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

[MerrickG]

How likely is Trek to outsale Transformers 2 on blu?

[Jeff Kleist]

Not very

[aramis109]

Hey Jeff, I know this title has been asked about before, but it's been awhile. With Public Enemies now getting ready to hit Blu, is there any update on Last of the Mohicans? It was playing on BBC HD last night and reminded me what a spectacular movie it is. Unfortunately, it looked like upscaled and zoomed DVD quality.

My DVD was the old non-anamorphic transfer so I got rid of it and haven't bought it again.

[Jeff Kleist]

Not that I'm aware of

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by aramis109

Hey Jeff, I know this title has been asked about before, but it's been awhile. With Public Enemies now getting ready to hit Blu, is there any update on Last of the Mohicans?

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Not that I'm aware of

Warner Bros. is supposed to release it in France late next year. If you can't wait for the US release from Fox, you could always go with it should it stay on schedule.

~Alan

[MerrickG]

Jeff

Has there been any early reviews, buzz on Avatar.

I expect the film to be awesome, but I am wondering.

Rumor has it that the budget has now escalated to around $300 million.

[Jeff Kleist]

I doubt there will be anything on avatar for at least another week. James Cameron has been playing it super close to the vest, and I'm sure everyone's going to be under review embargos

I think the movie will be a technological marvel, how the rest of it is, the jury is still out on.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

I doubt there will be anything on avatar for at least another week. James Cameron has been playing it super close to the vest, and I'm sure everyone's going to be under review embargos

I think the movie will be a technological marvel, how the rest of it is, the jury is still out on.

I really gotta wonder how Fox can expect to make back a $300 million budget.

But then again, people said the same thing about Titanic.

[Rblu-Dblu]

Originally Posted by merrick97

I really gotta wonder how Fox can expect to make back a $300 million budget.

But then again, people said the same thing about Titanic.

I don't even know what Avatar is about. I saw the trailer and still have no clue.

[kjacobs03]

Originally Posted by Rblu-Dblu

I don't even know what Avatar is about. I saw the trailer and still have no clue.

Dances with Wolves but with Smurfs.

[abintra]

Originally Posted by kjacobs03

Dances with Wolves but with Smurfs.

© South Park.

[spartanstew]

I saw the trailer and thought it was pretty clear as to the plot. I also thought it looked fantastic.

[wallendo]

"Avatar" to me looks like a potential disaster. From the previews it looks a lot like "Battle for Terra". The aliens have a too familiar appearance. As far as I can tell the movie has a lot of style, but I'm waiting to see if there is any substance to it. This, of course, is based only on the trailer, and the movie itself might change my mind. Unfortunately, Avatar has had a great deal of hype that will be hard to live up to.

[jfcarbel]

One thing that I have been wondering about after seeing these below $100 Blu-Ray players that will be available during holiday shopping season, is if some of these big titles postponed or those not yet announced might just get announced post holiday if studios evaluate the holiday BD Player sales and view it as a good sales environment for media.

I know that last year they found that media sales was better in Jan/Feb due to people getting players and gift cards.

So I wonder if studios are taking the wait and see route before showing their cards. That is, if post holiday sales numbers for Best Buy and other electronics chains are strong (i.e. gift card sales, HDTVs, and HD players) or if tracked BD Player sales are very good.

Jeff and insiders, your thoughts on this conspiracy theory

[Jeff Kleist]

I really gotta wonder how Fox can expect to make back a $300 million budget.

But then again, people said the same thing about Titanic.

I think they're looking at a bunch of that money as R&D on future 3D films. Titanic was a perfect string pulling button pushing chick flick. Avatar I think will do $200 million domestic on Cameron's name and the gimmick alone

I don't even know what Avatar is about. I saw the trailer and still have no clue.

Dances with Aliens is what it looks like

One thing that I have been wondering about after seeing these below $100 Blu-Ray players that will be available during holiday shopping season, is if some of these big titles postponed or those not yet announced might just get announced post holiday if studios evaluate the holiday BD Player sales and view it as a good sales environment for media.

I know that last year they found that media sales was better in Jan/Feb due to people getting players and gift cards.

So I wonder if studios are taking the wait and see route before showing their cards. That is, if post holiday sales numbers for Best Buy and other electronics chains are strong (i.e. gift card sales, HDTVs, and HD players) or if tracked BD Player sales are very good.

Everyone is pretty confident in their projections The biggest thing has been the adjustment of expenctations because people aren't dumping their library like they did with VHS. So unless there's an explosion way off the charts, no I don't see course changing.

[jfcarbel]

The biggest thing has been the adjustment of expenctations because people aren't dumping their library like they did with VHS

Agreed, but it looks like the Studios are starting to get some ideas in that area too. Look at the Paramount trade in rebates and now WB new dvd2blu program.

I think if a small incentive like a tradein program of minimal discount for DVD owners, then that might be the stepping stone to motivate the average consumer.

[Jeff Kleist]

The big thing is to get people defaulting to BLu-ray. Too many people are splitting purchases and not buying anything but action/epics on Blu because they don't think the upgrade is worth it.

The original BLu-ray demo disc had some great splitscreens of Kingdom of Heaven that moved back and forth showing more SD, more HD. Personally I think that's something that needs to go on every catalog title, some kind of long reel of popular movies of all genres with popular directors walking you through it.

[abintra]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

The big thing is to get people defaulting to BLu-ray. Too many people are splitting purchases and not buying anything but action/epics on Blu because they don't think the upgrade is worth it.

Hopefully pricing will take care of most of that. As soon as there becomes a wide selection of titles available for a certain price point, that will lead to people replacing a title here and there. That exposure combined with watching more HD TV channels and programming and lower prices will inspire the vast majority of people that have any inclination to rebuy titles to do so.

Like 2001-2003, the more titles one can impulsively grab at places like WM or Amazon for around $7, the more it creates the mindset to collect and move entirely to BD. That mindset is going to be price driven even more due to most people coming from collecting titles on DVD so price is always going to be a motivating factor on whether to rebuy titles they already own (at least for non-collecting/film aficionado type of person).

[Jeff Kleist]

The bargain bins are part of what killed DVD pricing, no one is eager to visit that again anytime soon. I'm talking about new releases here. They have no problem buying Ninja Assassin on Blu, but will give Men who stare at goats DVD because they don't see it as worth the extra money

[DMC86X]

Hey Jeff hows it going man?? Well i was wondering if you have heard anything about the re release of Gangs of New York. Amazon has a pre order up for it for Feb. 2010. Will this be a remastered version with better PQ and AQ or just an anniversary edition??? Thanks.