dual disc format that features both versions on one disc, they have been unsuccessful in convincing me that I need to purchase their dual HD/standard DVD discs. I always felt that the secret to winning this battle would be to release dual discs so while someone is buying a new movie, they are receiving a HD-DVD and DVD version at the same time so that by the time they have a player, they already own the movies. Warner Bros. has jumped onto this concept, and released dual version discs, but for $10 more making their HD-DVD releases COST MORE than their BluRay version. What is the use in this?! Now it’s cheaper for HD-DVD buyers to buy the standard DVD of a film instead of the HD-DVD version. This is not acceptable, and is hurting the HD-DVD market. Blockbuster also knows this, and would never want to invest in a disc that is dual format for additional money when they can get the lessor expensive BluRay discs. Thank you Warner for your dedication to the market, yet poor business decision to raise prices above market acceptability.
As for the studios, Fox is willing to do what it takes to move their products. They discount their discs, and continue with unusually high quality releases. When you consider that the successful movies of the summer, Spider-man 3, and Pirates of the Caribbean 3 will be coming to BluRay exclusively you can again understand Blockbuster’s choice.
Am I happy about the choice? No, but given the fact that there is a war going on at the moment, we have to hold steady until the market decides. At least Xbox 360 owners who have purchased the HD-DVD player attachment know that they didn’t have to make the huge investment into one side or another, and if BluRay does win out, you can bet the Microsoft will quickly release a BluRay attachment for the 360 as well. With the Playstation 3, you have no other choices but BluRay, and Blockbuster knows that as well. Every PS3 game renter is a potential BluRay disc renter, whereas they don’t know for sure who has HD-DVD.
After comparing both formats, my enjoyment in presentation says firmly with HD-DVD while my appreciation of which technology is superior falls on BluRay.
The saddest part of this whole war is that to most people, standard DVD is crisp and clean enough, and they really don’t need a HD disc format at all.
Before DVD, low quality, fuzzy, and full-screen VHS ruled the world. People are just not ready to repurchase their collections over again in HD.
BluRay 1, HD-DVD 0 this round. Let’s see what’s in store next. Cheers!
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Posted by
Marc Fusco
June 7th, 2007
“The bug of ‘Bug’ is that it has no bugs, and Lions Gate knew it.”
To some extent or another, we all realize that movie trailers can be misleading, and in recent years, pretty much give away an entire film. However, with William Friedkin’s “Bug” from Lions Gate (the king studio of most things horror nowadays), different boundries were crossed — the lowest of lows — complete deception in advertising.
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Posted by
Marc Fusco
June 4th, 2007
A frame from the Imax camera on “Dark Knight”
We fools are game for just about anything Imax ever since watching the Imax film “Flyers” at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC 25 years ago in the first Imax theater in the world. There was nothing like having to turn my head back and forth, as a little tyke, to see everything in a breathtaking experience that was the closest thing to flying like a superhero I could imagine at the time. Since then, Imax films are a big business, bringing the company hundreds of millions of dollars per year as the novelty of the format has a clear, loyal audience (Warners’ “300″ set an attendance record at Imax theaters in its opening weekend in March.) So, without further adieu and if you haven’t heard by now, director Christopher Nolan has made an inventive decision to film four sequences of “The Dark Knight” with Imax cameras. The next installment of Warner Bros. Pictures’ Batman franchise, scheduled for a July 18, 2008, day-and-date theatrical release with Imax theaters. Will mixing up the formats be annoying or friggin’ cool?
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