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

[Jeff Kleist]

It's no differernt than New Line and WB. Miramax was simply a division.

The only thing I can see holding up the titles would be if they really are trying to sell it, then they'll want to hold back stuff like The Crow, GWH, The Prophecy series (I want it damnit), Shakespeare in Love and all that to sweeten the pot. Personally I don't think Harvey can get the money togther to buy it. Summit has a what, 5 title back catalog? WHile I totally dug Knowing, the only thing they have right now that sells is Twilight. A serious studio needs the regular income that the cable runs and video sales bring for the lean times, which let's face it if they don't get cranking some more Twi-books, or if the kiddees, grow up, or god forbid find Buffy are a-comin sooner rather than later. May as well invest while you're flush in a sustainable future you know?

[jfcarbel]

Miramax was simply a division.

I see. So as a division they were solely responsible for funding the Blu-Ray mastering of titles and not Disney? It was my understanding that their money problems is what was holding up the titles. So I guess if Disney decides to sell the catalog its only as valuable as their are buyers and their asking price as of late was quite "out there".

So let's assume they decide not to sell or can't find a buyer, does that mean the titles just get absorbed by Disney? Because if that is the case then their might be more funding available to produce titles like Pulp Fiction for Blu-ray that have been in limbo for some time.

Sounds like the Weinstein Company wants to get the name back but I have a feeling that Disney is not going to negotiate on the price and Weinstein is in no shape to pay what they were asking.

Sounds like from your comments that whatever Disney decides that they better move fast or risk some outdated assets.

[micks_address]

Thanks for the encouraging words Jeff.. i actually just rewatched the Blu-ray thursday night.. would be great to see a re release.. its a terrific film really... very enjoyable and i for one would buy any new version released in the future if the picture was an improvement.. by the sounds of the cryptic exchanges between yourself and penton.. seems like there was a slip up of some proportions with the release of Gladiator.. so hopefully your bearing fruit comment will lead to a bountiful harvest..

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Clucks the man who still won't tell anyone who he is, even in confidence

Investigative reporting is only half of it. Once you investigate, then you use the results of that to attempt to achieve the desired result, and often getting out the kleig lights isn't ghe best way to do that, bit remains a useful threat that you occasionally carry out. I feel people are more interested in results rather than dirt and scandal overall.

Please notevthe above should be taken as generic and not Gladiator related

EDIT-The ROFL smiley didn't load on my phone Seriously though, I really have said all I can on the matter, and I"m hoping that the constructive dialogs we've had on Gladiator will bear fruit.

[Diesel]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

The Road=arthousey=Nothing till they know how Oscary it is

Kind of figured that.

Thanks

[Objectivity]

Originally Posted by SpaceDog

I agree. Example: Transformers 2 could have had a story.
Example: Transformers could have been faithful to the source material.

Oddly enough, I didn't mind Transformers 2. It didn't have a great story, but it had a thread that tied all its elements together. The only part that seemed out-of-place was the college robot.

As far as source material, I don't know how that relates to the original conversation. My comment was that Bay now knows to hold something back (although I'll admit he doesn't hold back much). I hated the first Transformers movie, mainly because no effort was made to make the Transformers look different. At the end, they talked about Jazz dying and I had no idea what they were talking about. Bay played a role in that, but I would guess that the source material fight was lost before he was brought on board.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by micks_address

Thanks for the encouraging words Jeff.. i actually just rewatched the Blu-ray thursday night.. would be great to see a re release.. its a terrific film really... very enjoyable and i for one would buy any new version released in the future if the picture was an improvement.. by the sounds of the cryptic exchanges between yourself and penton.. seems like there was a slip up of some proportions with the release of Gladiator.. so hopefully your bearing fruit comment will lead to a bountiful harvest..

Mick, don’t rope me in with Jeff as to even implying any upcoming fruition of a new edition of this title. So, strike the word “Penton” and put in “other members here”.
I was actually teasing Jeff about the past and trying to encourage him to reveal to you guys how old….or ‘new’ the HD master used as the source for the Blu-ray edition was.

I think quite a few folks would be surprised…….shocked……or momentarily propelled into some sort of catatonic state with that knowledge.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I was actually teasing Jeff about the past and trying to encourage him to reveal to you guys how old….or ‘new’ the HD master used as the source for the Blu-ray edition was.

