Various thoughts about NEWS from the WB Chat! (2 Viewers)

[James Reader]

I don't see how season set demands would be reasonable for Batman: TAS anyway, considering the abnormal production orders; season 1 had 60 episodes, seasons 2 & 3 had 10 episodes, and season 5 had 5 episodes. I think it should be modeled after Futurama, another series with abnormal season orders, in cronological volumes

or at the very least using DVD9's so that 6-8 episodes can be included on each release rather than the pathetic 4 we get at the moment. That's not an unreasonable demand is it?

 

[Andy Sheets]

I don't see how season set demands would be reasonable for Batman: TAS anyway, considering the abnormal production orders

I think when people say they want season sets, it's really just short-hand for "Give us boxsets with a lot of episodes so we might have a small chance of actually getting the whole series out before we die"

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

That's not an unreasonable demand is it?

Well, I don't think so. WB's mileage may vary.

 

[MichaelBryant]

Major bummer about Brewster Mcloud. I'm postive if MGM still owned it the picture would already be out on DVD or be on it's way. One of things I love about MGM is they don't sit on their library. Why would WB buy the rights to a picture if they have no desire to release it?

 

[Patrick McCart]

Why would WB buy the rights to a picture if they have no desire to release it?

WB purchased Turner Entertainment, which owned the MGM catalog.

 

[Roger Rollins]

Major bummer about Brewster Mcloud. I'm postive if MGM still owned it the picture would already be out on DVD or be on it's way. One of things I love about MGM is they don't sit on their library

Don't be so sure....MGM owns the great (but B.O. failure) Altman film THIEVES LIKE US but hasn't released it on DVD. They also own his film O.C. & STIGGS but they haven't released that on DVD either. If they still owned BREWSTER McLOUD, they might very well bypass it for the movies they seem to be more inclined to release such as THE THING WITH TWO HEADS.

The reality is that it's highly doubtful that BREWSTER McLOUD (a film I really like, by the way) would be profitable for ANY company to release on DVD.

 

[Dave Barth]

I had to miss the chat because I was traveling at the time. I am very disappointed I had to miss the chat, now that I've read the chat transcript.

The questions were generally good. The responses were candid and it seemed as though the studio's participants tried to be as informative as possible.

I am very excited by the prospect that WB will begin releasing more of their classic titles. (I too wish the Ernst Lubitsch titles had been asked about specifically.)

I wish HTF could have similar quality chats with many other studios and distributors that, to date, haven't wanted to participate in such events. Of course, to be fair, my perception that this was a 'great' chat is likely biased upward. WB came with a LOT of good news to the chat!!

Ron and WB should be very pleased with the chat's outcome, IMHO. To say nothing of the members pleased to hear the news about certain titles, even if the news wasn't all good...Kudos to all the participants, too! Wish I could have joined you.

I do wish there had been other questions besides "Title X". The only one I recall was a good question about HD-DVD. It might have been nice to ask how the studio's release slate / pricing policies / release content might change since Warren Lieberfarb has left, or whether anamorphic 1.66:1 might be reconsidered... But these are precisely the kinds of questions I'm not sure they'd be willing to answer candidly.

As far as I'm concerned, looking at the missed questions is looking at the glass as 10% empty rather than 90% full!

 

[Jim_K]

I finally had a chance to look though the transcript today. First of all I appreciate Warner for participating & Thanks to Ron for bringing back the studio chats (which appeared to be a dead issue a while back).

Some thoughts

The Good
1. Adventures of Robin Hood is still on track for the fall.
2. Treasure of the Sierra Madre SE was a pleasant surprise.
3. Dial M For Murder & more Hitchcock in 2004 (Hopefully Foreign Correspondent)
4. Freaks in 2004
5. Val Lewton in 2004
6. More Hammer titles in 2004
7. More Harryhausen this year. Beast From 20,000 Fathoms at last

The Bad
1. No plans for the Boorman classic Point Blank
2. Blade Runner SE is tied up in legal Hell.

The Ugly
1. I'm absolutely stunned that nobody cared to asked the status of King Kong. Whatever :frowning:
2. Nobody asked about their Classic Westerns. Namely Mann's Naked Spur & Peckinpah's Ride the High Country, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid & Ballad of Cable Hogue. whatever
3. Way too many redundant & wasted questions (how many answers do you need for Batman the animated series & Dark Shadows?)


Other thoughts
1. Cagney films were hinted at but no specifics - Hopefully Public Enemy & White Heat in 2004
2. More Flynn films were hinted at. Hopefully The Sea Hawk & Captain Blood in 2004
3. Scorsese SE's in the wings. Bring em out already.

Quality was never an issue with Warner titles. A few years ago I was very negative toward Warner regarding the lack of faith they appeared to have in releasing their older catalog titles. I have to say I'm generally pleased with the way they've been opening up their vaults the past couple of years.

