Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[Norbie]

Originally Posted by Angel Eyes

They wont sell that well. 90 bucks for something that you can convert to digital yourself. No way on this green earth would I pay 90 dollars for that.

I've never bought a show via the same method here with Star Wars. So, is the $90 the same price if it were any other three films in the stature of SW?

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Norbie

I've never bought a show via the same method here with Star Wars. So, is the $90 the same price if it were any other three films in the stature of SW?

They're $19.99 each on iTunes, $89.99 for the six. Things like The Lord of the Rings are $14.99, Harry Potter is the same, but I don't think you can buy box sets for those movies. In the scheme of things they're comparatively priced, but they're still expensive compared to the BDs.

[Gold Ranger]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I'm not so sure. Disney know how well Star Wars sells on video (we've even had a few hold-outs in this thread finally cave in and buy the Blu-ray 4 years after it was released) so it's not like they need to rush into anything. By the time Ep VII is in full swing in theaters we'll be into 2016, and the 40th anniversary will only be a year away after that.

If we don't get the remastered originals this year then I think that's it until the big four-oh.

Technically, I'm still holding out...
I haven't bought it yet, It was given to me as a gift this past November.

[Gold Ranger]

Originally Posted by chip75

They're $19.99 each on iTunes, $89.99 for the six. Things like The Lord of the Rings are $14.99, Harry Potter is the same, but I don't think you can buy box sets for those movies. In the scheme of things they're comparatively priced, but they're still expensive compared to the BDs.

Harry Potter have like, 80 different Boxed Sets.

The Lord of the Rings (Not The Hobbit ones) Has 2 different Boxed Sets.

[master gandhi]

Originally Posted by Gold Ranger

Harry Potter have like, 80 different Boxed Sets.

The Lord of the Rings (Not The Hobbit ones) Has 2 different Boxed Sets.

I think they mean a digital collection.

I'm not at all sure when we'll see another BD release of Star Wars. Wish it was this year, but if they don't announce it in the next month, I don't think it's happening for a while.

[Angel Eyes]

Originally Posted by chip75

They're $19.99 each on iTunes, $89.99 for the six. Things like The Lord of the Rings are $14.99, Harry Potter is the same, but I don't think you can buy box sets for those movies. In the scheme of things they're comparatively priced, but they're still expensive compared to the BDs.

You can convert them your self though..it's not that hard if you want them that way.

[Merlinpants]

Worrying news from Fox :

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/column...ts/040915_1430

If they are moving to kill physical media, where does A New Hope UOT blu ray fit in with Fox controlling the film? Is this why they supported the digital release? Also, if Hunt is right, will the 4K master ever see the light of day if no studio is currently looking to support the format?

[seannyd]

Originally Posted by Merlinpants

Worrying news from Fox :



http://www.thedigitalbits.com/column...ts/040915_1430



If they are moving to kill physical media, where does A New Hope UOT blu ray fit in with Fox controlling the film? Is this why they supported the digital release? Also, if Hunt is right, will the 4K master ever see the light of day if no studio is currently looking to support the format?

This really isn't relevant to the Star Wars argument fortunately. If Disney wants to release it on a disc format, they'll work something out. At this point all Fox has to do is sit back and collect their checks for Disney doing most of the legwork.

Fox doesn't control any of the Star Wars assets so Disney could create all kinds of stuff. Fox just needs to approve A New Hope at this point coming to a format. (The removal of the Fox logo on the rest of the movies insinuates to me that the Fox distribution rights that were originally supposed to end in 2020 have been bought out.)

[goofystitch]

Originally Posted by reason108

I was hoping that someone had bought these digital downloads by now and did a full report, but I haven't seen anything yet. I guess there will be something on youtube or the likes. I don't plan on getting these but just wondering if there were changes or how good these new extras are.

This is the only review I could find. It covers all of the extras.

[Angel Eyes]

Originally Posted by Merlinpants

Worrying news from Fox :

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/column...ts/040915_1430

If they are moving to kill physical media, where does A New Hope UOT blu ray fit in with Fox controlling the film? Is this why they supported the digital release? Also, if Hunt is right, will the 4K master ever see the light of day if no studio is currently looking to support the format?

