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post #61 of 103
7/19/07 at 2:44am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Adam,

Apart from this interesting session, did either Disney or Fox (or both) formally indicate any intentions to go format-neutral in a foreseeable future? And did somebody ask them (like *some* asked of Uni )?

(When Fox suddenly went into that interludum, I started to wonder if anything might be going on on the inside ... while Disney apparently is busy exploring new channels together with MS.)


Cees
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post #62 of 103
7/19/07 at 3:00am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Gregorich
Some quick answers to some of the questions from memory:
Hitchcock: will be a while, needs some cleanup, probably won't sell well in stores (yet), but would do ok online. The will be eventually coming, but no ETA.
Spielberg: Just like DVD, Spielberg wants to wait for a larger installed player base. They released the first Spielberg title "Jaws" on DVD when there were 4 million DVD players in homes.
Combos: I'll talk about both Warner and Universal. Warner feels that the benefit of having the combo on new releases justifies the $5 markup.

Both Universal and Warner are both planning on new releases being combos.

Doesn´t sound rosy.. Well, things can change quickly. At least this format war is already hurting us, Criterion, Spielberg etc.
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post #63 of 103
7/19/07 at 6:35am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Great question Cees.

Somehow, both Disney & Fox get passes for being exclusive while Universal gets the moniker :End the War Now-Go Neutral.

Dissappointed in no Hitch. Agree with Reggie that Universal has unloaded quite a bit this year but the 4th Quarter (in terms of catalog titles) is not that strong. But we are getting the final Bourne entry, Knocked Up, and I assume Chuck & Larry. Knocked Up is already a box office hit & based on history, Chuck & Larry & Bourne should do very well. Maybe that's what Universal is thinking. 'we've got 3-4 new hits coming out in 4th quarter....'

Good job Adam. Thanks for the info....
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post #64 of 103
7/19/07 at 7:36am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Glover
Great question Cees.

Somehow, both Disney & Fox get passes for being exclusive while Universal gets the moniker :End the War Now-Go Neutral.

Dissappointed in no Hitch. Agree with Reggie that Universal has unloaded quite a bit this year but the 4th Quarter (in terms of catalog titles) is not that strong. But we are getting the final Bourne entry, Knocked Up, and I assume Chuck & Larry. Knocked Up is already a box office hit & based on history, Chuck & Larry & Bourne should do very well. Maybe that's what Universal is thinking. 'we've got 3-4 new hits coming out in 4th quarter....'

Good job Adam. Thanks for the info....

Tim,

You forgot the Universal hit, Evan Almighty
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post #65 of 103
7/19/07 at 8:40am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:

Hitchcock: will be a while, needs some cleanup, probably won't sell well in stores (yet), but would do ok online. The will be eventually coming, but no ETA.

Spielberg: Just like DVD, Spielberg wants to wait for a larger installed player base. They released the first Spielberg title "Jaws" on DVD when there were 4 million DVD players in homes.


This is not good news. Never had much hope in Spielberg anytime soon, but if their goal is 4 million install base that'll take a very very long time, probably never since these formats are mired in niche status.

No Hitchcock for the foreseeable future and if they're reluctant to release these because of low sales then there's no hope for any of their other older classics like Double Indemnity, Touch of Evil, Uni Monsters.

So was the leaked Q4 list ever brought up or confirmed?

If we can scratch off Spielberg, Hitchcock and anything over 25/30 years old then there's not much else I'm interested in from the remainder of their catalog except Scarface, Conan, Cape Fear and Blood Simple. That's pretty much it.

Wow. Very disappointing.
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post #66 of 103
7/19/07 at 2:18pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Jim - unfortunately, Ken's time was cut short to catch a plane. With so much of the discussion with him having to do with the format war, there wasn't much time to talk about upcoming titles. On the plus side, we got a sneak peek of Bourne Identity and it looked very very good. A nice transfer with DD+ audio and U-Control.
It was a bummer about the Spielberg update but hardly surprising.
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post #67 of 103
7/19/07 at 2:40pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim_K
Wow. Very disappointing.

Yep.

I am not surprised about Spielberg, but it is disappointing to hear that about Hitchcock.
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post #68 of 103
7/19/07 at 2:48pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidJ
Yep.

I am not surprised about Spielberg, but it is disappointing to hear that about Hitchcock.

