MGM Press Release: All-New MGM Movie Collection Multi-Features Available Just In Time for the... - Page 2

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Originally Posted by AlanBrom 

 

Exactly how I feel, and obviously we're not alone in this. Why can't someone from MGM or Fox be brave enough to come on here, reach out to their fans and tell us what their agenda is? Hasn't a guy from Fox shown up on these boards before?
 

The agenda is simple: maximum profits for minimum expenditure.

These re-issues are aimed at the capturing the casual buyer market that may not have had sufficient interest in them but might buy at a budget price.

For MGM, it's a very cheap exercise - just stuff rerady-made discs into new boxes.

They're in a dire state financially, and I don't expect anything else from them. They are virtually bankrupt, so no-one is going to be saying "lets release some more full price obscure movies, maybe they'll sell well this time despite not selling last time round"
 

I sometimes wonder if department A at MGM knows what department B is doing.  These budget priced sets are probably a good idea, but they should be doing other things as well.

1.  As member Joe Hudak said earlier, why not a double-feature package of WHOOPEE and KID MILLIONS?  They already have mastered these for DVD, but only sold them as part of a $500 boxed set.  While they wouldn't be big sellers, they might be surprised at the revenue these two releases could generate.  After all, Warner Archive has issued much less popular Eddie Cantor films.

2.  I'm on the MGM consumer mailing list, yet I had to find about their MOD program at Amazon on my own.  Why aren't they promoting this more?

3.  A year or two ago, they ran a contest asking their mailing list for films they would like to see on DVD. THE MUSIC LOVERS was my choice.  The films on the list must have been ready for release - where are they?  (Sell them through the Amazon program, if need be).

4.  Although my cable system doesn't offer it, I have read many posts here about the good quality of features shown on MGM's HD cable channel.  Why not beat Warner at their own game and offer BLU-RAYs as well as DVD through the Amazon program?  Again, they are apparently mastering these films for high definition, so why not exploit what they already have for more revenue?

Just because something is a niche market doesn't necessarily mean it has to be an unprofitable one.  

I believe that you can purchase a DVD of Brannigan on amazon marketplace.  Also, if you live in the South, you may be able to find it at a Roses Discount Store.  My brother got one a few months ago for $5.00 new at Roses.

Take Care!

Robert

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Originally Posted by Mark_TS 

here it is coming 2011 and still no anamorphic enhanced release of the perennial favorite space/vampire spectacle LIFEFORCE

it came out in 1997 on disc and except for Germany (Theatrical) has never come out 16:9 anywhere..mindboggling....

Killer Klowns from the Planet Klonazapam got more respect 

 

It really deserves a 2 disc SE of the theatrical and extended plus making of docu and other extras

MGM just struck a new HD master of the 116-min Director's Cut...it aired on MGM-HD last weekend and looked real nice, and had Tobe Hooper's involvement as well. Hopefully they will bring it to Blu-Ray sooner than later.

As bummed out as I am that there are no new DVDs, I'm excited to find out what titles are in what sets. Does anyone know when a full breakdown can be expected for each release? I hope some OOP titles will be included.

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Originally Posted by Nebiroth 

They're in a dire state financially, and I don't expect anything else from them. They are virtually bankrupt, so no-one is going to be saying "lets release some more full price obscure movies, maybe they'll sell well this time despite not selling last time round"

 

It's tough to have to rain on anyone's parade, but a little reality is healthy sometimes. Thanks for posting what many of us think when we shake our heads over someone posting their desperate wishes for some long forgotten title to come out, let alone with all the bells and whistles and at an affordable price.  Never mind that the company is close to declaring bankruptcy and the general state of DVD sales is so down that the studios are already in the process of abandoning the format sooner rather than later.  I mean, we all have our favorite titles that we wish could be released in the way we want them and, yes, continued hope is usually a good measure to feel more secure in our lives, but after awhile it might hurt less to just move on.  

It seems that MGM investors have a deal with Spyglass, with an option out, if anyone else comes to the table to buy the company out.  It appears that Warner's is still in the hunt with a 1.6 billion bid and Carl Icahn is circling.  But as of now, it appears that MGM will file for bankruptcy in September and push all investors to take a piece of ownership for their debt.  When that is completed they are to go out a raise 400 to 500 million for new production (that should cover Bond and Hobbit).  The question is where will that money come from or other words, who in their right mind would loan MGM more money.  Also Spyglass is out of money too and is looking at this deal as a way to get back into business using the loan money.  Spyglass will place their owned films, including The Sixth Sense, into the MGM library and "experts" value the combined libraries at 1.9 billion.

