Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

You have to remember that Sony is seeing the sales data for the DVD edition over the past few years. It has been a Walmart bargain bin staple for many years.It is in a genre and has a target demographic that is not buying Blu-rays in any large number.

Which always makes me wonder...what is the target demographic for Blu-rays? From these boards, and watching buyers at retail checkouts I get the impression that it's primarily geeks and gamers at one extreme and geezer collectors at the other. There doesn't seem to be much of a middle ground among the population at large.

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

If Sony only has so many "open" slots to release movies on Blu-ray, is that movie a good pick? Probably not. I'm honestly surprised Twilight Time would take a shot on it, though it probably fits their customer base better than most other distributors.

I think they're doing it, as they did Fright Night, because a) it was available from SPHE with the requisite level of quality, and b) it might be good for widening label visibility beyond older deep catalogue fans. Plus maybe c) it offers further evidence to any remaining doubters that SPHE's focus is now on catalogue licensing...and not just for their pre-80s titles.

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by AgentOrange

I also don't see how this can POSSIBLY be a good thing to consumers. Other than the prospect that Criterion gets their hands on more Columbia Pictures titles and loads them up with extras. The prospect of these Twilight Time bare-bones/limited releases is only truly interesting when it's something that nobody really expected a blu-ray for. My only thought at seeing this 90's oscar winner was surprise that it wasn't already on blu-ray 2 or 3 years ago, and yes, in a bargain bin...

Ahhh...now you're catching on.

More high-end studio product will soon be available to niche labels like Criterion - who do care about these movies and quality presentation - than was imaginable even a few short months ago. I mean, until it was announced, who saw something like Anatomy of a Murder coming?

If Blu-ray is to be the last 'hard media' home video format, then I would rather have the true fans and collectors being served well by niche labels who care, rather than the serial blandness and indifference of big studios chasing after a mass market that still doesn't exist for this format, and might never. Everyone hates this analogy, but I truly believe that Blu-ray will end up closer to Laserdisc in terms of its micro-targeted collector focus and higher overall presentation standards.

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by morriscroy

This section?

https://forum.blu-ray.com/printthrea...&pp=40&page=22

Just the proverbial 'tip of the iceberg' morriscroy. There are as many or more studio sources on the HTF, and other boards/blogs, plus friends of friends off-'Net who have access to this information...at least in the general sense being discussed here. Nobody is trading confidential balance sheets, just 'war stories'.

My own industry contacts have said basically the same thing though so these anecdotal reports do indeed have a ring of truth. With Blu-ray catalogue titles, it's just been one expensive, high-profile disappointment after the other. Releases that any casual observer would assume made bags of dough, did have healthy sales, but cost so much for rescanning, restoration, and remastering (e.g. a cool $1 million or more for North by Northwest) that it will take years for them to go into the black. Obviously, no business can continue throwing good money after bad like that without their management and comptrollers pushing back.

Which is why we're even having this recurring discussion morriscroy. At the other end, are disbelieving consumers who have become so accustomed to premium Blu-ray product for $10 or less, they refuse to support it at any other price point, even though Blu-ray market share still doesn't justify price parity with DVDs, much less routinely lower pricing. Something had to give, and in 2011, Fox and SPHE finallly just said "Enough!" to this insanity, so now prefer to license catalogue titles instead.

[Arkadin]

well all that restoration, etc. etc. doesn't just go towards making a blu-ray release. It provides a new hd version of the film to provide for cable, for downloads, for streaming, etc. etc.
so it's an investment to monetize the film for many different platforms.
These major Hollywood studios that spend 100's of millions of dollars all the time on total crap films at the theater could easily spend the money to preserve their film legacies for future generations and release bds if they wanted to.
I mean give me a break about all this cost stuff.
these studios should promote their legacy films and the blu-ray releases much more and maybe they would make more money. How can anybody say it wouldn't happen since they hardly ever do that in the first place?
Honestly, Fox and Sony haven't really significantly supported older catalog from day 1 of the format. simple as that.
They have absolutely issued some great releases, but in general the overall output for coming on 6 years has been pretty pathetic imo, and it seems clear they are both basically throwing in the towel at this point.

[Yami]

Some stuff that I'd like TT to get (or Criterion, doesn't bother me):

Sony
49th Parallel
The Lady from Shanghai
In a Lonely Place
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T
Bonjour Tristesse
Night of the Demon
Sundays and Cybele
Born Free
Husbands
+ A Matter of Life and Death / Age of Consent (Not sure about the rights but Sony released the DVD)

I suspect that Sony will release On the Waterfront and Oliver! themselves.

Fox
Laura
Je t'aime, je t'aime
The Driver
Any Elia Kazan

[NoirFan]

I don't have a major problem with TT's high price points, but they really should offer free economy shipping for orders over $100.

