Who will steal CES?

[OokieSpookie]

Not including any studio shuffling or politics ( there are plenty of threads for those ).
Who will make the biggest impact as far as movie releases go?
What will the big one be that has us all talking?

[darkpoet25]

This is a tough one. I'm looking forward to seeing what Disney has planned for the coming year.

[Sirtalon]

When is CES?

[OokieSpookie]

Originally Posted by Sirtalon

When is CES?

Jan 7-10

[darkpoet25]

I can't wait to see what news Josh will have for us that week.

[OokieSpookie]

Originally Posted by darkpoet25

This is a tough one. I'm looking forward to seeing what Disney has planned for the coming year.

I would love for an official announcement of Nightmare Before Christmas from Disney.
I think one of the smaller companies can take it.
New Line has so many movies that I would love to see.
Of course Lord of the Rings, even if they only announced one of the movies for the moment, but also Nightmare on Elm Street, Blade and so many others.

[sj001]

Hmmmm... tough one, I'm going to go with WB, they have the a big catalog of hits, and some gems obviously we are waiting for. Plus, they have the biggest bomb of them all, if they will drop it.

[JJ]

The Joker.

Send up the batsignal!

[bajor27]

Jan 10 is my birthday. Let's hope Warner gives me a great birthday present.


Warner does have a good possibility of big impact. Mainly confirmation on Batman Begins (maybe the older Batman Movies) and confirmation on Matrix would be awesome.

[Alan Gordon]

All the Blu-exclusive studios have announced that they will be picking up their release slate in 2008 (my wallet doesn't need this kind of thing), so I think all of them should be good... however:

Sony: 2008 appears to be the year of the classics for Sony, with them releasing BotRK, LoA and others. This should make a lot of film buffs happy.

Disney: 2008 appears to be the year Disney breaks out some more big guns... with several animated titles, as well as the first Narnia movie.

FOX/MGM: Fox will most likely announce a bunch of titles that would get everybody excited, but few people will believe they will become available this year.

Warner Brothers: They released a coming soon list recently, and other than a few surprise titles here and there, I expect their release list to be of lesser importance than their format war stance.

New Line Cinema: I expect New Line to announce a handful of Day & Date titles coming throughout the year, and a handful of catalog titles to go along with them.

Universal: That's right, I said Universal. Since I believe that Universal will announce neutrality, I'm going to say that Universal will announce some of their most popular HD DVD titles for release on Blu-ray... along with a handful of Day & Date titles.

Weinstein: That's right, I said Weinstein. Since I believe that Weinstein will announce exclusivity (that's right, I said "exclusivity"), I expect them to announce a few Day & Date titles along with a couple of titles already released on HD DVD (and a few catalog DVD titles).

Paramount/DreamWorks: Why am I including Paramount? I'm curious as to whether or not they will be talking about "Indiana Jones" later this year, which will be released on both formats (due to it being a Spielberg title), or simply keep their mouth shut. That being said, they announced earlier this year that they and DreamWorks intend on offering 30 titles next year. I expect them to be harping on the "great" interactive/internet features available on the upcoming "Beowulf" HD DVD, and announce the release of at least (1) upcoming "Star Trek" film on HD DVD later in the year. It's possible that if Warner announces exclusivity, and Universal announces neutrality, that HD DVD may try to get them to release more than 30 titles to offset the loss of Warner Bros. and the neutrality of Universal.

Bottom line: I expect Fox to impress us with their titles, but most will be skeptical until they arrive. I expect Disney to impress us with their impressive releases. I expect Sony to impress us with their classic titles, I expect Universal to impress us with their biggest titles, but if Paramount talks about their dual format "Indiana Jones" releases, I expect they will be doing a lot of the stealing!

That being said, studio stances will get the most attention.

~Alan

[unreal1080p]

Originally Posted by bajor27

Jan 10 is my birthday. Let's hope Warner gives me a great birthday present.

Not likely --> Big announcements are always made either Day 1 or Day 2 of the show and sometimes "leak" a few days before the show opens. Expect all major announcements (whatever they may be) to happen between Friday January 4th and Tuesday January 8th.

[JJ]

Did I get all the threads now? ::checks::

[Ben]

Josh, Peter and I will be at CES in January. We will be providing up to the minute reports on ALL major developments. It is sure to be one hell of an exciting show!

[darinp2]

Originally Posted by OokieSpookie

Not including any studio shuffling or politics ( there are plenty of threads for those ).
Who will make the biggest impact as far as movie releases go?
What will the big one be that has us all talking?

