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

[AKORIS]

Hey guys--

I was wondering about a couple of releases that were announced last year but now seem to be MIA--


THE INNOCENTS (1961)

and

THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT (1996)

were these cancelled, delayed, or what?

[Jeff Kleist]

Titles are always going to be evaluated based on the work that needs to be done versus the probable return. They will also be evaluated on the marketing cycle. No studio wants to get all of their catalog on the market and then have nothing big for next year. Most studios are not like Disney with their vault, so doing a repromote on an existing format that a title has already been released on is very difficult.

It's not difficult at all, it's SOP. How much new money you're willing to drop on that re-promote. The whole industry goes in a 3-4 year cycle for the B+ and up titles, with the rest of the Bs 4-6 years where they'll receive a cover art refresh and a re-solicit. The idea with Blu-ray right now is to firmly establish that 30-40% of titles that provide 85% of the revenue

[master_8ball]

Happy New Year to The Digital Bits Team!

I am looking forward to news on Indy and Jurassic Park this year, and maybe some more Michael Crichton with Congo (I know it sucks but I like it and a guy can hope right?).

Atexp80 thats too bad about Piranha over there. I was very surprised to see the 3D version here in Canada (which also comes with the 2D version) to be only $19.99, cheaper than the regular 2D version

I don't have a 3D tv yet but have picked up titles that have both versions such as Christmas Carol and Despicable Me.

[Jeff Kleist]

Best I can do on Congo is this

http://www.cornponeflicks.org/shorts.html#FORE

[SpaceDog]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

It's not difficult at all, it's SOP. How much new money you're willing to drop on that re-promote. The whole industry goes in a 3-4 year cycle for the B+ and up titles, with the rest of the Bs 4-6 years where they'll receive a cover art refresh and a re-solicit. The idea with Blu-ray right now is to firmly establish that 30-40% of titles that provide 85% of the revenue

You don't think it's harder to generate excitement on a title that is persistantly available than a vaulted title? Sure, the studios love a double dip, but the first big-bang has to be the initial release, and glutting a year with initial format releases isn't in their interest. Spacing releases is...

[master_8ball]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Best I can do on Congo is this

http://www.cornponeflicks.org/shorts.html#FORE

lol thanks for the laugh....

I suppose the gorilla suit would look better in my memory than in HD anyways

[MerrickG]

Hey Jeff,

Eventhough we will likely find out tommorrow, but do you expect that we will be pleasantly surprised with the extra features on the Star Wars blurays?

I am specifically interested in if there will be more unseen deleted scenes shown.

Also, can we expect different cuts for any of these films or further changes (ala Digital Yoda in TPM)

[SpaceDog]

I hear he's reshot all of Alec Guinness material with Ewan McGregor, and Jar Jar will replace Chewbacca.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by SpaceDog

I hear he's reshot all of Alec Guinness material with Ewan McGregor, and Jar Jar will replace Chewbacca.

I had heard that Lucas actually had considered doing the former, although he wisely decided against it.

[Jeff Kleist]

Lucas was never going to replace Alec Guiness. He worships the ground he walks on.

I don't know what specifically they're showing today, and there are so many possible things they could include on the Blu-rays. I do know that that there was a LOT of extra material filmed that could potentially go on the Blus, but it would count as "new" and not stuff they dug up. No it wouldn't alter the films like the SEs, so calm the fears.

I'm sure Luke's lime lightsaber from ANH will be gone, let's see if they fix the audio errors as well. Since it took him till the DVD version to give Ben a lightsaber blade in the Vader duel, I'm not certain they'll catch it until the third go

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Lucas was never going to replace Alec Guiness. He worships the ground he walks on.

I don't know what specifically they're showing today, and there are so many possible things they could include on the Blu-rays. I do know that that there was a LOT of extra material filmed that could potentially go on the Blus, but it would count as "new" and not stuff they dug up. No it wouldn't alter the films like the SEs, so calm the fears.

I'm sure Luke's lime lightsaber from ANH will be gone, let's see if they fix the audio errors as well. Since it took him till the DVD version to give Ben a lightsaber blade in the Vader duel, I'm not certain they'll catch it until the third go

Personally I would like to see the Qui Gon Jinn talling to Yoda scene at the end of EPIII. That scene needs to be in EPIII. I would also like to see Yoda landing on Dagobah.

[Jeff Kleist]

They will almost certainly be putting back in the attack on the ship from the end of Episode 2. The edited but no-FX footage was shown on the Star Wars insider network back in 2002.

