Third Window Films Discussion Thread

[Mansinthe]

Originally Posted by logboy

I don't know how you get hit for import duty, when the two main Korean retailers allow you to state a false value on parcels & invoices.

well looks like the german customs do not always trust the fake value on parcels and the invoice. used both and they still charged me the import duty.

but yesasia was so much more expensive that it was still cheaper that way.. lol

[Icemouth]

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

well looks like the german customs do not always trust the fake value on parcels and the invoice. used both and they still charged me the import duty.

but yesasia was so much more expensive that it was still cheaper that way.. lol

That's pretty shady unless you have some generic customs they're supposed to charge on everything regardless. If they're charging you not based on what the invoice says they're essentially just making something up which is quality bs on their part even if you are lying

[Mansinthe]

Originally Posted by Icemouth

That's pretty shady unless you have some generic customs they're supposed to charge on everything regardless. If they're charging you not based on what the invoice says they're essentially just making something up which is quality bs on their part even if you are lying

well happend to me, cant call them and say "but i used this fake invoice.. thats not fair what you are doing there..."

ordered "the concubine and fighter in the wind" from kimichidvd .. used fake invoice etc

[logboy]

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

well looks like the german customs do not always trust the fake value on parcels and the invoice. used both and they still charged me the import duty.

but yesasia was so much more expensive that it was still cheaper that way.. lol

UK customs don't have to trust invoices either. if they see a parcel and suspect it's had a false value declared, they're able to seize the item and ask for proof of the value of the products inside. don't know how this works in practise, as it's never happened to me (with time most of us learn how to deal with duty limits with tricks, most of them legit, some of them grey areas, some blatantly dodgy) but i'd imagine if they open it and the invoice matches, they might accept that - they don't necessarily know the price of K blu-rays, but they could quickly look them up - but if you ordered a dozen discs (from HK, for example - you know, dddhouse, where discs can be very cheap legitimately) you would draw more attention than if you've one or two. i suppose it comes down to how obvious the parcel is and how busy / sharp-eyed the process of checking the items is; every company has it's less-than-clever employee who won't catch much... my zatoichi box set had it's true value on it, but i guess hundreds of those came through and some (many?) of us just got lucky and avoided charges.

there are so good sellers of K discs on ebay too, and i think ebay sellers are more inclined to know (and be receptive to instructions on) dealing with imports export situations.

[blooregard_q_kazoo]

I just joined up to say I ordered/preordered Yonosuke, Pluto and Tokyo Fist. I already have a few of your other releases and just love your work! Please keep it up!

[deepbreathsanddeath]

Looks like there's been more interest in TWF releases, at least from members on here. Have you noticed any spike in sales lately, Adam? You're doing great work, I hope you're getting more support.

[Mansinthe]

Originally Posted by deepbreathsanddeath

Looks like there's been more interest in TWF releases, at least from members on here. Have you noticed any spike in sales lately, Adam? You're doing great work, I hope you're getting more support.

amazon has all the time sales for the TWF blurays and DVDs.. there is currently a DVD sale for the korean movies.


Bleak Night DVD is up for Preorder as well

[thirdwindowfilms]

Originally Posted by deepbreathsanddeath

Looks like there's been more interest in TWF releases, at least from members on here. Have you noticed any spike in sales lately, Adam? You're doing great work, I hope you're getting more support.

a little spike for Yonosuke and great sales on Shady, but the support here has been great, thanks!

[thirdwindowfilms]

Super sale on some Korean DVDs in our Amazon shop right now.

Many titles around the £3.99-4.99 range!

[blooregard_q_kazoo]

I don't know if this has been suggested before, but have you ever thought about doing a crowd-funding (Kickstarter?) project for your blu-ray releases? I understand they're very expensive to make and that could be a great way to recoup your investments. And the generated buzz in the online channels shouldn't hurt, either.

Also, would it still help you if one were to order their general Amazon UK buys through your store? Like clicking on one your titles and then moving on to buy a fridge or a frying pan? Or do only the listed DVDs/Blu-rays count?