Having said that I'll be looking forward to some excellent catalog titles in the next few months (The Thing '51, The Haunting, Once Upon a Time in America, Right Stuff SE, Where Eagles Dare, House of Wax, etc.

 

[Greg_M]

Quote: 3. Way too many redundant & wasted questions (how many answers do you need for Batman the animated series & Dark Shadows?)


I agree. There is a flaw with the way the chats are conducted. If only members could pre-submit their questions to Ron and then have Ron ask them during the chat he could eliminate the reducency. Maybe the members could then responed to WB's answers during the chat.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

I agree that there needs to be some way to eliminate redundancy, perhaps someone could take the job of "question wrangler"? Then Ron could still concentrate on the order, and someone else could help eliminate these wasted questions.

The same with the whole snapper case thing. Every other studio can put their DVD's in amaray cases but WB can't?

.

Because other studios don't own their own manufacturing and pressing plants that make these cases/discs

 

[TimJS]

The problem with WB is they hold the rights to about 75% of all the sound-era hollywood films that I am interested in. I composed a question which stated something to the effect 'for every title from WB's library one can think of that needs to be issued on DVD, five more equally worthy titles instantaneously pop into your head'.

In any event I never could get thru, but the news from the chat, while short on detail, was enough to let me know that my DVD budget ain't gettin' any smaller anytime soon.

In general, the posters in this thread complain about titles missing from the chat are commenting on titles I would very much like to know about too. Really though, it's a two hour chat and only so many titles can be queried. I think we are seeing good signs about the WB vault & their awareness and intention to market and distribute, etc.

Regarding Kong, what was supposed to be asked? Confirmation of the 2004 release rumour? The announcement on the Bits wasn't official, but darned close.

I'm just grateful that HTF offers this platform to enthusiasts and that we got such good news this time around!

Tim

 

[Ray H]

* Casablanca re-release. Any word on contents?

It's rumored that Roger Ebert has recorded a commentary for Casablanca.

 

[Glenn_Jn]

quote:

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The same with the whole snapper case thing. Every other studio can put their DVD's in amaray cases but WB can't?
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Because other studios don't own their own manufacturing and pressing plants that make these cases/discs

So what! They should own a plant that produces amarays not snappers.

 

[James L White]

So what! They should own a plant that produces amarays not snappers.

AMEN, or at least invent some kind of good packaginf, snappers just make the DVDs look cheap with lousy protection of the DVD

 

[streeter]

I wasn't able to attend the chat but I'm glad that somebody asked about Nothing Lasts Forever. It's a great movie but it's never been out on video. Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd are trying to get it released. I'm glad that Warner at least knew about the movie and apparently looked into it but the 'legal problems' don't bode well.

About Christmas Story: It ran on TCM the other day in widescreen. I'm not sure if it was the same print as the old DVD (matted) or if it was new - I only watched a minute of it.

I hope that the first Police Academy will be a special edition, but a Bobcat commentary on 2 or 3 would be great as well... even better if they get Tim Kazurinsky with him. Steve Guttenberg commentary would be cool too, as well as a tribute to the guy who played Tackleberry (he died one or two years ago).

I absolutely can't wait until September for the next 2-disc wave (Sierra Madre, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Adventures of Robin Hood). They're already announcing August titles, so more definite info should be coming soon.

 

[DeathStar1]

Damn, didn't see the news about Police Academy. At least release 1-4 in Special Edition foramt. I'd be happy with some behind the scenes documentaries, perhaps a new retrospective one, some bloopers, and a commentary by the actors.

5-6 arn't bad, but arn't really good enough for an SE. Lets not even mention 7, shall we? Half the cast didn't even return for that one.

 

[Scott D S]

As for Police Academy, in a perfect world this is what they should do:

-Re-release the first one as a 20th Anniversary Special Edition early next year with trailers, outtakes, retrospective interviews, etc.

-Release 2-7 (7, ugh) with any and all trailers, deleted scenes (4 and 6 have a ton), etc.

-Release them separately and in a boxset.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

So what! They should own a plant that produces amarays not snappers.

But who would buy the snapper factory without a guarantee Warner would keep buying? And I don't think the plant would be easy to convert, either.

 

[AlanBrom]

I assume the "Hammers" are "Frankenstein Must be Destroyed," Taste the Blood of Dracula," "Dracula ad 1972" and "...Risen From the Grave" (I hope so). I'm surprised no one mentioned Polanski's "Fearless Vampire Killers."

I wish they would part with the snappers!!!

 

[Adam_S]

As for Police Academy, in a perfect world this is what they should do:

-Re-release the first one as a 20th Anniversary Special Edition early next year with trailers, outtakes, retrospective interviews, etc.

-Release 2-7 (7, ugh) with any and all trailers, deleted scenes (4 and 6 have a ton), etc.

-Release them separately and in a boxset.

That sounds great to me, although I'd appreciate not getting 7 in the box set the only other Police Academy I really don't care much for is 5, but I love 6

Adam