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Gettin' tired of this "Anniversary" mentality...

#1
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9/20/09 at 11:12pm
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Two of the titles I most wish to purchase on Blu-ray are LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI. These have been rumored for years. I know, I know...they'll certainly be coming. However, I am not a young man, and I fear that Sony is going to wait until 2012 to release these to take advantage of LAWRENCE's 50th anniversary and BRIDGE's 55th. Damn, why can't studios just release the movies when they're properly remastered and ready for hi-def? This stupid promotional mindset of having to give us DVD classics during a year that is divisible by five from the original year of theatrical release is mind-numbingly ridiculous!  I would love to see OLIVER! on Blu-ray, especially since the SD DVD is pretty poor, but God knows we'll probably have to wait another four years for that, since 2008 has come and gone. C'mon, studios, not all of us have unlimited time. Have you?
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#2
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9/21/09 at 2:00am
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Good point!! I agree...
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#3
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9/21/09 at 3:42am
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Hey Dick, I couldn't agree with you more, and anyone who wants Lawrence as much as I do... Friends for life!

I think the anniversary mentality has partly come about because PR departments are there to think of ways to market things. Anniversaries are just the easiest way to work with catalogue titles for them, I think. I think it might also help them wrap their heads around how to release a catalogue of several decades worth of great and worthwhile movies.

It sucks so bad, though.

The ten year anniversary of The Thin Red Line was last year.

Citizen Kane has a big one in 2011, and the morons at studio PR have said they're releasing it in that year, for that reason.

And your Lawrence and Kwai examples are banes of my existence. Lawrence is my favourite widescreen film, my favourite colour film, my favourite epic film.

Releaselists.com has Lawrence (marked "tentative") in the US section for Dec 2009, but this may be out of date now.


Edited by Ben Cheshire - 9/21/09 at 3:58am

P.S Tarantino has finally bested Pulp Fiction.

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#4
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9/21/09 at 5:45am
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 I vote they should hold off releasing 'Pulp Fiction' until the 20th anniversary, which would be 2014. It's practically tomorrow, and the wait would be a small price to pay for the 20th anniversary artwork and cool, collectable production stills on heavy semi-gloss stock.

But otherwise, I agree with the OP's sentiment.


   
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#5
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9/21/09 at 6:21am
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Outside of Warner Bros, I don't see any studios that seem to care about anniversaries and that assumes that they deliberately held The Wizard Of Oz, Gone With The Wind and North By Northwest for release this year.

On the other hand, I see lots of posts from fans saying that the studios need to release a Blu-ray to commemorate everything from the 30th anniversary of Apocalypse Now to the 25th anniversary of C.H.U.D. to the 5th anniversary of Ocean's Twelve. And even if a Blu-ray does come out in sync with an anniversary, it seems more like a coincidence than anything else.
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#6
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9/21/09 at 6:45am
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This discussion always brings this to mind. 



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#7
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9/21/09 at 7:21am
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Lol, nice reference Mike.

Matrix: 10th Anniversary Edition
Braveheart: 25th Anniversary Edition (its subtitle in region B territories)
Reservoir Dogs: 10th Anniversary Edition

I think every catalogue title I own is an anniversary one except for the boutique label ones. :p

I'm waiting for Spiderman 3: 2 Year Anniversary Edition. Can you guys IMAGINE the reunion? Oh, wait, that's just Spiderman 4...

P.S Tarantino has finally bested Pulp Fiction.

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#8
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9/21/09 at 7:37am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dick View Post

. . . I fear that Sony is going to wait until 2012 to release these to take advantage of LAWRENCE's 50th anniversary and BRIDGE's 55th.

 

So, in other words, the premise of this thread is "fear". Not information about these titles, not direct experience in how marketing decisions are made, just . . . fear.

Studios release titles when they think they can best sell them. I've seen no evidence that anniversary dates have anything to do with it. Those are just monickers to stick on the cover and use as an advertising hook (like "new and improved"). It's much more likely that Sony is waiting for the installed base of Blu-ray players to hit a certain level.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dick View Post

 C'mon, studios, not all of us have unlimited time.

Indeed, none of us has unlimited time. When each of us passes, there will be technological developments that we didn't get the opportunity to take advantage of, because they weren't yet available to the public. Such is life.
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#9
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9/21/09 at 7:40am
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Michael sums it up perfectly for me.
"Would I rather be feared or loved? Um...easy, both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me."
--Michael Scott, The Office

"When I get sad I just stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story."
--Barney Stinson, How I Met Your Mother
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#10
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9/21/09 at 7:43am
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Don't blame the studios.  They're just doing what their customers reward them most for doing.
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#11
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9/21/09 at 8:20am
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You said it yourself, Michael: "studios release titles when they can best sell them."