[thirdwindowfilms]

Originally Posted by blooregard_q_kazoo

I don't know if this has been suggested before, but have you ever thought about doing a crowd-funding (Kickstarter?) project for your blu-ray releases? I understand they're very expensive to make and that could be a great way to recoup your investments. And the generated buzz in the online channels shouldn't hurt, either.

Also, would it still help you if one were to order their general Amazon UK buys through your store? Like clicking on one your titles and then moving on to buy a fridge or a frying pan? Or do only the listed DVDs/Blu-rays count?

kickstarter is an idea, but it's not something which can be done often as loses its potency quickly. We're going to think about it for a release later this year though.

yes, that does help with Amazon as we get a tiny percentage of all items bought when clicked through, so please do!

thanks!

[deepbreathsanddeath]

That sounds great, Adam. Sounds like it could be an intriguing release you may have planned for later this year. I know you've just recently released some new titles and there's still some to come but how long do you think it'll be before you have to decide which titles get a blu-ray or DVD release?

I think you've realised that you'll get much more accurate results asking us than Facebook users (blu-ray.com is for users who seek blu-rays to buy, Facebook is filled with people who just like to download). For example most of us (including you) agree that Shady would've made the better blu-ray release over Yonosuke, however most of us pre-ordered Shady on DVD despite the fact that this is a blu-ray forum and a lot of us typically don't buy DVDs at all anymore.

Considering the fact that pre-ordering Shady on DVD costs as much as/more than many blu-ray releases and yet it still got our sale and support, that should probably go to show that it doesn't really matter if a movie is popular in it's native country. It seems like some of the best received movies over there have had very weak sales on blu-ray (Vulgaria, Yonosuke and if I recall Woodsman and the Rain hasn't been a big seller?) and yet all the interest is in the tiny budget debut film with practically no buzz.

I for one can't wait to help you decide on the next blu-ray titles if you do choose to include us. I'm sure it'll be interesting for you to see if the ones we pick are the ones you want to release but aren't sure of.

For the record though, I thought Woodsman and the Rain was terrific and I'm really looking forward to Yonosuke.

[thirdwindowfilms]

Originally Posted by deepbreathsanddeath

That sounds great, Adam. Sounds like it could be an intriguing release you may have planned for later this year. I know you've just recently released some new titles and there's still some to come but how long do you think it'll be before you have to decide which titles get a blu-ray or DVD release?

I think you've realised that you'll get much more accurate results asking us than Facebook users (blu-ray.com is for users who seek blu-rays to buy, Facebook is filled with people who just like to download). For example most of us (including you) agree that Shady would've made the better blu-ray release over Yonosuke, however most of us pre-ordered Shady on DVD despite the fact that this is a blu-ray forum and a lot of us typically don't buy DVDs at all anymore.

Considering the fact that pre-ordering Shady on DVD costs as much as/more than many blu-ray releases and yet it still got our sale and support, that should probably go to show that it doesn't really matter if a movie is popular in it's native country. It seems like some of the best received movies over there have had very weak sales on blu-ray (Vulgaria, Yonosuke and if I recall Woodsman and the Rain hasn't been a big seller?) and yet all the interest is in the tiny budget debut film with practically no buzz.

I for one can't wait to help you decide on the next blu-ray titles if you do choose to include us. I'm sure it'll be interesting for you to see if the ones we pick are the ones you want to release but aren't sure of.

For the record though, I thought Woodsman and the Rain was terrific and I'm really looking forward to Yonosuke.

may probably get better results here, though there are many more users on Facebook that reply, hence us using it more for such things.

Upcoming releases that are confirmed for blu-ray are:

PLUTO - June 23rd
LESSON OF EVIL - September

then possibly GREATFUL DEAD

and if Palisades Tartan don't pull some dodgy trick then Snake of June Christmas or early 2015

Otherwise, the other upcoming DVDs are not really looking to be big sellers: Sake Bomb, Behind the Camera, Bleak Night

and undecided on Han Gong-Ju, though if it goes theatrical we will release on Blu-ray.

