I Hate You, Warner Brothers (1 Viewer)

I was going to post this topic yesterday, but then I got hit by a sudden attack "nice-fever," and felt bad about attacking the great-grandfather of DVDs. But now, with today's confirmation that their upcoming release of "Cats and Dogs" will be PAN AND SCAN ONLY, I decided to screw niceties and lambast Warner Brothers.
WHAT YOU'RE DOING WRONG:
-Snapper cases (I understand you have a contract or something of the like, but still...mostly hated packaging)
-Lack of catalogue releases (though Citizen Kane and Doctor Zhivago are steps in the right direction)
-No support of DTS (the sound of the future, and you eschew it)
-Continuing to produce "Best Of's" for your TV product, rather than season by season releases (I know that your "Friends" Best-of discs sold well, but that's because people are desperate for "Friends" on DVD, and will buy anything...which is NOT an excuse to produce substandard product)
-Censoring Eyes Wide Shut (self-explanatory)
-Being OVERLY OBVIOUS in your quest for the almighty dollar (this was exampled in your haste to produce the first Stanley Kubrick Collection, in order to capitalize on a man's death)
-Your ease in lying to the consumer (Stating that the aforementioned Kubrick Collection was "approved" by Kubrick; also, stating that the digital shadows in Eyes Wide Shut were Kubrick-approved [because we can't quite prove that they lied about the Willy Wonka aspect ratio in original press releases, I won't officially mention it])
-Studio Day lies or misinformation (at last year's Studio Day, you said that there would be a Batman: Special Edition and an Iron Giant: Special Edition this year...yet only recently have we heard that you've just begun looking for producers for these discs)
and, most importantly...
-PAN AND SCAN ONLY RELEASES OF FAMILY FILMS
This is not to say you're all bad. Good prices, anamorphic support, kicking Blockbuster in the teeth with "Swordfish." But this does not excuse your constant snubbing of the educated consumer. Can't wait to see you at the October 2nd chat, Warner....
[Edited last by Rob Gillespie on August 15, 2001 at 10:40 PM]

Nice summary, Jeremy.
Whatever happened to Dual Releases or DVD-18?
There is no excuse for releasing pan & scam and not OAR widescreen.
A pox on you, Warner!

Hate is a very nice way of saying what I really think of Warner.
Warner you are a Disgrace!
[Edited last by Jay E on August 15, 2001 at 03:20 PM]

Warner adopts laserdisc...
sees something better....
abandons Laserdisc and its faithful...
adopts DVD...
sees something better ($$ and VOD)
first abandons 'DVD faithful'...
then perhaps even DVD, if VOD is in their sights for the future....
why SELL, when you can FOREVER RENT a title...? (over cable)
WARNER BRO$$$$
Snappers
Sitting on back catalog
Friends
South Park
Wonka
LOTR
SK Box v.1
EWS
Kitties n' Doggies
The WB: what next?
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[Edited last by Mark_TS on August 15, 2001 at 09:53 PM]

There is no excuse for not putting out the original cut of EYES WIDE SHUT. The rest of the world gets to see the film as the director made it; why not us?
I will give you props for making noises about ending rental-pricing and your agreements with Blockbuster... but it just so happens that your interests coincide with ours on that one, so I won't thank you for something that's in your interest, as well.
Your reputation is plummeting fast.

The worst thing about hating Warner Brothers as much as I do is that I used to love them equivalently. Now they just suck.
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First off I agree with what everyone has said about Warner. I just wanted to mention that they are doing the same thing with South Park. They purchased it from rhino and now are shitting on it. Instead of releasing season by season they are doing this "best-of" crap. I am a huge South Park fanatic(there are a lot of us) and it sucks that we are being given this crap. They are doing the same thing with friends which I am also a huge fan of and it sucks. Warner please release south park season bye season or sell it back to rhino who will. Also do the same for friends.
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"Come on, you fuckers think that just cause a guy reads comics he can't start some shit, I'll fucking take all you on!"
"I'm a firm believer in the philosophy of a ruling class, especially sense I rule"

Ill keep it simple so the "executives" at Warner can understand:
No OAR = NO SALE
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-- Will Work for Five Million Dollars
[Edited last by CharlesD on August 15, 2001 at 07:06 PM]

