The Fate of New Line - Blu-ray Forum

sj001 · 03-04-2008, 03:44 AM

Ugh, I feel bad for all of those New Line folks...

http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/03/03/...e-of-new-line/

When Time Warner announced that New Line would be gobbled up by Warner Bros, we speculated that layoffs would be minimized for the short term. Variety now reports that at least 75% of New Line’s 600 staffers will likely get the axe in the coming months. As for the company’s upcoming slate of films, Warner Bros won’t decide “specific decisions on possible date switches” for probably several more weeks.

The difference between reality and the picture presented by the press releases sent out last week is actually rather shocking (although, it probably should be expected). I’m not quite sure if this subject is of interest to our non-industry readers (I’m guessing not), so I won’t write extensively about the topic. I’ll try to give some more updates when available.

JJ · 03-04-2008, 03:47 AM

Seventy five percent of 600? That's a ridiculous amount of personnel axing - where is all that money going? The pockets of CEOs. Sheesh. In Mother Russia...

If the quality of their Blu-Ray releases drops, we can all bet this forum will raise hell.

X400 · 03-04-2008, 04:08 AM

ugh... that's really shitty :/ about new line getting "gobbled up" and that they're letting soo many go

Marcusarilius · 03-04-2008, 04:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JJxiv1215

Seventy five percent of 600? That's a ridiculous amount of personnel axing - where is all that money going? The pockets of CEOs. Sheesh. In Mother Russia...

If the quality of their Blu-Ray releases drops, we can all bet this forum will raise hell.

Cool. Looking forward to LOTRs in DD only.

cembros · 03-04-2008, 04:12 AM

all 75 percent will find new jobs in no time; warner will also incretheir own staff with this aquisition. This is life no big deal, its all just a cycle

Sylin · 03-04-2008, 04:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cembros

all 75 percent will find new jobs in no time; warner will also incretheir own staff with this aquisition. This is life no big deal, its all just a cycle

Agreed. Obviously this was all about acquiring the property and not the people. It does say "coming months", so hopefully there'll be some time for these folks to get new jobs, and I'm certain there's a severance package in there for most.

Also, there's no way of knowing that the 25% staying don't, in some way, have something to do with the media authoring department, so... no need to get our panties in a bunch.

radagast · 03-04-2008, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by X400

ugh... that's really shitty :/ about new line getting "gobbled up" and that they're letting soo many go

That's what happens when you have CEOs that make decision after decision that is horrible and loses money. At some point someone has to pay the price.

UTVOL06 · 03-04-2008, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JJxiv1215

Seventy five percent of 600? That's a ridiculous amount of personnel axing - where is all that money going? The pockets of CEOs. Sheesh. In Mother Russia...

If the quality of their Blu-Ray releases drops, we can all bet this forum will raise hell.

I totally agree.

New Line Cinema has been completely spanking Warner Bros in PQ...I hope this wont effect that. In the mean time WB better take notes and get their act together with Blu-specific quality releases.

hc666 · 03-04-2008, 02:02 PM

Warner has been good lately. Esp with the Kubrick Collection... much better audio options and great pic quality.

Bobby Henderson · 03-04-2008, 03:36 PM

Quote:

That's what happens when you have CEOs that make decision after decision that is horrible and loses money. At some point someone has to pay the price.

Meanwhile the lunkheads on the board of directors give the idiot CEO a big fat pay raise. If they fire the idiot CEO, they basically set him up for life with a "golden parachute" worth a tremendous fortune. Getting fired in those circles seems more like hitting the lottery.

radagast · 03-04-2008, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobby Henderson

Meanwhile the lunkheads on the board of directors give the idiot CEO a big fat pay raise. If they fire the idiot CEO, they basically set him up for life with a "golden parachute" worth a tremendous fortune. Getting fired in those circles seems more like hitting the lottery.

In this case, both CEOs of New Line are "not having their contracts renewed" which is a nice way of saying they're fired.

JTK · 03-04-2008, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobby Henderson

Meanwhile the lunkheads on the board of directors give the idiot CEO a big fat pay raise. If they fire the idiot CEO, they basically set him up for life with a "golden parachute" worth a tremendous fortune. Getting fired in those circles seems more like hitting the lottery.

Right? I'm rather pro capitalist and all that, but that kind of thing makes zero sense to me.

Didn't happen in this specific instance, though, as radagast indicated.

Rustmonsteru · 03-04-2008, 03:47 PM

Seems a bit like what happened when Image Entertainment grabbed HVE just so they could distribute Criterion. Needless to say HVE is no more. This thing happens all too often.

Bobby Henderson · 03-04-2008, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Didn't happen in this specific instance, though, as radagast indicated.

It's happened in many other corporations. I just brought up that point to illustrate the hypocrisy of American corporate culture. They stomp and gut their own workforces while wrongly lavishing executives who didn't earn it.

Home Depot is one of the most recent examples. Their former CEO trashed the company's stock value, yet the board gave that bone-head a severance package worth over $250 million.

BlurayManiac · 03-04-2008, 04:29 PM

it totally sucks about new line i hope warner releases lotr and the nightmare on elm st. movies would love those movies on blu-ray

CptGreedle · 03-04-2008, 04:32 PM

although it sucks that 75% will have to get new jobs... I am far more concerned about the other deals going on.
Will the Hobbit be made? Will Peter Jackson still be in charge of it? Will the Tolkien estate let WB take charge of this? Will New Line still put their name on things or will it all become WB? Will WB take over video production for BD of New Line titles? If so, will WB upgrade their BD quality, specifically their sound?
More importantly, does WB listen to people when we tell them we want better sound???

