Session Start: Wed May 19 21:30:45 1999 Subject: Live chat with GARRETT LEE of IMAGE ENTERTIANMENT Date: Wednesday, May 19th, 1999 Good Evening... Thanks for joing us... We are going to begin... Tonight, we welcome Garrett Lee of IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT... Garrett is the Director of Marketing over at IMAGE This is his second live chat with us... Good Evening, Garrett! Hi Ron and everybody...Ron, maybe I should have quit while I was ahead... everyone must be at STAR WARS! Yeah, I realized that too late I gave up my ticket... Well, we appreciate you being here We will start the questions in a sec... I have the first one that someone wanted me to ask... Here it goes... What about the Samuel Bronson titles that were rumored to be released on DVD last fall including FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, 55 DAYS AT PEKING and EL CID? Actually Ron, EL CID was not part of that deal...it was CIRCUS WORLD. We actually went to London to do the transfers and a legal issue came up at the last minute... We did the ARIA transfer in place of the Bronstons at that time. Hopefully, we will be able to release the Bronstons at some point in time. Thank You, Garrett Okay.... Dave you are first... Mr. Lee: I'm extremely glad Dreamworks is now supporting laserdisc. My question for you is are we going to see an LD release of Saving Private Ryan? Also, any chance for some DTS LD releases from Dreamworks (specifically SPR)? Dave, Garrett is from IMAGE RonEpstein: I know that Dreamworks is distributing LD through Image I didn't know that. I apologise We are in discussions with Dreamworks regarding PRIVATE RYAN and hope to have some answers within the next 30 days. We are releasing all of the other titles...including PRINCE OF EGYPT. I would hope that SPR would be released as a DTS laserdisc as well as a Dolby Digital version. It is important to note that the Japanese edition on laserdisc is being released by Paramount... DONE One more question Will A Bug's Life or Mulan make its way to LD this year? Thank you I believe these titles will be released on laserdisc later this fall. I do not have exact street dates at this time. DONE thank you again Next up is TomMeyer mine's kinda long so bear w/ me OK First, many thanks to Image for releasing classics like "The Bicycle Thief", Thanks. With DVD being so successful (so far), it seems to me that the majors are not going to distribute their "A" titles through Image (as they did w/ many LDs) leaving distributors like yourself shut out of the big-name releases. What role do you see Image and other similar distributors like Anchor Bay, Artisan, Madacy etc.. that tend to offer "bare bones" discs (no offense - as opposed to Criterion which is more of a restoration/"value added" house)? From what I've seen so far, it looks like you and the others are "filling in the gaps" with the forgotton classics, lesser-known pictures and (hopefully) getting more independent features out on DVD. comments ? Tom, this will be a long answer, too...I'll signify when I am done... We see Image's place in DVD right now as one of the premiere suppliers of music video programming. Collectively, we have released more music programming on DVD than all of the majors combined. We have even entered into some deals whereby we will be producing live concerts specifically for release on DVD and videocassette. Additionally, we are looking into opportunities to release some Broadway shows on DVD. We will continue to release a wide array of esoteric programming that perhaps the majors would be too busy to consider at this stage of the format's life... I'm done for now, this may provoke other questions... One last thing -- will Image release Bringing Up Baby, Wings of Desire or Clockwatchers on DVD ? BRINGING UP BABY is Turner owned...WINGS OF DESIRE, Orion/MGM and CLOCKWATCHERS, I believe, is/was BMG... Next up is TylerRuggeri... I want to ask, did Image produce the LD of Disney's the Parent Trap, specifically the extras? The DVD has no extras except a trailer, so I wondered why they would put the extras on the less-popular LD than on DVD. If you did produce them, do you own the rights to the extras so that Disney cannot use them? Also, put Sondheim's Sweeney Todd on DVD (the VHS is discontinued). We did not produce the extras for THE PARENT TRAP laserdisc. The producers of the film wanted tha material to be included on the laserdisc...I don't know why Buena Vista opted to leave them off of the DVD. As far as SWEENEY TODD goes, I believe it is now part of the Turner library, controlled by Warner... I'd like to say, to the SWEENEY TODD guy, we are redoing INTO THE WOODS as a dual layered, PCM disc... Next up is Obi What is the status on DVD of the three Bronston films Image distributed on LD? Obi, you're late...we did that one! Hey, I gotta make a living... They're in legal dispute presently. Glad you're here OBI... What about The Final Countdown for LD? Did you ever find out anything on that? That is one of the hardest films to trace rights-holders to...I haven't talked to anyone that will fess-up to owning the rights. It would make a