Ask questions to The Digital Bits team (Bill Hunt, Jeff Kleist et.al.)

[MerrickG]

Jeff/Bill,

What are the chances that Fox decides to hold out on the Alien Quad on bluray now that a new Alien film has a chance of getting greenlit?

Im now officially concerned that Fox may decide to hold back features or the entire release in anticipation of the new film.

I do like the idea of Ridley Scott directing. If anyone can get the franchise on the right track, he can. Now if they could get Jim Cameron to help write the screenplay.....

That would be awesome.


Personally, Im in favor of making an Alien 5 with them ignoring the continuity of the 3rd and 4th (ala make it a dream Ripley had while in hypersleep on the Sulaco). To account for the ages, they can bring back Carrie Henn and have everyone aged appropriately.

But who knows?

Bringing back Ridley Scott is a step in the right direction to bringing back one of my alltime favorite franchises.

[AKORIS]

Personally, Im in favor of making an Alien 5 with them ignoring the continuity of the 3rd and 4th (ala make it a dream Ripley had while in hypersleep on the Sulaco). To account for the ages, they can bring back Carrie Henn and have everyone aged appropriately.



While I don't hate the last 2 Aliens like so many-- I despised the kick in the
face that Fincher did to us with the fate of Newt and Hicks--

I would be completely happy with your idea for Alien 5

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by merrick97

What are the chances that Fox decides to hold out on the Alien Quad on bluray now that a new Alien film has a chance of getting greenlit?

Im now officially concerned that Fox may decide to hold back features or the entire release in anticipation of the new film.

Stop with the dangerous ideas, man!

[Doctorossi]

As for Alien 5, short of Ridley Scott offering to direct my next screenplay, I doubt there's anything he or anyone else could do to get me into that theatre. Count me in the club that did a giant facepalm the moment an executive first put the words "Alien" and "franchise" in the same sentence.

I think Aliens is one of the better sequels in Hollywood history, but I just don't have time for it any more. As creditable as it is, it's still not a stitch on Alien.

For me, Alien is a one movie -one great movie- "franchise" and I can't imagine anywhere it could go, story-wise, that would interest me in a continuation.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by AKORIS

Personally, Im in favor of making an Alien 5 with them ignoring the continuity of the 3rd and 4th (ala make it a dream Ripley had while in hypersleep on the Sulaco). To account for the ages, they can bring back Carrie Henn and have everyone aged appropriately.



While I don't hate the last 2 Aliens like so many-- I despised the kick in the
face that Fincher did to us with the fate of Newt and Hicks--

I would be completely happy with your idea for Alien 5

I actually LIKE Alien 3 quite a bit, but it failed miserably in continuing the direction that Cameron had planned. Alien 4 never bothered me, but there would be little point in continuing that story.

So Im in favor of of making the 3rd and 4th a dream and continuing the story of Ripley, Hicks and Newt. That would be awesome.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

As for Alien 5, short of Ridley Scott offering to direct my next screenplay, I doubt there's anything he or anyone else could do to get me into that theatre. Count me in the club that did a giant facepalm the moment an executive first put the words "Alien" and "franchise" in the same sentence.

I think Aliens is one of the better sequels in Hollywood history, but I just don't have time for it any more. As creditable as it is, it's still not a stitch on Alien.

For me, Alien is a one movie -one great movie- "franchise" and I can't imagine anywhere it could go, story-wise, that would interest me in a continuation.

I disagree completely, I think Aliens is the best of the series, but I never viewed Aliens and Alien as the same type of film.
Alien was horror and Aliens was an action/military film.

Aliens was the perfect sequel in that it didnt attempt in anyway to remake the first one, but moreorless continued where the first one ended and it also made Ripley a more human character as opposed to truckers in space from the first one.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by merrick97

I disagree completely, I think Aliens is the best of the series

Yes, you are perfectly welcome to be utterly wrong.

Originally Posted by merrick97

Aliens was the perfect sequel in that it didn't attempt in anyway to remake the first one

One could argue that Ripley going back for Newt was pretty rehashalicious, vis-a-vis Ripley going back for Jones. It doesn't bother me, but I couldn't argue the assertion.

Originally Posted by merrick97

it also made Ripley a more human character as opposed to truckers in space from the first one.

Truckers are inhuman?

I think the characters in Alien are more natural, for the most part. In Aliens, the Ripley and Newt stuff is very nice, but the rest of the characters, while fun, feel like types and/or caricatures to me.

[Kris Deering]

I would love it if they went with the Aliens Earth War book series for the new direction. Great series and I think it would bring a lot of what was great about the first and second film back while not retreading the same old ground.

[Kris Deering]

Jeff

I noticed that Ali is being released overseas later this year. Any buzz on a US release from Sony? More Mann on Blu is never a bad thing. I know Last of the Mohicans, Heat and Manhunter are all being worked on. Wouldn't mind seeing The Insider as well.

