I actually have no connection to the town or anything like that, and I was a film major, not a writing one. I’ve just loved the movie since the first time I saw it, and it really spoke to me. I love the characters, I love the story, it’s perfectly cast, the music choices are exceptional, the...
Wonder Boys is my second favorite film of all time. I’m sure it’s the same HD master that I have on iTunes but I’ll still get the disc.
I love We’re No Angels but got it for $5 on iTunes and will probably just stick with that, especially if it’s one of the Paramount “Katie Elder” type discs...
...and those releases were planned to coincide with the new Top Gun movie’s theatrical release. That they could tie those films to a major tentpole release as being a sort of “Tom Cruise action franchise” was probably a determining factor in green lighting those releases.
I don’t know the exact pricing; I haven’t worked on the manufacturing side since the BD era. But I can say that when regular BD came out, it cost 2-4 times more per unit than DVD, had fewer replication lines available (so production capacity was lower) and plants had higher minimum orders than...
Catalog titles on BD typically sell in the low thousands. Catalog on UHD is typically a small sliver of that - think hundreds. The cost of UHD replication and distribution infrastructure makes it very difficult for anyone, particularly large companies like Paramount, to scale down like that and...
Great points Osato, I think we think alike more often than not :) I may be giving Paramount too easy a break but after doing absolutely nothing for so long I’m just glad they’re releasing anything in any format! I was very happy for the digital War of the Worlds and I’m very happy anytime Cary...
I’m not so sure it’s that cut and dried. King Creole, for instance, is available on iTunes in 4K with HDR and was onsale for $5 during the winter. War Of The Worlds has been on iTunes in 4K with HDR for about two years now and has been onsale for $5 more than once during that time.
My read is...
I think that’s why there have been tons of digital sales lately. Tons of Paramount titles in either HD or 4K have been popping up on iTunes for just $4.99.
The physical media infrastructure needs, combined with the requirement to stay at home and shipping delays for inessential goods means...
I think that’s basically the reality of the situation.
Everyone now is being asked to stay at home and most of us already have access to both subscription streaming services and digital storefronts like iTunes and Vudu. You can get all of these movies now on those services. In a time when...
There’s a reason for that, though - there are far more households equipped for 4K streaming than 4K discs. 4K discs, comparatively speaking, don’t sell very well, catalog sales are almost non-existent, but production and distribution costs are high. It’s much less riskier business-wise for them...
It’s really simple. If the currently announced titles meet or exceed sales expectations, they will consider releasing more. If they don’t, then they won’t.
For all the lists people make of titles that were on DVD but never came out on BD, there is often a simple if unsatisfying reason for...
My guess is “not great” either for that or for the Kelvin movies on UHD disc. With the 4K master fit Khan long complete, I think they would have put it on a physical disc by now if they thought there was something there.
There was also an error on the Khan disc that forced them into doing a...
I’ve said it on other threads but every time a new catalog disc comes out and people who had been interested say, “I’ll wait for a sale” or “it doesn’t include every bonus features I want so I won’t buy it and that’ll force them to make an even more special edition,” that’s in actuality just...
Hondo is already done. Gretchen Wayne has a great digital 3D master in her possession; the problem is that Paramount has the distribution rights and no interest in doing a 3D disc but won’t license it out to someone who would because they already have a 2D disc.
For all the bad changes there are some pretty cool ones too. I enjoy both my disc collection and the digital thing. Just watched the old To Catch A Thief disc recently which is probably why there’s a new one coming now :D
I doubt that there’s money in licensing these out in the way that would make it viable. And Warner and Universal certainly wouldn’t be interested; their businesses are declining so rapidly that they are going to each lay off most or all of their home video staff to create a combined entity that...
Paramount has been experimenting quietly with their strategy for the past year or so. I very much believe the digital 4K release two years ago was the trial balloon. They took a historically popular title, created a new restoration, and sold it digitally only at first to see what that revenue...
What will make it different? Who knows. In 2009, sales expectations were different than they are today. But whether or not this succeeds will be largely dependent on whether consumers purchase these discs in sufficient quantity to justify continuing the series.
If these sell, Paramount will...
I imagine it’ll be dependent on sales figures - if the numbers (whatever they expect them to be) are there, they’ll continue, and if they’re not, they won’t.
These Blu-rays seem like a side effect of the studio remastering these films in 4K for digital purchases and to license out for...