Home Media Magazine - March 30 - April 5, 2008 - (Page 34)

NEWS Replicators Adjusting to BD Continued from page 1 www.homemediamagazine.com BRIEFS I TIME WARNER CEO 2007 PAY: $19.45 MILLION Time Warner Inc. CEO Jeff Bewkes’ cost-cutting mandate didn’t prevent him from upping his compensation nearly 30% in 2007 to $19.45 million, including a $1.25 million base salary, a $7 million bonus and $11.2 million in stock options, according to regulatory filings. Time Warner owns Warner Bros. Entertainment, including Warner Home Video, and New Line Cinema, recently folded as part of the cost-cutting measure. Bewkes, who took over as CEO at the beginning of the year, also hinted at selling stakes in Time Warner Cable Inc. and AOL. Bewkes, who is slated to earn a minimum $10.25 million in 2008, could significantly increase his total compensation based on options on 950,000 shares and other goal-oriented incentives. The former president and COO earned total compensation of $14.9 million in 2006. Previous CEO and current chairman Richard Parsons received total 2007 compensation worth more than $18.6 million. – Erik Gruenwedel Now that there’s only one high-def choice, and with studios such as Universal Studios and Paramount expected to add their movies on Blu-ray, some fear the load may be too much too soon for existing production lines. “By the time we get into the fourth quarter of this year, there will be a problem with capacity,” Jim Bottoms, co-managing director of research firm Understanding & Solutions, said earlier this month. U&S estimates an investment of $250 million and 80 new Blu-ray production lines will be needed in the next two years to meet demand. That’s what it will take to meet the demand of not only Blu-ray movies, but also games for the PlayStation 3. Workers at Sony DADC have been swamped since August, according to Michael Mitchell, CTO and EVP of Sony DADC. More than 115 million total Blu-ray Discs have been made by Sony DADC’s production lines, he said, 80% of which are 50GB. He added that Sony DADC is also offering more authoring support to independents. With AACS encryption, mastering, authoring and compression, replication and packaging, the costs pile up quickly to make a Blu-ray Disc, replicators emphasized, and can be especially risky for independents. “The biggest concern from an indie standpoint was the initial investment, as it is a very expensive process,” said Tony Perez, president of Phoenix Entertainment Group, which just this month announced its first two Blu-ray titles. “Obviously we are not a major label.” More than one manufacturer put the cost to content owners at $4 to $5 per disc for a small run of 25,000 discs. That’s compared to less than $1 each for the same amount of DVDs. The costs for manufacturers to install Blu-ray lines can be just as daunting. One replicator, who asked to remain anonymous, pegged the figure for a 50GB BD line at nearly $2.7 million and a 25GB BD line at between $1.5 million and $1.7 million. “The cost of the equipment seems almost prohibitive for small to mid-size replicators,” said Paula Tait, EVP of sales and marketing for Precise/Full Service Media, which does replication, packaging and distribution. “The question is, how quickly will other manufacturers start offering Blu-ray?” Sheldon said another concern facing replicators about Blu-ray is yield — how many usable discs actually come out of the production lines. Early on, he said, only half of the discs from Blu-ray production lines were coming out correctly. It’s about 75% now, he speculated. “Blu-ray is not easy to make,” he said. But Ed Virgie, president of Media Services Group, which sells replication equipment and helps with replication plant set-up, said DVDs weren’t easy to make at first either. “The same yield-issue existed when we went from DVD-5s to DVD-9s,” he said. “As you perfected it, perfected the equipment, the yield got better. It can take years to get yield up into the 90s (percentage), but it will happen with Blu-ray.” Yet another issue is the onset of electronic delivery of content, and the decline in physical media. “The issue here now is the market for physical media is declining, and the life-span for a format is declining,” Tait said. VHS launched in the late 1970s and wasn’t overtaken by DVD in terms of sales until 2003. DVD launched in 1997; Blu-ray hit the scene less than a decade later. Tait added that capacity at existing Blu-ray production lines may be full for the next year and a half, even with reported plans by Sony DADC, Cinram and Technicolor — the three major Blu-ray Disc manufacturers — adding dozens of new lines. But replicators said more demand than capacity can be construed as good news for the Blu-ray format, as the issue will work itself out if