In the meantime, their backlog of untapped library titles are going to sit, and sit and sit!

Yes - just like all the other majors, with a few exceptions where they have licensed them out to smaller labels (for example the ones that went to Olive), or Warner with it's MOD stuff.

They are all far more interested in getting everyone onto the HD bandwagon so they can re-churn those titles that sell millions of units, than they are in releasing niche titles into a market that is at best stagnant.

In the future the majority of the libraries may become available, this will be when everything is downloadable or streamed; with much lower "release" costs associated with non-physical media this may happen.

Until then, continued waves of new physical media ensure that by the time the studios contemplate niche stuff, having nothing else left, they are ready to move to a new format instead.

Being able to watch movies pulled out of the netherworld (aka the Internet) seems like a dream come true in theory but it will be a sad occasion when the  only way to "acquire" a flick for home viewing is through downloads and streaming.  Call me old fashioned but I will never buy into this no matter how pretty the picture is painted, or how convenient, easy or cheap it is said to be. Some of us still enjoy looking at artwork (even if its still a rare practice on the part of the majors to use original art on the packaging). Inserts and liner notes are becoming increasingly rare but they do pop up occasionally. And extras, as much as we claim we don't watch them, are still very much an important (and still fun especially if done right) part of the "experience" of buying and watching DVDs and Blu-rays. You're not going to get any of this with homemade movies. If there are people out there who would rather stockpile stacks of generic DVD-Rs and homemade collections well good for them. To each his own, I say. For me, I still want my movies made by professionals on high-quality products.

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Originally Posted by Luisito34 

Being able to watch movies pulled out of the netherworld (aka the Internet) seems like a dream come true in theory but it will be a sad occasion when the  only way to "acquire" a flick for home viewing is through downloads and streaming.  Call me old fashioned but I will never buy into this no matter how pretty the picture is painted, or how convenient, easy or cheap it is said to be. Some of us still enjoy looking at artwork (even if its still a rare practice on the part of the majors to use original art on the packaging). Inserts and liner notes are becoming increasingly rare but they do pop up occasionally. And extras, as much as we claim we don't watch them, are still very much an important (and still fun especially if done right) part of the "experience" of buying and watching DVDs and Blu-rays. You're not going to get any of this with homemade movies. If there are people out there who would rather stockpile stacks of generic DVD-Rs and homemade collections well good for them. To each his own, I say. For me, I still want my movies made by professionals on high-quality products.

Luis, I totally agree! Well said indeed!!!

 

Yes, I feel like that too, but the reality is that eventually everything will move away from ownership of a physical copy. You won't own a library of discs - just like most people now don't have their own well for water, or own a generator to make their own electricity. There will be univeral very fast broadband, and you will simply access the online library; in fact, you won't actually know where or how you library works, only that it does. It will be just like putting in a DVD and playing it, all the clever stuff will happen in the background.

The big plus sid eof this is that making content available will be far cheaper than it could ever be than issuing it on a physical medium, therefore, it is likely that a bigger percentage of the studio vaults will be made available.

Things like Warner's MOD is a kind of halfway house on this. The "On Demand" is the important bit.

I can;t say I like it - I don;t really want to be in thrall to a giant iMovies, but thats the way it will go.

It is even more so when the younger generation care less about quality than they do about mobility and access. Personally I regard watching a movie on a mobile device as an exercise in futility, but I think many people will want it.

IMHO I would rather have the physical media. What does one do if the downloaded data becomes corrupted? I also believe that the consumer has become smarter. Many of the companies that produce these dvds [MGM, Warner,etc] decided to skimp and save[ Warners used to offer their dvds in a cardboard case. They decided to go to keep-cases when the market caught on. Warners also offered a number of titles where the viewer had to flip the disc over to see the end of the movie, wide screen and full screen versions of the same film which were on those wonderful flipper discs. DVD was invented for those who like movies, i.e. the wide screen format. When the economy was booming all of these companies charged top dollar for their products the same ones that are now selling for dirt cheap. The Blu ray market is a joke in my opinion, reissuing the same films in a higher definition but also relying on the same tricks as before, two for one, a high def copy, a regular copy and a digital copy for the computer. How many people have double or triple dipped because a newer and better version of a dvd came along?