I'd rather they wait and do the Hitchcock titles right, as much as I might want them now.

Doug
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post #69 of 103
7/19/07 at 3:25pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:

Jim - unfortunately, Ken's time was cut short to catch a plane. With so much of the discussion with him having to do with the format war, there wasn't much time to talk about upcoming titles. On the plus side, we got a sneak peek of Bourne Identity and it looked very very good. A nice transfer with DD+ audio and U-Control.
It was a bummer about the Spielberg update but hardly surprising.

Fair enough. I'm thinking that leaked list is pretty much it from Uni this year which really sucks.
Quote:
I'd rather they wait and do the Hitchcock titles right, as much as I might want them now.

I'd also like for them to do 'em right but from the sound of it I think it has way more to do with Uni not thinking they'd sell very much.

They could've been working on them for the past 6 months or more if they had any intention of releasing them on HD. At this point I don't expect these for a long time now. Q4 '08 would probably be overly optimistic.

This really blows.


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post #70 of 103
7/19/07 at 3:44pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim_K


Fair enough. I'm thinking that leaked list is pretty much it from Uni this year which really sucks.



I'd also like for them to do 'em right but from the sound of it I think it has way more to do with Uni not thinking they'd sell very much.

They could've been working on them for the past 6 months or more if they had any intention of releasing them on HD. At this point I don't expect these for a long time now. Q4 '08 would probably be overly optimistic.

This really blows.
Such is the life of an early adopter, who suffers through not enough market penetration in the early years of new video formats to justify the expenditures needed to release such catalog titles onto these new video formats.
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post #71 of 103
7/19/07 at 3:55pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Glover
Somehow, both Disney & Fox get passes for being exclusive while Universal gets the moniker :End the War Now-Go Neutral.
Absolutely agree with that observation. Maybe if Disney would go neutral, the war might benefit consumers and not companies. As it is, I believe the format war is not being decided on what the best format is, but who paid for the most exclusives. I find the hypocrisy of some BD owners disgusting (I have both BD and HD players in my home) when they say such things to Uni and defend Disney.

I'd talk about Fox, but they aren't releasing anything anywhere.

Sad news about Spielberg and Hitchcock, but not surprising. It's a bit of the chicken or egg discussion. Just saves me money for now
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post #72 of 103
7/19/07 at 4:12pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Crawford
Such is the life of an early adopter, who suffers through not enough market penetration in the early years of new video formats to justify the expenditures needed to release such catalog titles onto these new video formats.
Right, I understand that and agree. I just wonder why Universal doesn't try to use some of their deeper catalog titles as a differentiator.

They have a high-def master for Charade handy, for instance; Charade might not sell any better on HD DVD than a schlocky, routine thriller with zero name recognition like The Watcher, but would it really sell any worse? In both cases, Universal would be leveraging existing masters, so I don't think one would have any real added expense over the other. I know Universal wants to hold onto their highest profile and most prestigious titles until there's a larger user base, but considering that the studio does have one of the most thoroughly impressive catalogs of anyone in Hollywood, I wish they'd dig back at least a little deeper. We haven't had a 'classic' since The Sting in January.
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post #73 of 103
7/19/07 at 5:09pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Douglas Monce
I'd rather they wait and do the Hitchcock titles right, as much as I might want them now.

Doug


Same here. I thought I read that both Vertigo and Rear Window were getting complete restorations. It is worth waiting for these titles to have them look thier best. I'm in no hurry...as long as they are coming eventually.

Re: Spielberg. Jaws has been on HD Universal so much lately. I watched it 2 times so I'm in no hurry for that title now also. Perhaps by next Summer Universal will release it on HD DVD. Other than Munich I really do not crave any Spielberg/Uni titles.

I'm hoping that Uni will release Love Actually, Bowfinger, Swashbuckler, Slap Shot, Intolerable Cruelty, Dragon The Bruce Lee Story, Touch of Evil, The Paper, Death Becomes Her, Cape Fear (Peck version), To Kill a Mockingbird, Out of Africa, The Pianist (Even though I have the UK Version), The Boxer, High Plains Drifter,The Andromeda Strain, Far From Heaven, Coal Miner's Daughter, October Sky on HD DVD.

