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

[hanser]

Hi Penton,

after watching The Golden Compass I started reading the books and like them very much. How are the chances of a sequel? Especially since the ending of Golden Compass had been removed and stored away for the sequel. I know that the less than brilliant BO performance and the New Line /Warner fusion played into this, but is there still a chance?

Thanks,

Hartwig Hanser

[Jeff Kleist]

after watching The Golden Compass I started reading the books and like them very much. How are the chances of a sequel? Especially since the ending of Golden Compass had been removed and stored away for the sequel. I know that the less than brilliant BO performance and the New Line /Warner fusion played into this, but is there still a chance?

The foreign partners want it, since the movie made them a pile of money. WB has very little interst in it. They did offer the series to a prominent director, but one of his demands was that he be allowed to produce the last 2 books unrestricted, which as many who have read them know would cheese off a certain segment of America, and that pretty much killed that. It's too bad because it would have been great.

I still hope that some day we can see the 45 sliced minutes of the movie restored.

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

How do you define epic packaging? Warner appear to be trying their hand at it with Casablanca, The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind, and it doesn't fit on my shelf.

Ok, let me preface this with saying that extras and case are only a distant second to the movie presentation itself for me, but as with other things that are not really the most important things in the world I also have an opinion on packaging

First off, to speak of epic packaging was a bit of a joke but some kind of bigger box imo would be nice for rather big and/or important movies like the ones you mentioned and the classic roadshow movies, too. I am very much in favour of having thicker and more impressive cases for these and preferably not the rather cheap looking blue plastic ones either. A cardboard/plastic combination imo is more unique and interesting if properly done than the same old same old with every new disc.

To give an example that is not too big but imo an interesting approach: The New Line Platinum Series Edition of Seven on DVD - that was a double DVD case where you have a foldout that lets you see more than just the discs themselves when you open it. Make it a bit more sturdy and add a booklet and/or roadshow program and maybe a few lobby cards to it and that seems to me to be a proper format for a big roadshow movie.

I can understand that a lot of collectors would like these cases not to exceed the height of the standard cases but I would rather enjoy my cases of selected movies to be a bit taller but then I also still enjoy looking at my Muse LD's that by comparison to Blu-Rays and DVDs are monstrous.

Regarding the titles you mentioned: I have only seen the box of Casablanca and I think it is very ugly and not at all what I would consider a good effort.

And last bit not least: I have no idea what special casing costs but I would rather have the blandest and cheapest packaging available that is still providing adequate protection for the actual discs than to suffer a subpar transfer because of too much money spent on packaging and other extras - that is another situation where the Weinstein edition of El Cid comes to mind.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

DVD collectors would know that Sony tried book style packaging with both Kwai and Lawrence

They were VERY attractive, especially the cloth binding on Lawrence. The trays inside were a bit cheesy, but the concept was good

I hope they do it again frankly

EVERY "custom" DVD case I ever had was CRAP... with the exception of the style Sony tried out with those. I only had LOA, and am anxiously awaiting BOTRK on Blu-ray since I've never seen it... but that style was VERY COOL!

I didn't find the trays to be "cheesy"... though I would have preferred a harder material... and stronger glue... though the latter can always be fixed at home.

Personally, I hate the "digibooks", but if Sony (and others) wanted to use a variation of the packaging we're referring to, I'd be perfectly fine with it.

~Alan

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

I only had LOA

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

I didn't find the trays to be "cheesy"...

YMMV, but I find the TBOtRK plastic inserts to be cheesier than the LoA ones.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

YMMV, but I find the TBOtRK plastic inserts to be cheesier than the LoA ones.

That makes sense...

~Alan

[Uxi]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

DVD collectors would know that Sony tried book style packaging with both Kwai and Lawrence

They were VERY attractive, especially the cloth binding on Lawrence. The trays inside were a bit cheesy, but the concept was good

I hope they do it again frankly

I hate the specialty packaging, including the Close Encounters. I was hoping there would be a regular BD case inside the box.... I've put off several buys I was otherwise considering (Casablanca, and One Flew Over... as two examples) because they were books, etc.

It was a nice novelty when DVD started doing it, but it really jacks your collection after awhile trying to keep all these funky different collectible boxes going. I have a nice tasteful BD case that is sized for BD and PS3 cases. I have a few extra cases from various promos and what not that I used for Close Encounters. I throw the sleeves and boxes and junk into a box in my hall closet for now.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Wide full open? Never heard it called that before. You ISDT guys are a polite bunch.

It appears the throttle got stuck open again………
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...=1#post1889717

I really don’t remember how our provincial enduro group coined that phrase, I’m thinking it was combination of paying homage to thee ole SIDI “Full Bore” boots………….
http://www.classicboots.com/moto/fullbore.htm

and the fact that one of our riders claimed that his throttle cable stuck “wide open” causing him to crash into a tree but, when we opened up the carb, the slide was not fully up……..still hanging about ¼ down, ergo his mishap did not qualify as "WFO".

