Paramount catalog HD releases (Nov/Dec) or Please tell me I'm missing something here? (1 Viewer)

[Jim_K]

With October lurking up and Paramount now announcing titles for Jan, I guess it's safe to assume the Paramount's lone catalog output for Nov-Dec (two of the heaviest selling months in the year) will consist of....................

Someone tell me I'm missing a catalog title or two, something big, something worthwhile or at least something I won't need a lobotomy to enjoy. Seriously, who the hell are they catering to here? Timmy and his X-Box add-on?! Am I lost in an nightmarish demographic not of my choosing? :frowning:

It's not like Paramount is lacking in some prime candidates. There's Chinatown getting a DVD special edition in Nov - but no HD version for us. Now Braveheart in Dec? and word is that an HD version won't be until sometime in 08. WTF? With the way studios juggle/cancel/postpone titles "sometime in 08" doesn't amount to much of anything for me.

It irk's me to no end seeing catalog re-issues of souped up Special Edition, Collectors Edition, Ultimate Edition double/triple dips on DVD with no day/date support of HD/BD. Paramount by far isn't the only guilty studio of this but seriously what is the deal here?

This is (Nov-Dec) Q4 and if they want to maximize their HD sales this is the time so why the hell would they hold these (or anything) back*?

*yeah, yeah, I know the standard answer is catalog titles don't sell but someone should go tell that to Warner because they keep cranking them out just for the benefit of society I guess.

 

[CRyan]

I am afraid the studios are still maximizing sales of SD and looking at 08 and 09 to get more money on the same titles through HD.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I believe that more titles will be announced and released in the fourth quarter.

 

[Gary Murrell]

Paramount said they were going to be releasing tons of catalog after siding with HD, I hope this is true, so far not much at all since the big HD-DVD announcement

-Gary

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I know they have a lot of big titles on 08, not sure what they have coming catalog wise for the rest of 07 besides Top Gun and Jack Ryan movies, all of which are pretty good catalog titles.

 

[ReggieW]

If you hadn't started this thread Jim, I would've!

Yes, October is now (well almost) upon us and the two BIG exclusive studios for HD-DVD appear to be MIA with 4th quarter catalog titles. Universal only has six titles listed in October (Including the "smash" Carlito's Way: Rise to Power among them), TWO in Nov and only BSG S1 listed for December. Top Gun will be out Tuesday and has NO features whatsoever. The two you listed above are from Dreamworks.

It continues to amaze me that WHV continues to do more for BOTH formats than either of the studios exclusives to each side!?! Blade Runner, Potter, The Matrix Trilogy, The Kubricks & top notch classics. You would think Universal would offer SOMETHING in the 4th quarter which stacks up comparably to the Warner titles being offered.

Same goes for Paramount.

Day and date HD releases for BraveHeart and Titanic along with the new SD releases would've been a no-brainer. I am through double-dipping with SD releases. If they want to sell these to me again, they'll have to be in HD.

No exceptions.

 

[Dave Mack]

Indeed. Titanic is actually a TRIPLE dip and truly a pointless one. All they did was drop the 3rd disc from the previous SE and put it in a new red case.
It's odd, the 3 disc is only $13.99 new at amazon now. Who's gonna buy the new 10th annie version for more...?!?!?

 

[dailW]

the HD print of chinatown that was on cinemax a couple weeks ago looked really bad. it needs restoring.

got my HD-DVD player 2 1/2 weeks ago and looked at what was coming up and i was also disappointed. christmas is coming up how about scrooged in HD ?
planes trains and autos in HD ?.

titanic stumps me. 10th anniversary in HD. how hard is that ?

but i do love old school so i am looking foward to that.
are the jack ryans sold separately or all together?

 

[Douglas Monce]

Chinatown.....please.....please


Doug

Oh and a few Star Trek films would be nice too.

 

[Marc Colella]

Paramount should also be releasing Days of Heaven in HD-DVD.

In exchange for licensing the title to Criterion, Paramount could've gotten the rights to release Criterion's restored HD transfer on HD-DVD - since Criterion doesn't seem to care about HD in general.

