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Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

post #1 of 62
2/7/09 at 11:31pm
Thread Starter 
...what is this apparently idiotic strategy you have yet again imposed (having used it with standard DVD some years ago) that now holds up the release of your films on Blu-ray? Only the movies Lucas controls (RAIDERS SERIES) or ones which are out of your hands (CLOSE ENCOUNTERS) have shown up up or are rumored for release. The same reasoning for the earlier dearth is being used again: you want greater saturation of the new format before licensing your movies for release. Look, Mr. Spielberg, it should be blatantly clear to you that greater market saturation of Blu-ray would indisputably occur BECAUSE of the release of your Universal and Dreamworks titles. Let's get the horse in front of the cart this time! People who have held back investing in the format will in the countless thousands pay the price in order to see JURASSIC PARK and JAWS and SCHINDLER'S LIST and WAR OF THE WORLDS and E.T., etc. etc. in high definition. You have the ability all by yourself to jump-start Blu-ray again in a sinking economy...are you going to keep sitting on your gold mine?
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post #2 of 62
2/7/09 at 11:56pm

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dick
...what is this apparently idiotic strategy you have yet again imposed (having used it with standard DVD some years ago) that now holds up the release of your films on Blu-ray? Only the movies Lucas controls (RAIDERS SERIES) or ones which are out of your hands (CLOSE ENCOUNTERS) have shown up up or are rumored for release. The same reasoning for the earlier dearth is being used again: you want greater saturation of the new format before licensing your movies for release. Look, Mr. Spielberg, it should be blatantly clear to you that greater market saturation of Blu-ray would indisputably occur BECAUSE of the release of your Universal and Dreamworks titles. Let's get the horse in front of the cart this time! People who have held back investing in the format will in the countless thousands pay the price in order to see JURASSIC PARK and JAWS and SCHINDLER'S LIST and WAR OF THE WORLDS and E.T., etc. etc. in high definition. You have the ability all by yourself to jump-start Blu-ray again in a sinking economy...are you going to keep sitting on your gold mine?
The Blu-ray penetration doesn't need a jump start, it's the SD DVD market in which sales have declined.
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post #3 of 62
2/8/09 at 2:27am

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

I would kill for a decent SE of 1941, but I guess I'm in a minority here.
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post #4 of 62
2/8/09 at 2:38am

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

I echo Crawdaddy's reply.

It's all about market penetration.

Why would Spielberg want his blockbuster movies releases to
a market that is still very young and has limited penetration?
Nobody wants to release "Jurassic Park" and have it sell a limited
amount of copies versus another few years when it will sell more
than twice that amount.

This is the same reason why will not see "Star Wars" out on the format
for a good number of years.
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post #5 of 62
2/8/09 at 3:09am

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Quote:
Originally Posted by John Hodson
I would kill for a decent SE of 1941, but I guess I'm in a minority here.
Me too!
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post #6 of 62
2/8/09 at 5:46am

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Quote:
Originally Posted by John Hodson
I would kill for a decent SE of 1941, but I guess I'm in a minority here.

I must be in the same minority. One of the funniest movies ever made! Incidentally, Universal controls 1941 so it would be up to them, not Spielberg, to release it on blu-ray.

I'm not sure why anyone would blame Spielberg for wanting to maximize his profits. After all he is in the movie business, not the blu-ray business.

Doug
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post #7 of 62
2/8/09 at 6:07am

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

there are some rumors that the first 3 indiana jones movies might be out in bluray later this year. the digital bits reported this a while back.

Jacob
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post #8 of 62
2/8/09 at 6:11am

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Quote:
Originally Posted by TheBat
there are some rumors that the first 3 indiana jones movies might be out in bluray later this year. the digital bits reported this a while back.

Jacob


That would be Mr. Lucas rather than Mr. Spielberg.

Doug
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post #9 of 62
2/8/09 at 6:30am

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Where did he state that he wasn't releasing them for this reason? For instance, in 1997 when DVD was very young, "Men in Black" was announced for release and then pulled from the schedule at Mr. Spielberg's behest (it's an Amblin title). However, that film came out on Blu-Ray this summer to tie into "Hancock." It just seems to me that he doesn't want to dump all of his films on the market in one lump, but like is standard for releasing catalog titles they'll come out when there's a tie-in they can market them with, i.e. anniversary year as was the case with "Close Enounters," sequel, etc.
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post #10 of 62
2/8/09 at 10:38am

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Yeah! Spielberg needs to get off his lazy butt and get his movies on BluRay without any careful preparation in remastering or extras so we can have it now.
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post #11 of 62
2/8/09 at 11:00am

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Is it just me or is it starting to feel like Spielberg's movies don't even have that kind of mega Disney-type sales potential anyway? Has Jurassic Park or Jaws been particularly huge on dvd? just curious.
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post #12 of 62
2/8/09 at 11:09am

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

I think there has been 3 different DVD releases of Jaws in the last 10 years so yeah, it sells pretty well...
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post #13 of 62
2/8/09 at 11:48am

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Technically, Universal could release his films without his say, but they aren't stupid: if you have a working relationship you don't piss off Spielberg.

