"Club Penton" - Ask questions to Hollywood insider "Penton-Man"

[Robert Siegel]

Originally Posted by wallendo

I doubt that blu-ray will have a true "killer app", and if it does, it will not be a 2D movie. If BD player sales are up, it will likely be a brief transient peak on a steady uphill curve. It will not be until 3D is widely available until any BD title will offer a product which is not available on DVD. The improved picture and sound over upconverted DVD is important only to a segment of the home entertainment market. As far as Avatar, I wonder how many Avatar-induced BD converts bought 3D compatible BD players). 3D, if it takes off with the general public (which is a matter of legitimate debate), could be the feature that once-and-for-all sets BD apart from DVD; i.e., the "killer app".

My opinion, and it's worth what you paid for it, is that the main driving force from VHS to DVD with the general public was instant access, no need to rewind, DVD doesn't wear out, smaller package; not improved video resolution and Dolby Digital sound.

I agree with you to a point, that point being I think that there will be a huge spike in sales of new players from the Avatar release date for about a month, bringing Blu-ray into many new homes. That impact moves on from there, people buy the player, their friends and family will see their Blu-ray player and discs like Avatar and want one, and the circle continues. A title like this can open a format up in a huge way and I think it will. It will be interesting to see reports of Blu-ray player sales for late April and May. I think another spike is coming in the holiday season, when the Aliens set, Sound of Music and Indiana Jones sets (and possibly Back to the Future) come out (plus all of the summer blockbusters), more 3D discs and players, and bd-live players that sell for under $99.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by captveg

Two things:

1) Torsten, thanks for your great insight into M on criterionforum.org. It appalls me that people would be suspect of your intentions over there, such as being a PR spinmeister. Ludicrous. Over here you will not be treated so shabbily, IMO. (Well, at least in the Insider section of the boards).

2) Penton, thanks for the apparent quick work in granting my earlier Jason and the Argonauts request. https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Jason...Blu-ray/10998/

You're welcome.
I purposely avoided replying to you until the 'official' announcement, out of respect to my colleagues in *publicity* as I didn't want to steal their thunder.

Between you and me, I found the Amazon 'leak' annoying.

[Penton-Man]

P.S.
Attention 3D haters, tell us what ‘type’ of film opened Tribeca and I’m not referring to just the ‘animation’ genre, per se. You guys can't avoid it...it's everywhere.

From the ground level …
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr...ca-3d-20100425

Up to the top of the trees in the Amazon forest …
http://www.amazon.com/Televisions-Vi...ode=2248313011

[Cliff]

Penton,
Got a look at The Karate Kid Part II tonight. Great looking disc, so kudos to those involved. Even the Karate Kid I clips at the start looked fantastic (I haven't had a chance to look at that one yet). But well done all the way around.

One additional note, and this is for the marketing people. Now this is totally geeky and completely over the top in even pointing this out (but hey, I produce special features, so I'm always focused on details and historical accuracy), but did the marketing team intentionally omit the "Part" from the title "The Karate Kid Part II?" On the cover and disc, it's simply "The Karate Kid II." Now I noticed that this was the same on the DVD sets (omitting 'Part' from the printed title) and I thought it was a conscious decision but then Part III is correctly printed on all those same cases as... "The Karate Kid Part III" (sometimes directly under "The Karate Kid II." Was this just a case of people paying too much attention to creating horrible cover art all these years and have just bobbled the title repeatedly? It seems crazy that anyone could, for so long, misprint the complete and correct name for a film. I know it's beyond dorky to even ask, but I know, at some point, there was a meeting with the filmmakers and the studio and the title "The Karate Kid Part II" was deliberately chosen over "The Karate Kid II." I just wonder why that title choice hasn't been maintained.

[captveg]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Between you and me, I found the Amazon 'leak' annoying.

Seems to happen too often lately, especially on non-US releases. I doubt Warner wanted the THX 1138, Mars Attacks, etc. info out there yet.

