Get this! (or better yet, don't!): New Wonka SE? Pan 'N Scan ONLY! Part II (1 Viewer)

[Andy_S]

I think the CustomerService post could be fake. If that username wasn't taken, then anyone could act like they were WB customer service! 3 things that struck me as funny right away:
First, they would never give out their employees name and direct number. She/he would be bombarded with calls!
Second, they misspelled her last name. It should be Bogard not Bogart (according to Glenn Heberle on page 3 of this thread).
Third, I find it suspect that they would point to a petition web site that is not run by them. More likely they would point you to a customer service email address.
I think someone is trying to get people that wouldn't normally call or sign the petition because "Warner Bros doesn't care if I call/write anyway" to do so.

 

[Win Joy]

Guys –
Unfortunately, Warner has already won…
Here is what we know.
1.Warner is releasing Willy Wonka in Full Frame only. That will be all there is on street date.
2. Most of the consuming public who buy DVD’s do not frequent this, or any other online forum.
So, here is how it goes down. On the street date, the only version of WW that will be available will be the full frame one. Consumers will pick up the disc, give it a once over. IF they notice the “This movie has been formatted to fit your screen” box, they MAY look for a widescreen edition. When they cannot find one, and IF they ask the pimple faced teenager who works at the local megastore where the widescreen edition is, the reply will be “Uh, that is all there is. There is no widescreen edition”, and go back hitting on the cute girl who is over in the Rap CD area. The consumer will simply shrug their shoulders and toss WW in the cart and take it home…
Now, some months later, IF Warner decides on releasing a Widescreen edition, then everyone here and those who follow the other forums will buy it, but the average consumer will not give it another look. They bought it MONTHS ago.
So, the fullframe edition will sell LOTS, and the widescreen edition will sell a LOT LESS. Then Warner will say “See there! Our market research was right. Widescreen is just a tiny little market”.
Now, how do we overcome this scenario?

 

[Jeff Swindoll]

quote: Why hasn't WB responded to us yet? After all this negative feedback, they should at least say something about their future plans.[/quote]
1. They're waiting for release date to see how it sells. I bet if it reaches their projected number then we'll never see a widescreen release. If it does not sell as expected they might say something official.
2. We'll never know how many would have sold with a dual ratio. I suppose we could add 6,000 plus to there final numbers, but I'm sure some people have not signed the petition but won't be buying Willy. I myself am being strong (help me my HTF brethren

) because I could well except the full frame argument. However, I would really have liked the dual ratio because then you have a choice. If Mr. Kenny had a test disc then in theory it all could've fit right?
3. It hasn't been in the media. I expect that to change with the Roger Ebert piece on his show. Let's hope that gets more fuel to the fire.
4. All things considered, I still think it's too soon to get concrete info (before street date). I'd expect more around street date or soon after. From the sound of it, the person that could say something (Sherrie Bogart??) is out of town (lucky her

).
Be patient, grasshopper

Cheers.
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Dear MGM : Quality over quantity & Consistency!
I didnt play Dungeons and Dragons all those years and not learn something about courage.
--Bernie Faulkner
[Edited last by Jeff Swindoll on August 09, 2001 at 08:32 AM]

 

[Jamie Cole]

Jeff,
Is there ACTUALLY going to be a piece on Ebert? Has that been confirmed?
I was just thinking that Ebert pretty much single-handedly has made big waves in the film industry, with his wholehaearted endorsement of "Halloween" in the late 70s and more recently with "Dark City."
Maybe there is hope after all.
~Jamie

 

[Peter Kline]

Colm, thank you for the correct dates on the Kubrick set. My understanding is that the "Excorcist" was pulled back from the original more extensive theatrical release to a more modest one after "market research" was done. Anyway, WB does not care at all about customer complaints. If they did they simply would have released Willy in both formats. They are circling the wagons right now and are conveniently unavailable this week. This thing will pass, of course, and they'll continue to do what they deem is in their best interest, no matter how wrong they might or might not be. Shareholders of the company should be concerned because this attitude does reduce revenues to some extent and that is the ultimate name of the game. Poor management decisions are not good, and WB is the leader in that department it seems to me. No company needs negative publicity like this. I'll be looking forward to Roger Eberts comments next month.
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[Bob McLaughlin]

Hmm...wonder how the boys in "Fight Club" would respond to this corporate snubbing?
(NOT that I advocate random acts of vandalism.)

 

[DaveF]

Hmm...wonder how the boys in "Fight Club" would respond to this corporate snubbing?

The boys from "Fight Club" would kick you out of the club for your lust towards a consumer good.

 

[DaveF]

Remember: profit=revenue-costs
with a revenue of $20 per disc and a cost of $5 per disc (assuming your numbers), then WB is losing $15 per disc, or $90,000 in net profits. The $120,000 in sales (or revenue, in this case) is still accurate.
== Update ==
I think I misunderstood your post. So if you're saying the total cost for Warner is $15 bucks then profits would be $5. I can see that. However, I don't believe WB is in the biz for a $5 margin. I think the total costs are probably closer to the $5 mark.

