Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by klauswhereareyou

Is there anything like that left that Sony would part with that hasn't already been released?

"King Rat" is a Sony title which I've heard is getting an overseas release soon. It's definitely the sort of title Twilight Time has traditionally released.

[klauswhereareyou]

Originally Posted by jayembee

To quote Iago (from Aladdin, not Othello): "Well, that's a surprise! I could have a heart attack and die from that surprise!"

Given the reason why they came up with the name "Twilight Time", this shouldn't come as a big shock.

If they never put out another title, they had an impressive run.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by belcherman

Selfishly, I was just thinking of myself when I mentioned those Fords. I doubt that they would be big sellers.

No, you were thinking of me, too. And I appreciate that.

[spacenoid1]

I personally would rather wait and see which other labels will release the title in better editions than buy TT, even at sale prices. I suspect I'm not the only one, and this may be at the root of TTs issues. Maybe if they started releasing less titles, but in more deluxe special editions, would be the way to go.

[moviebuff75]

What will happen to the FOX titles?

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by moviebuff75

What will happen to the FOX titles?

Depends on what you mean. Are you asking if the Fox titles they've already released will taken off the market, or are you asking whether they'll be releasing any further ones?

It seems as if Fox, now that they're owned by Disney, is putting a moratorium on licensing out titles to labels like TT. So there won't be any more forthcoming titles from Fox for the foreseeable future unless there are a few strays that are still in the production process.

As for the ones they've already released (and aren't already OOP) I see no reason why they won't continue to be on the market until they sell out.

[Luke Dodge748]

I haven't purchased a single Twilight Time bluray yet, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I just haven't been introduced to a lot of their catalog. I'm sorry to hear however that the line may be history. I want new movies to continually come out in bluray to discover. Like Moscow on the Hudson, which I wasn't really familiar with. But I'm going to purchase it now. Hopefully more people find TT and they continue doing what they do...

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Depends on what you mean. Are you asking if the Fox titles they've already released will taken off the market, or are you asking whether they'll be releasing any further ones?

It seems as if Fox, now that they're owned by Disney, is putting a moratorium on licensing out titles to labels like TT. So there won't be any more forthcoming titles from Fox for the foreseeable future unless there are a few strays that are still in the production process.

As for the ones they've already released (and aren't already OOP) I see no reason why they won't continue to be on the market until they sell out.

I was hoping that The Gunfighter and Nightmare Alley were in that pipeline, but given TT’s hiatus, I’m guessing that pipeline is dry for now.

[WBMakeVMarsMovieNOW]

Originally Posted by johnpaul2

Brian Jamieson was at a French roundtable yesterday, and seemingly told TT are having at break at releasing new stuff in order to re-assess the current market.
http://retro-hd.com/documents/dossie...on-du-dvd.html

oh man

[StarDestroyer52]

Originally Posted by belcherman

I was hoping that The Gunfighter and Nightmare Alley were in that pipeline, but given TT’s hiatus, I’m guessing that pipeline is dry for now.

As long as Nightmare Alley will still be coming from Signal One next year in the UK I will be fine. So far nothing else has come up, so I'm guessing that will be still next year but I remember them saying they had to drop a lot of Fox titles like The Gunfighter they planned on releasing.

[78deluxe]

Originally Posted by Luke Dodge748

I haven't purchased a single Twilight Time bluray yet, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. ...

Well it is a bad thing if they want to stay in business. They have been around for about 8 years. Only so many of us can keep them alive and viable, they need sales!

Originally Posted by klauswhereareyou

I hope they're still able to put stuff out, but it seems like between a slowing market and just not having the number of titles to choose from that they used to I'm not shocked. Maybe they can get going again next year staying at the two titles a month, or even just one. Also if they're having trouble selling 3,000 copies of things they could negotiate doing only 2,000 or even 1,000.

They mentioned 30K-60K licencing costs in the article. Obviously that is for a 3K limited run. Has to be something else going on here, as I can't image other similar companies (lets say Kino, Olive as general examples) are living in the same world exactly.

Hope they can keep it going, but it sounds like they need some better deals with the studios to keep everything viable. Considering many of these films have seen Streaming Releases, not sure why studios wouldn't want the extra cash if they don't really have to do much of anything other than provide the pre-existing masters for Blu-Ray transfer. Encoding and Authoring a Blu-Ray is not exactly difficult.

