Warner Archive Collection to offer titles from Sony Pictures "Screen Classics By Request" (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

WARNER ARCHIVE COLLECTION TO OFFER TITLES FROM SONY PICTURES’ “SCREEN CLASSICS BY REQUEST[FONT= 'Times New Roman']”[/FONT]

[FONT= 'Times New Roman'] [/FONT]

[FONT= 'Times New Roman']150 Manufactured On Demand Titles from the Columbia Film Library to be featured[/FONT]

[FONT= 'Times New Roman']at both WarnerArchive.com and Columbia-Classics.com[/FONT]

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Burbank and Culver City, Calif., (April 13, 2011) – Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group (WBHEG). and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) today announced that Warner Archive Collection (WAC), Warner’s online on-demand distribution arm, will offer select catalog titles from SPHE’s “Screen Classics By Request.” Beginning April 13, www.warnerarchive.com will feature approximately 150 manufactured-on-demand titles from the Columbia Pictures film library. Fan favorites among these films include Genghis Khan, A Song To Remember and A Study In Terror.



The joint announcement was made today by Warner Executive Thomas Gewecke, President, Warner Bros. Digital [COLOR= black]Distribution and SPHE’s John Calkins, Executive Vice President, Global Digital and Commercial Innovation.[/COLOR]



“Our companies share the excitement of offering fans access to even more previously unreleased, hard to find titles all in a single location,” said Gewecke. “This is yet another exciting opportunity for us to provide even more films to aficionados and collectors, who have voracious appetites for the classics, and who value them for entertainment, historical context and collectability.”



“Warners has long been a pioneer in the deep catalog business, and we’re thrilled to partner and extend the reach of our extensive catalog to consumers,” added Calkins. “This is another step in the execution of our multi-platform distribution strategy to cultivate the market for the remarkable films in our vault.”



The Warner Archive Collection, established in March 2009, was the first online, manufacturing on-demand service to offer rare film and TV titles from their library, the world’s largest. DVDs are created only after consumers order them via the web. In a little more than two years, WAC has released nearly 1,000 previously unavailable films, short subjects, TV movies and mini-series.



Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s “Screen Classics by Request” program was announced last September with the introduction of 100 digitally remastered titles (never-before-released on DVD) spanning 75 years of movies from Columbia Pictures.



About Warner Bros. Digital Distribution

A Division of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution (WBDD) oversees the electronic distribution of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group’s content through Video-On-Demand, Pay-Per-View, Electronic Sell-Through and Subscription Video-On-Demand via cable, satellite, online and mobile channels. WBDD also distributes content through third party digital retailers and licensees. A worldwide industry leader since its inception, WBDD also manages the Studio’s E-commerce sites that include WBShop.com and WarnerArchive.com. Twitter: @WBDigitalDist





About Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group (WBHEG) brings together Warner Bros. Entertainment's home video, digital distribution, interactive entertainment, technical operations and anti-piracy businesses in order to maximize current and next-generation distribution scenarios. An industry leader since its inception, WBHEG oversees the global distribution of content through packaged goods (Blu-ray Disc and DVD) and digital media in the form of electronic sell-through and video-on-demand via cable, satellite, online and mobile channels, and is a significant developer and publisher for console and online video game titles worldwide. WBHEG distributes its product through third party retail partners and licensees, as well as directly to consumers through WBShop.com.





[FONT= 'Times New Roman']Sony Pictures Home Entertainment[/FONT]

[FONT= 'Times New Roman']Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is a Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) company. SPE is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution; television production and distribution; home entertainment acquisition and distribution; a global channel network; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; development of new entertainment products, services and technologies; and distribution of entertainment in more than 140 countries. Sony Pictures Entertainment can be found on the World Wide Web at[/FONT][FONT= 'Times New Roman']http://www.sonypictures.com[/FONT]

 

[ahollis]

This will interesting to follow. So many questions to be asked and so little time.

 

[Robert Crawford]

If it enhances and improves this business model for both studios and their customers then I'm all for it.







Crawdaddy

 

[jdee28]

Not really surprising given the state of Sony's MOD program, with its lack of buzz, feedback, etc.


When Warner does their sales, I hope they will apply to the Sony MODs too!



What's next for Warners, reaching out to Universal and eventually offering their MOD discs as well on the site?

 

[Gary OS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdee28

What's next for Warners, reaching out to Universal and eventually offering their MOD discs as well on the site?

Heck, I hope they reach out to MGM and encourage them to start releasing more season sets of a couple of their TV series that they apparently gave up on right out of the gate. I don't care who I buy it through, as long as more material gets out.


Gary "this is a very interesting development though" O.

 

[kingfish]

this is good news indeed. warner has a facebook page where one's questions are answered.

 

[WaveCrest]

TVShowsOnDVD have posted a new news article on their website about Hart to Hart. The five post-series TV movies already available, are going to be re-released through this program.


