Twilight Time September/October 2012 Releases (1 Viewer)

[Paul_Warren]

3000 copies of NOTLD is stupid they have already sold over 1500 copies in a few days so once again like with Fright Night profiteers will benefit from this for a long time to come. Why not 3000 copies then repress another 3000 if demand is that high I mean only selling in US further limits sales to those who want to pay a lot for international shipping (cost me over $60 each for Fright Night & Pal Joey).

 

[Jason_V]

Originally Posted by Paul_Warren /t/321400/twilight-time-september-october-2012-releases/90#post_3975572
3000 copies of NOTLD is stupid they have already sold over 1500 copies in a few days so once again like with Fright Night profiteers will benefit from this for a long time to come. Why not 3000 copies then repress another 3000 if demand is that high I mean only selling in US further limits sales to those who want to pay a lot for international shipping (cost me over $60 each for Fright Night & Pal Joey).

Then you don't have a collectible anymore. This is how the collectible market works: release a certain amount of product and when it's gone, it's gone. I really don't see the problem since we're all savvy enough to get the products we want if we really want them.

Disney has been doing this for ages with all their animated product. They also did it with their Treasures line. Several studios did it, releasing limited 2 disc sets of a movie alongside and single disc (War of the World, Munich and United 93 come to mind).

 

[Paul_Warren]

Then you don't have a collectible anymore.  This is how the collectible market works: release a certain amount of product and when it's gone, it's gone.  I really don't see the problem since we're all savvy enough to get the products we want if we really want them. 
Disney has been doing this for ages with all their animated product.  They also did it with their Treasures line.  Several studios did it, releasing limited 2 disc sets of a movie alongside and single disc (War of  the World, Munich and United 93 come to mind).

If you live outside US its $60-70 each movie if you want guaranteed shipping surely you do not think that business model encourages people to pay that amount of money per movie do you? All that happens is a few greedy people buy multiple copies then profiteer from it & the mass market never buy the product as its just not worth the high price tag to them for a barebones release.
I understand many titles do not sell out the 3000 copy run but I cannot believe studios are that hard up they cannot market this internationally for a reasonable price & get it in the supermarkets like they have done with DVD for years @ a budget price.
Surely budget price x high volume of sales vs high end price x 3000 is better economics in the long run!

 

[Alan Tully]

If you live outside US its $60-70 each movie if you want guaranteed shipping surely you do not think that business model encourages people to pay that amount of money per movie do you? All that happens is a few greedy people buy multiple copies then profiteer from it & the mass market never buy the product as its just not worth the high price tag to them for a barebones release.

I'd never pay for that guaranteed shipping lark, I've been buying soundtrack CD's from SAE for 14 years (to the UK) & never had one go astray, & if one did go missing I wouldn't expect them to send me another one for free, you do take a chance when ordering something from the other side of the world.

 

[Robin9]

Surely budget price x high volume of sales vs high end price x 3000 is better economics in the long run!

Not necessarily! If it really was so simple, all the big studios would still be releasing their back catalogue on DVDs and BRDs instead of cutting back.

 

[Paul_Warren]

I'd never pay for that guaranteed shipping lark, I've been buying soundtrack CD's from SAE for 14 years (to the UK) & never had one go astray, & if one did go missing I wouldn't expect them to send me another one for free, you do take a chance when ordering something from the other side of the world.

I'd never pay $34.95 without it !!!! I can understand for CD's but something which is around $45 with exchange rate fees & import tax you would be insane to not pay for guaranteed shipping otherwise kiss your $45 goodbye if it goes missing!
If studios did an M.O.D program in EU perhaps they could get around this its a very short sighted decision AFAIK there is still a large market for classic movies in BD outside US.......

 

[Douglas R]

I'd never pay for that guaranteed shipping lark, I've been buying soundtrack CD's from SAE for 14 years (to the UK) & never had one go astray, & if one did go missing I wouldn't expect them to send me another one for free, you do take a chance when ordering something from the other side of the world.

You're experience is exactly the same as mine Alan. I've also been buying from SAE for many years and never had anything go missing. It's certainly not worth paying extra for guaranteed shipping.

 

[Jason_V]

Originally Posted by Paul_Warren /t/321400/twilight-time-september-october-2012-releases/90#post_3975859
If you live outside US its $60-70 each movie if you want guaranteed shipping surely you do not think that business model encourages people to pay that amount of money per movie do you? All that happens is a few greedy people buy multiple copies then profiteer from it & the mass market never buy the product as its just not worth the high price tag to them for a barebones release.
I understand many titles do not sell out the 3000 copy run but I cannot believe studios are that hard up they cannot market this internationally for a reasonable price & get it in the supermarkets like they have done with DVD for years @ a budget price.
Surely budget price x high volume of sales vs high end price x 3000 is better economics in the long run!

