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

[SpaceDog]

Originally Posted by kjacobs03

Any chance we might finally see the Bad Boys movies as a tie in with the BD release of Transformers 2?

I think they are more likely to line those up with a Will Smith title than a Michael Bay title.

[Jeff Kleist]

Well, someone will check the Shadow of the Moon region soon enough, so just hang tight on it a bit and then order once you know it's safe

Team America will come eventually, it's in the active inbox, just needs to make it over to the out

Bad Boys I'm pretty sure is in the works, but the only movie with Martin Lawrence in it that would really make me notice is if it involved a blender, preferably if it co-starred Chris Tucker in an all-too-brief test firing of said blender

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Well, someone will check the Shadow of the Moon region soon enough, so just hang tight on it a bit and then order once you know it's safe

Team America will come eventually, it's in the active inbox, just needs to make it over to the out
Bad Boys I'm pretty sure is in the works, but the only movie with Martin Lawrence in it that would really make me notice is if it involved a blender, preferably if it co-starred Chris Tucker in an all-too-brief test firing of said blender

Thanks Jeff. Love the technical industy-speak.

[NL197]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Bad Boys I'm pretty sure is in the works, but the only movie with Martin Lawrence in it that would really make me notice is if it involved a blender, preferably if it co-starred Chris Tucker in an all-too-brief test firing of said blender

That's unfortunate, because Bad Boys is total awesomeness, and I completely despise Michael Bay movies.

[scaramunga]

Jeff or Bill - I saw the following on The Bits home page:

MGM's James Bond Blu-ray Collections: Volumes 1-3 will be re-issued on 9/1 for SRP $69.99 each.

What is going on? This move makes zero sense!!!! These films were just issued back in October 2008?

[Jeff Kleist]

It's a reprice, they happen all the time and better at reflecting the common in-store prices on them cause the singles are on sale all the time

[AKORIS]

Jeff, I understand the "why" many older classic films aren't being released right now (money talks and many younger audiences aren't interested) but
as the format grows when do you think I can expect classic horror titles
to be released on blu-ray?

I'm talking about everything from old Universal Karloff/Lugosi flicks to 50's big
bug monster flicks to the British Hammer films of the 50's and 60's with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee?

Also-- was Spielberg happy with CLOSE ENCOUNTERS? Will he authorize more
of his classics to be released in the near future? JAWS in particular is my
favorite film of all time!

[Jeff Kleist]

Spielberg loves Blu-ray, but for the most part his classic back catalog will be tied to re-promotes. Jaws has another anniversary next year, so that's certainly a title that Uni would be looking at

They want to put out their horror, they also don't want to lose their shirt doing so. If they're confident they'll sell a decent amount of copies, I'm sure they'll get it going .Stuff like Planet of the Apes, which did OK-ish was certainly watched closely. The best thing you can do is buy similar titles when they hit. This gives them numbers that can be used to justify the stuff you want.

[MCT]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Team America will come eventually, it's in the active inbox, just needs to make it over to the out

[Nick Graham]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Spielberg loves Blu-ray, but for the most part his classic back catalog will be tied to re-promotes. Jaws has another anniversary next year, so that's certainly a title that Uni would be looking at

They want to put out their horror, they also don't want to lose their shirt doing so. If they're confident they'll sell a decent amount of copies, I'm sure they'll get it going .Stuff like Planet of the Apes, which did OK-ish was certainly watched closely. The best thing you can do is buy similar titles when they hit. This gives them numbers that can be used to justify the stuff you want.

Do you think we're a ways off from seeing many 70s/80s catalog horror and sci-fi titles on BD? More specifically, stuff like John Carpenter's Universal fare, like Prince of Darkness, They Live, the Carpenter produced Halloween 2 (one would think there's a natural tie-in to the NEW Halloween 2 there), The Serpent & The Rainbow, etc. I'm a genre geek, so this is the stuff with the most appeal to me. Speaking of 80s horror, any chance Criterion would do Cronenberg's Videodrome and Naked Lunch on Blu anytime soon?

[Jeff Kleist]

There's a remake of They Live on the horizon, I have no idea about the rest

Criterion typically plays stuff close to the vest unfortunately

[Marine Mike]

Considering its been awhile, I might as well ask again.

Any updates on the release of the Army of Darkness (US) Blu-ray?


Thanks in advance!

[MCT]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

There's a remake of They Live on the horizon

[Nick Graham]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

There's a remake of They Live on the horizon, I have no idea about the rest

Criterion typically plays stuff close to the vest unfortunately

Interesting about Criterion. I did notice a couple of months ago a very nice HD transfer of The Last Temptation of Christ popped up on Netflix watch instantly service (no idea if it is still there), so I am crossing my fingers for that.

MCT, even if the remake is as horrible as such a thing is likely to be, maybe it will at least convince Universal to port over the Carpenter/Piper commentary from the UK DVD release onto the Blu-Ray. They debated and ended up passing on giving the film the SE treatment for it's last dip on DVD.

[MCT]

yeah, I suppose that's the silver lining in the dark clouds. Still....there is NO way anyone will be able to deliver the classic "bubblegum/kick ass" line like Piper did, regardless of who they cast in his role.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by MCT

yeah, I suppose that's the silver lining in the dark clouds. Still....there is NO way anyone will be able to deliver the classic "bubblegum/kick ass" line like Piper did, regardless of who they cast in his role.

I don't know, (and I'll probably get crucified for suggesting it) but I can see Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson doing it...

PUT ON THE GLASSES!

[tippykitten]

Hey Jeff,
Do you know if Charles De Lauzirika is/was involved with the Gladiator set? I was just hoping he was as he does excellent work.
Thanks

[NL197]

Originally Posted by tippykitten

Hey Jeff,
Do you know if Charles De Lauzirika is/was involved with the Gladiator set? I was just hoping he was as he does excellent work.
Thanks

Yes he is, and has commented on it at the Home Theater Forum.

You can read some of his comments here:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...s-blu-ray.html

He stated there's close to five hours of bonus material, in addition to both versions of the film.

[Jeff Kleist]

If it's a Scott Brothers movie, chances are Charlie's fingers are in there somewhere

The next disc you'll see from him is Bayformers 2

[Mr. Cinema]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

They want to put out their horror, they also don't want to lose their shirt doing so. If they're confident they'll sell a decent amount of copies, I'm sure they'll get it going .Stuff like Planet of the Apes, which did OK-ish was certainly watched closely. The best thing you can do is buy similar titles when they hit. This gives them numbers that can be used to justify the stuff you want.

The Wolf Man remake hits theaters on 11/6, which means the BD release will drop around March 2010. I can't think of a better time for Universal to release some classic monster titles to tie-in with that. What are the chances of that happening?

That release period would be good timing since there will be a much larger user base after this Christmas.