I'm going to cheat because it would require studio shuffling first. But if Warner and New Line went to Blu-ray, then I think New Line could take it for movie releases by announcing all 3 Lord of the Ring movies.

Of course they could do it in the opposite way too, but I prefer to think about them going to the Blu-ray side exclusively and then doing that.

--Darin

[Esox50]

As much as I hate to say it, you guys should prepare for Paramount/Dreamworks to go absolutely bonkers with title announcements. Why do I say this?

* Well, for one, they got paid a lot of money to support the HD DVD format and really haven't announced much. Expect this to change at CES

* If the rumors of Warner going Blu (and possibly Universal following with neutrality) are true, then Paramount will have to announce some of the biggest titles they have in order to even keep HD DVD afloat into mid 2008.

I fully expect they'll announce Braveheart & Forrest Gump from the Paramount catalog, and they'll also announce Gladiator from Dreamworks. As the whole WB and Universal situations play out in 2008, those great titles from Paramount will allow them to fulfill their contract, and give HD DVD a "chance" so that in early 2009, they can walk away from HD DVD with a good conscience (also having pocketed the $150MM), and then focus on catching up on their lonbg lost Blu-Ray releases.

[Zaphod]

If WB goes exclusive either way, I have a feeling that will be the most talked about news item at the show.

[whippersnapper]

Originally Posted by Esox50

As much as I hate to say it, you guys should prepare for Paramount/Dreamworks to go absolutely bonkers with title announcements. Why do I say this?

* Well, for one, they got paid a lot of money to support the HD DVD format and really haven't announced much. Expect this to change at CES

* If the rumors of Warner going Blu (and possibly Universal following with neutrality) are true, then Paramount will have to announce some of the biggest titles they have in order to even keep HD DVD afloat into mid 2008.

I fully expect they'll announce Braveheart & Forrest Gump from the Paramount catalog, and they'll also announce Gladiator from Dreamworks. As the whole WB and Universal situations play out in 2008, those great titles from Paramount will allow them to fulfill their contract, and give HD DVD a "chance" so that in early 2009, they can walk away from HD DVD with a good conscience (also having pocketed the $150MM), and then focus on catching up on their lonbg lost Blu-Ray releases.

I think they may be playing Toshiba and Microsoft for suckers. They're taking the $150 million dollars for the 18 months of exclusivity (of which close to 4 months are already gone) and doing the absolute minimum for HD-DVD in return (other than not producing Blu-ray discs).

[whippersnapper]

Originally Posted by darinp2

I'm going to cheat because it would require studio shuffling first. But if Warner and New Line went to Blu-ray, then I think New Line could take it for movie releases by announcing all 3 Lord of the Ring movies.

Of course they could do it in the opposite way too, but I prefer to think about them going to the Blu-ray side exclusively and then doing that.

--Darin

...then I think New Line could take it for movie releases by announcing all 3 Lord of the Ring movies

...each on its own 100GB Blu-ray disc.

[Kairav]

Originally Posted by whippersnapper

I think they may be playing Toshiba and Microsoft for suckers. They're taking the $150 million dollars for the 18 months of exclusivity (of which close to 4 months are already gone) and doing the absolute minimum for HD-DVD in return (other than not producing Blu-ray discs).

They are cashing out on those $99 players sold this Holiday. The DUDers have not other choice but to hoard any movie they can get their hands on. Paramount is just making money. If it were neutral, it would face a lot of competition in the blu-ray camp as far as titles are concerned.

[Esox50]

As far as Blu-Ray studios go, I think it's a given that they'll announce detailed titles (w/ features, etc) through the May/June timeframe, with a few big titles passively mentioned as "unspecified release date, later in 2008".

I do not believe Warner Bros. will announce BD exclusivity at CES. More likely, I think that will happen in the 2nd Quarter. Universal will follow WBs lead in time to have titles on the shelf by August/September. I think it's a given that Weinstein goes nuetral or even BD exclusive.

Here's some specific titles that I am hoping for:
Sony - LOA, Mask of Zorro, Men in Black, Ghostbusters, Air Force One
Disney - Kill Bill 1 & 2, The Lion King, Alladin, Armageddon
20th Century Fox - Last of the Mohicans, Abyss, Aliens, True Lies
Warner Bros - Batman Begins, Heat, Analyze This
New Line - Austin Power, Seven