[NoirFan]

Originally Posted by Yami

Fox
Laura
Je t'aime, je t'aime
The Driver
Any Elia Kazan

I had hoped that the All About Eve digibook would lead to Laura, Leave Her to Heaven, Grapes of Wrath, Nightmare Alley (not a big title, but a personal favorite) and others receiving similar treatment from Fox, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

[Yami]

I believe that Laura has just been restored but I haven't heard anything about a release.

[Daikichi Kawachi (河地大吉)]

Does anyone expect Twilight Time will restore and release classic TV series' on BD eventually?

[NoirFan]

Originally Posted by Captain America

Does anyone expect Twilight Time will restore and release classic TV series' on BD eventually?

God only knows how much they'd charge if they did!

[Arkadin]

TT just distributes. they don't do the actual restoration/remastering, etc. etc.
they do prep the release from the given materials.

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by Yami

I believe that Laura has just been restored but I haven't heard anything about a release.

That would probably be a great title for TT to license. Fox probably couldn't sell enough copies if they released it themselves, but for TT it might be one of the more popular titles.

Come to think of it, I'd love for TT to release noirs from Fox & Sony on a semi-regular basis.

[Arkadin]

Laura would be a slam dunk.
incredible film.
make it so TT. make it so.

[Yami]

I think they might have a chance with Nicholas Ray's noir In a Lonely Place which features what many consider to be Bogart's best performance.

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by Yami

I think they might have a chance with Nicholas Ray's noir In a Lonely Place which features what many consider to be Bogart's best performance.

Agreed.

You have to credit Fox & Sony for making an effort with classic noirs, at least as long as the sales were there to justify mass releases in SD. So at this point, if they just limit themselves to licensing the titles, noir fans everywhere would be extremely happy, imho.

[Arkadin]

well noir is my favorite genre so that would be the greatest day ever if all my favorite noirs start coming out. I think I have about 125 titles on sd.

[The Duke]

Originally Posted by morriscroy

Over the last year or so, I've noticed the type of individuals that browse the bluray sections at the local BestBuy and WalMart stores, were frequently the geek/gamer types. These were guys (rarely women) that wore t-shirts with stuff like: Spider Man, X-Men, The Shining, Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Metallica, Cheech & Chong, The Incredible Hulk, Batman, Halo, etc ... on the front.

I haven't seen many geezer collectors types yet.

We tend to stick with Amazon & other online retailers - such a pain to get the walker out of the car and then try to navigate through all those geeks with scary t-shirts.

[Pirate King]

Originally Posted by ROclockCK

Which always makes me wonder...what is the target demographic for Blu-rays? From these boards, and watching buyers at retail checkouts I get the impression that it's primarily geeks and gamers at one extreme and geezer collectors at the other. There doesn't seem to be much of a middle ground among the population at large.

I qualify as a "geezer collector".

[jaaguir]

My Swamp water shipped later the same day (Friday) I wrote wondering why it was still as "pre-order" on SAE (!). I've seen the movie and it looks very good. The movie is ok. Certainly very nicely shot, with the famed Renoir long takes with the camera moving around. I wonder what happened to actress Virginia Gilmore? She was good. Walter Brennan is also very good in a very unusual role (for him).

I pre-ordered Demetrius. No April titles for me. But I'll be getting Journey... and The big heat in May for sure! I may get The wayward bus too, probably.

About the As good as it gets controversy, I just hope it sells out, so TT can stay in business and release the other kind of titles. I think that's the idea, they're looking for their next Fright night. I don't know if it's the right choice, I hope it is. Fantasy fans are more active on the internet than fans of chick flicks, I believe. I mean, they found out about their cult movie and some of them bought it, enought for it to sell out. But fans of AGaiG? I don't know. Maybe enough regular TT buyers will be fans of it. TT probably needs another sold-out title badly. It seems they have delayed releasing Major Dundee(the last un-announced title belonging to their original Sony deal) to release this one. Well, at least the release of AGaIG shows that they already made a new deal with Sony for more titles.

The number of movies from Sony or Fox I'd like to get is so long that I'm not going to even bother writing a list here.

For people asking about Bite the bullet, you just as well might read user comments on Imdb or check out the Wikiepedia, like other poster advised. It's sort of a nostalgic western, but not sad. Times are changing, the heros are old, but they're set on doing one last hurrah. The plot revolves around a race (with all the metaphors and usual morals that concept implies), the winner takes gets big pile of money, I believe. It should appeal to Gene Hackman fans too.

[anthonyls]

Maybe this thread should be moved up to the Sticky Threads above... as a permanent TT Discussion thread.