I'll be interested to see what the other films are on this list of 150 titles.

 

[jdee28]

Is this only a marketing venture, or will maybe some of the movie-loving big-wigs behind the Warner program participate in the Sony one as well, getting them to release more things on a more timely schedule? Maybe they can also respond to questions about the Sony MODs on Facebook like they do with the Warner stuff? Just as long as Warners doesn't tamper with Sony's policy of releasing each movie digitally remastered, I'd be ok with it.


It's probably only a marketing venture at this point, but here's hoping that nevertheless Warner can get Sony to kick things into high gear and have more of a dialogue with the public.

 

[Camps]

It seems like a simple consolidation of production, "back-office" and fulfillment functions, and maybe some marketing expense. Why should Sony and Warners separately hassle with order-taking, DVD-pressing, shipping, accounting etc etc when they can pool resources and save money on those functions(?)

This will be a plus for us if it frees up both studios to crank out more classic-DVD product. And it would be just fine if MGM and Fox/Twilight Time, Universal/TCM, et al. threw in with them. Whatever it takes for these studios to see profitability in dipping into their vaults and accelerating their MOD programs.

 

[John Stell]

I placed a couple of orders today (12 titles split between 2 orders in order to use the Savings code) and noted some things. First, the actual amount of titles available is 146. My own tracking of Sony's MOD releases is 148 but I'll have to check which two are missing. My typical 10% Archive purchase discount did not apply to these releases. However the SAVINGS code worked for both orders. (And you now lose any discounts anyway if you use Coupons.) I for one am very happy about this and will be curious to see how this "merger" impacts frequency/volume of releases on Sony's part. They have a lot of titles I'd love to own.

 

[WaveCrest]

Originally Posted by John Stell

First, the actual amount of titles available is 146. My own tracking of Sony's MOD releases is 148 but I'll have to check which two are missing.

They must have got the total number incorrect in the news article.


Is the list of films available to view on the web?

 

[John Stell]

Here is a link to the list


http://www.wbshop.com/Columbia-Classics/WASONY,default,sc.html?psortb1=name-sort&AID=10811526&PID=3821628&psortd1=1&sz=500

 

[WaveCrest]

Originally Posted by John Stell

Many thanks.


Just had a look at some of the titles on the first page and spotted something straight away which I haven't seen on TV in a very long time, the 1980 TV movie Detour to Terror, starring Lorenzo Lamas (not long before he started work on Falcon Crest) and Anne Francis. ITV showed it ages ago. A tense film, but I didn't see the ending of it. Good front cover artwork.

 

[John Stell]

The two that are not on the WB Archive site are Deadly Affair and Thieves (Les Voleurs). Deadly Affair is still on the Columbia Classics by Request site but Thieves is not (at least I couldn't find it.) Both are still listed at Deep Discount.

 

[Thomas T]

The subtitling on LES VOLEURS (aka THIEVES) needs to be done over. Right now, the titles are too high up and often mask the mouths of the actors speaking when there is plenty of room below.

 

[MLamarre]

This is good news. More people will probably find and buy the Sony MODs through Warner's site than through anywhere else. I hope this means that Sony will increase their output or at least the frequency of it. They seemed to have a steady release of 12 new titles on the first Tuesday of every month but then there was none for this month. They were having website problems last week so I knew something must be up. Now my wish is that they get involved with Facebook in some manner.

 

[SWFF]

My God, I'm just learning of this. Where the hell have I been?! Maybe, now, we'll be able to get some timely dates on what's coming from Sony.

 

[WaveCrest]

The films Contract on Cherry Street (1977), Fragment of Fear (1970), Out of the Dark (1988) (that front cover gives you the heebie--jeebies), A Reflection of Fear (1973) and Terror Among Us (1981) (stars Ted Shackelford) also sound good. Where 'widescreen' isn't mentioned, are these titles in fullscreen?

 

[Professor Echo]

Richard, CONTRACT ON CHERRY STREET was an American Made-For-Television movie and, as such, would not be in widescreen, or at least SHOULD NOT be in widescreen. It's not a bad picture and represents Frank Sinatra's last substantial acting performance, but it suffers from typically poor television production values and has a rambling script by the usually redoubtable, if occasionally heavy handed, Abby Mann.

 

[WaveCrest]

Originally Posted by Professor Echo

Richard, CONTRACT ON CHERRY STREET was an American Made-For-Television movie and, as such, would not be in widescreen, or at least SHOULD NOT be in widescreen. It's not a bad picture and represents Frank Sinatra's last substantial acting performance, but it suffers from typically poor television production values and has a rambling script by the usually redoubtable, if occasionally heavy handed, Abby Mann.

Thanks for clearing that up about Contract on Cherry Street Glen. Although (and don't take this as me being negative towards you) Frank Sinatra played a memorable part in a 1987 episode of Magnum, p.i. called "Laura". I hadn't heard of this film before, so thanks for answering my question.