Here's how his films breakdown per studio (by date of release). Films already released on BD are italicized:

DreamWorks

Amistad (1997)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Minority Report (2002)
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
The Terminal (2004)
War of the Worlds (2005)
Munich (2005)

Paramount

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Sony

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Hook (1991)

Universal

Duel (1971)
The Sugarland Express (1974)
Jaws (1975)
1941 (1979)
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Always (1989)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Schindler's List (1993)
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

Warner

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
The Color Purple (1985)
Empire of the Sun (1987)


Alright, so what do we see?

Well, the most obvious thing is that the films Spielberg has the least control over (Indiana Jones (Lucas), Sony, Warner) are only being held up by their respective studios. In other words, we'll see Hook, The Color Purple and Empire of the Sun when Sony and Warner want us to, and we already know that Lucas plans to release the Indiana Jones films in the Fall.

Everything else is either directly controlled by Spielberg (DreamWorks), or indirectly (Universal). My general feeling is that we'll see these starting to get released if Spielberg is happy with the sales of the catalog Indiana Jones films later this year.
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post #14 of 62
2/8/09 at 12:20pm

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Very nice post, thank you Brandon.
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post #15 of 62
2/8/09 at 12:29pm

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Jeez, Brandon...

You must have one of those CIA, big book of facts.
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post #16 of 62
2/8/09 at 2:08pm

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Nah. Just imdb.com.
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post #17 of 62
2/8/09 at 3:32pm

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

I want Speilburg's films out as much as everyone but, I don't want them all comeing out at one time. I think that it would be a good idea to start releasing his lesser known films mid '09 and work up to having the bigger one's released. I think it would be nice to expect Jurassic Park and Jaws by this time next year.
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post #18 of 62
2/8/09 at 4:00pm

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick McCart
Yeah! Spielberg needs to get off his lazy butt and get his movies on BluRay without any careful preparation in remastering or extras so we can have it now.

Very harsh dude. Speilburg is not lazy by any means.
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post #19 of 62
2/8/09 at 4:11pm

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Spartan54
Very harsh dude. Speilburg is not lazy by any means.
I think you missed the point of his post.
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post #20 of 62
2/8/09 at 4:49pm

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Quote:
Originally Posted by RobertR
I think you missed the point of his post.

Oh yeah. I Read it again, your right.
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post #21 of 62
2/8/09 at 5:33pm

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brandon Conway
Technically, Universal could release his films without his say, but they aren't stupid: if you have a working relationship you don't piss off Spielberg.

...
Yeah, but maybe that whole "working relationship" thing is being strained these days.

Universal to DreamWorks: We're just not that into you - USATODAY.com
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post #22 of 62
2/8/09 at 7:03pm

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

I think this year we will see a few more releases. Last year we got Indy4 & films he produced like: MIB, The Goonies & Poltergeist. Gremlins 1 was announced for Region B but cancelled at the last minute so perhaps that will turn up this year. I think that newer movies like WOTW would come out sooner rather than later as it would need little extra work for BD. Some of the older titles may need more work on the transfer so they will come over time in a trickle just like with DVD.

I wish Spielberg would move onto Interstellar, Indy 5 & get the When Worlds Collide remake moving again rather than waste his talents on a motion capture childrens movie.
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post #23 of 62
2/8/09 at 8:19pm

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tino
Me too!

I'm a big 1941 fan myself. Hopefully a blu-ray release would show both the theatrical and extended versions (only the extended version is on DVD which I think actually works better than the theatrical but still want the theatrical as well)
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post #24 of 62
2/8/09 at 8:27pm

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Quote:
Originally Posted by John Hodson
I would kill for a decent SE of 1941, but I guess I'm in a minority here.
You and me and Stephen King would buy it!
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post #25 of 62
2/8/09 at 10:26pm

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul_Warren

As for the business side of things Spielberg is very well known for taking the majority of the profit out of any deal he makes (MIB1 was something like 105% profit to Spielberg. Yep thats correct according to the director Barry Sonnenfield when he talked about the financial issues with getting MIB2 made). I should imagine the studios are not as eager to give Spielberg the golden deals now as lets face it apart from Indy4 & WOTW you have to go back to the Jurassic Park movies to see his last directed blockbusters. Most of his movies lose money for the studios but not for Spielberg he just gets richer and when the economy was stronger the studios were happy to entertain these terms as they always hoped for the next blockbuster but no-one at Universal will be from the regimes who enjoyed the success of ET, Jaws & Jurassic Park so it will all be about balance sheets and Tintin took a lot of work to finance having been turned down by several studios as too risky.

