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

[MerrickG]

IN MY OPINION, The release slate is rather dry right now.

In fact, I can't think of anything real noteworthy until Back to the Future/Alien Anthology.

I'll pick up the Exorcist, the Harry Potter UEs, and American Beauty. Other than that there is next to nothing I'm interested in.

Hopefully there will be some more announcements for October.

November releases haven't really been announced yet.

[kefrank]

Originally Posted by merrick97

The release slate is rather dry right now.

In fact, I can't think of anything real noteworthy until Back to the Future/Alien Anthology.

I would say Apocalypse Now, Psycho, and Seven Samurai are all pretty noteworthy films.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by kefrank

I would say Apocalypse Now, Psycho, and Seven Samurai are all pretty noteworthy films.

Im really referring to box sets of big franchise films. Not individual films. I wouldn't exactly call those films hugely noteworthy to the casual movie fan. Yeah, they have their fans but they aren't in the same class as BTTF or Alien.

I might pick up Apocalypse Now, since I have never actually seen it. Im aware of what its about and the hellish production it endured. I have seen bits and pieces but have never sat down and watched it from beginning to end.

As for the other two they have no interest to me.

However, I would still say that the releases for are still rather bare at this point, but as I said before considering that we are getting Alien Anthology and Back to the Future this year, ON THE SAME DAY NO LESS I'm gonna go ahead and call the release state for Q4 a massive success and anything else is just icing on the cake.

The November release slate hasn't even been set yet and November has typically been a HUGE month for releases. So I'd say that 2010 still has the potential to surprise.

I will also say this and Bill Hunt also mentioned this too. Yeah, it kinda sucks that catalog titles are not getting released at a more steady rate, but they do seem to be putting forth good quality in what they ARE releasing.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by merrick97

I wouldn't exactly call those films hugely noteworthy. Yeah, they have their fans but they aren't in the same class as BTTF or Alien.

Originally Posted by merrick97

As for the other two they have no interest to me.

However, I would still say that the releases for are still rather bare at this point

merrick, surely you recognize the minority of your opinion on this one? Fair enough, these titles don't interest you, but to call the schedule "bare" in light of that seems rather myopic to me. I think it can be safely assumed that most cinema fans, while rating the importance of the BTTF films and (at least some of) the Alien films highly, would put the likes of Psycho and Seven Samurai even higher.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

merrick, surely you recognize the minority of your opinion on this one? Fair enough, these titles don't interest you, but to call the schedule "bare" in light of that seems rather myopic to me. I think it can be safely assumed that most cinema fans, while rating the importance of the BTTF films and (at least some of) the Alien films highly, would put the likes of Psycho and Seven Samurai even higher.

Oh good grief,

You guys need to not get so hung up on stuff that I say and not take things so personally!!!! My opinion is just that, MY OPINION. Just like it was MY OPINION on a frame being opened up if it was visually feasible to do so and I got quite a few posts about how "wrong" it is and how it goes against directors intent when I completely made it clear that it was MY preference and not the directors!!

For the record, YES I do think that and I would rate Alien Anth. and Back to the Future as a much bigger deal to most people. Quite frankly, I don't feel those titles will generate NEAR the sales of AA and BttF. I am NOT making the argument that AA and BttF are better films just that they are a bigger deal to most people who buy films.

And no, I am not going to be responding to a 1000 posts about how "wrong" I am.

To be fair other posters started the complaining of studios not releasing enough titles and I was more or less agreeing with them.

Either way Psycho, Seven Samurai and Apocalypse NOW ARE coming and I am happy for all of you that want them.

Even with those releases, I do feel that the slate IS still somewhat bare compared to previous years. But there is still quite a bit of time for the holiday release slate to get much better.

[MerrickG]

Doctorossi, I adjust my original statement ever so slightly.

Nobody should take my previous post too seriously, it was written with a sense of humor and intended to give a slight laugh while at the same time defending my opinion.

Ok?!!

Lets have a group hug now!

[MerrickG]

In other news,

I don't feel Brett Favre is retiring. I refuse to be Charlie Brown trying to kick the ball only to have it pulled out from under me at the last second.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Nobody should take my previous post too seriously

I didn't intend mine to be taken terribly seriously, either.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

I didn't intend mine to be taken terribly seriously, either.

Uh oh....

[DenonCI]

Originally Posted by merrick97

In other news,

I don't feel Brett Favre is retiring. I refuse to be Charlie Brown trying to kick the ball only to have it pulled out from under me at the last second.

