MGM MOD: Fox Bows On Demand MGM Movies for Retailers (1 Viewer)

[JoHud]

Very encouraging, since there were many doubts that MGM's financial situation could have put such an endeavor on hold.

The only reservation is that they may not have worked out the issues of anamorphic transfers in the earlier Amazon MOD's. Hopefully, those were more experimental and Fox/MGM have learned from those mistakes to acquire better masters and proper transfers. The inclusion of trailers suggest separate expectations from the Amazon MOD's

Originally Posted by ChuckWL
I remember reading somewhere that Fox will be doing this with its movies sometime next year as well. Does anyone recall hearing about this?

It's from one of the Lou Lumenick's blog post on the New York Post website, I believe in the same announcement in which he covers the Sony MOD program, noting that there are "rumblings" of a Fox MOD program for 2011.

 

[bgart13]

Originally Posted by SWFF
Quote:
What if this program rivals, if not exceeds, Sony's? I understand Sony's MOD program is pretty damn sweet! MOVIES UNLIMITED has an international version of THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT. It's the only place I have seen selling this flick, sadly, I have yet to acquire it, so I don't know what the quality is like.

Shawn, here's another good reason why QUATERMASS XPERIMENT should get a fancy-shmancy release:

Well, there's always the two featurettes MGM made in 2001 . . . which will in all likelihood never see the light of day.

http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/topic/34475?page=2

 

[Professor Echo]

At last a MOD program that actually lists which titles have trailers and which ones don't! I hope this trend continues, so Bob Cashill can take a much needed break from helping compile my MOD tralier list.

 

[SWFF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgart13
Shawn, here's another good reason why QUATERMASS XPERIMENT should get a fancy-shmancy release:

Well, there's always the two featurettes MGM made in 2001 . . . which will in all likelihood never see the light of day.

http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/topic/34475?page=2

That occurred to me after I posted, I learned a year, or, so, ago, about those featurettes via DVDDrive-In. So, if this program puts it out, it will most likely come sans those vital extras. Yes, in a perfect world, this movie, along with all those others would make it onto an official release, unfortunately, this world ain't perfect, not by a long shot, so, if it happens to come out through this program and gets anamorphic and uncut, I will consider that a partial success in my eyes.

 

[Mark Pytel]

Is this program going to replace what is currently out on Amazon.com now or is this more product that will be added to it?
I am asking this since I have yet to purchase any of the MGM MOD discs currently availiable as I have heard that they had many issues including freezing, and being in the incorrect aspect ratio and not anamorphic.
I had really wanted the Offense and House of the Long Shadows, but those have been removed. Will these be coming back?
Also do you think any of the movies that are 1:66 will be released non anamorphic like the current MGM discs are?
There are some on the list that I really want to purchase but I want to make sure that these are not going to be re-released again. I had wanted Chains of Gold, The Best Man and The While Buffalo.
Also does anyone know what happened to the Universal MOD program?
I purchased a Bronx Tale and was happy with it. I was hoping that there would be more films released as Universal has a great catalog with many movies that deserve to be availiable.
-thanks
-mark

 

[Bob Cashill]

I don't know what happened to the Universal program, and the studio is mum on it--unsurprisingly, as it just sort of materialized on Amazon, like the MGM one.

Nor do I know the status of that MGM Limited Collection program vis-a-vis the allegedly "immediately available" Fox/MGM MOD. That Fox did announce it is at least a start, and if there's a name and an e-mail provided for a contact I'd write in and ask that THE OFFENCE and HOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS be reinstated, error-free this time (though I had no issue with THE OFFENCE, at least once).

MGM finally fixed THE BEST MAN, though it's still non-anamorphic. THE WHITE BUFFALO is fine I think as is; clean print, anamorphic widescreen, no glitches.

 

[flagbrothers]

Hopefully, we will get more grindhouse [COLOR= #ff0000]blax[/COLOR]ploita[COLOR= #006400]tion[/COLOR] films.

Cool Breeze
Melinda
Sweet Jesus Preacher Man
The Slams
Mr. Ricco
The Split
Kenner
Tick, Tick, Tick
The Learning Tree
Abby
Bamboo Gods and Iron Men
Sugar Hill (73)
Shaft (The TV series)

 

[Robert13]

Would love to finally see the 1982 TV-movie "Paper Dolls" released through this program.

 

[SWFF]

Originally Posted by Bob Cashill
THE WHITE BUFFALO is fine I think as is; clean print, anamorphic widescreen, no glitches.

I'll back Bob up on this one. Bought it this past summer and haven't had any problems with it. Sure it could use a remastering, especially in the audio department, with regards to some dialogue, but it's watchable, no glitches and best of all it's anamorphic.

 

[Hasslein]

The Super Cops (1974)

 

[Jobla]

A person connected with MGM has stated (on the Classic Horror Film Board) that "a different company" will be producing the new MODs, and that should hopefully solve the problems that cropped up on the earlier MGM MODs from Amazon.

I don't know why the Universal/Amazon MOD program didn't continue. That's a shame, because the titles and the transfers were very good quality.

