Ask questions to The Digital Bits team (Bill Hunt, Jeff Kleist et.al.)

[Michael.Schinke]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

When the ride ended, MTV actually ran it in full, 2-D of course, sometime in the mid to late 90's.

I have it on SuperVHS someplace.

I always thought it would make a cool DVD, now BD with a 2D version and a 3D version with 5.1 surround.

I gotta agree. Yes, it's cheesy and thin on plot and character, but it's still fun and the songs still rock! I don't know exactly what kind of package you put together for this kind of release. I think it would be great to acknowledge this piece of work though, it deserves more than to be left to fall into obscurity.

[Jeff Kleist]

When the ride ended, MTV actually ran it in full, 2-D of course, sometime in the mid to late 90's.

The version running around the bootlegs had title cards, color bars and stuff on it Pretty sure that was duped from some tape storage somewhere

[MerrickG]

Hey Jeff,

Given Paramounts recent unloading of some great catalog titles on bluray is it reasonable to expect that the Naked Gun films and/or Private Parts (Howard Stern) could be making their way to blu before too much longer.

Its hard for me to ask much more from Paramount at this point, but they have almost released every one of my favorite films on bluray thus far and I want MORE. :-)

[Jeff Kleist]

There's a Naked Gun 4 in the works, written by Alan Spencer, better known as the creator of Sledge Hammer!. I can't think of anyone better to tackle it, and yes, it will have Leslie Nielsen under current plans, but in a reduced role due to his age.

Private Parts probably depends on whether Stern returns to broadcast, as seems likely in some capacity (probably edited versions of the Sirius show), and a new push on his brand. It's sure to come eventually, it's a solid catalog

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

I can't think of anyone better to tackle it

Indeed!

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

it will have Leslie Nielsen under current plans, but in a reduced role due to his age.

Just don't go expecting to see any afros getting stuck in doorways.

[Beast]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

There's a Naked Gun 4 in the works, written by Alan Spencer, better known as the creator of Sledge Hammer!. I can't think of anyone better to tackle it, and yes, it will have Leslie Nielsen under current plans, but in a reduced role due to his age.

Private Parts probably depends on whether Stern returns to broadcast, as seems likely in some capacity (probably edited versions of the Sirius show), and a new push on his brand. It's sure to come eventually, it's a solid catalog

The big question... will it have O.J. Simpson?

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

There's a Naked Gun 4 in the works, written by Alan Spencer, better known as the creator of Sledge Hammer!. I can't think of anyone better to tackle it, and yes, it will have Leslie Nielsen under current plans, but in a reduced role due to his age.

Private Parts probably depends on whether Stern returns to broadcast, as seems likely in some capacity (probably edited versions of the Sirius show), and a new push on his brand. It's sure to come eventually, it's a solid catalog

I remember Harry Knowles commenting on a new possible Naked Gun script and he said it was quite funny, but I seem to remember him saying it was a No Go.
He said it would have Nielsen training a rookie.

I doubt Nordberg will be in it though.

[almy]

Having already received an infraction at this site, I realize we're not supposed to ask "when is such-and-such" coming out. But, immediately after Warner dealt the final blow to Toshiba's HD system, they said that all of the titles previously available on HD would appear on Blu this year. We're halfway into '09 and they've announced some titles months in advance - but not a word about EXCALIBUR. Do you know if it is coming soon?

When I bought my first Blu player (August '07) a SPHE disc showed scenes from LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and listed it as "coming soon". It has been two years now - I just think SPHE should give some tentative date since they have been saying "coming soon" for two years. Same goes for the Matthew Broderick GODZILLA which is also a year late. Thanks

[kpkelley]

Godzilla News

[NL197]

Finally.

Godzilla/ID4/Stargate/Patriot producer Dean Devlin was interviewed by Hollywood in High-Def back when Godzilla was supposed to be on its way soon (ID4 had just come out on Blu) and he said of what we're to expect quality-wise on Blu-ray:

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:...&hl=en&ct=clnk

DEVLIN: A film I made once called "Godzilla" was designed to be printed on the old-fashioned three-stripe system of Technicolor. Everything we did in post-production was designed for that result and literally, just before the film came out, we were unable to make those prints. There was a technical glitch and we couldn’t make those prints. So we had to move to a different format.

Well, that different format truly hurt the digital effects. They went from being, I think, literally the best digital effects up to that point in our history to looking somewhat shabby. All the blacks got muddy, I lost all the detail within special effects shots. Feet didn’t look like they hit the ground. And suddenly, the effects went from being spectacular to being a C+.