tremendous DVD...one of the most requested titles for us! DONE Next up is Anthony_Cappa... Garrett: How much longer can we expect to see LD support from Image? We will support laserdisc for as long as the market supports it and we are able to realize a profit from the release of titles. With national chain support waning (or non-existant), mail order is becoming increasingly important to today's laserdisc business. Next up is Kryceck... Thanks. I was wondering if Image has plans to release a new DVD of Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas that has the sae extras as the deluxe ld set and a little known movie not available on VHS anymore called Forbidden Zone (1980 B&W film that featured Danny Elfman.) FORBIDDEN ZONE is a great idea...we will look into it. Buena Vista controls the rights to NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS...it would certainly make an outstanding DVD release, though! DONE Next up is Pete Fitzgerald... Thank you. I was wondering if Image still has a deal with Universal to still release some of their titles... specially older titles like MURDER HE SAYS (1945) and THE PHANTOM LADY (1944). Done We have released all of the Universal titles that we've licensed. However, we are starting to explore the possibility of SPECIAL EDITIONING some of them...too early to say which ones at this time, but there are certainly titles in the 50 that would warrant it... DONE Thanks. I foorgot to specify DVD. They would be DVD Next up is Tom Meyer... Re: Transfer quality.. Obviously, the source material for stuff like Potemkin isn't that great, but what do you say to people w/ criticize Image and others (esp. Madacy) for poor transfer quality ? Personally, I'm just happy to get the stuff on DVD, but the topic comes up every once in a while on the forum. Thanks. We have one of the foremost film historians in the country working on our silent transfers... David Shepard...if you guys could watch him at work for one day, you would be amazed at the amount of work he does with these transfers. To compare us to Madacy, though you didn't specifically say that, is quite unfair... We make every effort to use the best possible materials for our transfers. As a matter of fact, we have passed on some products that we were offered. Thanks for appreciating the fact that we are releasing the stuff, though... thank you ! Garret, were you going to say that you passed on especially bad source material ? Yes, we have passed on some projects because of poor source material. We have also done some great high-def transfers for some of our stuff...check out THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY...DONE Next up is Blaine... Thanks. Garrett, what are the future plans for DTS LaserDisc titles. They seem to have dried up. The market for DTS laserdiscs has gotten very small from a retail standpoint since the introduction of DTS DVDs. There are costs involved with this product that makes manufacturing prohibitive if the orders don't justify the costs. DONE Next up is JohnBR... how about more dts dvd We will be releasing a number of music DTS DVDs over the next several months including Janet Jackson, the Bee Gees, Joni Mitchell, Music For Montserrat and perhaps the PARIS AMNESTY concert, too. DONE Next up is David Anderson... Garrett: So is DTS LD support totally dead? Or will more popular titles still get a DTS LD treatment (assuming preorders were high) ? It would have to be an exceptionally strong title for DTS laserdisc consideration. I believe that, if possible, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN would be an excellent candidate for DTS laserdisc treatment... DONE Next up is Nke Voigt... I joined late, you may have answered this - but what about Dark Side of the Moon or The Wall? As DTS DVDs, I mean. I believe that all of the PINK FLOYD titles have gone back to Sony. It was my understanding that they were to release a WALL DVD, but I have heard nothing of it lately. DONE Thanks! Next up is Jeff Ulmer... Any info on the source for Camlle 200, which doesn't look as good as Score, also schedule for more Redemption titles and Russ Meyer on DVD? Russ Meyer wants to do his own DVDs, I don't know if he ever will, but we've mentioned it to him just last week. We have five more Redemption titles (don't ask me which ones, I don't have it in front of me) in production right now...CAMILLE doesn't look as good as SCORE; again, a source material problem. We've rejected one or two of the Metzger titles for source material. Hopefully we can get better elements... DONE Next up is Pete Fitzgerald... This is a real shot in the dark, but do you know which company, if any, controls the rights to the film, SANDS OF THE KALAHARI (1965)? It was a Joseph E. Levine independent production, released to theaters by Paramount, but the last time I saw it on tv several years ago, Columbia (during its "Coca-Cola phase) had television distribution rights. It's never been released on video in the USA. I'd love to see a widescreen DVD of it. Thanks. DONE You're right...that's a real shot in the dark! I don't know who would own the rights, but our licensing guy is