Archived: Ask the Insiders: Judgment Day Edition

[richard lichtenfelt]

Originally Posted by blindcat87

Plus, some of those favorites that I have been putting off would enter my collection a lot faster if redone with lossless audio and BD optimized video, i.e. the Lethal Weapon series.
Chris

Bill Hunt sent me a personal email confirming that the Lethal Weapon series is already being redone by WB and should be out "early this year."
It will be labeled the Director's Cut.

[Neo65]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

I see everything has come out in the wash then...

I would like to give special thanks to all of the Blu fans who made this possible, without you lot, we wouldn't be in the position we are in now!

Kudos to you Max, P-M, Talk, and Paid who is presumably too busy walking the show floor of CES with Bill Conti's "Gonna Fly Now" playing from his ipod/iphone to post here.

It's time to get everyone back to buying and watching highdef movies on shiny disks. This time hopefully the shelves can be unified under a single color.

Blu.

[GreenScar]

Yaowza!

And the good news keeps on coming!

Bill Hunt sent me a personal email confirming that the Lethal Weapon series is already being redone by WB and will be out this year.

[Jackietreehorn]

I too just want to throw in a big Thank You to the insiders here. I don't see any reason that you wouldn't stick around, but I sincerely hope you do.

Man, what a good day.

[RangerSix]

RDJAM responds:

Leave HDDVD ALONE!

[darinp2]

Originally Posted by jasonbird

The HD supporters are over at HDD forum saying it's not over yet..

I realized it has been used a lot in the past, but the picture of the knight from the Monty Python movie claiming it is only a flesh wound (as he is missing limbs) really seems appropriate at this moment.

And thanks to the insiders here and to Sony. I don't think they would have gotten this move if they weren't really serious about Blu-ray succeeding, and that should be a good sign to those who care about high definition on discs.

To the insiders, are there people making sure that smaller producers know about this change and have a good path to releasing BDs? I'm thinking specifically of the people planning on bringing out the best of 2007 for the UFC on HD DVD. Somebody should let them know that it would make little sense to do that now. Maybe release on both, but probably just Blu-ray only would make sense for them given the Warner move. And similar things for any of the small producers on this list of HD DVD releases planned:

http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/releasedates.html

And any news on Studio Canal? They should now see the writing on the wall, if they didn't before.

And please, finalizing a deal with the Weinsteins for Grindhouse as shown in theaters would be awesome.

--Darin

[cdblu]

congrats to all insiders!!

PM, can we expect Weinstein to release in q2? I really want harsh times on bd! Eva Longoria in HD!

[blindcat87]

To quote an ancient sage of my youth...

"Party. Bonus."

Hope that is just the beginning of a trend. A lot of films already released by WB deserve lossless audio.

Chris

Originally Posted by richard lichtenfelt

Bill Hunt sent me a personal email confirming that the Lethal Weapon series is already being redone by WB and should be out "early this year."
It will be labeled the Director's Cut.

[hjelmn]

A special thanks to all of the insiders for their hard work and all the subtle hints. It is a load off my mind to know that the better format won and Microsuck lost! I think we all owe the P-Man, paid, and all of the insiders a drink before they get back to work. *cheers*

[sodrock]

Originally Posted by RangerSix

RDJAM responds:

Leave HDDVD ALONE!

I had never seen this before. THat was just awful.

[gand41f]

Finally finished reading all the posts.

Thanks to all the insiders for their hard work and subtle (and sometimes not very subtle) hints. You are voices of reason in the sea of insanity.

Now that we have Warner wrapped up, I have to ask one question: is there an escape clause in P/DW's contract that covers this case? I'm assuming P/DW's executives didn't want to be looking like total goofballs even for $150mil by being the last Hollywood major to be releasing movies in HD, did they mind being the second last?

enjoy
gandalf

[savage1984]

Originally Posted by sj001

TO Penton-man, Paidgeek, Kjack, Maxpower, Talkstr8t, and any other Insiders I missed, a big THANK YOU for always being there for us!!!

TO anyone reading this who is a member of the BDA, or works for them, big KUDOS to you for a job WELL DONE!

TO the forum staff and mods, great job running this site, this is the best forum ever!

TO everyone else, I am glad to be part of your community, and congratulations to all, it's Miller time!!!

+1 I rarely comment on the insiders boards, as I tend to just read through them, but I have to say that those mentioned above (max, penton, etc) have been phenomenal. We really appreciate all that you guys/girls do for us and blu-ray. You go above and beyond your jobs. So thank you.

[fomoco04]

Originally Posted by gand41f

Finally finished reading all the posts.

Thanks to all the insiders for their hard work and subtle (and sometimes not very subtle) hints. You are voices of reason in the sea of insanity.

Now that we have Warner wrapped up, I have to ask one question: is there an escape clause in P/DW's contract that covers this case? I'm assuming P/DW's executives didn't want to be looking like total goofballs even for $150mil by being the last Hollywood major to be releasing movies in HD, did they mind being the second last?

enjoy
gandalf

Im far from being an insider but I doubt there would be any major contract signed these days without an escape clause, no matter what industry.

[jfcarbel]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

I'll let Talk set the record straight. But, from what I read all he has done is confirm that replication capacity and/or cost was a concern of Warner's. This was already known. It was the same before Warner became neutral.

I think you and David are reading too much into his statement, jumping to a conclusion he is confirming there is an actual problem.



Yep.

For the week ending Dec. 30 2007

DVD: 99
Blu-ray 1

Or did we get to 2?

Can we get some insiders here to comment on if these BD production problems are overblown or are now resolved.

This is now the next big concern of mine now that the format war is nearing its end. That is, can Blue handle the capacity once all these new studios come on board and the consumers sitting on the sidelines start upping the demand.

[Jafo]

Originally Posted by darinp2

I realized it has been used a lot in the past, but the picture of the knight from the Monty Python movie claiming it is only a flesh wound (as he is missing limbs) really seems appropriate at this moment.

--Darin

[Razzy]

Originally Posted by gand41f

Now that we have Warner wrapped up, I have to ask one question: is there an escape clause in P/DW's contract that covers this case?

Don't you remember this? It's in the old insiders thread:

Originally Posted by dobyblue:

What about events like Universal going neutral or Warner going Blu-exclu? You think there's no notwithstanding clause even based on those two events happening?


Reply by Max:

I will be very careful with this.

The deal includes get-out clauses in which Viacom can leave, but neither of those events would trigger any of the clauses.

and later Max added...

I am not allowed to talk about specific clauses in the deal, it would involve me breaking several NDA's. I shouldn't even have said anything about the above situation, I should be OK though. Hopefully.


Hopefully Max doesn't get upset with me for digging that up.

[megablank]

First, I also want to thank the Insiders for their good work.

It's unbelieveable how far this message from Warner spreads...

Even the German public-law TV (ARD) reported about it in the main "Tagesschau" news. They never did such a thing before.

Markus

[eat_me_cool]

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...goryid=18&cs=1

Warner sister company New Line confirmed it will shift allegiance to Blu-ray only as well.

I go out to the pub like any normal person would on a Friday night and come back to hundreds of pages to read. Good news though.

Any thoughts on when Universal's contract might be up?

[stockstar1138]

Originally Posted by eat_me_cool

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...goryid=18&cs=1


I go out to the pub like any normal person would on a Friday night and come back to hundreds of pages to read. Good news though.

Any thoughts on when Universal's contract might be up?

its already up

[Jock Blu]

Did anyone notice how Talk reappears after a long absence, and then WB announces Blu?

Good one, Talk!

Joe