Physical media is going away for sure. Might take another 5 years but it is. Sucks for the "collector" that likes to hold something. I can see more and more studios going away from it.

[Gold Ranger]

With all of the different Streaming Services out there, it is very hard to keep up with everything.
HBO is now on it's own.
StarZ might be doing the same.
YouTube, Netflix, Hulu+, GooglePlay, iTunes, not to mention Cable...

I think and hope that the Streaming Bubble will pop before Physical's does!

Also, in the US, we have some really crappy Data Caps and Bandwith Limits!
And they are looking to throttle them even more.

[klauswhereareyou]

Originally Posted by Gold Ranger

With all of the different Streaming Services out there, it is very hard to keep up with everything.
HBO is now on it's own.
StarZ might be doing the same.
YouTube, Netflix, Hulu+, GooglePlay, iTunes, not to mention Cable...

I think and hope that the Streaming Bubble will pop before Physical's does!

Also, in the US, we have some really crappy Data Caps and Bandwith Limits!
And they are looking to throttle them even more.

Which is the problem with streaming, there's no universal format, so you would have to subscribe to a number of services to watch what you want to watch, and even then they may only get something for a limited time so it'll go away. I don't know how many times I see articles like finally this is coming to Netflix, or guess what's leaving Netflix at the end of the month.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by Angel Eyes

Physical media is going away for sure. Might take another 5 years but it is. Sucks for the "collector" that likes to hold something. I can see more and more studios going away from it.

I don't think physical media as a whole will be gone in 5 years.

Unfortunately we will probably seeing less and less TV show content in particular making it to the physical media side of things, and fewer of the releases that do come out will be on Blu-Ray. In the particular case of The Simpsons, they are trying to push people to that Simpsons World app, because they will get more revenue from that. But that's because of the Simpsons being such a power house of a series with so many episodes that they can justify creating it. I'd be more inclined to use it if I was able to through one of my smart TV, one of my game systems, or my BD player which also has Netflix, Hulu, and a few other streaming options on it. Unfortuantely it doesn't seem to be an option on any of those, mainly favoring Apple devices, and I have no desire to watch the series on my phone, and I don't want to buy an Apple TV box.

We'll still see, at minimum, physical releases of major movies for years to come. Star Wars being amongst them.

The real problem is with catalog titles that aren't as huge. It's going to be harder justifying re-releasing some movies again on physical media when the money to be made from it is less and less with each re-release.

Star Wars, the Marvel films, etc, will sell well enoguh when reissued. But I can see where it might be hard to justify releasing Revenge of the Nerds on Ultra HD Blu-Ray.

[dvdmike]

Originally Posted by Angel Eyes

Physical media is going away for sure. Might take another 5 years but it is. Sucks for the "collector" that likes to hold something. I can see more and more studios going away from it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-32283641


It's really not, there are people out there that want quality over convenience

[seannyd]

Originally Posted by klauswhereareyou

Which is the problem with streaming, there's no universal format, so you would have to subscribe to a number of services to watch what you want to watch, and even then they may only get something for a limited time so it'll go away. I don't know how many times I see articles like finally this is coming to Netflix, or guess what's leaving Netflix at the end of the month.

That's where the UV is supposed to solve the problem. Once you have a copy of a movie, you own it and then the corresponding services will link up to your UV locker and boom. You're good. So when you have situations like when Target Ticket shuts down, you should still be able to access your movies on VUDU or as they pushed people to CinemaNow.

But then you have confusing situations like Star Wars where you can't even get all the movies on the same service. New Hope is UV and the rest is Disney Movies Anywhere. What? How is that ever going to be easy for the consumer interested in access to the collection in one place?

I mean, to be honest, Blu-Ray has been a boon to the collector, not the studios. Almost all of my movies I've purchased for less than $10. A significant portion are $5 or under. That's ridiculous. Would I have bought nearly 700 Blu-Rays if the cost was $20 each? Absolutely not. I don't have that kind of money. And when you have to nearly clearance movies for $5 each what's the benefit to create more discs when people are content renting them from amazon for $3.99 in HD? You simply don't make a disc at that point.

