Blu-ray Dominates Black-Friday (1 Viewer)

[Jason Seaver]

Eh, I'll buy it. Die Hard was huge, and HD DVD's big title this week was a $130+ Star Trek box set, which might have brought CBS-Paramount a lot of money, but still only counts as one sale. HD DVD could conceivably have made as much money with 1/4 of the sales this week.

(And a part of me kind of wonders how that Star Trek set was categorized in terms of reporting; it was on the "TV on DVD" rather than "HD DVD" shelves in most of the places I looked)

 

[Paul Arnette]

Followed summarily by their cancellation no doubt.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

OUCH! I think both sides have learned their lesson by now...

 

[Douglas Monce]

Anyone remember the days when a film had to show first on HBO, and then on Network TV before they would release it on home video? It was sometimes as long as 5 years after the theatrical release before a film would hit home video.

Doug

 

[ReggieW]

You know, I don't necessarily need only "blockbusters" to keep me happy, just better catalog releases. I know it's certainly subjective, but there are good catalog releases which don't classify as blockbusters: Brazil, American Graffiti, The Blues Brothers, Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway, Scarface, Duel, 1941, A Beautiful Mind, The Andromeda strain, Videodrome, The Last Temptation of Christ, Do the Right Thing, etc. I think stuff like Mobsters, White Noise 2 & Carlito's Way 2 are titles which are really scrapping the bottom of the barrel. I can't think of a single poster who've expressed interest in these titles. So yes, while not giving us blockbusters at every turn, I would hope for catalog titles that'll cause owners to get excited about their hardware purchases. I would also gladly take fewer catalog releases from Universal in the future as long as the picture quality is up to snuff & not hit or miss like some of their catalog releases have been.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Actually, American Graffiti was a major blockbuster. I don't know if it would sell great on HD media, however.

 

[Robin_B]

I don't quite understand this thinking. They could always release a limited edition bare bones version now. Because you know damn well in few years there's going to be a new super duper extra special edition released anyways. They did the same thing with DVD making us wait years for the Spielberg stuff and here we are a few short years later and most of them are on the at least the second release.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I agree, but they were tied to the first ones or a day and date DVD for marketing purposes. White Noise 2 will never be a big seller, but it stands the biggest chance if it is released day and date with the DVD (can use the same marketing budget, and Carlitos Way 2 stood the biggest chance if it was released with the first one.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

When the first Spielberg title Jaws came out on DVD it sold 1 million copies. You want to milk your A list catalog for all it's worth. I think it was a mistake for Sony to release CE3K this early and it cost them a lot of sales. I think they did it for the PR (Spielberg is only on Blu-ray!) Time will tell if they made the right call. It is way to early to see the A catalog titles. Reggie made a good point about some of the other titles and I think you will see more of those (and maybe some of those titles in 2008)

 

[Dave H]

Except Fox!

On a related note, have you heard anything from Universal on releasing American Pie? This was one catalog title I thought was coming late next month. Thanks.

 

[Dave H]

But, won't future Blu-ray owners still pick up CE3K? This is what I never understood. Let's take Jaws on DVD for example. What if they released Jaws earlier and it only sold 500,000 copies because there were half the number of DVD owners. Wouldn't the other half that come into the market eventually buy Jaws anyway? In other words, aren't they going to get that million sooner or later? I understand wanting that big chunk of money now instead of having it dribble out over time, but still. It seems to me you could get more "potential" new buyers by releasing bigger titles earlier. I mean some titles will actually sell players as I'm sure Star Wars or Lord of the Rings would, for example.

 

[TravisR]

Probably but I guess it's a "What have you done for me lately?"-world and they want to sell (for example) one million copies right out of the gate so they can make a ton of money right away off of big titles and put out a press release bragging about a million sold rather than just selling a million over the course of a year.

 

[Lyle_JP]

I think you're reading too much into it. CE3K blu-ray came out the day it did because it came out in a special 3-disc DVD edition the same day. These releases were obviously prepared in tandem, which makes economic sense. Nothing more nefarious than that, really.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I wasn't implying that it was nefarious, just that in rushing it out it cost them sales. I heard nothing about the standard def version, only the BD one.

 

[Shane Martin]

I don't really buy that. HD has more stand alone players and they scream attach rates yet can't convince Spielberg to release titles when BR has less installed base and still gets a new Speilberg title?? There was a good post about how Spielberg favors BR so I wonder how much that plays into that?

 

[Lyle_JP]

Well, the standard def version is out there. Big 3 disc set in a box. And if you're still unsure of the timing, this release was timed for the film's 30th anniversary.

As I understand it, this is a Spielberg film which Steven has absolutely no ownership of and therefore no control over. And since he's done precious little with Columbia Pictures, they're not a company that feels like they must kiss his butt to keep him happy (like Universal).

 

[ReggieW]

Why not?

It's been like that as long as I can remember, especially regarding dvd. None of these major titles appeared until million (s) of players had been sold. They may lower the bar this time around for HD media, but I'm sure Universal probably wants at least a million players out there before they even consider something like Jurassic Park, ET or Jaws. I'm guessing that we MIGHT see one of these titles sometime in 2008.

Frankly, I don't think Universal is trying to convince Mr. Spielberg of anything, as the decision to release his films will be made by the studio when they feel it's time. Spielberg has also never made any statement regarding a format preference as far as I know. Lyle just gave a good reason why Close Encounters probably surfaced on BD when it did. I too was shocked to see that Close Encounters appeared this early, and the BDA has been screaming from the rooftops about Spielberg choosing BD and knocking down false stories of his films appearing on HD-DVD. I for one believe their shouts are built on sand.

I'm betting we'll likely see some Spielberg on HD-DVD in 2008.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Reggie-
I agree with you 100%.

Lyle- I know there is a regular 30th anniversary DVD copy out, but 98% of the CE3K discussion has been about the BD version. A lot of other XX anniversary editions have been released and are in the works for DVD, but not on a HD format. You are also correct about his ownership and relationship with Columbia.

 

[Patrick_S]

Unless some quote has come to light recently in which Spielberg himself is quoted as saying he favors Blu-Ray, the notion that he favors Blu is the result of a misinterpretation, or perhaps wishful thinking on some peoples part, of a statement made by one of his associates a couple of months ago.

Of course that hasn't stopped sites like TDB from heralding it as proof positive of his preference.

 

[Chuck Anstey]

I have thought this too but I have a question. Are DVD/HD-DVD/BluRay discs and packaging created only once during an initial run and never created again such that they have to guess how many to create? Do they create more discs later when the initial stock low? I can see them waiting for a larger install base if they need to get it right on the initial printing and cannot justify constant small runs when stock gets low. There is probably also statistics that show people more likley to buy a movie during the first week of release versus them buying it after it has been out for a while. That might have to do with people loaning out movies to others.

Anyone have some definate facts to the conjecture above?