Munich $130,358,911

The Terminal $219,417,255

Catch Me If You Can $352,114,312

Minority Report $358,372,926

Artificial Intelligence $235,926,552

Saving Private Ryan $481,840,909

The Lost World $618,638,999

SCHINDLER'S LIST $321,306,305


Trust me the studios are making money on Spielberg's films. His profit participation isn't THAT good.

Doug

Quote:
Originally Posted by Derek Miner
You and me and Stephen King would buy it!

I'd be in line behind you and King.
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post #26 of 62
2/9/09 at 8:19am

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

DreamWorks

Amistad (1997)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Minority Report (2002)
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
The Terminal (2004)
War of the Worlds (2005)
Munich (2005)

Paramount

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Sony

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Hook (1991)

Universal

Duel (1971)
The Sugarland Express (1974)
Jaws (1975)
1941 (1979)
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Always (1989)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Schindler's List (1993)
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

Warner

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
The Color Purple (1985)
Empire of the Sun (1987)

List omits Poltergeist.

Anniversary possibilities
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post #27 of 62
2/9/09 at 10:18am

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Good to see the love for 1941; actually while I'm potentially homicidal in my desire for a good BD release of that film, Mrs H is likewise for Always...and I'm sure she's not alone in that either.
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post #28 of 62
2/9/09 at 10:08pm

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Before anyone asks, the new DreamWorks/Disney deal does not effect the catalog DreamWorks films. Paramount still distributes, and Spielberg still has to give his go ahead.

It should also be noted that not all of the Universal catalog is simply staying unreleased due to an attempt at good relations. From E.T. on, Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment produced the films, so he still has final say on those no matter what Universal wants to do. While Universal could technically release the pre-Amblin films without Spielberg's sign-off, they'd be doing so with a major risk of not being able to release the titles from E.T. on. In other words: it ain't happening.
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post #29 of 62
2/9/09 at 10:34pm

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronald Epstein
I echo Crawdaddy's reply.

It's all about market penetration.

Why would Spielberg want his blockbuster movies releases to
a market that is still very young and has limited penetration?
Nobody wants to release "Jurassic Park" and have it sell a limited
amount of copies versus another few years when it will sell more
than twice that amount.

This is the same reason why will not see "Star Wars" out on the format
for a good number of years.

I would argue that this actually shouldn't hold true.

The assumption is that there are higher sales if one waits and releases when there is a larger installed base. There's a couple major problems with this theory.

1. There's no evidence to support this. There's only been 4 home video formats, VHS, LD, DVD, BR. No one's ever tried releasing in a format's infancy vs releasing in it's maturity with an AAA title.

2. The assumption requires there to be a very large number of people who will not buy the movies if they preceed the date they purchase their player, but will run out and buy them if the movies release is after. While there's likely a small number of people who will do that, it's really illogical to assume that the majority will do that, because...

3. These are now catalogue titles. Everyone who was going to see it has seen it(For the most part). Star Wars and Indy will sell obscene numbers of titles over it's lifespan regardless. You could make them launch titles and they'll sell. Jurrasic Park is increasingly fading in importance, they're good movies, but they aren't Star Wars. So people who want to own them will buy them regardless of release.

IMO, it sounds to me like the issue is a faster recovery of investment, as these won't be small budget releases. The market penetration thing sounds to me like they're more interested in seeing their investment paid off faster, which is fine, except we're now discussing Chicken and Egg. Star Wars can sell Players. Indy, Jurrasic, and ET, could sell smaller numbers of players. Not having them out means a number of people waiting for a "Must have" to upgrade will likely continue to sit watching prices drop and waiting for the "Must haves".

IMO someone needs to test the whole theory, and Star Wars is the series to do it with. It's a certainty that one will sell as many units no matter when it's released, and it'll sell Players, so it's virtually non-existant risk.
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post #30 of 62
2/10/09 at 12:03am

Re: Okay, Mr. Spielberg, we think you're wonderful, BUT...

Well, if the rumors are true, this Fall will see that experiment unfold with the first three Indiana Jones films getting released.
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