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Mill Creek licenses 250 films from the Sony Pictures library for DVD and Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

SeanAx

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Sony continues continues to license its catalog for Blu-ray release. Mill Creek has signed an agreement to release 250 titles on DVD and Blu-ray.

See press release below.







MILL CREEK ENTERTAINMENT SIGNS HOME VIDEO DISTRIBUTION DEAL WITH SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT



Mill Creek Entertainment Licenses 250 SPHE Titles for U.S. and Canadian DVD and Blu-ray Distribution


MINNEAPOLIS, MN, April 23, 2012 – Mill Creek Entertainment, a leading home entertainment distribution company has just inked a home video distribution deal with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) covering US and Canadian territories. Under the licensing agreement Mill Creek Entertainment will distribute 250 films from the legendary SPHE catalog via a wide variety of DVD and Blu-ray compilations and collections to Mill Creek’s extensive network of traditional and non-traditional retail partners. Mill Creek will distribute classics such as Ship of Fools, Bonjour Tristesse, The Last Detail, Avalon, The Chase and Agnes of God and audience favorites such as Hollywood Homicide, Hostel, All the Pretty Horses, Saving Silverman, Hollow Man and Vertical Limit.

“This treasure trove of SPHE films represents a watershed enhancement of our growing filmed entertainment catalog,” said Ian Warfield, President and COO of Mill Creek. “We are excited to work with the Sony Pictures Home Entertainment team to deliver this amazing line-up of star-filled titles for the enjoyment of an even broader audience of consumers.”
Many films included in this distribution deal will be made available in Blu-ray high definition format for the first time ever. Multi-feature standard definition DVD collections are also part of the strategic release plan to bring this vast assortment of classic and contemporary films to market. The first wave of releases can be expected Fall 2012 while the specific lineup of initial releases will be announced at a later date.

About Mill Creek Entertainment
Mill Creek Entertainment is one of the industry's leading providers of value-priced DVD and Blu-ray features and compilations. The Minneapolis-based company licenses content from a broad range of major and independent studios to augment its library of owned content and original productions. With an experienced senior management and sales team the company manufactures and distributes its growing product line to a network of over 30,000 retail and distribution locations. Product categories include classic and contemporary films, episodic television, kids, animation, episodic documentaries, special interest and fitness. Mill Creek Entertainment can be found on the World Wide Web at http://millcreekent.com.
 

cafink

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Wonderful news! I love it when lesser-known catalogue titles are released on Blu-ray. I actually plan to pick up Saving Silverman, which is a guilty pleasure of mine.
 

Walter Kittel

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Looking forward to hearing more specifics regarding the Bd releases.
(Not to start a rumor, but I hope that Walter Hill's Hard Times makes it to Bd either via this arrangement or eventually from SPHE.)
- Walter.
 

Matt Hough

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It's the classics like Ship of Fools and The Last Detail that I'm more interested in rather than vault titles of the last ten of fifteen years, but it's all good if we get them on Blu-ray.
 

Garysb

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And still no Funny Girl or the Way We Were in blu from any of them.:(
I actual would love to see the films that were included in the Frank Capra and Cary Grant Columbia DVD sets make it to blu.:D
 

Matt Hough

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It is very strange not seeing Funny Girl or The Way We Were yet on Blu-ray. Funny Girl seems to be the ONE musical of Columbia's that plays very frequently on TCM, much more so than Oliver! or Bye Bye Birdie or certainly Annie.
 

Brandon Conway

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Originally Posted by Richard--W /t/320274/mill-creek-licenses-250-films-from-the-sony-pictures-library-for-dvd-and-blu-ray#post_3919685
What are the 250 titles, exactly?

Outside of the titles mentioned in the press release, your guess is as good as anyone else's.
 

Jesse Skeen

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So Sony, the inventor of Blu-Ray, now can't be bothered to release its own movies on Blu-Ray? Another case of one hand not knowing what the other's doing.
I have a few of the Mill Creek Buena Vista titles, the ones I have are OK except the one with two "Ernest" movies has them both on a SINGLE LAYER! I hope they don't do that again.
 

Craig S

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You know, something bothers me about this announcement:




...Mill Creek Entertainment will distribute 250 films from the legendary SPHE catalog via a wide variety of DVD and Blu-ray compilations and collections...

Is this saying that all of these titles will be made available only in "compilations & collections"?? Also, note that it says "DVD and Blu-ray", which leaves open the possibility that some of these 250 titles (of which we know less than 5%) will be getting only DVD releases.

All in all, kind of a worthless press release.
 

Bryan^H

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Jesse Skeen said:
So Sony, the inventor of Blu-Ray, now can't be bothered to release its own movies on Blu-Ray?
No. They have been odd from the start. Catalog titles from Columbia, and Sony Picture Clasics seem to get the most negelect. Whether they farm out popular catalog titles to small companies, or a newer film being skipped altogether with only a dvd release. It just seems to me something is wrong with their logic.
 

cineMANIAC

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Maybe they should abandon motion picture making/distributing altogether and go back to what they used to do best: Making/selling walkmans (now MP3 players) and home entertainment hardware.
 

rsmithjr

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Sony is having a very good year in the motion picture business with a number of profitable hits. Give them a break here.
 

SeanAx

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Originally Posted by Brandon Conway /t/320274/mill-creek-licenses-250-films-from-the-sony-pictures-library-for-dvd-and-blu-ray#post_3919670
That makes four companies that Sony is currently licensing titles to - Criterion, Image, Mill Creek, Twilight Time

Five, actually, if you count the TCM Vault Collection. Just a few so far, but all of them multi-film collections.
 

SeanAx

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Originally Posted by Richard--W /t/320274/mill-creek-licenses-250-films-from-the-sony-pictures-library-for-dvd-and-blu-ray#post_3919685
What are the 250 titles, exactly?

There is no further information on the company website, either. I wonder if all the titles were agreed upon before hand or if they are being negotiated as they come out.
 

Professor Echo

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Originally Posted by Brandon Conway /t/320274/mill-creek-licenses-250-films-from-the-sony-pictures-library-for-dvd-and-blu-ray#post_3920122
Sony has been bleeding money for a couple years now and so they are looking at many ways to streamline costs throughout all their divisions.

The only division of Sony that is doing well is theatrical feature films. Their electronics division has been in terrible shape for many years as they were caught napping when the iPod came out. They have never been able to catch up. According to my insider they don't have a lot of interest in Blu Ray anymore and are focusing all their efforts on 3-D without glasses.
 

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