[Penton-Man]

^
Gawd, for cripes sakes, even when I provide my own links, I can’t get away from this *Star* stuff, whether it be Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica………read the first paragraph of the above link.

That about sums up this week.

[Beast]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to do so when I am directed to “active members” making posts like this……….
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...&postcount=141

Don't mind him. We pretty much schooled him very quickly that he was full of it.

[Beast]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

The foreign partners want it, since the movie made them a pile of money. WB has very little interst in it. They did offer the series to a prominent director, but one of his demands was that he be allowed to produce the last 2 books unrestricted, which as many who have read them know would cheese off a certain segment of America, and that pretty much killed that. It's too bad because it would have been great.

I still hope that some day we can see the 45 sliced minutes of the movie restored.

Honestly, cheesing off that vocal close-minded segment of America would be the best thing they could do.

Controversy = Ticket Sales.

[Jeff Kleist]

Honestly, cheesing off that vocal close-minded segment of America would be the best thing they could do.

Controversy = Ticket Sales.

Didn't work on the first one, well, it worked, just not in the movie's favor. A fantasy movie needs family dollars to survive, and if middle america is convinced it's the work of Satan, it ain't going places, and that was with the movie slightly neutered. Just think about how book 3 would get received in full blown form

[Bullseye]

Would the studio not be prepared to allow a European studio make it. We seem to be alittle more broadminded. Its amazing the Da Vinci Code got made.

[Jeff Kleist]

The DaVinci code sold millions of copies in America, His Dark Materials did not.

European studios wouldn't be able to raise the cash to do it/wouldn't be able to take that risk. WB's rights to make them would have to lapse

You're far more likely to see a BBC/Sci-Fi co-production 10-15 years down the line.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

^
Gawd, for cripes sakes, even when I provide my own links, I can’t get away from this *Star* stuff, whether it be Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica………read the first paragraph of the above link.

That about sums up this week.

Just can't escape it, can you?

I always thought the term WFO (F referring to fornication ) was coined by desert racers, specifically the Barstow-to-Vegas crew.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Just can't escape it, can you?

I always thought the term WFO (F referring to fornication ) was coined by desert racers, specifically the Barstow-to-Vegas crew.

I chose not to bring up that particular possibility because of the high moral standards of dez racers but since you mentioned it, perhaps some followers may have felt that way in the B to V while trying to hang with this guy…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbMhBERcdLk

who by the way, became a well-respected Hollywood stuntman in his own right back in the day….
http://www.stuntmen.org/members.html

P.S.
Squid, do you recognize the motorcycle or his 'colors' (the famous MC club out here in SoCal)?

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Oliver K

The Da Vinci Code seems to me similar to The Dark Knight by which I mean that what people see and dislike is already present in the DI.

I cannot say that I really like the resulting look but if it is faithful to the DI it will get us as close to the theatrical look as we can expect from the Blu-Ray format and that is all that matters to me.

I’m not sure of when Road to Perdition will debut on Blu-ray but, if memory serves, there was some mention of it initially becoming available in Germany this month.

It should be interesting to see how Blu-ray home theater enthusiasts respond to the focus in that particular motion picture……..as well as the lighting, etc.

If anyone plans on doing a review of Road to Perdition in the future, it may be wise to Google something like “Conrad Hall soft noir” or some variant of that phrase to be truly informed.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I chose not to bring up that particular possibility because of the high moral standards of dez racers but since you mentioned it, perhaps some followers may have felt that way in the B to V while trying to hang with this guy…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbMhBERcdLk

who by the way, became a well-respected Hollywood stuntman in his own right back in the day….
http://www.stuntmen.org/members.html

P.S.
Squid, do you recognize the motorcycle or his 'colors' (the famous MC club out here in SoCal)?

The video is quite poor, but it looks like a Husky (360 or 400). That was the desert bike of choice back then, as the CZ and Maico were for MX.

I am going to guess CRC or CMC. I was born, and spent 46 years in OC. Saddleback, Indian Dunes and Carlsbad were my stompin grounds, but I seem to recall the desert guys raced under CMC. Except in the Baja races, thats SCORE if I remember correctly. I have been on the asphalt for 20 years now, so my memory is a little dirty.

[Penton-Man]

C.M.C. and I’d bet on a Husky 400……………..
http://dirtbike.off-road.com/dirtbik....jsp?id=264476

^
read some of the GREAT old stories. Howard Hawks (the Director) was a member of C.M.C. and John Wayne rode several times with the Checkers.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Vincent Pereira

I spent a great afternoon hanging with Mr. Zsigmond and picking his brain during a location scout in NYC for JERSEY GIRL back in 2002. One of the greatest afternoons in my life

If they were screening HEAVEN'S GATE, I'd consider flying out to LA for that event. I love that film (and no, I'm not being sarcastic) and have never seem it projected in a cinema.

Vincent

Well Vincent, in lieu of that, you may want to fly out to L.A. for this -

http://3cp.gammadensity.com/index-3-Learn-Pages.html
as it has finally been announced as part of the Cine Gear Expo offerings.