I think quite a few folks would be surprised…….shocked……or momentarily propelled into some sort of catatonic state with that knowledge.

Ok- enough! I'll spill the beans.

The HD master used for the Gladiator Sapphire Series Blu-ray was created in 1937. Don't ask me how I know this information; I'm sworn to secrecy about my sources. Just understand that certain parties have been filing internal memos twice a year for the past four decades, asking that a new master be struck and they've all fallen on deaf ears. It's become a bit of a running joke at Paramount and, in fact, you can find references to this fabled plight hidden in a handful of Paramount releases over the years (notable among them, The Godfather, Part II).

You didn't hear it from me.

[horseflesh]

Jeff, any news on Ponyo?

[captveg]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

It's no differernt than New Line and WB. Miramax was simply a division.

The only thing I can see holding up the titles would be if they really are trying to sell it, then they'll want to hold back stuff like The Crow, GWH, The Prophecy series (I want it damnit), Shakespeare in Love and all that to sweeten the pot. Personally I don't think Harvey can get the money togther to buy it. Summit has a what, 5 title back catalog? WHile I totally dug Knowing, the only thing they have right now that sells is Twilight. A serious studio needs the regular income that the cable runs and video sales bring for the lean times, which let's face it if they don't get cranking some more Twi-books, or if the kiddees, grow up, or god forbid find Buffy are a-comin sooner rather than later. May as well invest while you're flush in a sustainable future you know?

If The Hurt Locker wins Best Picture that would certainly give Summit a shot in the arm in certain circles.

[Jeff Kleist]

We were talking awhile back in Penton's thread about why Apple doesn't want Blu-ray. To sum up, Blu-ray interferes with their core business, selling movies on iTunes, and their control freak nature. The same goes for their reason for not supporting Flash on the i* products, because if they did, then people could watch Hulu and other services that will compete with the subscription internet cable feeds Jobs is trying to get for iTunes

Here's the latest from Jobs

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/01/31/...macs-and-more/

pple does not support Flash because it is so buggy, he says. Whenever a Mac crashes more often than not it's because of Flash. No one will be using Flash, he says. The world is moving to HTML5.

I think that's news to everyone

Blu-Ray software is a mess, and Apple will wait until sales really start to take off before implementing it.

Notice he keeps not defining what "really takes off" means, and yes, he doesn't want to devote the resources to player soft updates when they're competing with him Until such a time as they give him reason to care (aka throw enough money Apple's way), he doesn't care about Blu.

I see. So as a division they were solely responsible for funding the Blu-Ray mastering of titles and not Disney? It was my understanding that their money problems is what was holding up the titles. So I guess if Disney decides to sell the catalog its only as valuable as their are buyers and their asking price as of late was quite "out there".

A bunch of them need new masters, yes, but slow sales on DVD combined with value in a possible sale doesn't give them a lot of reasons to drop the cash.

So let's assume they decide not to sell or can't find a buyer, does that mean the titles just get absorbed by Disney? Because if that is the case then their might be more funding available to produce titles like Pulp Fiction for Blu-ray that have been in limbo for some time.

Far as I know, Pulp Fiction is ready to go on an assetts level, but again, it is a AAA Miramax title.

The HD master used for the Gladiator Sapphire Series Blu-ray was created in 1937. Don't ask me how I know this information; I'm sworn to secrecy about my sources. Just understand that certain parties have been filing internal memos twice a year for the past four decades, asking that a new master be struck and they've all fallen on deaf ears. It's become a bit of a running joke at Paramount and, in fact, you can find references to this fabled plight hidden in a handful of Paramount releases over the years (notable among them, The Godfather, Part II).

Damnit Penton, why'd you tell him?

If The Hurt Locker wins Best Picture that would certainly give Summit a shot in the arm in certain circles.

There's no question they're doing well, but they can't make enough movies, and diverse enough movies fast enough to develop a catalog big enough to generate that stability. That's the only issue.Buying Miramax would give them a big and diverse foundation.

[Batman1980]

Jeff, Bill says flipper discs are getting good feedback, what's your take on it?

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Damnit Penton, why'd you tell him?

You, my friend, are a fox.

[Jeff Kleist]

Jeff, Bill says flipper discs are getting good feedback, what's your take on it?