[Jeff Kleist]

Cliff, Im still trying to figure out why the Wull Smith movie isn't Kung Fu Kid (which I believe it is in many parts of the world). You'd figure the name is close enough it's of near equal marketing value

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Cliff, Im still trying to figure out why the Wull Smith movie isn't Kung Fu Kid (which I believe it is in many parts of the world). You'd figure the name is close enough it's of near equal marketing value

Im with you on that. Id imagine many american chinese people arent happy thats its not called Kung Fu kid.

I watched the trailer and I dont feel that it looks all that bad. It seems like Jackie Chan could be a worthy Mr. Miyagi.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Cliff

Penton,
Got a look at The Karate Kid Part II tonight. Great looking disc, so kudos to those involved. Even the Karate Kid I clips at the start looked fantastic (I haven't had a chance to look at that one yet). But well done all the way around.

One additional note, and this is for the marketing people. Now this is totally geeky and completely over the top in even pointing this out (but hey, I produce special features, so I'm always focused on details and historical accuracy), but did the marketing team intentionally omit the "Part" from the title "The Karate Kid Part II?" On the cover and disc, it's simply "The Karate Kid II." Now I noticed that this was the same on the DVD sets (omitting 'Part' from the printed title) and I thought it was a conscious decision but then Part III is correctly printed on all those same cases as... "The Karate Kid Part III" (sometimes directly under "The Karate Kid II." Was this just a case of people paying too much attention to creating horrible cover art all these years and have just bobbled the title repeatedly? It seems crazy that anyone could, for so long, misprint the complete and correct name for a film. I know it's beyond dorky to even ask, but I know, at some point, there was a meeting with the filmmakers and the studio and the title "The Karate Kid Part II" was deliberately chosen over "The Karate Kid II." I just wonder why that title choice hasn't been maintained.

Im a little disappointed that the Karate Kid blurays wont contain deleted scenes. Ive read that both films actually had quite a bit cut. Id just like to see them.

[Jeff Kleist]

It's quite possible those scenes are gone for good. There's a bunch of movies like Real Genius made around the same time where stuff like that was chucked or lost in the shuffle

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

It's quite possible those scenes are gone for good. There's a bunch of movies like Real Genius made around the same time where stuff like that was chucked or lost in the shuffle

thats depressing, cuz Real Genius is one of those films in which I would LOVE to see deleted scenes even if they arent good. I would kill for a special edition release of this film on bluray. Heck even special edition dvd. Still Val Kilmers best role and frankly Im surprised he hasnt dont more comedies.

"Dont you know that eating this stuff gives you big breasts?" <looks down at ches> "Oh no! Im too late"

I remember there was brief talk of a sequel in which Chris Knight was a professor. I doubt itll ever happen, though.

Penton, please tell the powers that be at Sony Pictures that Merrick wants a special edition bluray of Real Genius.

[Jeff Kleist]

Still Val Kilmers best role and frankly Im surprised he hasnt dont more comedies.

He's the villain in "MacGruber", opening in a few weeks. I know that's the big reason I'm seeing it. Also try Top Secret

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Penton, please tell the powers that be at Sony Pictures that Merrick wants a special edition bluray of Real Genius.

And keeping the absolutely atrocious cover art?



Worst.Cover.Ever.

Worse than even the one for Groundhog Day. Penton, PLEASE have them use the original theatrical posters.

[Jeff Kleist]

They're talking about doing a horribly unnecessary remake instead.

But yes, for god's sake put the poster art on it like they did in all the other territories after that Photoshop monstrocity killed several small children

And some extras this time, I know Val Kilmer's up for a commentary, and Gabe Jarrett is still around too. If you're able to get a Goonies style group commentary going, there's almost no way it wouldn't be gold

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

They're talking about doing a horribly unnecessary remake instead.

But yes, for god's sake put the poster art on it like they did in all the other territories after that Photoshop monstrocity killed several small children

And some extras this time, I know Val Kilmer's up for a commentary, and Gabe Jarrett is still around too. If you're able to get a Goonies style group commentary going, there's almost no way it wouldn't be gold

Hell yeah! Jon Gries is still around and I doubt William Atherton is too busy filming Biodome 2 or Die Hard 5. Martha Coolidge should be able to put together a special edition.