They have so many films that really looked awful on standard DVD and need remastering in a bad way; Somewhere in Time, The Hindenburg (Probaby the worst looking DVD period), Iceman (PAN AND SCAN!).

I'm all for waiting if it means the Hitchcock films will look spectacular afterwards.
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post #74 of 103
7/19/07 at 5:14pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

I certainly want them to do Hitchcock right but I must admit rather big disappointment here. One of the factors (there are many) that was endearing about HD DVD was the Universal catalog of Hitchcocks. Never thought we'd get em all now but 1 or 2 would've been real swell.

Crawdaddy is right though-we early adopters must not only possess the $$ for early adoption and at the same time being able to possess patience in getting the titles we want. ...somehow those attributes contradict one another.
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post #75 of 103
7/19/07 at 7:03pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

I am still hoping we'll get some of the BSG series. I honestly couldn't see any reason to hold the release of this series up since season 4 won't start until January 08.
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post #76 of 103
7/19/07 at 8:29pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Tyner
Right, I understand that and agree. I just wonder why Universal doesn't try to use some of their deeper catalog titles as a differentiator.
Universal is in a damned if they do and damned if they don't. Most of their high profile titles are older films that require new masters that take an investment in time, resources and money to complete. So they are in the position of releasing the films using current masters and getting slammed in the process because the masters are not up to par with the new masters being generating or holding off (and getting slammed) until new masters can be made. So I hope they continue to release titles like they have been and only release the classics when they are certain the master will hold up.

I personally have little issue with most of the Universal releases (note I said most, not all). I mean, who really gives a crap if Liar Liar does not get a 5 star PQ and AQ rating. Like it really needs it. But the Hitchcock titles better.
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post #77 of 103
7/19/07 at 8:31pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Glover
Crawdaddy is right though-we early adopters must not only possess the $$ for early adoption and at the same time being able to possess patience in getting the titles we want. ...somehow those attributes contradict one another.
Amen to that.
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post #78 of 103
7/19/07 at 9:12pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Originally Posted by ppltd
I personally have little issue with most of the Universal releases (note I said most, not all). I mean, who really gives a crap if Liar Liar does not get a 5 star PQ and AQ rating. Like it really needs it. But the Hitchcock titles better.

I agree wholeheartedly. Well, ok I'll take a 4.5 on the picture quality for the Hitchcock films.

And basically we are all "enigmas wrapped in riddles."
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post #79 of 103
7/20/07 at 7:11am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Such is the life of an early adopter, who suffers through not enough market penetration in the early years of new video formats to justify the expenditures needed to release such catalog titles onto these new video formats.

Yes I do understand that. But it doesn't make this news any better.

Not the end of the world though. I'm hoping between Warner, Paramount, Sony, Disney, Starz that I'll have enough releases this Q3/Q4 to keep me occupied enough that I won't even miss the Uni titles that could've been.
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post #80 of 103
7/20/07 at 2:05pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim_K



They could've been working on them for the past 6 months or more if they had any intention of releasing them on HD. At this point I don't expect these for a long time now. Q4 '08 would probably be overly optimistic.

This really blows.

You're probably right about them holding off till there are more players on the market. Also I doubt 6 months would be enough time considering the majority of the Hitchcock titles still need a proper restoration done. The only films that I know of that have actually had a real restoration are Rear Window and Vertigo.

Doug
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post #81 of 103
7/20/07 at 2:10pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bradley-E
Same here. I thought I read that both Vertigo and Rear Window were getting complete restorations. It is worth waiting for these titles to have them look thier best. I'm in no hurry...as long as they are coming eventually.

Re: Spielberg. Jaws has been on HD Universal so much lately. I watched it 2 times so I'm in no hurry for that title now also. Perhaps by next Summer Universal will release it on HD DVD. Other than Munich I really do not crave any Spielberg/Uni titles.

I'm hoping that Uni will release Love Actually, Bowfinger, Swashbuckler, Slap Shot, Intolerable Cruelty, Dragon The Bruce Lee Story, Touch of Evil, The Paper, Death Becomes Her, Cape Fear (Peck version), To Kill a Mockingbird, Out of Africa, The Pianist (Even though I have the UK Version), The Boxer, High Plains Drifter,The Andromeda Strain, Far From Heaven, Coal Miner's Daughter, October Sky on HD DVD.