What are you specifically referring to?

I have the Bourne flippers here, and I haven't seen any complaints of defectives, yet.

Honestly, my question is not whether they work out of the box, but whether they're still working 6 months down the line (whether the bonding holds). Personally? I don't like flipper discs, period for both aesthetic and durability reasons. As I said before, Universal has always been a stickler for inventory reduction, and I have to wonder if they hold patents on the HD DVD Combo disc process that they probably adapted for this that they're trying to see some money out of. So let's wait and see what happens when there's a bunch of these things out there and a good amount of time has passed, and see how well they hold up. IMO a consumer sees a hell of a lot more value in having a spare DVD to kick around than the ability to bring their expensive, more prone to breakage (from impacts) on the road or in the kid's room. The second physical item is a good psychological booster to value.

[blindcat87]

Jeff,

Is Equilibrium part of the Miramax catalog? I know Disney owns it in the US, but don't know which label it is under. I know I am probably hoping in vain that anyone else getting their hands on this title would be any more likely to put it out on BD in the US, but I keep putting off spending the big bucks on the Japanese BD in hopes that some miracle will come to pass and a US SE will be announced on BD. I was going to give in on the Japanese release this month, but I really need a new receiver and if I want to get it before summer, I need to buy fewer expensive imports and box sets.

Chris

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

We were talking awhile back in Penton's thread about why Apple doesn't want Blu-ray. To sum up, Blu-ray interferes with their core business, selling movies on iTunes, and their control freak nature. The same goes for their reason for not supporting Flash on the i* products, because if they did, then people could watch Hulu and other services that will compete with the subscription internet cable feeds Jobs is trying to get for iTunes

Here's the latest from Jobs

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/01/31/...macs-and-more/



I think that's news to everyone



Notice he keeps not defining what "really takes off" means, and yes, he doesn't want to devote the resources to player soft updates when they're competing with him Until such a time as they give him reason to care (aka throw enough money Apple's way), he doesn't care about Blu.



A bunch of them need new masters, yes, but slow sales on DVD combined with value in a possible sale doesn't give them a lot of reasons to drop the cash.



Far as I know, Pulp Fiction is ready to go on an assetts level, but again, it is a AAA Miramax title.



Damnit Penton, why'd you tell him?



There's no question they're doing well, but they can't make enough movies, and diverse enough movies fast enough to develop a catalog big enough to generate that stability. That's the only issue.Buying Miramax would give them a big and diverse foundation.

[Jeff Kleist]

Is Equilibrium part of the Miramax catalog? I know Disney owns it in the US, but don't know which label it is under. I know I am probably hoping in vain that anyone else getting their hands on this title would be any more likely to put it out on BD in the US, but I keep putting off spending the big bucks on the Japanese BD in hopes that some miracle will come to pass and a US SE will be announced on BD. I was going to give in on the Japanese release this month, but I really need a new receiver and if I want to get it before summer, I need to buy fewer expensive imports and box sets.

Yes it is. I'm hoping when I go in march I can find a used copy of the Japanese release. If I can get it for $30-ish I think I'll probably break

[blindcat87]

Every time I have my urge to just give in and buy it well quelled, I either find it on a movie channel or run into my DVD while browsing my stacks looking for another movie and the temptation flares again.

Chris

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Yes it is. I'm hoping when I go in march I can find a used copy of the Japanese release. If I can get it for $30-ish I think I'll probably break

[MerrickG]

Jeff any thoughts on the new Alien vs Predator game?

Im not expecting much, but I do have hope that it might be pretty good.

[Jeff Kleist]

The game the same people did 10 years ago was pretty good.

I won't touch it till I see 3 positive reviews from people I trust. I pray the game is good.

[AKORIS]

Jeff-- I'm getting hungry for some new blu announcements--

have you heard of any possibilities on the following?

1] the rest of the Bond series (covered before but any updates?)

2] any classic Universal horror titles

3] any Charles Bronson titles?

4] and lastly-- Monty Python And The Holy Grail, Animal House, Planes Trains & Automobiles, and The Naked Gun series?

[Jeff Kleist]

MGM- Nothing until they're sold

2-Nothing concrete in terms of timing
3- No
4- Holy Grail hopefully this year, the rest no, excep t Naked Gun has popped up and vanished several times