I really hope that the next 4K Blu discs can be a premium niche market like Criterion. You pay a little more, but you get stronger quality. I won't be picking up a lot of my lesser-watched movies because 1080p is more than good enough for a lot of stuff I have, but I imagine I'll be picking up things like Star Wars at that point as well.

[Norbie]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Watched the original trilogy tonight. All the changes Lucas made to these movies and he can't remove the super obvious matte lines around the ships in space? They were worse than the ones on Shout's Roger Corman movies and really took me out of the movie. I don't remember them being that bad on DVD. Good lord.

Apparently adding more rocks was a priority over matte lines.

I recall seeing those matte lines even when watching a vhs of ep4 in the 90's. I've gotten used to them so they probably don't take me out of the movie as they do to you.

But to be fair they did make small improvements with those matte lines. A clear example to me is the front shot of the millennium falcon entering the "space station" and when they are fighting the tie-fighters (is that how you spell it?) just as they escaped from it.

Also want to add my 3 cents to the Lowry comments and their application of DNR to their films. Now, I don't personally know much about it but according to Robert A. Harris it not the fault of Lowry himself but of the clients requests if wanting older films looking as if they were released yesterday. One example he mentioned was the Bond films.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by Gold Ranger

With all of the different Streaming Services out there, it is very hard to keep up with everything.
HBO is now on it's own.
StarZ might be doing the same.
YouTube, Netflix, Hulu+, GooglePlay, iTunes, not to mention Cable...

I think and hope that the Streaming Bubble will pop before Physical's does!

Also, in the US, we have some really crappy Data Caps and Bandwith Limits!
And they are looking to throttle them even more.

Yes, very much this. So much content is split up between different services that it's kind of crazy to keep up with. As it is I only have a Netflix and Hulu account. I get HBO through my cable service, so I have no need to get the stand alone service.

But I can't see keeping track of which service has what, especially for purchases, especially when some content is only available through certain services. When going digital, even if you favor one service over another, some services may carry some movies that others don't.

Heck, I was reading the dedicated Star Wars digital release thread in the digital section, and the effect the split between Ep IV being Fox and the rest being Disney/Lucasfilm, and it was giving me a headache. If I understand the case correctly (and I'm not entirely certain that I do, since I don't buy movies digitally), even though the movies can be purchased as a bundle through a few different services, what studio it is released by can effect what other services the movie can also be viewed through. So the limitations on Ep IV are different than the other 5 eps because of the studio split. What a headache.

Then there's the recent issue of Target Ticket shutting down and purchases being converted to CinemaNow. Some titles aren't even carried by it. Apparently anyone effected are getting a credit towards other purchases, but it doesn't help them get back the content that they lost since it's simply not available through this service. And even if it is available through other services out there, they aren't receiving actual money back, but rather a Cinema Now credit. So they can't even transfer that to another service that has the content that they want, if they are impacted in this manner. So now they have to spend money (assuming the content is available elsewhere) that they weren't otherwise planning on spending just to reaquire what they already had.


These kinds of problems and many others are why I just don't trust digital distribution.

Originally Posted by dvdmike

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-32283641


It's really not, there are people out there that want quality over convenience

Very true. But also, what one considers convenient can vary. Sure, it's convenient not having to swap out discs and being able to easily access and watch a movie while "on the go," but given all of the headaches associated with it as described above, I find discs to be far more convenient in the grand scheme of things.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by JAL4U2C

Ok, i have a question...possibly a dumb one but here goes...since Fox has distribution rights for episode 4, would that still stand if Disney either "remade" or released a newer special edition? Or would Disney be able to do as they wish with a version created by them?

I'm not sure how the rights for a remake would fall (if they would need Fox's permission or not).

As far as a "newer special edition" is concerned, I'm sure Disney would need Fox's permission to do so, and that agreement wouldn't be default give Disney ownership over the movie. At least not without Fox directly agreeing to it as a unique part of the deal.


Keep in mind that for all intents and purposes Disney is currently in the same effective position of control as George Lucas was prior to selling the rights to Disney. The only major difference is that Disney, being a big major studio, is able to distribute the movies that they have the full rights to themselves, and don't need or want another studio to do it for them (with the opposite being true in the case of Lucas having the films distributed by Fox in the first place).

