WB spent $6,000,000 restoring classic movies

[Batman1980]

Feltenstein: WB Spent $6 Million Restoring Classics for Blu-ray
Posted December 15, 2009 04:57 PM by Juan Calonge

In a recent interview, George Feltenstein, senior vice president for theatrical catalog marketing at Warner Home Video, has stated that the studio spent "more than six million dollars" to bring 'Woodstock', 'The Wizard of Oz', 'North by Northwest' and 'Gone with the Wind' to Blu-ray. "We're biting the bullet and bringing classics to Blu-ray so we can broaden the base."

Feltenstein also revealed: "We're devoting our marketing efforts and our resources and staff on the retail level" to these releases, "primarily driven by the fact that these are making their debut on Blu-ray."

Feltenstein raised the chicken-and-egg issue of format adoption and catalog width: "My problem with Blu-ray is that the kind of movies I love are not available on Blu-ray, and they're not going to be available on Blu-ray until the player base gets bigger, and that's why we're biting the bullet and bringing classics to Blu-ray so we can broaden the base. So the news overall is really quite positive."

The executive also laments that "people buying at the retail level, they don't know who these people [actors from the Golden Age of Cinema] are, they think an old classic movie is 'The Silence of the Lambs'". However, he admits his share of responsability regarding the current situation of catalog titles, because he was behind releasing movie collections on DVD: "Buy the film noirs [collection], get five movies for $35... And now we're coming out with a [Warner Archive] movie, it's 20 bucks, so I see why some people don't understand... But ten years ago, people would pay $30 for a movie, they'd pay a fortune for a laserdisc, so it's really all perception."

Feltenstein claims that the media has "spun paranoia" about the future of home video saying that "DVD is dying and Blu-ray is threatening. In Feltenstein's opinion, "Blu-ray is the greatest thing ever invented" and they only thing that can make DVD die "is people going on TV saying it is dying."

The Warner executive considers himself "a film enthusiast of the highest order" and says that he reads "everything that people say on the boards." His experience is that "people don't go on the Internet to say, 'I just bought the 'Forbidden Hollywood' William Wellman set, and I just loved it.' But they'll be running to say, 'Oh my God, there was a scratch on frame three of scene five' — these people are obsessed with trying to find something wrong."

Source: Bloodshot Eye | Permalink Relevant for:
Wow would've thought it'd be a lot more.

[P@t_Mtl]

It's pretty amazing the price it cost to restore these movies. I have to admit that they are doing a very good job, some of them have never look so good.

[Clark Kent]

WB has really stepped up on their Blu-rays for classic movies. The transfers are all top-notch, from freshly minted film elements, with superior VC-1 encodes. The problem with WB is everything else. Minor catalog titles and even newer movies come out in poor-looking editions. Their television releases are a disgrace to the format.

Quo Vadis looks fabulous, and so does North By Northwest. All the restorations really show how a studio can make any film look great, if they are willing to spend the money. Now they just need to release them in regular editions, instead of packaging them with trinkets like they did for Wizard of Oz.

[Grand Bob]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

Quo Vadis looks fabulous, and so does North By Northwest. All the restorations really show how a studio can make any film look great, if they are willing to spend the money. Now they just need to release them in regular editions, instead of packaging them with trinkets like they did for Wizard of Oz.

Agreed, WB did an excellent job with those releases. And as for the "trinkets", I wonder how many people actually care about them?

[Keeblur]

$6,000,000 is nothing compared to how much money they make on the discs sales.
As long as they continue to make good transfers, unlike a few years ago.

[SteelPen]

Like they say...you have to spend money to make money!

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by Grand Bob

Agreed, WB did an excellent job with those releases. And as for the "trinkets", I wonder how many people actually care about them?

Usually, I'd just like to have a no-frills edition, maybe just a few bonus features but no "trinkets".

However there's been cases where the ultra-fancy edition was just a few more bucks than the no-frills edition, so it made more sense to get the fancy one.

[Pyoko]

I'm happy they're spending the money, and I in return will gladly pre-order and buy editions like Gone with the Wind and North by Northwest at full price on release, instead of waiting for price drops.

I just wish some of the other studios would show the same kind of initiative, particularly Universal. Their pre-2000s Blu-ray catalogue is pathetic, about a dozen movies, most from decidedly sub-par, old masters.

[Grand Bob]

Originally Posted by BluBonnet

Usually, I'd just like to have a no-frills edition, maybe just a few bonus features but no "trinkets".

However there's been cases where the ultra-fancy edition was just a few more bucks than the no-frills edition, so it made more sense to get the fancy one.

One of the standard DVD's I have where I enjoyed the extra stuff was WB's "classic collection limited edition box set" of 2001 with the 35mm film frame of the space station, the soundtrack on a separate CD, and a book that was actually informative. The box it came in is more attractive than the digibooks used for BD's. I still look at those features from time to time.

[Digital Filmmaker]

Six million dollars?

It sounds like Warner is off to a good start.

[maidenbrain]

They're restoring these movies at 8K, which will pretty much make them future proof, so the money spent seems well worth it.

In terms of caring for their classics, WB is doing a great job. Now, if only they would start producing new HD featurettes to accompany these films (even if it's only one per film to show the work that went into the restoration), I'd be beside myself with joy.