 

[Nebiroth]

It will also place them beyond international buyers, unless this "new company" still sells them via Amazon.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

Originally Posted by Marcel H.
As far as I know, The Prowler is not controlled by MGM/UA. There is something in the works from the Film Noir Foundation instead.

The Prowler has been restored, and in fact the restored version aired on Turner Classic Movies in the last month or two.

 

[DeWilson]

Originally Posted by Richard Gallagher
The Prowler has been restored, and in fact the restored version aired on Turner Classic Movies in the last month or two.

It's a GREAT film and the print tcm aired looked fantastic

 

[GregoryMesh]

Originally Posted by DeWilson
It's a GREAT film and the print tcm aired looked fantastic

However, The Prowler is currently not owned by MGM and it will get a Special Edition DVD release soon according to Eddie Mueller, although he didn't specify from which studio (I think, maybe VCI which recently released Film Noir Foundation restored New York Confidential, but don't quote me on this)

 

[Eric Vedowski]

"The Prowler" is scheduled to air again on TCM Saturday morning 8:30 am (EST) November 13th.

 

[SWFF]

Here's an update on their program coutesy of Home Media Magazine:


With a film catalog the envy of most studios, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. recently bowed an Internet-based platform that allows retailers to order one-off DVDs of select classic titles never before released at retail.



Spearheaded by Eric Doctorow, GM of MGM Home Entertainment Worldwide, the manufacturing-on-demand format is designed to help retailers virtually stock hundreds of rare movies without encroaching on valuable shelf-space during tough economic times.

Doctorow is the longest-serving studio chief in the home entertainment market. He became president of worldwide video for Paramount Pictures in 1994 and has held numerous senior executive positions. He has been at his current post at MGM for three years.

Home Media Magazine talked to Doctorow shortly after the studio filed a 30-day pre-packaged bankruptcy to find out how the venerable studio plans to use the Internet to market its more obscure films.



HM: How important is the manufacturing-on-demand option to retailers?



Doctorow: This is one of those classic win-win-win situations. It’s a win for the consumer because movie titles and TV shows we normally would not have brought to retail, due to their niche appeal, are now available for purchase. Retailers these days are much more selective about what they are carrying, what they support and what they merchandise. These MOD selections are titles we felt wouldn’t get the proper support from retail and get the distribution pattern we would like for a traditional release. For the studio, we get to unlock incremental value and release pictures that we otherwise would not have been able to economically.



HM: How does the Internet help MGM sell classic movies?



Doctorow: The idea is that you can make content available to consumers that might normally be a niche title. But a niche title, by definition, doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of people who want to buy it. You just don’t know where these consumers are. This program makes these titles available to a lot of people without mandating a normal demographic retail distribution setting. We’re going to try to release 15 to 20 titles a month, including a combination of movies and TV shows.



HM: How does this help the retailer?



Doctorow: We are giving the retailer, through their website, a way of being able to offer product to the consumer without having to make an inventory investment in that product. The content is effectively custom-manufactured, packaged and shipped. We make the discs one at a time based on actual orders, which are shipped within 48 hours. This way the retailer doesn’t have to spend time and resources tracking down a title through third-party distributors such as Ingram, Baker & Taylor, etc. It’s a timely consumer process when retail doesn’t actually have to have the inventory in their physical possession. Also, we don’t have to worry about returns on the titles.



HM: Would MGM ever apply this strategy to newer titles?



Doctorow: The MOD business model is a complement or supplement to our normal packaged-media retail business. I don’t envision a time when we would do this on major new releases. This is an opportunity for us to unlock value from deep libraries.



HM: Will there be a digital or Blu-ray Disc component in the future?



Doctorow: Maybe in the future, but right now this is a DVD play only. We’re walking before we run. We’ve been doing MOD with Amazon’s CreateSpace on-demand disc production (involving about 50 MGM titles) for about the past 10 months. Based on the success we had with CreateSpace, we realized that this was good business model if we put it together correctly. Those 50 titles will port over to our Allied deal, and all the titles that we bring out through Amazon will be available through this deal. It’s going to be a level playing field.



HM: What does MOD partner Allied Vaughn bring to the equation?



Doctorow: We will offer direct access to retailers we deal with on a regular basis. Allied Vaughn will act as a third-party provider to retailers who want to sign up but aren’t traditional customers of ours. The company is headquartered in Minneapolis, and their disc manufacturing facility is in Chicago.

 

[Bob Cashill]

"Those 50 titles will port over to our Allied deal, and all the titles that we bring out through Amazon will be available through this deal."

Let's hope they really get them out (some didn't make it) and fix/remaster for anamorphic widescreen some of the duds.

 

[SWFF]

That's exactly what I was thinking, too, Bob. The only one I ever bought, though, was THE WHITE BUFFALO and I might have to pick it up again, if it ends up looking better than their previous version, which was free of glitches, I must say.

 

[Nebiroth]

Just once I wish an exec would be honest and just say

"We like MOD because we smelt an opportunity to make a cheap product that will sell at a premium price"