I'd also suggest that a forum isn't just a place for press releases and inside info. You're right to point out that so far this is a thread about personal perspectives of movie buffs getting frustrated, not a press release about a probable upcoming release of whatever. But I'm sure we all knew that already.

Perhaps members like Dick and me sometimes make "I" statements here like "i wish I didn't have to wait till 2011 for Citizen Kane on Blu Ray" in hopes some insider might come along and say... Well, its funny you should say that, I was just chatting with Beatrice Welles last night, and she said she didn't believe in anniversaries had any effect on sales at all, and therefore had advised the studio to release the film on the 48th year after its theatrical release... Just for fun.

P.S Tarantino has finally bested Pulp Fiction.

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#12
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9/21/09 at 8:28am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben Cheshire View Post


You're right to point out that so far this is a thread about personal perspectives of movie buffs getting frustrated, not a press release about a probable upcoming release of whatever. But I'm sure we all knew that already.

 

I never "pointed out" any such thing.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben Cheshire View Post

Perhaps members like Dick and me sometimes make "I" statements here like "i wish I didn't have to wait till 2011 for Citizen Kane on Blu Ray" in hopes some insider might come along and say... Well, its funny you should say that, I was just chatting with Beatrice Welles last night, and she said she didn't believe in anniversaries had any effect on sales at all, and therefore had advised the studio to release the film on the 48th year after its theatrical release... Just for fun.

No one can stop you from hoping, but when you've been here longer than five minutes, you'll know that this scenario doesn't happen. When announcements get made, they're vetted and officially approved. Otherwise, no one says a word, because no one wants to lose their job.
Zoloft and Paxil and Buspar and Xanex, Depacon, Chronaphin, Ambien, Prozac,
Ativan calms me when I see the bills.
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#13
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9/21/09 at 8:43am
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Fair point. Things are always different the fiftieth time you've been through it. However, as an at least ten year veteran of several other film forums, I, like you, have seen this kind of thing before, and I can relate to the feeling: I watch Lawrence of Arabia on SD and think "man this is good," then I think... "I wonder if any news has come about it on blu ray yet!" So we google around and, of course, nothing. (However, does anyone know why releaselists.com has this as tentative for Decemeber on its US page?) And aside from this kind of vague glimmer of hope, there's nothing, so we then do the next best thing: find threads where other people are just as looking forward to the release as us. And then we don't cry so much in our pillows at night till... God forbid... 2012...

P.S Tarantino has finally bested Pulp Fiction.

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#14
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9/21/09 at 9:05am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TravisR View Post

Outside of Warner Bros, I don't see any studios that seem to care about anniversaries and that assumes that they deliberately held The Wizard Of Oz, Gone With The Wind and North By Northwest for release this year.

 

Warner might appear to be the only studio to care about such anniversaries, but studios like Fox and Disney have gone down that road too like the upcoming "Say Anything" 20th Anniversary or the released "Sleeping Beauty" 50th Anniversary BR releases.  Even Universal and Lionsgate have released such Anniversary editions.

IMO, it's like Michael stated, it's a marketing tool, but studios are releasing their titles based on whether they can maximize sold units not some package marketing tool.




Crawdaddy
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#15
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9/21/09 at 10:09am
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If every catalog title came out as an anniversary edition it would stop being special and the studios would stop using it as a marketing gimmick.  Certain films I can see - since they're re-released every 2 - 3 years anyway. Oz, GWTW both fit into this catagory. Besides how many ultra-ultra editions can a film have??? (American Pie?? - Universal is the worst when it comes to this, yet they fail to release any of the Pre-1950 Paramount titles they now own) 


On the plus side: a film that's the studio's not willing to release may get a release if an important anniversary is coming, sometimes that will get a studio to greenlight a video release
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#16
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9/21/09 at 10:16am
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Erm, I much rather like the "anniversary" mentality than the "let's wait till we remake it" mentality ;)

LOL

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#17
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9/24/09 at 9:08pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Reuben View Post

Indeed, none of us has unlimited time. When each of us passes, there will be technological developments that we didn't get the opportunity to take advantage of, because they weren't yet available to the public. Such is life.

