Home Media Magazine - April 20-26, 2008 - (Page 10)

COMMENTARY www.homemediamagazine.com THE BUZZ BY ERIK GRUENWEDEL, SENIOR EDITOR The Trials and Tribulations of Blockbuster U nlike Wall Street, which considers Blockbuster Inc. an overstated 1980s relic whose relevance has been usurped by Netflix, digital distribution and sellthrough, I still like the rental giant. But Blockbuster’s latest moves are more head-scratch inducing than the last M. Night Shyamalan movie. The company continues to generate millions in revenue (and occasional profit) despite questionable strategies and ongoing efforts by electronic distribution and some studios (Warner Bros.) to silence DVD rental. Former Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons couldn’t have been more succinct when he said it would be a “cold day in hell” before he visited a video store. That made me want to renew my Blockbuster card. But when online rental pioneer Netflix deftly created DVD-by-mail, Blockbuster responded with all-you-caneat Total Access and ad spending (see Jessica Simpson THE COMPANY CONTINUES TO GENERATE MILLIONS IN REVENUE (AND OCCASIONAL PROFIT) DESPITE ONGOING EFFORTS BY ELECTRONIC DISTRIBUTION AND SOME STUDIOS (WARNER BROS.) TO SILENCE DVD RENTAL. and the Super Bowl) only a lunatic would greenlight. Consumers responded — Blockbuster suddenly had 3 million subscribers. But at a cost. Blockbuster had spent money like it was printing C-notes, and former CEO John Antioco appeared to be burning the candle at both ends — or was it dynamite? Then the board came to its senses and new CEO Jim Keyes promised a return to normalcy, saying the video store — not online — would again be the epicenter of packaged media. He should know. Keyes once convinced Erik Gruenwedel’s e-mail address is egruenwedel@questex. consumers to pay airport prices for produce at 7-Eleven. Keyes did pull a coup last week announcing plans to bow in-store displays with partner studios eager to jump-start Blu-ray. Then came scuttlebutt Blockbuster was contemplating a proprietary set-top box. And now it wants to buy troubled Circuit City for nearly $1.4 billion. Keyes should remember that Blockbuster once considered spending that much to outbid Movie Gallery for Hollywood Video. A quick call to Joe Malugen, CEO of bankrupt Gallery, would no doubt set him straight. Keyes also ought to know that Apple TV, Vudu, Akimbo TV and MovieBeam are just the latest unsuccessful attempts to distribute entertainment from the Internet to the TV via $200 boxes. Another set-top box? Oh, thank heaven. Maybe Blockbuster could next deliver video via the Slurpee machine. READERS’ FORUM I The following is a Q&A with Bill Hunt of the blog TheDigitalBits. com, on Blu-ray Disc: O N L IN E PO L L RESUL T S the like. All that is just bells and whistles to me. I HM: HD DVD seemed to have the edge on Blu-ray out of the gate in terms of special features (interconnectivity, new content downloads, etc.). In your opinion, did the delay of 2.0 for Blu-ray set back special features for the format? I Question Are special-edition re-releases of TV DVD season sets a good idea? An Insider’s Take on Blu-ray I HM: What types of special features would your readers like to see on Blu-ray Discs? What about you? Hunt: I think what serious movie fans appreciate most are the same kinds of things you ﬁnd on the best DVD special editions — really great documentaries, deleted scenes, good audio commentaries, etc. The key is that they have to really inform you about the ﬁlm itself, not sell you products or serve as EPK-ish promotional videos that just scratch the surface. Right now, Blu-ray really only appeals to the serious movie fans — the enthusiasts. And they want interesting, in-depth content that really gives them access to the production and informs them on the process. That’s the kind of thing I like too. My fear is that all the new interactive capabilities on Blu-ray will tend to be used simply as window-dressing, but they’re not really going to add anything of value. I’d like to see new ways to interact with the content, more immersion, etc. I don’t want screensavers and U-Store links. I HM: What do you think is the most interesting special feature for Blu-ray? Hunt: I thought the “Enter the Maelstrom” feature on Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End was interesting — it offered a new way to interact with bonus material. I like some of the picture-in-picture options we’ve seen on several titles, and I thought the mixing demo on Sunshine was interesting. I’m curious to see what this Telestrator commentary on Men in Black is like, and what the “living menus” on Disney’s upcoming Sleeping Beauty will be all about. I’d really like to see what Warner does with a new version of 300 on Blu-ray Disc eventually — imagine being able to ﬂip back and forth from the on-set footage to the ﬁnal footage, not in a PiP window, but full screen. Sooner or later, someone is going to do a “live” online video/ audio commentary session with a ﬁlmmaker. Those are all interesting, I think. And there have been a couple of good interactive game experiences — I quite liked the one on Ratatouille. But I’m just really tired of pop-up trivia, online store links, live chat boxes, ringtone downloads and Hunt: No, I really think this has been overblown. Frankly, not much of the interactive content I saw on HD DVD was even worth looking at. I mean, do I really need a pop-up showing Jason Bourne’s odds of surviving a bullet wound while watching The Bourne Identity? Is it really worth being able to pause Miami Vice to go mix up a cocktail based on a pop-up recipe during the ﬁlm? Does it really enhance my experience of Smokin’ Aces to be able to know in advance when the bad guys are about to appear via the Assassin Tracker feature? I mean, seriously. None of that adds real value to your enjoyment of a movie. There were a couple of interesting HD DVD titles — I liked what Bandai tried to do with Freedom Vol. 1, for example. Being able to download new subtitle sets, new trailers and menu schemes — that’s potentially very cool. But really, the best thing about having the Ethernet port built-in on HD DVD players was that it made ﬁrmware updates easier. The industry is going to have to prove to me that the connected, online experience can add real value to the movie viewing experience on Bluray. Right now, I just don’t see it. If I want to play games, I’ll buy an Xbox 360, PS3 or Wii. If I want to text chat or watch viral videos, I can do that on my PC or my phone. And the bottom line is, not a lot of mainstream consumers have Blu-ray players yet, other than the PS3, which is fully capable of all the advanced online features. As for set-top players, by the time most people start getting interested in buying them next year (when they get down to around $200), the whole proﬁle thing will be sorted out. People forget that when DVD ﬁrst launched, there were lots of features that the ﬁrst-generation players couldn’t handle — DTS audio, dual-layer switches, seamless branching, etc. You needed new players to do all that. And yet that didn’t hurt the adoption of DVD in the slightest. The whole proﬁle thing on Blu-ray has been way overblown. Would it have been better had it all been worked out before launch? Sure. But it’s not that big of a deal. I Answers A: Yes 17% B: No 47% C: Depends on what the extras are 36% Go to www.homemediamagazine.com and vote on this week’s question. We Want to Hear From You! Please send letters to: Editor, Home Media Magazine 201 East Sandpointe Ave., Suite 500 Santa Ana, CA 92707 E-mail: HomeMediaMagazine@questex.com Fax: 714.338.6712 Include name, business address (city and state) and telephone number. Letters are subject to editing. Join Us Online: www.homemediamagazine.com Visit our Web site to participate in discussion boards and weekly polls on the latest industry issues. Home Media Magazine April 20–26, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.homemediamagazine.com

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Home Media Magazine - April 20-26, 2008 Contents News Commentary TV DVD Horror Reviews Pipeline Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced

Home Media Magazine - April 20-26, 2008

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