Home Media Magazine - March 16-22, 2008 - (Page 26) NEWS Tivo Offers YouTube Content Continued from page 1 TALENT TALK www.homemediamagazine.com Attempts heretofore to distribute content online have been limited to PCs through such sites as Amazon Unbox, CinemaNow, Movielink, Veoh and iTunes. Exceptions such as Apple TV and Microsoft TV have had limited results. YouTube video will be available later this year only to broadband subscribers with a third-series DVR. “Convergence between the Internet and the TV has been going on for a while, and this is another step in that direction,” said Arvind Bhatia, analyst for Sterne Agee Group. Analysts say the deal is a new way TiVo remains relevant at a time when time-shifting entertainment, especially TV programming, escalates and cable operators inundate the market with DVRs for as little as $5 per month. Phil Leigh, media analyst with Inside Digital Media, said the deal is noteworthy despite the relative low number of broadband subscribers because users can navigate the videos with their TV remote. “This agreement, if nothing else, demonstrates they have the technical inclination to do it,” he said. Independent analyst Andy Marken views TiVo’s inclusion of YouTube as more protective of its brand than a proactive strategy. “The greatest danger to TiVo will come from the increasing use of the notebook and PC as an all-inclusive content source for the TV,” Marken said. “Both Intel and Microsoft have major initiatives in this area and solution trials are already underway.” Amy Heckerling Drew From Her Own Life for New DTV Comedy By Billy Gil my Heckerling, the director behind Clueless and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, returns with I Could Never Be Your Woman, released on DVD from Genius Products and The Weinstein Co. Starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Paul Rudd and Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan (Atonement), the film skipped a theatrical run and went straight to DVD, hitting the top 10 rental chart its first week in stores, according to Home Media Research. Heckerling discussed making the film, and its DTV distribution. everything going. Paul Rudd I had worked with before (in Clueless), and I love him. They made a really good pair. They had wonderful chemistry together. Then I had to use as many people from England as possible because you get a tax break. I didn’t know if I’d be able to find someone as young as the daughter is with an American accent, and then I found Saoirse, and she was amazing. I HM: What’s on the DVD? This is in junior high, and it freaks her out. She tries in her frazzled way to tell her daughter that’s not how to become popular. … Saoirse is really funny with this kind of, “oh please, I know all about it.” I HM: How do you feel about the film being distributed straight to DVD? CDSA Panelists on Blu-ray Continued from page 12 for the average consumer. Blu-ray replicators are pushing out product at a rapid pace, but capacity will be strained soon if more production lines aren’t created quickly. And studios need to decide how long Blu-ray remains a value-added proposition and how long before it could replace DVD. David Hoffmann, VP of Nielsen Home Entertainment, said the PlayStation 3 killed HD DVD. “Shortly after it launched, Blu-ray sales overtook HD DVD and never looked back,” he said. Hoffmann added that, despite reports to the contrary, high-def is actually lagging behind where DVD was at two years after it was introduced. “The benefits of DVD over VHS were easily communicated,” he said. “With Blu-ray it’s a little different.” Because Blu-ray players are backward-compatible with DVD, consumer adoption of high-def will be slower than it was for DVD, Adams said. “We sat down post-Warner [Bros.’ decision to go Blu-ray exclusive] to see how that affected our models,” Adams said. He said that by 2016, 90 million Blu-ray players will be in U.S. households, playing a total of 900 million discs sold. By 2012, consumer Blu-ray spending will outpace that of DVD, he added, and total Blu-ray units will pass DVD units sold a year later. The CDSA forecasts that 922 million Blu-ray Discs will be sold by 2012, compared to only 7.8 million in 2007. Hoffmann also shared that the top 20 markets for Blu-ray sales — New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Washington, D.C. — represent nearly 60% of the national market, and that specialty stores, while key in the launch of DVD, have struggled to sell high-def. The Best Buys and Targets of the world have led the way. “People just aren’t going to the specialty retailers anymore,” Hoffman said. One big problem for Blu-ray is replicators’ ability to meet demand. “By the time we get into [the fourth quarter of 2008], there will be a problem with capacity,” said Jim Bottoms of Understanding & Solutions. He said it will take 80 new Blu-ray production lines in the next two years to meet the U.S. demand for Blu-ray. “Can the manufacturing industry really gear up to meet the demand?” he asked. Bottoms’ firm estimates it’ll take an investment of $250 