Now, with the new Blu-ray coming out, it’s literally the first time that audiences are going to see the movie the way it was intended to look. Now, you know, just on a technical level, that’s a very interesting thing for us as film makers.

Look, a Blu-ray can’t solve a story problem. All the faults in that film, as far as what I did or didn’t accomplish in the script that I worked on, will remain. However, I think that what people will see if they give it another chance is that, on a technical level, it’s really a lot more exciting and, and was much more revolutionary than people realized. I think that when people see it now, they’re gonna see things that they didn’t before. And I think they’ll actually enjoy the film a lot better. It still won’t make it a great movie, but it’ll be a much better experience.

[cjamescook]

Originally Posted by NL197

Finally.

Godzilla/ID4/Stargate/Patriot producer Dean Devlin was interviewed by Hollywood in High-Def back when Godzilla was supposed to be on its way soon (ID4 had just come out on Blu) and he said of what we're to expect quality-wise on Blu-ray:

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:...&hl=en&ct=clnk

That was a great quote.

That said, would someone please explain (on a technical level) why digital special effects would work better with three-strip Technicolor than whatever they used?

Thanks.

(I can look up a lot of stuff on Wikipedia or Google, but I don't think this is one of them.)

[Michael.Schinke]

Originally Posted by cjamescook

That was a great quote.

That said, would someone please explain (on a technical level) why digital special effects would work better with three-strip Technicolor than whatever they used?

Thanks.

(I can look up a lot of stuff on Wikipedia or Google, but I don't think this is one of them.)

It probably has to do with how the color and contrast levels were set. One set of compromises might have been made for the three strip process that were not completely compatible with the format they ended up using.

[BluDomain]

It looks like both blu-ray.com and digital bits may
have to come up with another revenue source. Well,
maybe not since both are on servers located outside
the states mentioned. I'm not sure how this applies:
"“It is unconstitutional and would not be an effective source of revenue,” Misener [Amazon VP] writes. “The approach of AB 178 is unconstitutional because it ultimately would require sellers with no physical presence in California to collect sales tax merely on the basis of contracts with California advertisers.”


http://www.homemediamagazine.com/ama...st-taxes-16233

[NL197]

Originally Posted by cjamescook

That was a great quote.

That said, would someone please explain (on a technical level) why digital special effects would work better with three-strip Technicolor than whatever they used?

Thanks.

(I can look up a lot of stuff on Wikipedia or Google, but I don't think this is one of them.)

That's basically a transcript of a video interview that the Hollywood in High-Def interviewer put up on YouTube. I did make a slight edit to the quote, though:

Devlin said "Blu-ray DVD", but I took out the DVD. Had to!

Here is the full interview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcQlugqr1uY

[MCT]

hey Jeff, I noticed Heat, Magnolia, and Boogie Nights are up for pre-order on Play.com in the UK right now....does that mean we should be getting US announcements in the near future?

[Uxi]

Originally Posted by merrick97

I remember Harry Knowles commenting on a new possible Naked Gun script and he said it was quite funny, but I seem to remember him saying it was a No Go.
He said it would have Nielsen training a rookie.

I doubt Nordberg will be in it though.

ROFL. Maybe if the Juice gets loose in 9-10 years?

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by cjamescook

That said, would someone please explain (on a technical level) why digital special effects would work better with three-strip Technicolor than whatever they used?

Thanks.

As I recall Technicolor did do a small run of dye transfer prints for Godzilla. This is NOT three-strip.

RAH

[JonBidinger]

Originally Posted by MCT

hey Jeff, I noticed Heat, Magnolia, and Boogie Nights are up for pre-order on Play.com in the UK right now....does that mean we should be getting US announcements in the near future?

And A Nightmare on Elm Street as well on Play. Plus North By Northwest and The Green Mile in the UK and Gremlins in France have reportedly been announced. All of the above titles have also been in recent Warner/New Line updates to the Rumor Mill which bodes well. I do hope this means a US official announcement for these and The Exorcist comes soon.


By the way, on the most recent Bits update, you listed Half-Bakes for August on Blu from Universal. I've not heard anything about this. Is that confirmed to be coming. Uni really needs to be getting on their catalog titles.

[Jeff Kleist]

Hey im pretty much offline through the weekend. Anime fans will e pleased with some of the a.nouncements in the coming d

[Doctorossi]

Ghibli?