David Lambert
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2001
- Messages
- 11,377
I got in touch with Phong during the past couple of days, and he's still been so busy that he hadn't had a chance to follow up with Josh Sabarro (sic?) at Warner Bros.
So, again, I took it upon myself to call Josh up and speak to him about the questions posed in Phong's last e-mail to him, which have gone unanswered for almost a month now.
There's some good news, some...well, judge for yourself. Here's a summary of the conversation (just about everything is paraphrased, I didn't tape it or anything, but all wording is true to the spirit of the conversation):
-------------------------
Q: Did you get Phong's e-mail?
A: No, our e-mail has been sporadic here for the past 3 weeks. Sometimes we get it, sometimes we don't. Please apologize to Phong for me; I truly didn't know he'd sent one.
Q: Why isn't the Wonka Widescreen DVD available for pre-order yet at most retailers? Why don't the retailers seem to know about it yet?
A: That's a marketing dept. issue, and I work in the publicity dept., talking to the media. I just don't have an answer to those questions.
Q: Will Cats & Dogs be available in Widescreen?
A: Yes. Two versions will be available separately for that title. One in Widescreen, one in Fullscreen.
Q: What about Shiloh and Shiloh 2?
A: (Reads press releases aloud to me, same ones I've seen online). No, it just doesn't say here. Hold on while I finish another call and then check. (Puts me on hold, comes back about 10 minutes later.) I think it's going to be in Fullscreen.
Q: (long pause) So no Widescreen versions will be made available of these 2?
A: I don't know, but I don't think so. Maybe they will, and it just hasn't filtered in yet. You see, we don't actually have a policy like "all family films will be in one format or the other". We consider each title separately, based on the materials and resources available to us.
(At this point I gave him input that it takes more resources to Pan & Scan a title when the OAR is Widescreen, I mentioned the general attitude at HTF of "NO OAR = NO SALE", and politely let him know that there will be disappointment here over this. He responded, as he has in the past, that he understood but that he didn't make those decisions himself. I replied that I understood that, but, as his job is publicity, and that incorporates public relations, that I was merely providing input that he ought to pass on the decision-makers. He said that he would, and that he always does. He then thanked me - and Phong - for always having such civil discussions with him; that it was a pleasure compared to the usually irate calls he handles when he normally gets passed calls from consumers instead of his normal discussion point, which is media people.)
Q: Back to Wonka. Will anyone who bought the Wonka Fullscreen version in error be able to "upgrade" to the Widescreen edition?
A: Noone has made me aware of any such plan. Since the Widescreen title was announced before the Fullscreen one streeted, then I suspect that they won't.
Q: But retailers didn't know about the widescreen version coming; for around two weeks not anybody in any store near me seemed to have a clue about it unless I told them myself. So lots of consumers everywhere had to get the fullscreen version in error.
A: I'll pass that on, but so far I don't know what they plan to do about that. Again, it might be an issue for the marketing dept.
Q: The voice-over on the last scene of Lord of the Rings is different on the DVD compared to the VHS. Any idea whether or not the Lord of the Rings ending was changed specifically for the DVD, or whether it was taken from an alternate version of the film than the one used for the VHS release?
A: I don't know. Honestly, I've never seen the film. Noone around here has brought it up, so I just don't know either way.
-------------------------
Okay, that covers the conversation. I really want to THANK Josh for taking the time to talk to me, especially since he said up front he was swamped and furthermore he knows I'm going to post it here on HTF, pretty much as-is.
I think many of you will say that the conversation makes Josh look bad. I don't agree. He was VERY NICE, and DID HIS BEST to answer questions that *just aren't in his area* of day-to-day work. That's no crime; we all do that at our own jobs every day.
I'll also point out that some of his answers are opinions or assumptions, and in no way should reflect for dead sure what WB will or won't do in the future. I'd say that the only for-sure answer we got here is "Cats & Dogs will be available in widescreen".
Note that the C&D news means that, if you've pre-ordered it anywhere, you should find out whether the SKU you pre-ordered will result in you getting a FS or a WS version of the DVD. Personally, IF I had pre-ordered it, I'd cancel my preorder and reorder it when the issue is clear. Of course, with a 10/16 release date, time is running low! So I'll just be picking it up at a B&M store like Best Buy to be sure I get the right (OAR) one.
The rest of it, we can bring up in the WB chat. Or, some other HTFer can call someone else at WB (whose job IS to have the answers to this stuff) and ask them.
Mind you, in either case we don't need to get Josh in hot water by taking the approach of "Josh said...". That's the for-certain way to preclude his help in the future, if necessary.
I hope you all find this helpful, even if it's just by way of pointing up to WB (through other avenues of input) what it is we do and don't want to see in our DVD's.
And, NO...I did NOT bring up the issue of Snappers, or any other area of concern. I didn't want to turn it into a bash session.
Cheers,
------------------
DAVE/Memphis
Did you want us to respect your cause? You just damned your cause.
Did you want to make us fear? You just steeled our resolve.