next to me taking notes....cross your fingers! DONE Next up is PeterNagy... Hello. Will any of the Laurel & Hardy Sound films be made available on DVD in the near future? also there have been some problems with some of the silent film caused by faulty DVD mastering. What steps is Image taking to prevent these technical problems from hapening again? Thanks! Thanks immensely! Also thanks for the PRIVATE SNAFU DVD, which was wonderful. We had a problem with HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME that we are correcting. INTOLERANCE is being remastered with ancillary materials. I am not sure if we'll have any of the sound Laurel and Hardy's, but I believe we're releasing the sound version of DOUBLE WHOOPEE on VHS, so we may do a DVD of it, too. DONE. Follow up to Camille, would rather have it as is than not at all. How about Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane? Vestron owned the title at one time, it could be back in the hands of the original producers... DONE We have widescreen DVDs of SLIPPER AND THE ROSE and a special edition of DREAMSCAPE in the works. DONE Next up is Blaine... Back to the DTS issues, I believe a "Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition" in DTS would sell very well. Also, will there be a wider variety of DTS CD titles be forthcoming? We will be announcing more DTS CD titles...a Sting title, a Police title, more classical, etc. Don't look for a DTS TRILOGY... DONE Next up is Mark L... My company is interested in selling DVD's online, do you have any suggestions for getting started? DONE This is a consumer forum. Next up is Anton P... My tastes run more toward "cult" movies. I've never seen THE WICKER MAN except on extended play VHS. Do you think this will be available on DVD? Would IMAGE be interested in releasing this title? We would very much like to release this title and it is on our list...very high on our list... DONE Go ahead, Obi... More info on the Dreamscape SE, please, and do you know anything about The Philadelphia Experiment? Anchor Bay owns the rights to PHILADELPHIA EXPER I believe... I've been talking to the producer of DREAMSCAPE and he has lots of ideas for the disc, and more importantly, contacts with the film's stars, etc. I think it would be a great DVD title. DONE Garrett, we wish to thank You... I must leave, however... If you guys have any more questions... Garrett will stick around a bit more... You're going to leave me without a moderator!!!! LOL I'll post the transcript tomorrow on our download page These are grownups here! :) Good Night everyone. 5am comes fast! We'll be releasing a package of Mario Bava films...on DVD. Garrett, one more question: any news on an Everest IMAX DVD? Our PARIS AMNESTY CONCERT is fantastic...an hour longer than the VHS release... EVEREST is a Disney title... We will be releasing some GREAT IMAX titles down the road, though...stay tuned! And The Dream Is Alive: Imax? Can't comment on specific IMAX titles... Garrett, I am very happy to see Image has picked up DreamWorks titles. Will these discs feature any of the extras that are currently available on the DVD editions? Is "Small Soldiers" and "Saving Private Ryan" in the future? SMALL SOLDIERS is announced for laserdisc. We are waiting for Dreamworks to sanction a SAVING PRIVATE RYAN laserdisc. No extras on the Dreamworks laserdiscs. DONE Garrett, can you divulge WHICH Bava titles at this time? (Pete starts to pull out wallet) Bava: LISA AND THE DEVIL and BARON BLOOD...with more to come! DONE Excellent! Farenheit 451 and Slaughterhouse 5 are some of the best DVDs I own. Any chance we'll see more Sci-Fi soon? There will be more sci-fi...some cool UFO titles...will be announcing next month. DONE My licensing guy wants to know if any of you have heard of SLIPPER AND THE ROSE? DONE I have it on DiscoVision The title's familiar to me, but I haven't seen the film. I'd have to look it up. 1976 Cinderella-story 70 mm Richard Chamberlain...RoadShow musical... Is that the musical version of Cinderella? Music by the Sherman Brothers... Yes, Obi! You win a prize! Oh goody.... LOL The DiscoVision edition was poorly transfered from an squezzed 35mm print...and in mono We'll be retransferring from the original IP. DONE Compliments again on the quality of your IMAX titles. May I add one question? Would you consider older TV series, like The Virginian, Alias Smith and Jones, or more recently Quantum Leap? Sure, Cee... Is NORTHWEST FRONTIER (1959 British, aka FLAME OVER INDIA) on your licencing list, or ZULU (1964)? By the way, SANDS OF THE KALAHARI (1965) features the star (Stanley Baker) and Director (Cy Endfield) who made ZULU. ABSOLUTELY!!! We are working on some of them now, can't announce specifics yet... DONE Pete, again, our licensing guy is sitting here taking notes... DONE Any chance you could wrangle a Zardoz SE out of Fox? Now that would really make my day! :) How about a truly oddball one: KOYAANISQATSI? Incidentally, NORTHWEST FRONTIER is a Rank film. DONE Second Koyannisquatsi... We do not know who owns KOYAAN at this point...it was PAcific Arts and they are no longer in business. Koyan was available