What I believe is irrelevant. Clearly this type of release works depending on the distributor and title. As I mentioned before, Disney has been doing it for years: releasing product and then having a certain date when they don't manufacture anymore. It creates demand at basically whatever price point they want. If it is too expensive for a particular individual, I don't see how that is the distributors problem. Likewise, if a release or other product is announced as a limited edition (limited for amount of time or number of units) and a consumer does not get it, that isn't the distributors problem either.

I'm sorry, in this day and age of e-tailers, I don't buy the whining excuse that something is too expensive or a fan didn't know a product was available.

Therefore, if a distributor can guarantee selling out all 3,000 copies of a release at $30 a pop, that leads to $90k in sales at one time. However, if that same company sells the same 3,000 copies through mass markets over three or four years for a discounted rate (say, $15), they just cut their sales dollars in half...and took longer to make that money. An argument can be made a recurring revenue stream is better than getting it all at one time, but that's not what we're talking about, right?

 

[Persianimmortal]

This issue has been done to death in virtually every Twilight Time thread on the Internet. The answers are all in this Twilight Time Interview that Adam from HTF did late last year. It explains the rationale behind their business model.
In terms of people not being aware of these releases, well aside from the fact that word about Twilight Time has spread rather widely, it is an unfortunate reality these days that if you don't do Internet research about anything (not just movies), you are likely to miss out or get a bad deal. That's life.
I first found out about Twilight Time when I was searching for 50's blu-rays on Amazon.com. They had Picnic and Pal Joey listed there, and I quickly found more details about ordering them directly from Screen Archives Entertainment, and in turn started learning more about Twilight Time. So unless these latest titles sell out in the pre-order phase, they usually appear on Amazon, and hence have very wide exposure if someone is a genuine fan and does a simple Amazon or Internet search.
Finally, I hate the term "barebones" when people refer to blu-ray movies. The blu-ray movie IS what you are buying, first and foremost. If you need dozens of "extras" and doo-dads like magnets or slipcovers or whatnot to help you justify spending money on a movie, then you're not really a fan of that movie to begin with. From what I can see, Twilight Time caters to the fans by giving them blu-ray movies that would otherwise languish as unreleased back catalog entries. They also do a great job of leaving the movies unmolested, and present them in quite an elegant package that doesn't look amateurish or leave the disc unprotected. If that's not worth a premium price, I'm not sure what is.
If I had to complain about Twilight Time, it would simply be that I'd like them to get right back to the 50's classics that I enjoy. I'm not a huge fan of 80's or 90's horror, but I can understand that given the success of Fright Night and the current rapid selling of Night of the Living Dead, it makes financial sense for them.

 

[JohnMor]

Originally Posted by Persianimmortal /t/321400/twilight-time-september-october-2012-releases/90#post_3976172
Finally, I hate the term "barebones" when people refer to blu-ray movies. The blu-ray movie IS what you are buying, first and foremost. If you need dozens of "extras" and doo-dads like magnets or slipcovers or whatnot to help you justify spending money on a movie, then you're not really a fan of that movie to begin with. From what I can see, Twilight Time caters to the fans by giving them blu-ray movies that would otherwise languish as unreleased back catalog entries. They also do a great job of leaving the movies unmolested, and present them in quite an elegant package that doesn't look amateurish or leave the disc unprotected. If that's not worth a premium price, I'm not sure what is.

Absolutely agree 100%!

 

[cineMANIAC]

Twilight Time is doing just fine with their varied lineup, they don't have to "get back to the 50's". Actually, I think we're going to see a lot more contemporary films from them in the future, more so than, shall I say, the "classics", if titles like Night of the Living Dead keep selling as well as they have. Personally, I don't have a problem paying a small premium for Blu-rays of movies that don't usually merit a release of any kind. I frequently spend $30 or $35 on a night at the movies, minimum. The memory of that night out will start to fade by the following day but a Blu-ray will last me several decades

 

[kingofthejungle]

Twilight Time is doing just fine with their varied lineup, they don't have to "get back to the 50's". Actually, I think we're going to see a lot more contemporary films from them in the future, more so than, shall I say, the "classics", if titles like Night of the Living Dead keep selling as well as they have. Personally, I don't have a problem paying a small premium for Blu-rays of movies that won't usually merit a release of any kind. I frequently spend $30 or $35 on a night out (sometimes a lot more). The memory of that night out will start to fade by the following day but a Blu-ray will last me several decades

