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An open invitation to Warner to discuss your catalog titles (1 Viewer)

trajan

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Hello- Warner. We love many of the bluray catalog titles that grace our bluray collections. Your library of films hold many more titles that we wait for a bluray release. The rate that these titles have been released seems to have slowed down quite a bit. We would love for you to come on our forum to talk about our concerns.
 

Ejanss

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trajan said:
Hello- Warner. We love many of the bluray catalog titles that grace our bluray collections. Your library of films hold many more titles that we wait for a bluray release. The rate that these titles have been released seems to have slowed down quite a bit. We would love for you to come on our forum to talk about our concerns.
And don't just back out of it by pulling Big Corporate rank again with the fans, and showing that "I am OZZZZ! Who are YOU??" clip, like you do with the piracy warnings. :rolleyes:
 

Josh Steinberg

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There are quite a few titles I'd be willing to pay a little extra for to get on Blu - I wish there were more Blu-ray titles available through the Warner Archive.
 

bgart13

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It would be nice to be able to order bds of any title whenever one wanted to from WAC. They are "made on demand," after all. ;)
 

Alan Tully

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Ha, I wouldn't blame the Warner people for not taking up that offer. I'm sure the Warner people working on these films would love to have them released, but if the bean counters say no...
 

trajan

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Billy Batson said:
Ha, I wouldn't blame the Warner people for not taking up that offer. I'm sure the Warner people working on these films would love to have them released, but if the bean counters say no...
You never know. They just might see this as an opportunity to create some good will.
 

Robert Crawford

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trajan said:
You never know. They just might see this as an opportunity to create some good will.
Not happening in my opinion. With facebook and other social media tools, it's easier for the studios to control the narrative without taking any direct heat.
 

Persianimmortal

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Robert Crawford said:
Not happening in my opinion. With facebook and other social media tools, it's easier for the studios to control the narrative without taking any direct heat.
Agreed. If I were a studio representative, I wouldn't enter a forum and try to explain why certain titles have not been, nor will ever be, released. It's a recipe for unpleasantness. It's quite obvious that they're not releasing certain titles due to lack of popularity and cost. Try telling someone who likes a particular movie that their movie is not that popular, or worth the cost of release on Blu-ray, and see how they respond!

Plus of course you will also get highly dubious business advice from a range of people who fancy themselves business experts. For example, "But if you release the mega-super-duper-deluxe-edition with all the extras and nice packaging for $150 it will definitely sell well!!" or "I'm sure thousands of people are waiting for this movie on Blu if it's done right!!". Refer to virtually any and every Twilight Time discussion thread for more examples of this type of business advice.
 

cineMANIAC

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Billy Batson said:
Ha, I wouldn't blame the Warner people for not taking up that offer. I'm sure the Warner people working on these films would love to have them released, but if the bean counters say no...

That's what the Warner Archive is for - to bypass the bean counters. The point of manufacturing-on-demand was to give people an outlet for purchasing titles with less-mainstream appeal. I think most people were more than happy to have their favorite movies released on MOD discs, even if they were DVDs. Most folks also understood that the chances of these films ever being released on Blu were slim to none so more the reason to accept the DVD-r format.
 

Josh Steinberg

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I love the idea of the Warner archive - I just hope that one day they will begin to offer, if not more Blu-rays, then perhaps some BD-Rs. There are some Warner titles that are available in HD on cable channels, streaming services, etc., that have never been made available for purchase in HD on disc. I'd still rather have a BD or BD-R than a streaming purchase or rental if at all possible.

...but I totally understand that some of these titles are not going to be giant sellers, so I'm not holding my breath on wide commercial releases.
 

AnthonyClarke

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Warner Archive would be great if they released prime titles on Blu ray instead of DVD! Show Boat is the prime example -- why through all the restoration hoops and them make it only available as an SD Archive release? It defies logic....
 

Persianimmortal

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cineMANIAC said:
That's what the Warner Archive is for - to bypass the bean counters. The point of manufacturing-on-demand was to give people an outlet for purchasing titles with less-mainstream appeal. I think most people were more than happy to have their favorite movies released on MOD discs, even if they were DVDs. Most folks also understood that the chances of these films ever being released on Blu were slim to none so more the reason to accept the DVD-r format.
I can understand that some people just want certain movies released in any format, even DVD-R, but the original post that kicked off this thread is about inviting Warner to discuss releases on Blu-ray.
 

davidHartzog

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I think Warners has been doing a pretty good job these last few years, far better than the other studios. Only Criterion has a better track record, but they have been around a lot longer.
 

Ronald Epstein

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I think Warners has been doing a pretty good job these last few years, far better than the other studios. Only Criterion has a better track record, but they have been around a lot longer.
images.jpg
 

Worth

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cineMANIAC said:
I think most people were more than happy to have their favorite movies released on MOD discs, even if they were DVDs. Most folks also understood that the chances of these films ever being released on Blu were slim to none so more the reason to accept the DVD-r format.
Many of these titles were remastered in HD. I can understand that a blu-ray release may not be profitable enough, but why not offer an HD download option, in an MP4 or MKV format? Even at 720p. It's only die-hard home theatre afficianados buying these anyway, so I'm sure there would be some interest.
 

bruceames

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davidHartzog said:
I think Warners has been doing a pretty good job these last few years, far better than the other studios. Only Criterion has a better track record, but they have been around a lot longer.
The problem is that they are sitting on a much larger vault of classic movies than anybody else (and of better quality too), and their pace as of late has fallen off. So taking that into account, plus the fact that many of their catalog are actually Paramount movies, no I don't agree that they are doing better than the other studios. Taking sublicensed titles into account, far more Paramount and Fox catalog titles are getting released on Blu-ray now.
 

Ronald Epstein

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The problem is that they are sitting on a much larger vault of classic movies than anybody else (and of better quality too), and their pace as of late has fallen off.
Bruce, the market has changed. That's the problem.
Most classic titles don't sell well on Blu-ray. It's the reason why the
Warner Archives was created. It allows the studio to press titles
according to demand.
But Warner still releases high profile titles to the format. The reason
it often takes longer is the amount of work that the studio puts into the
digital cleanup or restoration. Most (but not all) other studios aren't
putting the effort that Warner puts into their titles.
We are living in a time where studios are outsourcing their titles to
companies like Olive and Twilight Time. There's a good reason for that.
 

bruceames

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Ronald Epstein said:
Bruce, the market has changed. That's the problem.

Most classic titles don't sell well on Blu-ray. It's the reason why the
Warner Archives was created. It allows the studio to press titles
according to demand.

But Warner still releases high profile titles to the format. The reason
it often takes longer is the amount of work that the studio puts into the
digital cleanup or restoration. Most (but not all) other studios aren't
putting the effort that Warner puts into their titles.

We are living in a time where studios are outsourcing their titles to
companies like Olive and Twilight Time. There's a good reason for that.

I know that, but I was speaking relative to the other studios. Warner-owned catalog titles simply are not getting out on Blu-ray at a pace proportional to their library, as compared to other studios like Paramount and Fox. If they can't make the WA system work (1 title per month is NOT what I consider productive), then they should seriously consider licensing out their titles like just about everyone else (I think Universal is the only other). I'll be happy to pay Olive or TT prices for many of their movies.

I would prefer that they do it though. Maybe they could just go ahead and burn BD-Rs with the disclaimer that they you need an eligible player to play them in (ie, it may not work in your player).
 

JWPlatt

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The slower the rate of migration, the longer the wait, the more likely the oldest films will decay beyond viability to the point that decay happens faster than release.
 

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