And lets not forget Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings getting the pan & scam shaft, and Warner's iron grip on their Hammer titles. Wake up Warner.

all Time Warner AOL care$ about the$e day$ is $$$$
click here to read how they are f'ing up the mu$ic $ide of the company (as if they could any more then they have)
http://chicagotribune.com/features/l...038aug15.story
it's all about appealing to the mainstream
this company has no integrity
[Edited last by MatS on August 15, 2001 at 07:24 PM]
[Edited last by MatS on August 15, 2001 at 07:26 PM]

Warner Bros. also didn't release the uncut true R-Rated version of Valentine on DVD. They sent it to the MPAA and with all the violence and gore intact, it got an R-Rating, but Warner Bros. got cold feet still and FURTHER CUT THE FILM ON THEIR OWN. This should be against the law, as they sent a film to theaters under the R-Rated label, when actually it was more like a PG or PG-13 film.
In the director's commentary on the current disc, Jamie Blanks talks about all of the scenes that were cut and trimmed by Warner Bros. and hearing that commentary, I wish they'd left the footage in because the film would've been a better, and better-accepted slasher film if the footage had been left in.
You released House on Haunted Hill a couple of years before with all of it's gore intact (a much gorrier film than Valentine was, by the way) so why was Valentine cut? More importantly, after the film failed at the box office because of so many people saying "It wasn't gory enough", why did you not place the uncut true R-Rated footage back in the film?? It's not like it got an NC-17.
Warner Bros, you are indeed a disgrace of a movie studio.

Let's not forget another DVD sin WB should account for--holding decades of catalog titles in their vaults because they're not as overtly commercial as some bomb released last year. Please, WB, you desperately need a whole new attitude about DVD and us eager consumers.

I was about to bring up the Valentine situation since i just saw the movie for the first time,but Wes beat me to it.
The movie was actually alright & alot better than i thought,but man did the cuts really lessing the impact of the 'gore" scenes & were noticable. Jeez usualy it's the MPAA you have to worry about rating a movie acertain way,but now we have to worry about studios wussing out & censoring there own movies AFTER it got a R rating in uncensored form??? What gives?
Please release the orginal R rated version. Not your tame hack job which should be PG-13 in it's current version!!
Valentine among other movies for various reasons such as no OAR = NO PURCHASE from me unless done right!!!!!!

Rot in hell Warner Brothers! If you put widescreen and pan&scam on the same disc I wouldn't have a problem with it, but by just including pan&scam makes me sick.
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"They're all gonna laugh at you!"

This has been an infuriating day in the DVD world. First I get the news that Trimark's Return Of The Living Dead III is the R-rated version. Now I hear Warner is releasing Cats & Dogs in pan and scan only??? WTF??? I had the pleasure of seeing this movie over the weekend and though I generally don't like family films, I liked it and put it in my mind to pick up the eventual DVD. But not now! Screw this! I officially hate Warner, too.

I HATE SNAPPERS!
Frank
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Please keep the profanity to the newsgroups. Any such messages here will be removed.
Rob Gillespie
Administrator
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Personally, I don't think Warner's is going to listen to us whether we spit at them or blow them kisses. They've obviously made up their minds, and nothing's going to change until they either get new people in charge or they get bought out by somebody who cares what their buying public thinks. I can promise that I won't be buying any Warner products until they wise up, and that includes the upcoming Hammer Films "The Mummy", which I bet will be pan and scan anyway. Those of you who know me know what an avid Hammer fan I am. I have every Anchor Bay and Image release so far, some twenty odd movies, and if anybody else would put their Hammer titles out, I'd buy those too. Warner has told us they are going to release The Mummy soon, but have not disclosed whether it will be OAR or not. I'm bettin' it won't. PHAH!!!
[Edited last by Ben Motley on August 16, 2001 at 02:49 AM]

Soup Nazi voice--
NO OAR? NO SALE FOR YOU!!
Dan
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Stop HDCP and 5C-- Your rights are at risk!

+ as mentioned before.
All there great "old" titles they have & plan on not releasing. Gee how thoughful!