The potential misconception of studio support

[Deciazulado]

The new Dracula release seems to look better and be correctly recentered compared to the previous one. I hope it was done in a new high resolution scan of the surviving elements. (The original negative is supposedly long gone) so if that's true I look foward to the Blu-ray version of it one day.

Old films, specifically those shot in black and white film before the mid 50's switch to widescreen (This includes Technicolor films, which were shot with b/w negative) have a bigger negative area than the formats currently used today in most films (New films: 10 and 11 mm per picture height for Super35 and 1.85 widescreen respectively. Old films: 15mm per picture height. Technicolor films: 3 of those per image frame) . So if properly cared and restored from the original negative they will hold pretty well on High Definition.

I can barely wait!

[Ascended_Saiyan]

Originally Posted by hmurchison

Nice thread on the breakdown of how many US distribution rights the various studios have

If correct this is quite an interesting post from Paintiff77




If these numbers are true there is potentially less than a %5 delta in the quantity of movies available between the formats. This however doesn't speak to the quality. It is interesting nonetheless.

I think the numbers we should look at are from the past decade or so. Those numbers can be found at The-Numbers.com

[theknub]

off track a tad: is Buena Vista's Disneys distribution company? i don't see disney or pixar on the list so am thinking that may be the case.

[Deciazulado]

theknub: Buena Vista ->Disney, Pixar


I made a quick summary of the numbers in Ascended_Saiyan's link, grouping the mayors into those below (example: Miramax went to Buena Vista) and I left off a lot of the mini minors, which are legion but small.


For the last decade,

Total movies/ Total box office sales in billions

Universal 288 movies $12 billion
Warner Brothers 351 movies $14.2 billion
New Line 178 movies $6.6 billion
Paramount 286 movies $10.2 billion
Dreamworks 78 movies $4.9 billion
Weinstein 17 movies $0.3 billion
Sony 669 movies $14.6 billion
20th Century Fox 461 movies $14.4 billion
MGM 189 movies $3.7 billion
Lionsgate 119 movies $1 billion
Buena Vista 736 movies $21.5 billion
Artisan 54 $0.5 billion

Total: 3426 movies $103.9 billion sales


So if we look at the last decade, as things stand now:

Total potential HD DVD titles: 1181 movies (34.5%)
Total potential Blu-ray titles: 3138 movies (91.6%)

Total popularity of potential HD DVD titles: $47.3 billion (46.1%)
Total popularity of potential Blu-ray titles: $91.8 billion (88.5%)


Potential titles exclusive to HD DVD 288 movies (8.4%) (yes 8.4%)
Potential titles exclusive to Blu-ray 2228 movies (65.0%)

Total popularity of potential titles exclusive to HD DVD: $12 billion (11.6%)
Total popularity of potential titles exclusive to Blu-ray: $55.7 billion (53.6%)

This are just numbers and they may not reflect reality when true release patterns come out but,

2/3rds of recent movies exclusive to Blu-ray?
Half of the best selling titles exclusive to Blu-ray?
About just one tenth of the most recent/best selling movies exclusive to HD DVD?

90% of recent movies on Blu-ray vs 40% in HD DVD? ( I averaged titles and box office popularity for that one)


Food for thought

[ethan]

Disney owns :

Buena Vista
Walt Disney Studios
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Feature Animation
Touchstone Pictures
Pixar Animation Studios
Miramax Films
Miramax Family Films
Hollywood Pictures

Sony owns :

Columbia Pictures
TriStar Pictures
Sony Pictures Classics
Screen Gems
Triumph Films
Destination Films
MGM
United Artists
The Samuel Goldwyn Company
Orion Pictures
American International Pictures (AIP)
Filmways

FOX owns :

20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox Animation
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Blue Sky Studios

UNIVERSAL owns :

Universal Studios
Focus Features
Rogue Pictures
Working Title Films

----

With these details on hand, I took the time to count what I have in my collection of about 300 DVDs :
hddvd exclusive studios : 22
bluray exclusive studios : 129

Almost HALF is from bluray exclusive studios, and the hddvd exclusive count is negligible, why even bother with hddvd ?