But aside from that, the situation is otherwise the same. If updating the film again would give Disney direct rights to it now (at least the newest update, even if not the previous versions), then in theory the same would have been true for Lucas when he made all of his various updates in the first place. He could have come to control and own the film if updating it somehow by "default" gave him those rights.

Granted, Lucas likely had less of a reason to try and strong-arm the rights back to Ep IV, since he had a working relationship with Fox that prior to selling off his rights. He was making more than enough money to be happy, and all of the movies were being distributed together regardless.

But still, the bottom line is that when it comes to the franchise overall, Disney holds the cards, but when it comes to the ownership, distribution, and updating of Ep IV, 20th Century Fox holds those particular cards. They both have reason to cooperate with each other. I don't see Fox selling the rights to Ep IV unless they get one hell of a heafty pay check that outweighs what they'd likely make over the course of years/decades to come to reissuing the movie.

[seannyd]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

I'm not sure how the rights for a remake would fall (if they would need Fox's permission or not).

As far as a "newer special edition" is concerned, I'm sure Disney would need Fox's permission to do so, and that agreement wouldn't be default give Disney ownership over the movie. At least not without Fox directly agreeing to it as a unique part of the deal.


Keep in mind that for all intents and purposes Disney is currently in the same effective position of control as George Lucas was prior to selling the rights to Disney. The only major difference is that Disney, being a big major studio, is able to distribute the movies that they have the full rights to themselves, and don't need or want another studio to do it for them (with the opposite being true in the case of Lucas having the films distributed by Fox in the first place).

But aside from that, the situation is otherwise the same. If updating the film again would give Disney direct rights to it now (at least the newest update, even if not the previous versions), then in theory the same would have been true for Lucas when he made all of his various updates in the first place. He could have come to control and own the film if updating it somehow by "default" gave him those rights.

Granted, Lucas likely had less of a reason to try and strong-arm the rights back to Ep IV, since he had a working relationship with Fox that prior to selling off his rights. He was making more than enough money to be happy, and all of the movies were being distributed together regardless.

But still, the bottom line is that when it comes to the franchise overall, Disney holds the cards, but when it comes to the ownership, distribution, and updating of Ep IV, 20th Century Fox holds those particular cards. They both have reason to cooperate with each other. I don't see Fox selling the rights to Ep IV unless they get one hell of a heafty pay check that outweighs what they'd likely make over the course of years/decades to come to reissuing the movie.

My guess is that it's something like "the footage that comprises Episode IV is to be solely distributed by Fox". So if they're using majority of footage from Episode IV in a movie, that's going to have to be distributed by Fox.

If someone did a remake, I would guess Disney would have the rights to that because it's a completely new movie based on an existing script.

I would be very surprised if Fox had the ability to do anything other than say "We are going to release this movie" since Lucas was so adamant back in the day about him maintaining ownership of the movie. No situation could ever exist where Fox could say "No, we don't like the movie that way. Change it."

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by seannyd

My guess is that it's something like "the footage that comprises Episode IV is to be solely distributed by Fox". So if they're using majority of footage from Episode IV in a movie, that's going to have to be distributed by Fox.

If someone did a remake, I would guess Disney would have the rights to that because it's a completely new movie based on an existing script.

I would be very surprised if Fox had the ability to do anything other than say "We are going to release this movie" since Lucas was so adamant back in the day about him maintaining ownership of the movie. No situation could ever exist where Fox could say "No, we don't like the movie that way. Change it."

Oh, I agree. And Fox really had no reason to argue with Lucas. It's all money in the bank for them one way or the other. Espeically when it came time for the special editions and prequels. Despite the complaints about them from many people (myself included), by the time they came out, Star Wars was cemented as such a financial powerhouse that they'd have no reason to put up an argument, at least not from a sheer business standpoint.

Likewise, they will probably go along with most anything Disney does in terms of wanting to re-release Ep IV in any form so long as Fox is getting theirs out of the deal. The only thing that I don't see them doing is flat out selling off the rights to Episode IV, at least not without it being for one hell of a huge pay-day.