WHV Press Release: The Exorcist 40th Anniversary (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

You want to buy the same movies 10 times that's your business. Personally, I don't plan on throwing money away on cash-grab releases just to get a shiny slipbox or a booklet I'm only going to look at once. Plus, you just know there's going to be another release in a couple of years. Maybe they'll get it right on the next one.

What's wrong with it?

 

[Jari K]

"You want to buy the same movies 10 times that's your business."Well, like I said: I love The Exorcist and I've seen it several times. But I don't have the film on Blu-ray. This 40th AV is a pretty good option for me - both versions, all the extras.Now since they're using the "old" transfers and (pretty much) the old extras, I don't see how this release would take some finance away from some other titles by WB. They basically just created a new bonus disc & packaging.Great films are being re-released. And after that they're being re-released again. Get used it. There's really nothing you can do about it.

 

[Nick*Z]

Have to disagree with you Jari K. You want to know what's to be done about it. Stop buying them. Send a clear message that the money grab stops here and now. Wasting money on multiples of anything these days is just silly...and wrong. Warner has rested far too long on their past re-re-releases. Their archive is a repository for some of the finest movies ever made by their own studio, MGM, RKO and the Goldwyn library. None of this phenomenal product is making its way into stores or through third part distribution via Twilight Time and/or Criterion or both - as it should.

To say we should all just settle for what's out there and keep feeding the kitty at WB every time they trickle out another Oz, Exorcist, JFK, et al. is ridiculous. Worse - it sends a message to the studio that there's still profit to be made off their rehashes. Badly done is badly done - period. Warner needs to spend its money correctly on pumping more product down the pipeline. They're argument has been that there's no market for classics in hi-def - except for the really big titles. But we've all seen Olive and Twilight Time and this year in particular, Fox, go crazy on releasing a ton of classic titles in hi-def - Fox doing some exceptionally fine work.

WB needs to commit to the fact that their old feasibility argument is not feasible. What it boils down to is this: the studio would rather play it safe than experiment with some of their lesser known titles. But even these titles are VERY well known. I mean, this is the studio that owns the rights to Around the World in 80 Days, Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939), The Women (1939), Random Harvest, National Velvet, Auntie Mame, The Great Ziegfeld, The Band Wagon, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Gaslight, High Society, The Brothers Karamazov, Dinner At Eight, The Student Prince, The Swan, Calamity Jane, Old Acquaintance, Dark Victory and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, to name but a handful of the many still MIA in hi def. The real problem herein is that Warner has been contented to do bare minimal mastering for their MOD DVD program - converting old legitimately authored DVD files to this less than perfect format.

Years ago when the WB Archive was announced I had a favorable view. After all, it made hundreds of titles available in the here and now for collectors to cherish. But the promise was always that WB would get around to mastering a goodly number of these gems in hi-def when the format came into its own. This hasn't happened and isn't likely to under the current home video regime over at WB. That's both a sham and a shame. The archive has become 'the only way to see great movies' on home video, thus turning a good concept into a very wrong idea. WB's releases of late aren't rescans of original camera negatives either, but cribbing from older digital files with marginal clean up. At least if we're getting a trickle in hi-def they ought to have the guts to do complete rescans!!!

The quick and dirty route has always appealed to studios in general and WB in particular for obvious reasons - cost-cutting to profit margin ratio widening. But its time everyone started sending a clearer message to the folks responsible that what we want is not what we're getting.

 

[Jari K]

Like I said, I don't own this film on Blu-ray. So for ME it's a pretty good package.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Have to disagree with you Jari K. You want to know what's to be done about it. Stop buying them. Send a clear message that the money grab stops here and now. Wasting money on multiples of anything these days is just silly...and wrong. Warner has rested far too long on their past re-re-releases. Their archive is a repository for some of the finest movies ever made by their own studio, MGM, RKO and the Goldwyn library. None of this phenomenal product is making its way into stores or through third part distribution via Twilight Time and/or Criterion or both - as it should.

To say we should all just settle for what's out there and keep feeding the kitty at WB every time they trickle out another Oz, Exorcist, JFK, et al. is ridiculous. Worse - it sends a message to the studio that there's still profit to be made off their rehashes. Badly done is badly done - period. Warner needs to spend its money correctly on pumping more product down the pipeline. They're argument has been that there's no market for classics in hi-def - except for the really big titles. But we've all seen Olive and Twilight Time and this year in particular, Fox, go crazy on releasing a ton of classic titles in hi-def - Fox doing some exceptionally fine work.

WB needs to commit to the fact that their old feasibility argument is not feasible. What it boils down to is this: the studio would rather play it safe than experiment with some of their lesser known titles. But even these titles are VERY well known. I mean, this is the studio that owns the rights to Around the World in 80 Days, Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939), The Women (1939), Random Harvest, National Velvet, Auntie Mame, The Great Ziegfeld, The Band Wagon, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Gaslight, High Society, The Brothers Karamazov, Dinner At Eight, The Student Prince, The Swan, Calamity Jane, Old Acquaintance, Dark Victory and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, to name but a handful of the many still MIA in hi def. The real problem herein is that Warner has been contented to do bare minimal mastering for their MOD DVD program - converting old legitimately authored DVD files to this less than perfect format.