[SpaceDog]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

I'm sure Luke's lime lightsaber from ANH will be gone, let's see if they fix the audio errors as well. Since it took him till the DVD version to give Ben a lightsaber blade in the Vader duel, I'm not certain they'll catch it until the third go

Is there an image on the web of the no-lightsaber? I'd check my VHS, but lack a VHS player...

[neo_reloaded]

What is Sony's deal with announcing, and then subsequently canceling, BD titles? This just happens over, and over, and over with them. They were bad at this around the format launch (Marie Antoinette, other titles that have never been resolicited), they've had titles for years in their "Coming to Blu-ray" commercials with no actual follow-through (Bad Boys 2, Lawrence of Arabia), and they even had that big Comic-Con announcement of Ghostbusters 1+2 that was canceled with zero information and re-announced as just the first title a year later (the second still totally MIA). Hell, they made a big to-do before the launch of Blu-ray that Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle was the very first Blu-ray Disc to be authored, and THAT title is still not out.

Titles are even getting announced to retailers like Walmart and Amazon, but then apparently canceled internally before any public announcement is made - i.e. Taxi Driver, Punch-Drunk Love (which was actually mentioned in an official press release for the launch of their MovieIQ BD feature), etc. If a title from any other studio is available for pre-order on Amazon, you know an announcement is coming within a month or two. With Sony titles, Amazon pre-orders have been going for years.

And this continues to this day, with the recent cancellation of Heavy Metal, and the fact that Ishtar's release date has come and gone with the disc not actually coming out. There's obviously the problem of Sony's catalogue output being miniscule, but I understand that catalogue doesn't sell well so there's only so much you can do. But that is totally separate from what should be the easily fixable problem of only announcing what you actually plan to sell.

[Jeff Kleist]

Is there an image on the web of the no-lightsaber? I'd check my VHS, but lack a VHS player...

It has to be in motion, it's when Ben's lightsaber is almost pointed directly at the camera and he's making little flicking motions with it. Until the DVD it was the no-FX rod with the reflective tape around it that they used for the fighting.

[AKORIS]

[

THE INNOCENTS (1961)

and

THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT (1996)

were these cancelled, delayed, or what?[/QUOTE

]



any news at all on these???

[Jeff Kleist]

What is Sony's deal with announcing, and then subsequently canceling, BD titles? This just happens over, and over, and over with them. They were bad at this around the format launch (Marie Antoinette, other titles that have never been resolicited), they've had titles for years in their "Coming to Blu-ray" commercials with no actual follow-through (Bad Boys 2, Lawrence of Arabia), and they even had that big Comic-Con announcement of Ghostbusters 1+2 that was canceled with zero information and re-announced as just the first title a year later (the second still totally MIA). Hell, they made a big to-do before the launch of Blu-ray that Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle was the very first Blu-ray Disc to be authored, and THAT title is still not out.

Well, they've stopped announcing titles that don't re-materialize down the road, with most of them going to retailer (usually Best Buy) exclusives. Heavy Metal almost certainly is headed that way. Often times you toss out your first go at making a product, so given the condition and quality of some of those early discs (like fifth element for example), it's not suprising that someone may have kiboshed Charlie's Angels 2, and it just hasn't come up again in the rotation. With new technology, you have to learn by doing.

During the launch window dozens of titles were teased or talked about between all the studios that never materialized like Team America. Ghostbusters 2 is still tied to the not-dead-yet Ghostbusters 3 for example. Last I heard they needed to cut about $30-40 million out of the budget to get that made, but that it's getting closer. I just hope that the eventual video game is made by Terminal Reality, they did the franchise proud.

any news at all on these???

None that I'm aware of

[Indyjones]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Personally I would like to see the Qui Gon Jinn talling to Yoda scene at the end of EPIII. That scene needs to be in EPIII. I would also like to see Yoda landing on Dagobah.

I don't think that Qui-Gon scene was shot, was it? Wasn't one of the reasons Neeson was not involved on ROTS was because he was in a motorcyle accident around that time? I'm not exactly sure on that, just something I read.

[Jumpman]

It was never shot. There were "issues" with getting Liam Neeson to do this. Nobody really knows why it didn't happen.

[SpaceDog]

Originally Posted by Jumpman

It was never shot. There were "issues" with getting Liam Neeson to do this. Nobody really knows why it didn't happen.

I think possibly someone made the mistake of allowing Neeson to see The Phantom Menace.