Did you want to tear us apart? You just brought us together.
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/...ocs/000565.htm
So, again, I took it upon myself to call Josh up and speak to him about the questions posed in Phong's last e-mail to him, which have gone unanswered for almost a month now.
There's some good news, some...well, judge for yourself. Here's a summary of the conversation (just about everything is paraphrased, I didn't tape it or anything, but all wording is true to the spirit of the conversation):
-------------------------
Q: Did you get Phong's e-mail?
A: No, our e-mail has been sporadic here for the past 3 weeks. Sometimes we get it, sometimes we don't. Please apologize to Phong for me; I truly didn't know he'd sent one.
Q: Why isn't the Wonka Widescreen DVD available for pre-order yet at most retailers? Why don't the retailers seem to know about it yet?
A: That's a marketing dept. issue, and I work in the publicity dept., talking to the media. I just don't have an answer to those questions.
Q: Will Cats & Dogs be available in Widescreen?
A: Yes. Two versions will be available separately for that title. One in Widescreen, one in Fullscreen.
Q: What about Shiloh and Shiloh 2?
A: (Reads press releases aloud to me, same ones I've seen online). No, it just doesn't say here. Hold on while I finish another call and then check. (Puts me on hold, comes back about 10 minutes later.) I think it's going to be in Fullscreen.
Q: (long pause) So no Widescreen versions will be made available of these 2?
A: I don't know, but I don't think so. Maybe they will, and it just hasn't filtered in yet. You see, we don't actually have a policy like "all family films will be in one format or the other". We consider each title separately, based on the materials and resources available to us.
(At this point I gave him input that it takes more resources to Pan & Scan a title when the OAR is Widescreen, I mentioned the general attitude at HTF of "NO OAR = NO SALE", and politely let him know that there will be disappointment here over this. He responded, as he has in the past, that he understood but that he didn't make those decisions himself. I replied that I understood that, but, as his job is publicity, and that incorporates public relations, that I was merely providing input that he ought to pass on the decision-makers. He said that he would, and that he always does. He then thanked me - and Phong - for always having such civil discussions with him; that it was a pleasure compared to the usually irate calls he handles when he normally gets passed calls from consumers instead of his normal discussion point, which is media people.)
Q: Back to Wonka. Will anyone who bought the Wonka Fullscreen version in error be able to "upgrade" to the Widescreen edition?
A: Noone has made me aware of any such plan. Since the Widescreen title was announced before the Fullscreen one streeted, then I suspect that they won't.
Q: But retailers didn't know about the widescreen version coming; for around two weeks not anybody in any store near me seemed to have a clue about it unless I told them myself. So lots of consumers everywhere had to get the fullscreen version in error.
A: I'll pass that on, but so far I don't know what they plan to do about that. Again, it might be an issue for the marketing dept.
Q: The voice-over on the last scene of Lord of the Rings is different on the DVD compared to the VHS. Any idea whether or not the Lord of the Rings ending was changed specifically for the DVD, or whether it was taken from an alternate version of the film than the one used for the VHS release?
A: I don't know. Honestly, I've never seen the film. Noone around here has brought it up, so I just don't know either way.
-------------------------
Okay, that covers the conversation. I really want to THANK Josh for taking the time to talk to me, especially since he said up front he was swamped and furthermore he knows I'm going to post it here on HTF, pretty much as-is.
I think many of you will say that the conversation makes Josh look bad. I don't agree. He was VERY NICE, and DID HIS BEST to answer questions that *just aren't in his area* of day-to-day work. That's no crime; we all do that at our own jobs every day.
I'll also point out that some of his answers are opinions or assumptions, and in no way should reflect for dead sure what WB will or won't do in the future. I'd say that the only for-sure answer we got here is "Cats & Dogs will be available in widescreen".
Note that the C&D news means that, if you've pre-ordered it anywhere, you should find out whether the SKU you pre-ordered will result in you getting a FS or a WS version of the DVD. Personally, IF I had pre-ordered it, I'd cancel my preorder and reorder it when the issue is clear. Of course, with a 10/16 release date, time is running low! So I'll just be picking it up at a B&M store like Best Buy to be sure I get the right (OAR) one.
The rest of it, we can bring up in the WB chat. Or, some other HTFer can call someone else at WB (whose job IS to have the answers to this stuff) and ask them.
Mind you, in either case we don't need to get Josh in hot water by taking the approach of "Josh said...". That's the for-certain way to preclude his help in the future, if necessary.
I hope you all find this helpful, even if it's just by way of pointing up to WB (through other avenues of input) what it is we do and don't want to see in our DVD's.
And, NO...I did NOT bring up the issue of Snappers, or any other area of concern. I didn't want to turn it into a bash session.
Cheers,
------------------
DAVE/Memphis
Did you want us to respect your cause? You just damned your cause.
Did you want to make us fear? You just steeled our resolve.
Did you want to tear us apart? You just brought us together.
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/...ocs/000565.htm