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Originally Posted by Point-Blank 

 

It's tough to have to rain on anyone's parade, but a little reality is healthy sometimes. Thanks for posting what many of us think when we shake our heads over someone posting their desperate wishes for some long forgotten title to come out, let alone with all the bells and whistles and at an affordable price.  Never mind that the company is close to declaring bankruptcy and the general state of DVD sales is so down that the studios are already in the process of abandoning the format sooner rather than later.  I mean, we all have our favorite titles that we wish could be released in the way we want them and, yes, continued hope is usually a good measure to feel more secure in our lives, but after awhile it might hurt less to just move on.  

Well then what's the point of even having a board like this?  To talk about the latest DVD releases of movies that first hit theaters in 2009? 

All some of us are asking is that studios take the extra time to dip into their vault and consider (a poll, maybe?) releasing or at least licensing some older, more obscure titles to DVD.  Or, in the case of MGM, WB, Columbia et al, to the occasional airing on TCM.  Sure, many titles are unfortunately tied up in rights issues -- but no doubt many aren't.  What's the point of leaving these to collect dust?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luisito34 

Being able to watch movies pulled out of the netherworld (aka the Internet) seems like a dream come true in theory but it will be a sad occasion when the  only way to "acquire" a flick for home viewing is through downloads and streaming.  Call me old fashioned but I will never buy into this no matter how pretty the picture is painted, or how convenient, easy or cheap it is said to be. Some of us still enjoy looking at artwork (even if its still a rare practice on the part of the majors to use original art on the packaging). Inserts and liner notes are becoming increasingly rare but they do pop up occasionally. And extras, as much as we claim we don't watch them, are still very much an important (and still fun especially if done right) part of the "experience" of buying and watching DVDs and Blu-rays. You're not going to get any of this with homemade movies. If there are people out there who would rather stockpile stacks of generic DVD-Rs and homemade collections well good for them. To each his own, I say. For me, I still want my movies made by professionals on high-quality products.

One part of this that I've been wondering is, the "ownership" of something that's streamed or downloaded.  In other words. say, the age of physical media is gone, and everything's avaliable from the 'net.  I'm not wanting that to happen as I'm in the same camp, I prefer owning a DVD on the shelf but that's based on my main interest, TV/DVD collecting.

But when/if that day comes, will we be able to buy a movie or TV series, download it, and them burn a DVD-R copy for out own library?  Or will all downloads be encoded, no recording allowed, or an expiration date encoded into the downloaded file?
 

If I can burn my own DVD-R copy of something that I have bought from a studio's download, then I'd look at this downloading scene in a different light.

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Originally Posted by Jeff Willis 

One part of this that I've been wondering is, the "ownership" of something that's streamed or downloaded.  In other words. say, the age of physical media is gone, and everything's avaliable from the 'net.  I'm not wanting that to happen as I'm in the same camp, I prefer owning a DVD on the shelf but that's based on my main interest, TV/DVD collecting.

 

But when/if that day comes, will we be able to buy a movie or TV series, download it, and them burn a DVD-R copy for out own library?  Or will all downloads be encoded, no recording allowed, or an expiration date encoded into the downloaded file?
 

If I can burn my own DVD-R copy of something that I have bought from a studio's download, then I'd look at this downloading scene in a different light.

My guess is that you'll still be able to make a copy of something you download and "own" it (for home viewing only, of course) but I'm willing to bet the studios will make sure its not the cleanest or prettiest copy possible. They'll probably tack on logos at the bottom of the screen, pop-ups, blurbs, bumpers for upcoming programming, or, gasp, even short breaks for commercials, in which case they'll need to time-compress whatever you're taping to allow for ads. Oh, what a wonderful world it will be.

Doesn't look like there's anything there for me.

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Originally Posted by Camps 

Well then what's the point of even having a board like this?  To talk about the latest DVD releases of movies that first hit theaters in 2009? 

 

All some of us are asking is that studios take the extra time to dip into their vault and consider (a poll, maybe?) releasing or at least licensing some older, more obscure titles to DVD.  Or, in the case of MGM, WB, Columbia et al, to the occasional airing on TCM.  Sure, many titles are unfortunately tied up in rights issues -- but no doubt many aren't.  What's the point of leaving these to collect dust?

AMEN to that!!!
 