I think you meant, "Such is Death." 
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#18
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9/25/09 at 2:39am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Swindoll View Post

Erm, I much rather like the "anniversary" mentality than the "let's wait till we remake it" mentality ;)

LOL

Hehe... well that's one of those, "It's nice that people are different," things.  I grant that there are a lot of people who like this "anniversary" stuff, and so they provide more than enough demand for the studios to provide it, but that doesn't mean I like all this emphasis on what I consider nothing more than a bunch of "old stuff".  I take solace in the fact that putting together "old stuff" probably doesn't take that much, and surely doesn't take up the same resources that would otherwise be directed towards putting together "new stuff", such as remakes, reboots, and such.  I'd far prefer to see someone take a new stab at a concept or a story than rewatch someone's old stab at it.

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#19
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9/25/09 at 1:47pm
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Great films - I want those on BD too.  But according to Roland Emmerichs and his writers, the world is going to end in 2012 or something like that; therefore, many of us probably won't be around after 2012 to watch those BD releases.

I agree, those anniversaries are getting annoying, especially when these editions don't contain any new special features or content.

Hi, everyone, I decided to sign up to this forum and post my first.


Hey Mike,  thanks for the laughs!


cheers!
David
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#20
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9/25/09 at 8:58pm
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I think the new Christmas Vacation (one of my favourite holiday movies) BD is one of the worst examples, because apparently it adds nothing from previous editions, and is just a plain old repackaging with "anniversary" stripped across it.

P.S Tarantino has finally bested Pulp Fiction.

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#21
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10/1/09 at 7:17am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Crawford View Post




Warner might appear to be the only studio to care about such anniversaries, but studios like Fox and Disney have gone down that road too like the upcoming "Say Anything" 20th Anniversary or the released "Sleeping Beauty" 50th Anniversary BR releases.  Even Universal and Lionsgate have released such Anniversary editions.

IMO, it's like Michael stated, it's a marketing tool, but studios are releasing their titles based on whether they can maximize sold units not some package marketing tool.




Crawdaddy

The weird thing about Disney is that both Sleeping Beauty's and Lady and the Tramp's 50th anniversary editions were released when the movies weren't fifty years old. Which makes the entire point of an anniversary edition completely useless.
I also don't like why they're doing it. If it can be released, just release it. I can understand they want to build up expectations but it's getting out of hand.

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#22
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10/1/09 at 7:42am
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Let's convince the studios to adopt a base 8 anniversary year system. Then they can release the Lawrence 60th Anniversary Blu-ray Special Edition in 2010.
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#23
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10/1/09 at 8:23am
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I'm sure that when it really gets out of hand, i.e., begins adversely affecting revenues, they'll reel it back in.  They're typically pretty good about detecting and reacting to lost revenues.
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#24
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10/1/09 at 10:19pm
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Alot of the studios could be planning alot of these movies ahead of time and see the Anniversary of release as a better marketing opportunity for them. Maybe it also has to do with prep time for them to get the materials together? I have no idea honestly.

It's great to be back.

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#25
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10/2/09 at 12:20am
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From deciding to release something Hi-Def and getting it on the store shelves, we're talking about a 2-3 year process on average.
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#26
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10/2/09 at 10:05pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brandon Conway View Post

From deciding to release something Hi-Def and getting it on the store shelves, we're talking about a 2-3 year process on average.

I definitely agree on the preperation alot of the times. ALTHOUGH misfired Anniversary Editions were both Poltergeist and Beetlejuice in my own crazy opinion. I mean if you have an Anniversary Edition, it's far better to load it with extras relating to the film in question.
If I were a DVD producer, you bet I'd know which extras I'd make and damn great ones too.

It's great to be back.

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#27
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10/3/09 at 8:00am
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I with you Dick, but hopefully the long delay bodes well for the eventual releases of those fine films.

In the case of Lawrence, the silence has been deafening. First it is previewed among the early Blu-ray release titles, then nothing. I have queried Mr. Harris about it in his Insider Forum but have not seen a response from him. Maybe he doesn't know anything about it, but I thought he might be one of the first to learn any news of it from Sony. 

If Sony is doing a brand new transfer from an 8k scan then the wait will (should!) be well worth it. Hopefully that's the case here.
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#28
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10/3/09 at 11:26am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RayRogers View Post




I definitely agree on the preperation alot of the times. ALTHOUGH misfired Anniversary Editions were both Poltergeist and Beetlejuice in my own crazy opinion. I mean if you have an Anniversary Edition, it's far better to load it with extras relating to the film in question.
If I were a DVD producer, you bet I'd know which extras I'd make and damn great ones too.
 

I believe the problem with Poltergeist is that when the film changed hands, MGM to Warner, the rights to most of the behind the scenes footage didn't go with the film. Of course they could do an all talking head making of, but that would be kinda boring.

Doug

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