They have so many films that really looked awful on standard DVD and need remastering in a bad way; Somewhere in Time, The Hindenburg (Probaby the worst looking DVD period), Iceman (PAN AND SCAN!).

I'm all for waiting if it means the Hitchcock films will look spectacular afterwards.


Rear Window and Vertigo had complete restorations via Robert Harris and his team. They may however be going in for a digital dust clean up.

Doug
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post #82 of 103
7/20/07 at 11:06pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

I'll have pictures up tomorrow I hope. MAJOR thanks to the panel for their honesty, candor, and putting up with a bunch of frustrated consumers!
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post #83 of 103
7/21/07 at 5:19pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

I have a positive suggestion for Universal. If a studio that had released, I don't know, a bunch of catalog titles as Combo Format only, perphaps they could sell them in a Warner Bros.-style best-of-HD DVD box set as HD only. I think I woud but them that way. And I think a lot of other people would too.
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post #84 of 103
7/21/07 at 5:23pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Not a bad idea Paul...
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post #85 of 103
7/22/07 at 6:03am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Southpaw
On the plus side, we got a sneak peek of Bourne Identity and it looked very very good. A nice transfer with DD+ audio and U-Control..

This is my general speculation, but I have never understood why it´s such important for the companies to show some "sneak peeks" of one or two releases that arrive for the general public in a few weeks time anyway.. What is the point? We all know that they (both formats) "look great", have "super kick ass" audio and the "U-control is cool". At least I would be slightly disappointed, if I would pay hefty amount for the ticket and then hour from the panel is spent on these "sneak peeks". I would understand if that sneak peek would be from The Godfather-trilogy coming next year or something like that, but titles like "Bourne Identity" and "300" are almost on the stores..


Sorry about the rant.
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post #86 of 103
7/22/07 at 7:16am

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Well, better remove that rant then.

I personally find it rather normal, if consumers visit a show like the EMA, that they are shown some of the products the companies work on. Especially if they feel it's new and interesting to see.
Rather dull if they didn't show anything.
Once more they're damned if they don't and they're damned (now, by you) if they do.



Cees
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post #87 of 103
7/22/07 at 8:19am
Thread Starter 

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Jari-
The sneak peeks had nothing to do with the panel, we were shown them during a different session. We showed NO clips during the panel. The clips were shown in a hour that covered interactivity. It just so happened that in addition to lot of pervious releases we also saw clips from some discs that aren't out yet like 300, Heroes, and Bourne. It wasn't like we just watched clips, we looked a cutting edge interactivity, some of which happened to be in titles that weren't released yet. Ironically, you seem to be the only one complaining. There were no complaints from the people who where there watching.
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post #88 of 103
7/22/07 at 1:34pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Gregorich
Jari-
The sneak peeks had nothing to do with the panel, we were shown them during a different session. We showed NO clips during the panel. The clips were shown in a hour that covered interactivity. It just so happened that in addition to lot of pervious releases we also saw clips from some discs that aren't out yet like 300, Heroes, and Bourne. It wasn't like we just watched clips, we looked a cutting edge interactivity, some of which happened to be in titles that weren't released yet. Ironically, you seem to be the only one complaining. There were no complaints from the people who where there watching.

No, I wasn´t there. I have been once in Atlantic City, though.

I was just referring to the comments earlier in this thread, that Ken Graffeo had really no time (he had to catch a plane) for a long dissussions, but there was time for some "sneak peek". I probably misunderstood the whole thing.. Carry on.
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post #89 of 103
7/22/07 at 3:03pm
Thread Starter 

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Jari-
He had no time to get to all of these questions because too much time was taken arguing about Blu-Ray vs HD DVD.I will try to get the questions that weren't answered forwarded to Universal, give me a week or so.
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post #90 of 103
7/22/07 at 4:45pm

Re: EMA Sneak Peek: Meeting with Universal's Ken Graffeo

Jari - sorry about the confusion. Adam is right - his time got cut short due to the format war argument that the panel discussed, not from clips of future Universal releases. The clips were shown during a separate session that was led by Microsoft's Kevin Collins. Basically he took us on a progression of interactivity and web-enabled features with HD DVD discs starting with Tokyo Drift all the way to Heroes. It was pretty cool to see how these features have progressed over the last year.
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