Is there a snowball's chance in Hell that this might be the United Artists 1963 version of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST with Mark Damon, or is still too much to ask for MGM to release a movie on DVD which hasn't already been on DVD?

http://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Beast-Boots-Giant-Killer/dp/B0041ONFE4/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1283753064&sr=1-1

It's 1987 film from Cannon Movie Tales series, already available on DVD from MGM.  Puss in Boots is from the same series.

Thanks Gregory. I would have bet my life that this wasn't the '63 version, because that would take effort on the part of MGM/Fox people to offer us a bone, and I guess that's too much to ask for. Disgusted!

Tom, I agree with your sentiments in principle, and I certainly wasn't trying to limit anyone from posting their hopes and wishes for potential releases, but I feel sometimes that the reality continually dashes these to the point where the discussion becomes just that, a discussion.  That's not a bad thing in and of itself, but I'm afraid many who post about waiting for an obscure gem that means so much to them will be waiting in vain. I've worked in the industry and I know at least a little about how it works and I can promise you that DVDs are fading away.  I would add to that all physical media, but since there are technological invariables with everything these days, I won't go that far in my prognostication.  I have hundreds of titles I would love to own on DVD, but I just don't have the energy anymore to invest too much in nothing but hope when the writing seems so clearly on the wall. However, you're right that I shouldn't try to inject everyone with my pessimism and detour them away from their ideas and ideals. If you or anyone chooses to maintain a positive approach to the hobby and its future, it's not up to me to try and dissuade you from it.

Jeff, just conjecturing here, but I believe the paradigm set by Netflix's streaming service may be the future of home entertainment. In other words, I don't think that downloading will be much of a factor since from day one, going all the way back to the introduction of VCRs, the studios have been dragged kicking and screaming over ever giving up their property to private hands in any way, shape or form. It's also possible that the iTunes format may be used for movies and television, but I think the studios are first going to explore a subscription based streaming plan as Netflix now currently uses and is becoming more and more widespread (many new TVs are already set up to include  Netflix enabled streaming). Some studios will probably use a streaming distributor such as Netflix while others, i.e. Warners, may set up their own system, for better or worse.  Under such a system, a subscriber would pay a time limited fee, perhaps annually or monthly or whatever, and then theoretically have access to anything that studio owns, to watch as often as they like during their subscription period, but not available for copying onto physical media. Only time will tell.

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Originally Posted by Point-Blank 

Jeff, just conjecturing here, but I believe the paradigm set by Netflix's streaming service may be the future of home entertainment. In other words, I don't think that downloading will be much of a factor since from day one, going all the way back to the introduction of VCRs, the studios have been dragged kicking and screaming over ever giving up their property to private hands in any way, shape or form. It's also possible that the iTunes format may be used for movies and television, but I think the studios are first going to explore a subscription based streaming plan as Netflix now currently uses and is becoming more and more widespread (many new TVs are already set up to include  Netflix enabled streaming). Some studios will probably use a streaming distributor such as Netflix while others, i.e. Warners, may set up their own system, for better or worse.  Under such a system, a subscriber would pay a time limited fee, perhaps annually or monthly or whatever, and then theoretically have access to anything that studio owns, to watch as often as they like during their subscription period, but not available for copying onto physical media. Only time will tell.

To Start great post, but I disagree... Over 100 thousand DVDs and BD have been released in the life of the format. Never have I seen a studio "Screaming" over selling their product. I believe they make Billions every year on the Sale of their pictures (they still do today in such a sad economy).
 

If the studios are only interested in streaming why then are they going full steam ahead with the Ultraviolet format http://www.uvvu.com/ supported by most major studios, Netflix and even Comcast as a sell through format?  Why is Warner continuing with the Warner Archives (which I hear has done very well for them)?  Why allow CinemaNow sell movies (digital downloads) to the public, Amazon?  Apple?

If streaming is the ONLY way in the future why not discontinue selling now and only stream since most TVs have access to Netflix via the TV or a box (PS3 Wii, Roku, Xbox)?  They wont and why?   $$$$$$$$$

I'm sure studios would rather see their films sold than downloaded for free on torrents.

The sets are now up for pre-order on amazon. You can see the titles in each set by looking at the cover art. I'm underwhelmed, although there might be a few that I'll pick up.

I'm very underwhelmed too, since I already own most of these titles! Where's the previously unreleased stuff?