I think we're still misunderstanding each other. Here's what I meant to communicate:
Consumer pay store $20/ea. for DVD.
Store pays wholesaler / distributor $15/ea. for DVD
Distributer pays studio $10/ea. for DVD
Studio paid $5/ea. to design, produce, fabricate DVD
Thus, from your $20:
Store profits $5 ($20 revenue - $15 cost = $5 profit)
Distributor gets $5 ($15 revenue - $10 cost = $5 profit)
Studio gets $5 ($10 revenue - $5 cost = $5 profit)
Everyone involved in making product gets $5 ($5 cost paid buy studio)
So in my example, it's not accurate to say 5,000 DVDs x $20 = $100,000 lost to WB. That $100,000 loss is spread over the entire retail food-chain, with WB not getting a profit of $25,000 they otherwise would have gotten.
My numbers are made up, but the point is, if Willy WOnka costs $20 retail, then WB is getting less than that in gross revenue, and less still in net profit.

 

[Matthew_S]

The boys from "Fight Club" would kick you out of the club for your lust towards a consumer good.

First rule of fight club..DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB!
tyler.

 

[Jeff Swindoll]

Jamie,
Someone emailed Ebert (see an earlier post here or in Pt.I of this thread) about the situation and he responded that he'd have a bit on his show about Willy around the weekend of release date (whether it's the weekend before or after release date I guess we'll find out.). Cheers.
------------------
Dear MGM : Quality over quantity & Consistency!
I didnt play Dungeons and Dragons all those years and not learn something about courage.
--Bernie Faulkner
[Edited last by Jeff Swindoll on August 09, 2001 at 09:51 AM]

 

[Bill Crosthwait]

Has anyone spoken with the producer of the DVD yet? I wonder what he has to say about this?
------------------
Bill
My DVD Collection
[email protected]

 

[Jan Strnad]

The one-star and two-star reviews of the DVD are beginning to show up on Amazon...at the top of the list, to boot.
We've managed to reduce the average rating from 5 stars down to 4.5.
But since Amazon still lists the anamorphic transfer, I believe we need to accelerate this campaign and correct their listing ourselves...with more reviews stating unhappiness that this DVD is non-widescreen.
Go here for the listing, then scroll down to "write a review."
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005LINE/qid=997371602/sr=1-1/ref=sc_d_1/104-2845505-8427139
Jan Strnad
author of Risen and
"The AtomBrain Guide to Letterboxing"

 

[Jan Strnad]

And by the way....
There are some very interesting reviews from people who are best described as "abso-friggin'-lutely cluuuueee-less."
Like this one:

I concur with the reviewer who said that Wonka demonstrated no knowllege of workplace safety or child abuse awareness.
Sure the kids in the movies are brats, but it is not up to Wonka and his Oomphaloompas to decide who gets it and who does not. That matter could best be handled by the legal system because the children are minors.

Yeesh!
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http://www.mindspring.com/~atombrain/risenintro.html
Jan Strnad
author of Risen and
"The AtomBrain Guide to Letterboxing"

 

[Sean Aaron]

So, for those of us who will shortly be living in R2-land, is the SE going to be anamorphic widescreen in Region 2?
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--
Sean Aaron
UNIX System Administrator
UCOP

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Looks like a good reason for me to get a Malta (region free) DVD player.

 

[Bryan_ZZ]

I was glancing at the petition sigs and came across the following:
6386. Joe O'Shansky Pan and Scan sucks ass!
With great arguments such as this, how can we help but win?

 

[Antonio_M]

However, it has been brought to our immediate attention that a small few Wonka enthusiasts are disappointed

Am I allowed to curse in this forum? And to what extent? Seriously!
-Austin Powers

 

[Mark_TS]

suppose a million people bought WW&CF, took it home and discovered it was in FF only-then took it back for a refund, pulling an 'inverse J6P':
...to clerk at counter:
'uh,... I bought this disc, but it DOESNT have black bars on the top and bottom like I wanted...I'd like a refund...'

:

THAT'd get their attention...
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[Edited last by Mark_TS on August 09, 2001 at 01:53 PM]

 

[Peter Kline]

And when J6P starts purchasing widescreen TV's in the next couple of years they'll wonder what the bars are on the left and right of the screen!

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[Richard Kim]

Hmm...wonder how the boys in "Fight Club" would respond to this corporate snubbing?
(NOT that I advocate random acts of vandalism.)

Tyler Durden(To Warren Leinfarb): You're going to call off your full screen release of Willy Wonka, or these guys are gonna cut off your balls, send one to the New York Times and the other to the LA Times press release style.

(I don't advocate random acts of vandalism or castration either.)