While I understand the economics behind it, I hope this isn't the case- at least not to the point of exclusion of the classics.. There are so many terrific Sony & Fox titles that probably won't be released in HD by the company itself, and it would be a shame if no one picked up the slack. That being said, I fear you may be right - Twilight Time hasn't released an extremely interesting title since The Big Heat, and at their high price point I'm almost relieved when they put out stuff I don't care about. If they could get some of Columbia's Capra, McCarey, Hawks, Ford, or Anthony Mann titles, however, I'd be glad to shell out $30 a pop.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Do Twilight Time have the worldwide exclusive for a film like Enemy Mine or is it just a USA deal, the reason i ask is because the price is so high to import these days especially now that our goddamn awful government has lowered import tax, the postal office could sting me for a lot of money just for handling the title and my credit/debit card charges just for the money conversion, if it could be available in Europe at a later date i'd hold off buying, anyone know what the situation is, i feel we in Europe are getting a bit of a raw deal on these films and wish either Twilight Time open a branch in Europe or someone else distributes in Europe.

Adding to the above, i don't even know if the transfer is up to snuff yet, is it a new film scan, an old film scan for Enemy Mine, if i delay ordering too long then the 3000 copies sell out, i don't like this at all but i understand it suits Twilight Time and Fox as a business model, as a consumer in another country who wants the film it is horrendous.

I was extremely pleased with Fright Night, both image and sound and original packaging were superb, but it cost me around £38 ( $61 ) in total, lot of money for one movie and this is not Laserdisc days anymore, i need to know if Fox have put money into a new film scan for Enemy Mine or not or how old their existing scan they are using is.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

According the interviews with Twilight Time (posted here and elsewhere), their rights are for the USA only.

 

[JoHud]

I'd say Twilight Time is not very import friendly in general. And no, the Blu-ray titles don't ever seem to show up in foreign markets. At least not yet. There was a Scandinavian blu-ray of The Egyptian but from what I heard it was a different, inferior transfer.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by Peter Apruzzese /t/321400/twilight-time-september-october-2012-releases/90#post_3976329
According the interviews with Twilight Time (posted here and elsewhere), their rights are for the USA only.

So it's possible Enemy Mine could come out in Germany, or elsewhere, although it's unknown, what to do, do i buy or do i wait, i don't know, where's that coin.

 

[rsmithjr]

I was extremely pleased with Fright Night, both image and sound and original packaging were superb, but it cost me around £38 ( $61 ) in total, lot of money for one movie and this is not Laserdisc days anymore, i need to know if Fox have put money into a new film scan for Enemy Mine or not or how old their existing scan they are using is.

The TT business model offers you a high quality version of the film with few frills for a somewhat high price; quantities are limited so order early if you are interested.
This is what TT and the studios have figured will work for them. Otherwise, there is every reason to believe that we would not see the titles at all, period, in which case, no one would have a chance to get one.
Everyone gets to choose for himself/herself.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by rsmithjr /t/321400/twilight-time-september-october-2012-releases/90#post_3976340
Everyone gets to choose for himself/herself.

Only it's a helluva lot easier if you live in the USA.

You say it's a high quality version of the film, i'd need more information than has currently been released to determine this, are we talking a new film scan at 4K or an old 2K film scan from 10 years ago, what is the situation, if it was Sony i'd trust it to be a newer film scan, i'm not so sure with Fox, can anyone put my mind at rest on this matter.

 

[Twilight Time]

Originally Posted by FoxyMulder /t/321400/twilight-time-september-october-2012-releases/90#post_3976352

Only it's a helluva lot easier if you live in the USA.

You say it's a high quality version of the film, i'd need more information than has currently been released to determine this, are we talking a new film scan at 4K or an old 2K film scan from 10 years ago, what is the situation, if it was Sony i'd trust it to be a newer film scan, i'm not so sure with Fox, can anyone put my mind at rest on this matter.

Here's what we can tell you about the transfer: it was done in 2008 when Fox were considering releasing it themselves on Blu--then it dropped off the schedule. The PQ is quite eye-popping, particularly in the early "space" sequences, the planet scenes as you know are filtered and mostly take place at night or in darkened circumstances. It accurately replicates the film's original theatrical presentation.

 

[Mark Collins]

May I just say thank you for the films I have purchased from you in the past. Can you at least give me hope for films such as Tender is the Night and Rains of Ranchipur?