[JTK]

Originally Posted by ethan

<snip>

----

With these details on hand, I took the time to count what I have in my collection of about 300 DVDs :
hddvd exclusive studios : 22
bluray exclusive studios : 129

Almost HALF is from bluray exclusive studios, and the hddvd exclusive count is negligible, why even bother with hddvd ?

Oh noes, because Sony is teh suxxxorez and Beta-blew-ray is also teh suzxorez!!!!!

I can import a handful of those movies from the other side of the globe, nevermind prices, to play on my Tosheeeba to prove some kinda point!

Yeah!

[thunderhawk]

Nice summary ethan.

Toshiba... Still a funny name. Lol ^^

[Shadowself]

I've always been a fan of the quotation attributed to Benjamin Disraeli by Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

In light of this fun...

Maybe because I'm probably older than anyones else on these boards, I like to take the more historical perspective. Of the studios that are exclusive, which ones support the all time popularity leaders?

Another way to look at it, using the top 500 grossing films of all time, [i]when adjusted for inflation[/], gives:
-- about 250 having been (or are being) distributed by BDA exclusive studios
-- about 50 having been (or are being) distributed by HD DVD exclusive studios
-- about 200 having been (or are being) distributed through studios that support both or have not declared their intentions.

I say "about" because it depends upon where you draw the cut off for "all time" and what constitutes popularity. I've drawn the line at 1 January 1930 for the "all time" limit. Before that puplarity figures are almost unavailable or are relatively meaningless. It also depends on if you count things like showings on broadcast TV (which would have ranked "The Wizard of Oz" abnormally high) or showings on cable TV (which would make the showing 100% uncorrellated with popularity).

So for me, if I'm trying to fill my last, great home video collection, I can go with a medium and set of studios that gives me access to 90% of them (450 out of 500) or go with a medium and set of studios that gives me 50% (250 out of 500). For me the choice -- as the studio support situation stands at the moment -- is quite clear.

YMMV

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Shadowself

I've always been a fan of the quotation attributed to Benjamin Disraeli by Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

In light of this fun...

Maybe because I'm probably older than anyones else on these boards, I like to take the more historical perspective. Of the studios that are exclusive, which ones support the all time popularity leaders?

Another way to look at it, using the top 500 grossing films of all time, [i]when adjusted for inflation[/], gives:
-- about 250 having been (or are being) distributed by BDA exclusive studios
-- about 50 having been (or are being) distributed by HD DVD exclusive studios
-- about 200 having been (or are being) distributed through studios that support both or have not declared their intentions.

I say "about" because it depends upon where you draw the cut off for "all time" and what constitutes popularity. I've drawn the line at 1 January 1930 for the "all time" limit. Before that puplarity figures are almost unavailable or are relatively meaningless. It also depends on if you count things like showings on broadcast TV (which would have ranked "The Wizard of Oz" abnormally high) or showings on cable TV (which would make the showing 100% uncorrellated with popularity).

So for me, if I'm trying to fill my last, great home video collection, I can go with a medium and set of studios that gives me access to 90% of them (450 out of 500) or go with a medium and set of studios that gives me 50% (250 out of 500). For me the choice -- as the studio support situation stands at the moment -- is quite clear.

YMMV

The truth and logic here couldn't be missed by a blind man.

[Alex Pallas]

i think some 2 of my 300 dvd collection have been announced for hd, both of which are blu ray

[Deciazulado]

hmurchison's all time titles list 80% Blu-Ray 65% HD DVD
Shadowself's top grosser list 90% Blu-ray 50% HD DVD
the last decade titles list 90% Blu-ray 40% HD DVD...
all point to the same conclusion

[zombie]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

hmurchison's all time titles list 80% Blu-Ray 65% HD DVD
Shadowself's top grosser list 90% Blu-ray 50% HD DVD
the last decade titles list 90% Blu-ray 40% HD DVD...
all point to the same conclusion

Yup, studio support does matter.

[phranctoast]

nice list Ethan.

[the cush]

A very good discussion in this thread regarding US Studios Blu-ray / HD-DVD releases
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=715977