I stopped care about what he's going to do 3 years ago!

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Uh oh....

I'd invite you to some co-op Halo, but somehow I doubt that game is high on your list.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

I'd invite you to some co-op Halo, but somehow I doubt that game is high on your list.

Co-op is the one form of multiplayer Ill do on an occasion. Gears of War 1 and 2 are best played with Co-op.

My gamertag for PSN and 360 is the same as my name here.

Feel free to add me.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by DenonCI

I stopped care about what he's going to do 3 years ago!

Bill is a huge (and I mean HUGE) Vikings fan so I'd love to hear his thoughts on it.

We had a good competitive banter going when the Cowboys and Vikings played in the playoffs.

I took it like a man and congratulated Bill's Vikings when they won and he was very gracious about it. I really wanted Brett to be back when they play the Cowboys again this season.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by Esox50

Sorry to be a pessimist guys, but this is what I was saying last week...big titles we were suppose to get are still MIA cause catalog titles aren't selling. The answer, don't release catalog titles. LOL.

Oh well, the studios don't get it. Just buy what they release that interests you and has received proper treatment. Nuttin else you can do.

Maybe we'll get Indy and Jurassic Park next year, though with the way things are going...who knows.

Yeah, this is basically true. Catalog sales have a lot of the studios hesitating at the moment. On the other hand, the catalog activity has picked up dramatically for the 4th quarter, so maybe a strong holiday season will shake more catalog titles loose again. We'll see.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by kefrank

I would say Apocalypse Now, Psycho, and Seven Samurai are all pretty noteworthy films.

Agreed. Paths of Glory, Escape from NY, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Sound of Music, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Bridge on the River Kwai and I'm sure more that have yet to be announced. Space 1999, the Corman titles... the second half of the year is shaping up pretty nicely.

[Paul.R.S]

Originally Posted by Nick Graham

Any word as to the reasoning the new Escape From New York BD is totally feature free? The old MGM two disc set, while being two single layer discs if I recall (which I thought was odd), had plenty of features. I thought the would-be remake was dead in the water, so I'm not sure what they are waiting on in regards to releasing all the goodies.

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

No official word, but I think this - for the studio - represents a compromise between the desire to get catalog product out there and the need to do it inexpensively in a tough economy. By including a movie-only Blu-ray with the existing DVD, the studio gets an inexpensive-to-produce package that STILL includes all the previous extras. My own feeling is that, while I would certainly much rather have all those extras on the BD disc and some new ones as well, in this tough catalog release climate I'm just happy to have the movie in HD at all. It's a compromise I'm willing to accept for the time being.

But Bill, from the looks of its packaging the new Escape From New York BD + DVD package does not "STILL include all the previous extras."

I think many of us understand the "need to do it inexpensively in a tough economy" / possible rights issues? / "tough catalog release climate" positions. But in this case, MGM-via-Fox isn't even including Disc One from the 2003 EFNY Special Edition DVD that included some of the supplements. If there were rights issues in connection with supplements created by a producer instead of in-house, the standalone SE DVD might likely be out of print. But that's not the case.

So in this instance, Fox appears to have struck a new DVD sans extras for the sake of including it in the BD + DVD package. It kinda undermines the 'cut costs on catalog titles' argument. They're having their cake and asking to eat it too in couple of ways: many of us don't want the DVD in the first place, but they're giving it to us . . . but without the supps that would be on there if they simply included the current release DVD instead of striking a new, movie-only one.

I also wanna say that it would be nice if the studio would adopt a consistent position on these supplements concerns. But on both their own Fox titles and the MGMers that they currently distrib, they keep tweaking the strategy over the years instead of just consistently doing the right thing:

• Rocky and Cast Away dropped all supps and added nothing new;
  
• Die Hard and Speed dropped a lot of the good supps from the Five Star Collection DVDs and, on Speed, added the ridiculous content search;
  
• sucks that McTiernan's commentary is not on the Thomas Crown Affair BD but nice that it's at least on the included DVD in that package;
  
• today's re-release of Never Say Never Again gets it right as far as the BD + DVD approach goes: both discs contain the supps;
  
• but then they are simultaneously releasing the problematic EFNY BD + DVD.

My concern with the 'accept the compromise for the time being' attitude is that, once the MGM sale quandary is settled, if their current approach has solidified into something unattractive to the very collectors who disproportionately purchase those same catalog titles "conventional wisdom" says don't sell, it will be all the more difficult to get them to change their ways.