Plus it has one of the best 80s soundtracks ever.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

They're talking about doing a horribly unnecessary remake instead.

But yes, for god's sake put the poster art on it like they did in all the other territories after that Photoshop monstrocity killed several small children

And some extras this time, I know Val Kilmer's up for a commentary, and Gabe Jarrett is still around too. If you're able to get a Goonies style group commentary going, there's almost no way it wouldn't be gold

Speaking of Goonies, I kind of wish they would put many of the deleted scenes back into the film like they did whenever they would show the film on the Disney channel.

[Bobby Henderson]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Worse than even the one for Groundhog Day. Penton, PLEASE have them use the original theatrical posters.

I have a pretty strong hatred of current movie poster designs -often little more than a collage of Photoshopped actors heads or just a photo of one or two of the leading actors. BORING.

These simple, yet boring concepts are malleable enough to work in a large 27" X 40" one sheet movie poster or shrank down to a 5 3/8" X 7 1/2" DVD case. Ultimately the studio is gearing everything for tiny home video packaging. The product must be recognizable on a retail store shelf from a considerable distance. A more simple, stark design is legible at a farther distance. A beautifully designed movie poster in the classic and complex sense will not be as legible when shrank down to DVD case size. This explains why that last version of Real Genius on DVD had such laughably bad artwork. The crappy head shot of Val Kilmer is more legible at a distance than the full body shot of him on the original movie poster.

Services like Netflix, iTunes, etc. are worsening this problem. A DVD case may have a small design foot print. But a web banner or thumbnail image on a download service screen is even more limiting.

The music industry experienced this same problem back in the 1980s. The 12" vinyl LP was a great canvas for interesting album cover art. When cassette tapes and compact discs took over the market the quality of album cover art also took a dramatic nose dive. Back in the 1970's a 12" vinyl LP would sometimes contain big fold out posters. My copy of the Queen album "Jazz" had a big poster of the starting line of a nude women's bicycle race -more than 100 attractive naked ladies on bicycles. The linear notes of my CD version of "Jazz" has a pathetic thumbnail size image of the same poster photo. The booklets in some music CDs are creative, but they lack the visual impact of a big poster. With downloaded music you're getting little more than a MP3 or AAC file featuring a low resolution image thumbnail. Pure suckage.

Those trends in movie and music packaging killed off a big part of the professional illustration market. Today's average poster design is more likely to wind up at the Photoshop Disasters web site than featured in a Society of Illustrators annual. We hardly hear anything anymore about movie poster illustrators like Bob Peak or Drew Struzan -much less have a new generation or two worth of illustrators follow in the footsteps of those legends.

Even from the standpoint of graphic design most movie posters and pieces of DVD case artwork stink. One example: Traffic. I hate the cover design with all the actors heads popped in there. It's a bunch of clutter to satisfy the contracts and egos of a few actors. Criterion's version, featuring only the black silhouette of a man staggered by a gun shot, is a more powerful image. It's not diluted by the clutter of actors heads, critics comments and other crap.

One thing the movie studios could do: put the stupid, boring yet effective for retail artwork on a disposable (and recyclable) slipcase. Put far more tasteful artwork on the actual product case.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Penton, PLEASE have them use the original theatrical posters.

Oddly enough, that'd hit a nostalgic note for me. I used to have a Real Genius one-sheet on the wall.

Man, I'm old.

[cjamescook]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

It's quite possible those scenes are gone for good. There's a bunch of movies like Real Genius made around the same time where stuff like that was chucked or lost in the shuffle

One of my favorite lines comes from Real Genius:

Prof: I want to see more of you around the lab.
Kilmer: Okay, I'll put on ten pounds.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

Oddly enough, that'd hit a nostalgic note for me. I used to have a Real Genius one-sheet on the wall.

Man, I'm old.

Real Genius is apparently more of a classic than I thought.

Many people I talk to havent heard of the film, but on this board it seems to be quite popular.

Hopefully Penton is taking notes :-)

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Many people I talk to havent heard of the film, but on this board it seems to be quite popular.

"Hahaha! Weird Science is funny!"