BlurayManiac · 03-04-2008, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

although it sucks that 75% will have to get new jobs... I am far more concerned about the other deals going on.
Will the Hobbit be made? Will Peter Jackson still be in charge of it? Will the Tolkien estate let WB take charge of this? Will New Line still put their name on things or will it all become WB? Will WB take over video production for BD of New Line titles? If so, will WB upgrade their BD quality, specifically their sound?
More importantly, does WB listen to people when we tell them we want better sound???

no wb does whatever they want sucks but thats the painful truth

blackhawktraffic · 03-04-2008, 07:55 PM

It does suck, New Line has always been a pretty good Studio...with that being said other than a select few most of their recent releases have been pretty weak.

Clark Kent · 03-04-2008, 10:27 PM

From a business standpoint I'm surprised Time Warner hadn't done this before. New Line was duplicating most of the functions Warner itself could perform.

Banjo · 03-04-2008, 10:41 PM

Now I'm worried because New Line Cinema is one of the best for making their bonus features fully accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing.

Warner Bros. Entertainment is a different story.

03-04-2008, 03:44 AM	#1
sj001 Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Aug 2007 Location:Rochester, NY Blu-ray collection:317 DVD collection:17 Trading Score:5	The Fate of New Line Ugh, I feel bad for all of those New Line folks... http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/03/03/...e-of-new-line/ When Time Warner announced that New Line would be gobbled up by Warner Bros, we speculated that layoffs would be minimized for the short term. Variety now reports that at least 75% of New Line’s 600 staffers will likely get the axe in the coming months. As for the company’s upcoming slate of films, Warner Bros won’t decide “specific decisions on possible date switches” for probably several more weeks. The difference between reality and the picture presented by the press releases sent out last week is actually rather shocking (although, it probably should be expected). I’m not quite sure if this subject is of interest to our non-industry readers (I’m guessing not), so I won’t write extensively about the topic. I’ll try to give some more updates when available.

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03-04-2008, 03:47 AM	#2
JJ Blu-ray Count Top ranked HT gallery Member since:Jul 2007 Location:Miami, FL Home Theater Gallery:99 4K collection:619 Blu-ray collection:1293 DVD collection:31 Digital collection:5 Blu-ray reviews: 18 Trading Score:203	Seventy five percent of 600? That's a ridiculous amount of personnel axing - where is all that money going? The pockets of CEOs. Sheesh. In Mother Russia... If the quality of their Blu-Ray releases drops, we can all bet this forum will raise hell.

03-04-2008, 04:08 AM	#3
X400 Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Jul 2007 Location:Kent Blu-ray collection:328 Blu-ray reviews:41 Trading Score:23	ugh... that's really shitty :/ about new line getting "gobbled up" and that they're letting soo many go

03-04-2008, 04:12 AM	#5
cembros Power Member Member since:Jan 2008 Blu-ray collection:456 Trading Score:4	all 75 percent will find new jobs in no time; warner will also incretheir own staff with this aquisition. This is life no big deal, its all just a cycle

03-04-2008, 02:02 PM	#9
hc666 Blu-ray Guru Member since:Nov 2007 Home Theater Gallery:7 Blu-ray collection:100 Blu-ray reviews: 26	Warner has been good lately. Esp with the Kubrick Collection... much better audio options and great pic quality.

03-04-2008, 03:47 PM	#13
Rustmonsteru Expert Member Member since:Mar 2007	Seems a bit like what happened when Image Entertainment grabbed HVE just so they could distribute Criterion. Needless to say HVE is no more. This thing happens all too often.

03-04-2008, 04:29 PM	#15
BlurayManiac Active Member Member since:Dec 2007 Location:Staten Island NY	it totally sucks about new line i hope warner releases lotr and the nightmare on elm st. movies would love those movies on blu-ray

03-04-2008, 04:32 PM	#16
CptGreedle Blu-ray Ninja Member since:Jul 2007 Location:Sworn super-hero now services Atlanta (and suburbs). Blu-ray collection:128 Blu-ray reviews:5	although it sucks that 75% will have to get new jobs... I am far more concerned about the other deals going on. Will the Hobbit be made? Will Peter Jackson still be in charge of it? Will the Tolkien estate let WB take charge of this? Will New Line still put their name on things or will it all become WB? Will WB take over video production for BD of New Line titles? If so, will WB upgrade their BD quality, specifically their sound? More importantly, does WB listen to people when we tell them we want better sound???

03-04-2008, 07:55 PM	#18
blackhawktraffic Blu-ray Guru Member since:Aug 2007 Location:Upland, CA 4K collection:17 Blu-ray collection:18 Blu-ray reviews: 4 Trading Score:228	It does suck, New Line has always been a pretty good Studio...with that being said other than a select few most of their recent releases have been pretty weak.

03-04-2008, 10:27 PM	#19
Clark Kent Blu-ray Prince Top contributor Member since:Oct 2007 Location:Metropolis Blu-ray reviews:2 Trading Score:184	From a business standpoint I'm surprised Time Warner hadn't done this before. New Line was duplicating most of the functions Warner itself could perform.

03-04-2008, 10:41 PM	#20
Banjo Blu-ray Guru Member since:Dec 2006 Location:Ontario, Canada Blu-ray collection:143	Now I'm worried because New Line Cinema is one of the best for making their bonus features fully accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing. Warner Bros. Entertainment is a different story.

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