Years ago when the WB Archive was announced I had a favorable view. After all, it made hundreds of titles available in the here and now for collectors to cherish. But the promise was always that WB would get around to mastering a goodly number of these gems in hi-def when the format came into its own. This hasn't happened and isn't likely to under the current home video regime over at WB. That's both a sham and a shame. The archive has become 'the only way to see great movies' on home video, thus turning a good concept into a very wrong idea. WB's releases of late aren't rescans of original camera negatives either, but cribbing from older digital files with marginal clean up. At least if we're getting a trickle in hi-def they ought to have the guts to do complete rescans!!!

The quick and dirty route has always appealed to studios in general and WB in particular for obvious reasons - cost-cutting to profit margin ratio widening. But its time everyone started sending a clearer message to the folks responsible that what we want is not what we're getting.

You keep forgetting that internet communities such as this one is only a very small segment of the BD marketplace. The reason why these re-releases keep coming is that the general public are buying them in enough quantities that encourages the studios to keep on releasing them. Furthermore, not everyone that reads or posts here has bought the previous BD of The Exorcist. Therefore, the timing of when most of us buy video products is greatly dependent on individual circumstances and most importantly, budgetary concerns. With that said, it's not your place or mine to tell anybody else when and how they should spend their monies. It's none of our business! You don't like these re-releases then you can exercise your right not to do so while others have the right to do otherwise if they feel fit to buy them.

 

[Nick*Z]

Okay Robert:

I have officially decided to bow out of this discussion and WHV entirely. You may consider this my very last post! It seems that this forum doesn't respect the rights of anyone who disagrees with the status quo. To be clear, I only said I disagreed with Jari K and then explained why I disagreed with him on the points he made. I didn't attack Jari, didn't tell him what to do with 'his' money or tell anyone else what they should do with theirs either. I merely pointed out that if the situation is to be rectified the public should stop encouraging the studios to re-issue titles by NOT buying them. That wasn't a command. It was a suggestion. If you can't denote the difference between the two then I don't know what to tell you!

Furthermore, it hasn't been lost on me that for some time you've dogged ANY comments I've made on this forum with a belligerent attack on MY views and MY opinions simply because you can as a moderator on this site. That's your prerogative. However, being a moderator gives you the authority NOT the right to jump all over opinions that you feel are counter to your own! If you go back into the archive you'll see that I have never pounced on ANY individual on this forum for voicing their opinions herein.

As someone who's been keeping tabs and working with industry insiders - and therefore has some knowledge as to what I am talking about - at least enough to voice my opinion with a level of confidence and credence - I find it thoroughly disgusting that you would take such relish in attacking me on just about every post I've made on this forum.

Well, congratulations. You win. You don't play fair, but you win. I'm thoroughly soured on this forum and participating in it any further. Enjoy your position of dominance, then. I can guarantee it isn't half as fulfilling or important as you think it is!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Okay Robert:

I have officially decided to bow out of this discussion and WHV entirely. You may consider this my very last post! It seems that this forum doesn't respect the rights of anyone who disagrees with the status quo. To be clear, I only said I disagreed with Jari K and then explained why I disagreed with him on the points he made. I didn't attack Jari, didn't tell him what to do with 'his' money or tell anyone else what they should do with theirs either. I merely pointed out that if the situation is to be rectified the public should stop encouraging the studios to re-issue titles by NOT buying them. That wasn't a command. It was a suggestion. If you can't denote the difference between the two then I don't know what to tell you!

Furthermore, it hasn't been lost on me that for some time you've dogged ANY comments I've made on this forum with a belligerent attack on MY views and MY opinions simply because you can as a moderator on this site. That's your prerogative. However, being a moderator gives you the authority NOT the right to jump all over opinions that you feel are counter to your own! If you go back into the archive you'll see that I have never pounced on ANY individual on this forum for voicing their opinions herein.

As someone who's been keeping tabs and working with industry insiders - and therefore has some knowledge as to what I am talking about - at least enough to voice my opinion with a level of confidence and credence - I find it thoroughly disgusting that you would take such relish in attacking me on just about every post I've made on this forum.

Well, congratulations. You win. You don't play fair, but you win. I'm thoroughly soured on this forum and participating in it any further. Enjoy your position of dominance, then. I can guarantee it isn't half as fulfilling or important as you think it is!

So I can't disagree with your opinion? Furthermore, how did I not respect your rights to post your opinion? If I can't express my personal opinion as freely as you can yours then why does this forum exists?

