James Bond Blu-ray Collection Three-Pack, Vol. 4?? - Page 3

I'm starting to think we won't see any more Bond Blu-rays until the next Bond flick hits theaters (another wave) and then video (final wave).

Bummer! 

With MGM's bondholders telling MGM to file for bankruptcy yesterday, It may be a long time before we see a new bond film, let alone more Bond Blu-ray.

 

http://www.mi6.co.uk/news/index.php?itemid=7938&t=mi6&s=news

 

It appears if MGM files for bankruptcy it could loose the distribution rights for the new Bond films.

Yeah, shitty news, indeed. 

Although, would MGM's bankruptcy really prevent EON from producing another Bond film?

I'm completely ignorant when it comes to the business practices here, so I'm just thinking aloud.

Soooo... if that article is correct, the Bondholders basically don't want to hold Bond any longer?


Cees

 I read that article and the thread on the Bond forum. Lots of confusing stuff! But I guess it comes down to MGM needing the creditors to give them time, a grace period for what they owe and some more money on loan to make the Hobbit and Bond 23. If they can make those films, then they can generate some income to start paying everyone back. But the creditors want them to pay up now or force them into bankruptcy. If they go bankrupt, that would mean the properties that MGM has would go to the creditors possibly and Sony has wanted Bond in the past.

It would be a shame for MGM to go down. But it is confusing since Sony has a deal with MGM right? One guy asked why Sony doesn't save them? Maybe MGM wants to hold onto Bond as it's their only leverage. I can't seeing Sony owning the Bond franchise that bad a think, EON is always going to be running the show, so the only difference is the lack of MG logo at the start of the film.

But what is a mystery is why Columbia and Sony are not moving forward with the BD releases? I guess since MGM is part of the partnership, and they're in the midst of this heavy financial crisis, they can't move forward with the discs. Cutting off more revenue. I'd really like to see the rest of the Bonds out on BD. If there are no more Bond films, then it would be a shame, but it's not that innovative anymore. The classic Bond films are where the money is, isn't it? They don't make any more Elvis or Beatle records, but they sure generate a lot of income with the past recordings.

Perhaps that was stupid comments to make, new films generate income and interest that then generates interest in the older films.

I didn't realize MGM was in so much trouble. I guess it makes me glad to know Paramount had kept such a tight rein on budgets on the Star Trek franchise. I keep buying their DVD and blu rays of TOS and films, over and over again...

Sony has nothing to do with the catalog Bond titles.  Fox is the distributor for MGM.  It's probably gonna be a very long painful wait for the rest of the Bond titles given this development.  Not to mention the rest of their vast catalog.

Unfortunate though I suppose if it's got to happen I hope MGM dies a quick death.  Their back catalog will be bought by another studio and future productions like the next Bond and The Hobbit will for sure get delayed but another studio will pick up the rights and continue on especially with Bond.

Agreed Jim! It's sad to see MGM go, but it happens. Hopefully things start to move quickly on this front. I really don't want to see James Bond 23 or The Hobbit delayed. 

Would Eon be able to negotiate, moving Bond to another studio? I believe Bond is 50% owned by Eon and 50% owned by MGM. Harry Saltzman was forced to sell his shares to MGM in the 1970's. 

Does the MGM news also explain why there hasn't been any announcements for the other 9 films? 
I know a Quantum of Solace Collector's Edition is in the works right now. I had wondered if MGM was going to release the new CE of Quantum and the other 9 films together. The MGM news though may be throwing all plans into chaos at this point though? 

Just checking in to see if anyone has heard any news or what MGM's future blu ray plans. Specifically Bond. 

I did see the price cuts on the box sets recently. 

You probably already saw the news at commanderbond.net. A November release date for the 10 disc set of the currently available titles. The same box set that was at Costco earlier.

So still nothing new.

I just saw it. Bravo MGM / SPECTRE, way to release a box set of titles WE ALREADY HAVE!!!  Just do a complete box set of all of the films. I'd gladly buy it, even though I already have the other releases thus far... 

http://commanderbond.net/7377/us-james-bond-blu-ray-10-disc-set-arrives-in-november.html

Yeah, this is a REAL bummer. 

I would've gladly ponied up $110 bucks or so to snag a box with the remaining 9 films on BD. 

This is a lame release.

 I'm guessing we will not see any new Bond blu ray releases until Bond 23 is released in 2011. I'm also wondering if the studio that buys MGM (which may be sold in the coming months) will reissue everything on blu ray as well? That is new packaging, etc? 