on Polygram on VHS... In North America, Jeff? Yup. I don't think so...or we would have released it on laserdisc... In reality, how long do you see the production of laserdisc titles continuing? Laserdisc will continue for several years. I cannot predict for sure. We are still selling decent numbers on a good selection of titles. DONE how about split second SPLIT SECOND was an HBO title. I feel like a real pest tossing title requests at you, but how about INFRA-MAN (1976, letterboxed 2.35:1, stereo "Infra-sound") ? Polygram 440083449-3, IRE Productions and manufactured in Canada. That's PolyGram CANADA, Jeff...they don't have rights down here...to the very best of our knowledge. This may be a little too "inside", but how are things coming with the new Vegas warehouse? Thanks for releasing ON BORROWED TIME (1939) on LD last month, that was one of my "top three" film wants for YEARS! YOu're welcome, Pete...Leonard Maltin just reviewed it on his radio show! The DTS LaserDisc blowout through several retailers continues. Will any of these titles be repressed once the current inventory is depleated? NO General question. Three words: enhanced for widescreen? We've done it on several releases. Whenever possible we will attempt to do enhanced transfers. I think that anamorphic transfers are great...Sony is releasing a line of anamorphic ready TVs this summer and fall....go to their website and check out the feature. They call it Vertical-Compression... I can't wait!!! DONE That's great. Thanks! It'll be on some of the new Wega's... Garrett, thanks for taking the time to update us on what's happening with Image. I'm going to have to sing off because I have a stack of discs staring at me and they are not going to review themselves ;). Later guys. Thanks, Obi...look forward to speaking with you soon. Are you going to release more opera DVDs? Good quality with D5.1 Yes, we have about 30 in the works...they will be from the RM Associates library... including Baz Luhrmann's LA BOHEME... I don't believe they'll be 5.1, but if we get elements, we will... Will they be only 2 ch or 5.1 ch Most of them will be 2 channel PCM... Do you have any contract with metropolitan, NY The Metropolitan Opera? yup Not specifically. I don't know if any of the productions are Met productions. We will have Andre Previn's STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE from San Francisco... Garrett, I seem to be hanging onto DTS here. As you have an ear to the entire Home Video arena, do you think other studios will begin to issue DTS DVD titles? I have pretty much given up on LDs, though Pioneer was rumored to be doing a few more. But I believe the DTS system is superior to Dolby in most cases and would loke to see more product. We would certainly like to see other studios license their programming for DTS DVD release. It took time with laserdisc, let's see what happens with DVD...Universal has gotten the ball rolling and the titles are doing very well. DONE For some more diversity in the collection, how about cinematic adult titles like Story of O, or cult stuff like Bad Taste. We will have a lot more cult releases this year. We've licensed a package of films from Something Weird Video...that should tide you over for a while, Jeff! : ) Hey gotta have a good range of stuff for the visitors ;) ABSOLUTELY! Garrett, I read on an animation site that "Special Edition" DVDs were coming in late '99 of THE PUPPETOON MOVIE, THE FANTASY FILM WORLDS OF GEORGE PAL and BEANY & CECIL, and the site went into some detail about the supplements featured (it read like a press release). Is this stuff true, do you know, and if so, are they coming from Image? We are doing a BEANY AND CECIL special edition that we will announce in July. I'm not a big fan of the "Snapper" packaging which Warner and Image has been using on their DVD titles. Are there any plans to move to the more widely used "keep cases" on the Image product? Blaine, we will be using the snapper for the forseeable future...but I don't like it either... There are reasons... Any chance you could licence collections of music videos, with bands like RUSH or BOSTON? I'm thinking along the lines of Bjork's Volumen... I'd love all the Rush videos on one disc, or the Boston promos... It's possible, Jeff...you wouldn't believe all of the music we've got in the pipeline...new and old. RUSH is PolyGram, however...and BOSTON's on Columbia (Sony)... But Jeff, who knows who owns them in your neck of the woods! What's your opinion of Divx? C'mon...next? Pretty please The players play all DVDs...that's good...next...? Yikes! The "D-word"! My nerves, my nerves.... I've gotta' run guys, thanks for your questions. I've had a great time. We'll do it again someday. Hope to meet some of you in LA in February. It's been great. Thanks for your time, Garrett. Thanks, Garrett! This was great! Goodnight! On the issue of cases, I do like the foldouts you've been doing on the Redemption titles. I still find it hard to believe how good Farenheit 451 looks on the 65" WS Thanks! Thanks for joining us Garrett! Thanks, Jeff. Goodnight all! DONE Session Close: Wed May 19 23:28:23 1999