This has been an issue for a few years now with Fox/MGM-via-Fox. Steve Feldstein encouraged patience when I asked him about this subject a couple years ago at Home Media Expo. Now of course he's no longer with the studio. Whatever stars aligned for Fox to license The Thin Red Line to Criterion, perhaps we should encourage the studio to do more of that if they can't get their own sh*t together in house. I'll bet you lunch at the Fox commissary that TTRL will fare at least as well if not better sales-wise--at $26.99--as some of Fox' own mediocre releases of catalog titles.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Bill is a huge (and I mean HUGE) Vikings fan so I'd love to hear his thoughts on it.

We had a good competitive banter going when the Cowboys and Vikings played in the playoffs.

I took it like a man and congratulated Bill's Vikings when they won and he was very gracious about it. I really wanted Brett to be back when they play the Cowboys again this season.

I'll believe it when he isn't in the huddle on opening day. And if true, I'll just be glad of a massively fun and entertaining 2009 season. Favre beating the Packers twice in a Vikings jersey - doesn't get much better than that for me. Favre gave everything he had last year, and was getting pounded in the NFC Championship Game. Peterson fumbled that game away more than Favre's interception cost us. As for the Superbowl, I don't think it's even a real game.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by merrick97

My gamertag for PSN and 360 is the same as my name here.

Feel free to add me.

Same for me, on both counts, less the PSN aspect.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by Paul.R.S

But Bill, from the looks of its packaging the new Escape From New York BD + DVD package does not "STILL include all the previous extras."

I think many of us understand the "need to do it inexpensively in a tough economy" / possible rights issues? / "tough catalog release climate" positions. But in this case, MGM-via-Fox isn't even including Disc Two from the 2003 EFNY Special Edition DVD that included some of the supplements. If there were rights issues in connection with supplements created by a producer instead of in-house, the standalone SE DVD might likely be out of print. But that's not the case.

So in this instance, Fox appears to have struck a new DVD sans extras for the sake of including it in the BD + DVD package. It kinda undermines the 'cut costs on catalog titles' argument.

I also wanna say that it would be nice if the studio would adopt a consistent position on these supplements concerns. But on both their own Fox titles and the MGMers that they currently distrib, they keep tweaking the strategy over the years instead of just consistently doing the right thing:

• Rocky and Cast Away dropped all supps and added nothing new;
  
• Die Hard and Speed dropped a lot of the good supps from the Five Star Collection DVDs and, on Speed, added the ridiculous content search;
  
• sucks that McTiernan's commentary is not on the Thomas Crown Affair BD but nice that it's at least on the included DVD in that package;
  
• today's re-release of Never Say Never Again gets it right as far as the BD + DVD approach goes: both discs contain the supps;
  
• but then they are simultaneously releasing the problematic EFNY BD + DVD.

My concern with the 'accept the compromise for the time being' attitude is that, once the MGM sale quandary is settled, if their current approach has solidified into something unattractive to the very collectors who disproportionately purchase those same catalog titles "conventional wisdom" says don't sell, it will be all the more difficult to get them to change their ways.

This has been an issue for a few years now with Fox/MGM-via-Fox. Steve Feldstein encouraged patience when I asked him about this subject a couple years ago at Home Media Expo. Now of course he's no longer with the studio. Whatever stars aligned for Fox to license The Thin Red Line to Criterion, perhaps we should encourage the studio to do more of that if they can't get their own sh*t together in house. I'll bet you lunch at the Fox commissary that TTRL will fare at least as well if not better sales-wise--at $26.99--as some of Fox' own mediocre releases of catalog titles.

Well... let them know what you think. Polite and direct consumer feedback will do far more than complaining about it in an online forum. You're just preaching to the choir here. Too many studio people these days have simply stopped paying attention to the Internet, or written it off as silly. Write them a letter, send them an e-mail.

[sharkshark]

For future Catalogue releases, this made some money and is popular:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-L...g-Blu-ray/751/

I get your point, Merrick, but I'm really not sure that BTTF is radically different than the likes of Apocalypse - both film series that for many were initiated before many BD fans were born (god, that makes me feel old). Aliens, with its ancillary products and other tie ins has been made to feel mildly more contemporary, I think.

However, I'm not sure you can have it both ways - I'm not sure what other 'classics' you want, but if that list of forthcoming Criterions in particular doesn't make you nipply then I'm frankly not sure just what films aren't coming out that you'd be in line to get. Jurassic? Star Wars? It's an honest question, what's not coming out that you're really missing out on?