 

[Jim_K]

I wasn't aware of yet another Titanic re-re-re-release (ugh) but that should be an HD no-brainer also.

I wasn't going to mention Universal but since you did I agree that their Nov/Dec catalog lineup is almost as disappointing as Paramount's. The only release of interest for me is Tremors (and Bourne but it doesn't count because it's a new release).

With Warner it's very hard for me to criticize them for some of the Audio spec shortcuts they do because quite frankly you're right they're doing more for HD/BD with releasing catalog content than any other studios.

 

[Dave Mack]

True. Titanic is one of my faves, (I know, I'm a girl...)
but this tripledip which is simply dropping the 3rd disc from the last set (which is $13.99 new at amazon!) put into a RED framed box for the first time is really pointless.
Who's gonna spend more to get less?!?!?
Yep, 10th anniversary made PERFECT sense to do a BIG release and help push the format. To quote one of the Riffs in The Warriors... "They blew it."

 

[MattFini]

I would absolutely kill for some Friday the 13th movies.

Probably a snowball's chance in hell this early on, but I'm giddy with the mere possibility.

 

[Marc Colella]

I find decisions like this to be mind-boggling. Carlito's Way: Rise to Power was a straight-to-video release which did very little in DVD rental/sales. It's also not a day/date release with the DVD and critics/viewers gave it low scores.

Who exactly is crying out for an HD release of this title?

 

[CRyan]

We are in their mind I believe. It is my belief that some studio execs believe that early adopters are in such desire of "NEW" content that we will buy anything to have something to play on our new machines. They release garbage hoping it will be purchased to maximize sales of low-tier titles.

And you know what - It worked for DVD. People were buying all kinds of titles they had no idea about because they wanted to hear 5.1.

Ain't gonna work with HD IMO. I am very selevtive these days.

 

[Marc Colella]

I thought of this reasoning myself, except the studios must have noticed that even much more popular titles that actually had a theatrical run and did decently on DVD rental/sales are selling in extremely small amounts on both HD formats. If early adopters aren't running out to get better/more popular movies in HD, then what makes Universal think that they'll be all over this straight-to-video release?

 

[Paul Hillenbrand]

Poor showing by Paramount for catalog titles, especially when HD DVD emphasizes how easy it is to manufacture the HD discs, compared to Blu-ray.:rolleyes

To put in perspective, here are all Paramount/Dreamworks 4th quarter titles that have been announced to date:

Paramount/DreamWorks 4th Quarter 2007:

* Note: (Paramount has 4 titles for October and 2 titles for November)

October 2
Top Gun (Paramount)

October 16
A Mighty Heart (Paramount)
Transformers (DreamWorks)

October 23
The Jack Ryan Collection (Paramount)

October 30
Face/Off (Paramount)

November 13
Shrek the Third (DreamWorks)

November 20
Star Trek: The Original Series -- The Complete First Season (Paramount)

November 27
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (DreamWorks)
Old School (DreamWorks)
Hot Rod (Paramount)

December 2007 ?????



Paul

 

[Brandon Conway]

Paul - Old School is actually DreamWorks.

 

[Paul Hillenbrand]

Interesting!

Thanks Brandon!

Edit: Corrected the above list for accuracy.

Then under November 27, the High-Def Digest listing of "Old School (Paramount)" must be wrong.


Paul

 

[ReggieW]

What I also find so hilarious about this, is that Ken Graffeo (who's been awfully quiet since the Paramount deal) had been complaining about poor catalog sales. Of course, when you release stuff that people don't want to buy that will often be the result. We are now in quarter four and it is starting to appear as if Universal will pull the crap they did in quarter one 07!?!?

Why for logics sake, would they go into hibernation with catalog titles during the busiest shopping season!?

Sometimes the movements of players on both sides of this war can be so mind-boggling, you wonder if they're actually trying to win.

I agree with Jim that the window is closing for Nov/Dec to announce titles for these months, unless they're going to announce a stream of titles at the last moment - which wouldn't be unheard of, but uncommon for catalog titles.