You keep forgetting that internet communities such as this one is only a very small segment of the BD marketplace. The reason why these re-releases keep coming is that the general public are buying them in enough quantities that encourages the studios to keep on releasing them. Furthermore, not everyone that reads or posts here has bought the previous BD of The Exorcist. Therefore, the timing of when most of us buy video products is greatly dependent on individual circumstances and most importantly, budgetary concerns. With that said, it's not your place or mine to tell anybody else when and how they should spend their monies. It's none of our business! You don't like these re-releases then you can exercise your right not to do so while others have the right to do otherwise if they feel fit to buy them.

I see nothing in my comments above that should be taken as some kind of personal attack on you or your opinion. Merely, pointing out that none of us have the right to tell others how to spend their personal monies is not any type of attack.

 

[Ruz-El]

Sad to see Nick go since I agree completely with his initial, pre-bowing out post. Warner's stock has dropped considerably with me since the Archives has come into being. Part of it is me being cheap and having a long memory in which I recall buying sets of catalogue titles at a fair price instead of being offered the same titles again and again at premium pricing in collectors sets (nick named "Boxes of Junk" by others on this forum), or as MOD titles, mostly with minimal restoration. There used to be a time when a re-release like this would get pushed out with five other, new to DVD titles, and more often than not the whole works included in a value packed boxset. Not even that is happening anymore

So I choose to buy very carefully. I understand that Warner's has a board to report profits too, and their get rich quick thinking isn't related only to DVD/Bluray sales, their comic book side with DC Comics is an absolute disaster for the most part, but it also means that I don't have to like it or support it. So I don't.

Any title that comes from Warner's is now a "wait until it hits dirt cheap" title for me. They used to be pre-orders. It's all I can do as a consumer to voice my displeasure with their practices. I'm in the minority, so my voice is barely a squeak, but it's all I can do. :S

 

[Bryan Tuck]

I really don't blame Warner for repurposing two perfectly good discs from 3 years ago. In the particular case of The Exorcist, though, I just wish they would get rid of that stupid morphing effect on Damian that's been in the "original" version since 1998.

It's a minor thing, but if they fixed it (along with restoring the original logo and including the original mono track), I'd probably buy a new copy. Considering the promotion they gave this release, it seems like that would have been a financially feasible thing to accomplish.

 

[Ruz-El]

It's a minor thing, but if they fixed it (along with restoring the original logo and including the original mono track), I'd probably buy a new copy. Considering the promotion they gave this release, it seems like that would have been a financially feasible thing to accomplish.

That's the thing, these cash in re-releases aren't even correcting previously released problems. The attitude seems to be primarily profit driven instead of film driven. It doesn't matter how minor the issue is, if it's not replicating the original theatrical release, than it's a problem. It seemed like 5 or so years ago, the film came first, it doesn't feel that way anymore.

I don't blame the people doing the hard work on these releases, I'm sure if they were budgeted we would of seen the things you mention on this release, and the corrections listed in the Wizard of Oz thread. I blame Time-Warner Corporate for hand cuffing the budgets of the people who do the work, and instead pimping out old money makers for the quick buck. We've seen the work that the people in the know can do, it's brilliant stuff. Unless corporate see's the value in letting them do that work, which doesn't seem likely any time soon, I don't think we'll see anything different in upcoming years other than more of the same.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I wonder if retail shelf space comes into play. Once a title is a no longer a new release it tends to disappear from retailer shelves and becomes limited to web purchase. By bringing out a "new" version does that give it a better chance of being stocked at retail?

 

[darkrock17]

I wonder if retail shelf space comes into play. Once a title is a no longer a new release it tends to disappear from retailer shelves and becomes limited to web purchase. By bringing out a "new" version does that give it a better chance of being stocked at retail?

B&N had it stocked when I was there a week ago, it was even 50% off, I would of bought, but I currently have no room for anymore Blu's and DVD's.

 

[ahollis]

Warner seems to be going full speed on pushing THE EXORCIST.

 

[JohnMor]

Yeah, but the pea soup McFlurry is a bit much.

 

[darkrock17]

The Pazuzu nuggets are great.

 

[KMR]

I started to think of ideas for the ketchup and dipping sauce, but decided that I'm just not going to go there...

 

[Reed Grele]

Quoth Peter Lorre (in The Raven)... "How vomitable!"

 

[darkrock17]

KMR, on 01 Nov 2013 - 2:15 PM, said:

I started to think of ideas for the ketchup and dipping sauce, but decided that I'm just not going to go there...

Green Ketchup would great along sidewith the Pazuzu nuggets.

 

[JohnMor]

KMR, on 01 Nov 2013 - 2:15 PM, said:

Green Ketchup would great along sidewith the Pazuzu nuggets.

They could call it "Captain Howdy Sauce."

 

[Jari K]

Here we go again (it seems)Blatty) "Regarding Legion (Exorcist 3), Warner Brothers is doing an all-Exorcist package which will include a Blu-ray, though without any features." ( www.theninthconfiguration.com )