[Jeff Kleist]

Alien Earth War would be great, but it seems there is an issue with adapting Dark Horse material in general. Earth War is far more expensive than I think Fox is looking to do on Alien

Those overseas releases are pretty much their own thing. The company probably only owns that and is releasing it for the new gangster movie he did. I don't really track the Mann films that closely because I've never been a fan of his. I love the idea of most of his movies, and then always regret going later because I'm bored to tears (The Insider is the only one I actually enjoy)

[Beast]

Man, they've already detailed Wizard of Oz...

But where's the specs for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Boxset that comes out in August?

Waiting to hear on some extras here. Fingers crossed for fully loaded SE's of the live action films.

[Batman1980]

Jeff/Bill I have an odd question. If you were going to try to sell the DVD masses on blu-ray, which movie(released or not) would you use and why?

[Jeff Kleist]

Tastes are too diverse for a single movie to do that. Just show them something that looks and sounds fantastic with popular appeal and that's about it

[Indyjones]

Jeff/Bill, is The Wizard of Oz blu only being released as the Ultimate Collector's Edition set? According to the official post at the Bits, it looks like the UCE will be the only release for blu, along with UDE DVD and a 2 disc DVD, but DVDTown has there being UCE's for both DVD and Blu and also movie only editions for both DVD (2-disc) and Blu (1 disc).

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Beast

Man, they've already detailed Wizard of Oz...

But where's the specs for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Boxset that comes out in August?

Waiting to hear on some extras here. Fingers crossed for fully loaded SE's of the live action films.

Id like a Directors Cut of the first one. I seem to recall that in an interview the director of the first one wanted to do a directors cut.

[Jeff Kleist]

There are no Wizard of Oz 1-discs scheduled, nor any of the other super deluxe classic titles

Classic titles, as we keep saying just aren't selling that well on Blu-ray. WB is hoping that by offering a premium package they can sell at prices that make more sense economically (bigger margins) while maintaining the quality you expect

There may be foreign editions in Europe like Casablanca that are disc only. Personally I think the prices are too high for what I'm willing to pay as well, but I can't argue that it's a beautiful package

[Robert Siegel]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

There are no Wizard of Oz 1-discs scheduled, nor any of the other super deluxe classic titles

Classic titles, as we keep saying just aren't selling that well on Blu-ray. WB is hoping that by offering a premium package they can sell at prices that make more sense economically (bigger margins) while maintaining the quality you expect

There may be foreign editions in Europe like Casablanca that are disc only. Personally I think the prices are too high for what I'm willing to pay as well, but I can't argue that it's a beautiful package

Sad to hear that classics are not selling well. I do believe there are several reasons for it. I believe there are many classic fans out there who have not purchased a Blu-ray player (and I know many in that catagory) because of the LACK of classic titles. So how do the studios go about converting that consumer base to the format? By releasing at least a few more titles than they have, and making those that they are releasing affordable. The problem is that to remaster these older films to look good enough for a Blu-ray release costs $$$, and we have a weak economy.

The Wizard of Oz should be available as a single disc Blu-ray with a few extras for $29.95. Every fan of this movie must have at least one edition on DVD (maybe two) and maybe a few on VHS and laserdisc, and I think it is wrong for a studio to ask those consumers to pay 90.00 again, if they already own most of the extras (which most will not be in high def and from previous editions). Sure, the 90.00 edition is loaded, but not everyone wants all that is included and not everyone can afford that for a single film they may already own.

[Robert Siegel]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Tastes are too diverse for a single movie to do that. Just show them something that looks and sounds fantastic with popular appeal and that's about it

I would think Star Wars would be a huge asset to Blu-ray disc. I believe if that series (4,5 and 6) were released, there would be a surge in Blu-ray player sales. The same with classics like Ten Commandments or Sound of Music. There's another audience to entice. Don't get me wrong, I am happy about South Pacific, The Robe and Quo Vadis and the like, but these are not as big as Lawrence of Arabia, Dr Zhivago, ect. A good example is when Disney released Mary Poppins this spring as a 45th anniversary edition. No Blu-ray. One of their most popular classics. To sum it up, I believe that there ARE titles that would push people to the store to purchase a player.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

I can't argue that it's a beautiful package

I don't know, man. The 52-page book and theatrical program reproduction sound very nice, but... a watch?! And, not just any watch, but a watch with "genuine crystals"? How cheap 'n' cheesy does that sound?

I'm cringing, imagining the butter dish and electric pizza cutter that are going to come in the giant shelf-destroying box with poor North By Northwest.

[Jeff Kleist]

That's the biggest question everyone has right now, is whether a standard keepcase will be inside, and we're trying to find that out

There are upswings in player sales for certain titles, but you can't evangelize blu-ray with a single title or trilogy.

Young adult males are the big adopters right now, and by and large they are not interested in classic movies, many noteable exceptions in present company excluded of course. So until such time as critical mass is reached, other solutions have to be looked at