history has anything to say about it. “I think it’s a market force issue,” said Andy Parsons, SVP of product planning for the home entertainment group at Pioneer Electronics and marketing director of the Bluray Disc Association. “If you have capacity and demand in imbalance, the market responds. This happened with every new format that’s shipped, back to Laserdisc and CD.” Tait remembers back to the launch of DVD. “It was just WAMO and Nimbus (later bought by Technicolor) that invested in the lines,” he said. Now that there is a winner, more home entertainment manufacturing companies are testing the waters. “We studied it for a year before we got into it,” said Troy Burlage, VP of sales for authoring and compression house Post Modern Group. “I think this will be a breakout year for Blu-ray.” “Now that we don’t have a format war, it’s clear what needs to be adopted,” Parsons said. But Sheldon said companies such as his will have to wait for now. “No one knew which format would win out, and we couldn’t afford to play around with either,” Sheldon said. “I imagine the bigger guys are ramping up, but for now, for the smaller guys like us, getting into it is out of reach.” Chipmunks Go on Tour By Chris Tribbey MARKETING To promote the April 1 DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases of Alvin and the Chipmunks, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is putting on a cross-country, three-week “Get Munk’D Tour,” with Alvin, Simon and Theodore stopping at malls, singing songs from the film. Hitting 13 cities by April 13, the tour also includes giveaways for fans, including Panasonic flash drives featuring digital photos of the film. There will be three shows per day at each location, with step- by-step dance lessons and video game stations. The tour started March 27 with a charity concert for VH1 Save the Music Foundation in Hollywood, with stars from the movie and teen music artists Keke Palmer and TSquad performing. The tour stopped in Philadelphia and Dallas March 28 and Detroit and Denver March 30. It continues in Chicago and Salt Lake City April 4, Minneapolis and Seattle April 6, Atlanta and San Francisco April 11, and St. Louis and San Diego April 13. JUST ANNOUNCED A Weekly Product Update* Semi-Pro STREET DATE The Eye BOX OFFICE (MILLIONS) Vince Vaughn’s Wild West … TITLE PREBOOK GENRE PRICE Semi-Pro 6/3 4/29 $32.6 Comedy DVD $34.99, BD $39.98 New Line. 2008. Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, André Benjamin, Maura Tierney. Jackie Moon is the owner, head coach and star player for an ABA basketball team that he wants included in the NBA merger. Includes four featurettes, a music video, behind-the-scenes footage and more. The Eye 6/3 5/7 $31.2 Horror DVD $29.95, BD $39.99 Lionsgate. 2008. Jessica Alba, Alessandra Nivola, Parker Posey, Rachel Ticotin. A woman has surgery to restore her sight and begins to see strange things. Includes featurettes and deleted scenes. Also available in a two-DVD set ($34.98), which has a digital copy of the film. Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show 6/3 4/29 $0.6 Documentary DVD $27.95 DATE CHANGE. New Line. 2006. The film follows Vaughn and four comics — Ahmed Ahmed, John Caparulo, Brett Ernst and Sebastian Maniscalco — on a tour of performances in 30 cities in 30 nights. Includes two commentaries and four featurettes. The List 6/10 5/14 $0.14 Drama DVD $26.98 Fox. 2007. Malcolm McDowell, Chuck Carrington, Hilarie Burton, Will Patton. Based on the novel by Robert Whitlow, a man searches for answers after his father’s mysterious death when his inheritance is only an obscure reference to a contract. The Boondocks: The Complete Second Season 6/10 5/8 TV Animated DVD $49.95 Sony Pictures. Voices of Regina King, John Witherspoon, Cedric Yarbrogh, Jill Talley, Gabby Soleil, Gary Anthony Williams. Three-DVD set includes 13 uncut and uncensored episodes from the 2006-07 season, plus two episodes not aired in the United States. Includes commentaries and more. Fastlane: The Complete Series 7/8 6/3 TV Action DVD $59.98 Warner. 2002-2003. Peter Facinelli, Bill Bellamy, Tiffani Thiessen. Six-DVD set includes all 22 episodes from the 2002-03 series about two undercover detectives trying to eliminate dangerous crime rings in Los Angeles. Includes unaired and extended scenes, bloopers and more. * In order of box office, then prebook date Home Media Magazine March 30–April 5, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - March 30 - April 5, 2008

Home Media Magazine - March 30-April 5, 2008 Contents News Commentary TV DVD Reviews Pipeline Top 20 DVD Sellers Research Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced

Home Media Magazine - March 30 - April 5, 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.