million for new Blu-ray production lines and testing equipment. Michael Mitchell, CTO and EVP of Sony DADC, said his company has churned out more than 115 million total Blu-ray Discs, at an average of 5.8 seconds per disc. “Since August we’ve been completely loaded,” he said, adding that the company’s employees only took New Year’s Day, Christmas and Thanksgiving off to fill all the orders. “The demand has been so high.” There’s hope consumers will adopt Blu-ray en masse down the road, mostly because of HDTVs. Bottoms said because consumers are buying bigger and bigger HDTVs every year, their standard DVDs are going to look less and less impressive on the screen. He called it a “consumer con” because they’ll have to upgrade to Blu-ray to match the quality offered by their TVs. And in five to seven years, “people will automatically replace.” Heckerling: There was a scene I had to cut out for the rating, and I didn’t think it was a nasty scene, I thought it was quite the opposite. Michelle is I HM: Tell me about I Could Never Be Your teaching her daughter how to drive Woman. using the little carts they use on the Heckerling: It’s about a woman who studios, and Saoirse tells her the works in the television industry in popular girls are having oral sex. the tween market who’s sort of catering to the young-girl audience. NICHES IN THE CARDS FOR INDIE MAGICPLAY She actually has a young girl and is as will future Imax, Blu-ray Disc and foraware that what she’s being forced By Chris Tribbey SUPPLIER MagicPlay Entertainment has eign-language titles. But the new titles are to do is different than the reality of dropped Razor Digital as its distribution part- all MagicPlay. Due May 20, from the “Pat what young girls are. … Meanwhile, ner for new acquisitions and has nabbed titles, Boone Presents” line-up, are Thank You the woman falls for a younger guy specifically geared toward niche audiences. Billy Graham and For My Country: The and knows that’s totally wrong and “More and more we’re finding shelf History of the National Guard. June 17, fights it. It’s about growing up, but space harder to come by as an indepen- MagicPlay will drop two music titles with at what age, and how you want to dent. So we’re targeting certain markets,” The Great Crooners and Big Time Swing. do that. I HM: How did you cast the film? Heckerling: I hope everybody sees it. It’s heartbreaking to me it wasn’t in theaters. … The whole situation has been upsetting to me. … When we were screening it, I was just relieved people were enjoying it so much. It never occurred to me that a movie people liked wouldn’t be coming out in theaters. That’s still kind of blowing my mind. … But people keep saying things are changing, and it’s a whole new market. Heckerling: Michelle had read the script and was a real champion of it and helped get it made. She was very much instrumental in getting said Mitch Perliss, MagicPlay’s senior North American business director. MagicPlay’s existing catalog titles will continue to be distributed by Razor Digital, Perliss also said MagicPlay has snapped up the rights to three baseball titles: New York Yankees: Murderers’s Row, Subway Series and Pee Wee and Jackie. JUST ANNOUNCED A Weekly Product Update* TITLE STREET DATE PREBOOK BOX OFFICE (MILLIONS) GENRE PRICE 27 Dresses 4/29 3/26 $75.2 Comedy DVD $29.98, BD $39.98 Fox. 2008. Katherine Heigl, Edward Burns, Judy Greer, James Marsden, Malin Akerman. A young woman struggles with the adage “always a bridesmaid, never a bride” after serving as a bridesmaid 27 times. Includes deleted scenes and four featurettes. Charlie Wilson’s War 4/22 Now $66.7 Drama DVD $29.98 Universal. 2007. Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams. Based on the real-life covert dealings of a Texas congressman who fights to rid Afghanistan of Soviet forces without considering the consequences. Rambo 5/27 4/30 $42.5 Action DVD $29.95 Lionsgate. 2008. Sly is back, this time to rescue missionaries from Burmese soldiers. The fourth Rambo film is also available as a two-DVD special edition for $34.98, a two-Blu-ray Disc set for $39.99 and in Rambo: The Complete Collector’s Set (DVD $54.98), which includes all four films. Untraceable 5/13 4/10 $28.7 Thriller DVD $28.95, BD $38.96 Sony Pictures. 2008. Diane Lane, Colin Hanks, Billy Burke, Joseph Cross. The FBI cyber crime division and a police detective search for a serial killer who is murdering his victims online with the aid of Internet voyeurs. Includes four behind-the-scenes featurettes and commentary. Youth Without Youth 5/13 4/10 $0.2 Drama DVD $29.95, BD $38.96 Sony Pictures. 2007. Tim Roth, Alexandra Maria Lara, Bruno Ganz. Based on a novella by acclaimed author Mircea Eliade, a professor in preWWII Europe is rendered young and immortal, chased by Nazis, and must ultimately choose between his life’s work and the love of his life. Typhoon 5/27 4/15 $0.1 Action DVD $24.95 Genius. 2006. A modern-day pirate, seeking revenge for the murder of his family, steals a http://www.homemediamagazine.com
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