Yes, critically well-received doesn't mean much. Woodsman had awful sales despite being very well-received. Probably better to just stick genre films on blu-ray, though I would classify For Love's Sake as a genre film and that did pretty damn awful.

[NorthSea0il]

Originally Posted by thirdwindowfilms

and if Palisades Tartan don't pull some dodgy trick then Snake of June Christmas or early 2015

Snake of June on Blu-ray!!

[Mansinthe]

people in the EU and even more the US seem to prefer action/horror and martial arts flicks... ;( movies like yonosuke or for loves sake get ignored really hard.

for Loves sake for example is probably popular in japan? (miike and emi takei ) a wonderfull actress that looks really as cute as a anime figur... (i loved her in kenshin as well. a good choice for kaoru, and i even downloaded that one high school love movie with here since there was no eng friendly release).

vulgaria is probably my favorite HK comedy.. ever. i bought many other movies like that (hardcore comedy and marry mr perfect, both with chapman to) , but they are nowhere near as good as that one.


woodsman and the rain was a good choice for a bluray release as well. all the nature scenes and the ones in the woods of course looked really stunning.

i liked shady a lot. im fine with a DVD here.


pluto and bleak night are 2 korean movies i was thinking about importing from korea. but im gonna get your releases instead.

Greatful Dead gets my vote for a bluray upgrade (kickstarter?)


i got the Snake of June DVD of Tartan recently.. bluray upgrade would be awesome

[logboy]

it was possible to get a predictable price level for releases - as once seemed the case.

[Mansinthe]

i think this thread should be "pinned" to the top of this page. like bfi/arrow/AE etc.. a UK based label should have a little support here i recommend...

the first time i was looking for this thread i had no idea there is acutally already one becouse it was way back on page 20 or something...

[NorthSea0il]

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

i think this thread should be "pinned" to the top of this page. like bfi/arrow/AE etc.. a UK based label should have a little support here i recommend...

the first time i was looking for this thread i had no idea there is acutally already one becouse it was way back on page 20 or something...

Totally agree, this thread needs to be made Sticky. I don't know how you go about getting that done though.

[deepbreathsanddeath]

Originally Posted by thirdwindowfilms

may probably get better results here, though there are many more users on Facebook that reply, hence us using it more for such things.

Upcoming releases that are confirmed for blu-ray are:

PLUTO - June 23rd
LESSON OF EVIL - September

then possibly GREATFUL DEAD

and if Palisades Tartan don't pull some dodgy trick then Snake of June Christmas or early 2015

Otherwise, the other upcoming DVDs are not really looking to be big sellers: Sake Bomb, Behind the Camera, Bleak Night

and undecided on Han Gong-Ju, though if it goes theatrical we will release on Blu-ray.

Yes, critically well-received doesn't mean much. Woodsman had awful sales despite being very well-received. Probably better to just stick genre films on blu-ray, though I would classify For Love's Sake as a genre film and that did pretty damn awful.

That sucks. I thought Woodsman was great and it looked terrific on blu-ray.

Yeah... I remember mentioning a long time ago that genre releases on blu-ray would be the way to go if you need to be picky but you didn't want to be so narrow in your high def selection and that part of your passion was to introduce people to great films in all the genres. Horror and darker toned movies, even art-house are the ones that seem to be desired for owning.

For Loves Sake could be considered a genre title but honestly, with a title like that, it was always doomed for bad sales. Despite Takashi Miike's name being attached to it, the title alone probably made people keep scrolling. I don't think you'll find many people in the west want to own an Asian Rom-com, especially on blu-ray. Obviously that's not what it is, but that's likely what most potential buyers thought just from the cover.

[deepbreathsanddeath]

I also agree that this thread needs to be stickied. I was a fan of TWF's releases but didn't even know there was an official thread for ages because it kept getting lost in the shuffle. If someone who can do that reads these, it would be a good idea to it. TWF needs more exposure and support.