I know a Special Edition of Quantum of Solace has been prepped. 

I hope I'm wrong about the timeframe for the other 9 films being issued. 

At the very least I believe the MGM financial issue must be solved first. 

Yeah, this totally sucks.  I was really hoping to have my collection finished by the end of this year. 

Between this and Paramount's silent stance on releasing any more Friday the 13th flicks on BD, my OCD is really getting frustrated.  :)

Just joining this conversation rather late.

Very odd about the James Bond BD releases.

The studio was doing a great job in getting
these out at a rather rapid pace.  Suddenly,
all things went quiet.

I will be out at Fox in another week and
hopefully I will remember to ask them why
they halted the release of the rest of the
catalog Bond titles to Blu-ray.

Perhaps I will have an answer for you shortly.

Ron,

I look forward to hearing what you learn whilst at Fox!

I wonder what will happen if they do resume releases. Will the box art and menu design continue with the same design already started? Will they start all over with new packaging and disc contents with more or less materials? I would imagine those materials are all ready to go and they hopefully pull the trigger when the new company takes over.

Nelson,

I just wrote myself a reminder to bring this
subject up to them in 1.5 weeks.

I can't speak for the studio, but it would not
be a very smart idea on their part to discontinue
the style of packaging that is current with what
has been released already.

I cannot for the life of me see MGM completely
revamping their packaging when they are
halfway through getting the entire series released.

Just doesn't make sense and I would give the
studio a lot of credit for being smart about it.

 Thanks Ron!

MGM is broke (again) and seeking a buyer (again).  That is the reason why we're not seeing any new Bond titles on Blu-Ray.  Fox is just the distributor.

Thanks for looking into this on behalf of everybody, Ron.  Very much appreciated! 

Much appreciated Ron! There's a lot of Bond fans anxious for news on the rest of the films on blu ray!! Thank you!!

Also, I noticed today that there are several Bond films available from Itunes that are in HD and not currently available on blu ray: You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Spy Who Loved Me, The Living Daylights and Goldeneye. There are some others as well. Some in HD, SD and or both. A few are not available in any format. Has anyone seen any of these displayed on a tv? I'm a bit interested in possibly trying to download one and then displaying it on a tv. Connect through Apple TV maybe?

 Tim, I downloaded a couple of TV shows from iTunes in HD recently. I used my iPod 4g Nano to play to my 50" plasma. Compared the early iTunes TV shows, the new HD material was very good. Not Blu Ray level. Not even DVD level. Though it's very sharp. I only say it's not DVD level because there are still some jaggies. 

The good thing about using the Apple TV device is you'll probably get multichannel sound! The iPod is only stereo as I am piping it directly into the plasma.

Thanks! Well, I will probably just continue to hold out for the films on blu ray then. Hopefully Ron can find something out from Fox about status too! 

Thanks again! 

Sure Tim! Thanks for the Star Trek info on the Trek thread.

If you're curious about the HD quality of iTunes stuff, what I did was download the free stuff. So it only cost me time to wait for the download. I had downloaded the pilot episode of Defying Gravity. Not sure that's a good measure. So if you see anything free, it might be worth your time to at least evaluate the quality.

Ron - Were you able to learn anything from Fox about future James Bond blu ray releases? 

Thanks! 

Tim,

Funny you bring this up.

Was at Fox this afternoon in a meeting with all their
key Home Entertainment representatives.

I did bring up James Bond to them.

The situation is, the rep did not want to tell me
anything officially without going through MGM first.
This is normal procedure and totally understandable
as they don't want anything being printed on the
Internet haphazardly.

Give me a day or two to follow up with them in
order to post something official on this site.

 

Thanks for pursuing this, Ron. 

Looking forward to an update - whatever the news may be. 

Thanks Ron! I appreciate you looking into this and look forward to hearing an update. Hopefully a promising one too! 

 Does anyone have any screenshots of the menus? i was just curious if they were the same menus as the old DVD versions.....

The menus are pretty much the same on the films previously released. Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale have their own menu design.

The pre-credit sequence on the Goldfinger BD struck me as poor-looking, which got me a little nervous because I'd just spent thirty bucks on it. Thankfully the rest of the film looks gorgeous. There were a few sequences where the backgrounds looked obviously fake (the hotel scenes particularly) which is something we'll have to get used to with the high resolution format. Now I just need a couple of other Bonds on Blu-ray to make me happy.