[English Patient]

Originally Posted by johnpaul2

Brian Jamieson was at a French roundtable yesterday, and seemingly told TT are having at break at releasing new stuff in order to re-assess the current market.
http://retro-hd.com/documents/dossie...on-du-dvd.html

That's sad but unsurprising. It was a bit of an eye-opener for me to see these TT sales over the last couple years with so many titles struggling to sell out - like Remains of the Day, which I think took more than 4 years to sell 3,000 copies. And this was a fairly popular movie from the '90s with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, with lots of Oscar nominations. It's not like it was an obscure title from the '50s. There's definitely trouble in the market when prestige catalog titles like that sit on the shelf for years and years.

[octobercountry]

Originally Posted by English Patient

.... There's definitely trouble in the market when prestige catalog titles like that sit on the shelf for years and years.

Well, I still think part of the problem is Twilight Time's sales strategy, where they sell ONLY at two locations on-line---places that most people have never even heard of. But, yeah, all this has been discussed to death. TT is obviously having some problem that the other independent blu-ray sellers are not...

I had the feeling with the loss of Nick Redman as the driving force behind the company, it would fold sooner rather than later, and that may end up being the case. It's really too bad, because I have a lot of TT product here and have really enjoyed the type of films they've released.

[mja345]

TT's been a terrific company that has really been steadfast in releasing interesting, quality films. I've had absolutely no issues with them, and I have 200+ discs from them that I've been really happy with. Hopefully, they keep going, but, either way, I really appreciate what they have done and best wishes to Julie, Brian, and everyone else, and I will always be grateful for what Nick did for collectors and the preservation of great films.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by octobercountry

I had the feeling with the loss of Nick Redman as the driving force behind the company, it would fold sooner rather than later, and that may end up being the case. It's really too bad, because I have a lot of TT product here and have really enjoyed the type of films they've released.

It does seem like Nick Redman was the glue (passion) that held the company together.

[herbie44]

When their regular price is $29.95, it isnt a big surprise that they need regular sales and promotions. Even Criterion probably gets most of their sales when it hits half off at Barnes and Noble or in their flash sales.

The Kino insider said they expected more Fox titles and deals with Fox Disney in their recent posts and didn't expect any changes with them so should be same with other labels.

[English Patient]

Originally Posted by octobercountry

Well, I still think part of the problem is Twilight Time's sales strategy, where they sell ONLY at two locations on-line---places that most people have never even heard of. But, yeah, all this has been discussed to death. TT is obviously having some problem that the other independent blu-ray sellers are not...

I had the feeling with the loss of Nick Redman as the driving force behind the company, it would fold sooner rather than later, and that may end up being the case. It's really too bad, because I have a lot of TT product here and have really enjoyed the type of films they've released.

Yeah, that's a good point about there only being 2 sales channels for TT, it definitely limits the number of eyes that are looking at the product. I only discovered TT through this forum a couple years after TT was formed. But I wonder if it would have really made any huge difference if their titles had wider availability like Kino. Even some of the postings on the Kino thread say some of their titles only sell in the hundreds. I guess the difference is that some labels have more financial insulation against industry-wide downturns.

If this is the last gasp for TT, it's definitely a shame, even though I don't have a lot of their titles. I never minded their price tags - I was just glad someone was out there rescuing seemingly forgotten catalog titles.

[Brad1963]

The recent announcement from Kino indicating they are dropping a large chunk of titles is a sign that the market is dwindling.

[vortexx]

Originally Posted by 78deluxe

Well it is a bad thing if they want to stay in business. They have been around for about 8 years. Only so many of us can keep them alive and viable, they need sales!


They mentioned 30K-60K licencing costs in the article. Obviously that is for a 3K limited run. Has to be something else going on here, as I can't image other similar companies (lets say Kino, Olive as general examples) are living in the same world exactly.

Hope they can keep it going, but it sounds like they need some better deals with the studios to keep everything viable. Considering many of these films have seen Streaming Releases, not sure why studios wouldn't want the extra cash if they don't really have to do much of anything other than provide the pre-existing masters for Blu-Ray transfer. Encoding and Authoring a Blu-Ray is not exactly difficult.

30k to 60k would likely be a package deal for many titles. Labels dont really pay a huge amount for most titles. I have a film currently in print with a label here. I got a $3k advance and the rest is a small percentage in royalties (the advance is subtracted from the royalties). I'm not going to mention the film or the company but even though it was on Amazon's top horror sellers for almost a week, we made around 6k total in 7 years. Most sales happened the first few months. Toward the end very few.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by Brad1963

The recent announcement from Kino indicating they are dropping a large chunk of titles is a sign that the market is dwindling.

Kino has so many titles it's pretty crazy. Some have been out for years and weren't very popular. Can't expect them to renew titles that aren't selling and will cost them money to keep.