Home Media Magazine - September 30 - October 6, 2007 - (Page 32)

NEWS Directors in the Middle of HD Format Fight DVD player at home, but not BluDenver Sept. 5. ray, he said. He’s facing the same isProducer, writer and actor Michael sue some consumers face: too many Imperioli has been stumping for set-tops for one TV. Toshiba’s HDTVs and for HD DVD “I must find a little bit of space since May, appearing in HD DVD among all the machines in there,” commercials. Petersen said of his home entertainJerry Bruckheimer has been firmly ment set-up. “Soon.” lodged in the Blu-ray corner since day one, calling it a “theater experience.” «WHEN I SAW WHAT THE But for every filmmaker who’s in TECHNICIANS HAD DONE, I the high-def spotlight, there’s anoth- WAS HORRIFIED; THEY MADE er who’s shying away from it. IT BRIGHT AND PRETTY! “HD DVD [vs.] Blu-ray seems to ‘ANIMAL HOUSE’ WAS DELIBme more of a fight between corpoERATELY DARK AND FUNKY.» rate giants than a real debate,” John JOHN LANDIS Landis said. “If you’ll recall, Betamax was better, but lost to VHS. Some filmmakers are very aware of “And the public didn’t really care.” the competing formats and what Mick Garris, who said high-def they can do in the special features dediscs are for “a very elite, limited partment. 300 director Zack Snyder, crowd,” railed against the studios for along with 300 executive producer allowing Blu-ray vs. HD DVD to and wife Deborah, hinted during happen in the first place. Comic-Con this summer that anoth“Format wars are a foolish waste of er Blu-ray release was in store, with technological progress,” he said. “In the same features as the HD DVD. my utopia, the competing compa“I think there’s going to be anothnies would all get together, put their er Blu-ray special edition later on,” eggs in a single basket, and give Deborah Snyder said. peace a chance.” Stone noted that a feature-length One can’t assume Hollywood’s di- documentary about his Alexander rectors are completely savvy to high- Revisited: The Final Cut, made by his def at home either. Neither Garris son Sean, “is only on the [HD DVD nor Landis has a Blu-ray or HD DVD and Blu-ray] because it doesn’t fit inplayer, they said. to the two-disc [DVD].” Same with Oliver Stone. Paul Hemstreet, Warner Home “I’m going to, I’m going to,” Stone Video VP of DVD special features, said about getting high-def players said his studio has had to educate at home. “I have a nice plasma some directors about high-def along screen.” the way. Wolfgang Petersen has an HD “I know when we launched [BluContinued from page 1 www.homemediaretailing.com ray and HD DVD] every [director] wanted to take part,” Hemstreet said. “Some are more knowledgeable than others.” Most directors at least seem aware of the benefits — and pitfalls — of the clearer picture offered by HD. Sam Raimi said he was excited that Spider-Man 3 fans will be able to “appreciate it on Blu-ray Disc.” But he voiced a concern relevant to any animated or special effects-laden film on high-def: “I hope it doesn’t reveal any of the mistakes we made.” And then there are films that maybe shouldn’t make it to high-def. “My first experience was Animal House,” Landis lamented of the HD DVD. “When I saw what the technicians had done, I was horrified; they had made it bright and pretty! Animal House was deliberately dark and funky. “They did adjust it, writing in their report ‘image degraded at director’s request.’” Yet for all the benefits of high-def — better audio, 1080p video, more interactive special features — it all still comes down to the movie itself, according to director Kevin Reynolds. “I used to be a major audiophile, but to me it’s still about story and character,” Reynolds said. “You can have the worst video and audio quality, but if the story and characters work, you’re on the edge of your seat.” Clarity isn’t always the directors’ aim. “To me, things look too good,” said horror director Rob Zombie told Agent DVD. Studio Panel at ESCA At the inaugural ESCA Europe confab in Madrid, attended by nearly 200 European and worldwide executives, a studio panel of (L-R) Edwin van der Meerendonk, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment; Myra Eskes, NBC Universal London; moderator Alison Casey, Understanding & Solutions; Aodan Coburn, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment; and John Quinn, Warner Home Video, discussed supply chain execution in the product life cycle of DVD. ESCA is produced by DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group and Martin Porter Associates. Google Steals, Group Says Continued from page 1 L AT E F L A S H E S I BEST BUY GETS TOM PETTY EXCLUSIVE Best Buy has landed an exclusive deal with Warner Bros. Records to sell Runnin’ Down a Dream: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, a four-disc DVD set that follows the legendary band from their Gainesville, Fla., roots to their 30th anniversary. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, the set will be on sale starting Oct. 16, two days after the film closes the New York Film Festival at the Walter Reade Theatre. The Sundance Channel will premiere the film Oct. 29. –Chris Tribbey I TOSHIBA BOWING COMBO RECORDERS The tech Web site Engadget reported Toshiba will bow four new combo recorders. The RD-W301 will record HD DVD, DVD and VHS and comes with a 300GB drive, HDMI, S-Video outlets and a TV tuner at $785. The RD-E301 has everything but the VHS recorder ($698) and the RD-S301 has double the tuners and an Ethernet port ($785). The RD-S601 includes a 600GB drive, a DV input and i.LINK connectivity. The first two players are set to ship in October in Japan, while the second two will be available in November. –Chris Tribbey I BEST BUY SHUFFLES EXECS Best Buy has reorganized the top of its executive team, moving entertainment chief Shari Ballard to EVP of retail management, former CFO and EVP of finance, Darren Jackson, to EVP of customer operating groups, and James Muehlbauer to interim SVP and CFO. Ballard, who was in charge of entertainment, multichannel and human capital since June, previously served as EVP of human resources and legal. –Chris Tribbey I BLOCKBUSTER TOUTS ‘1408’ EXCLUSIVE Blockbuster Inc. is launching the online game “1408 Room & Doom,” inspired by the movie 1408 starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson, at www.1408themoviedvd.com, to highlight that Blockbuster will have exclusive rentals and alternate endings on the film’s video release. 1408, from the Weinstein Co., hits DVD through distributor Genius Products Oct. 2. — Billy Gil it was pretty widespread.” NLPC’s research included hiring Boehm’s 18-year-old nephew for $10 an hour from Sept. 10 through Sept. 18. They turned up 300 apparently pirated films with a combined 22 million views. A list of the films, including recent theatrical films such as Shrek the Third, Ocean’s Thirteen and The Bourne Ultimatum, can be found on NLPC’s Web site at www.nlpc.org. “I think if we had more time and did it in a more systematic way, we could have found thousands,” Boehm said. Most of the films are found through tricks, such as misspelling the film’s name or using related film titles. For instance, a Google search for Ocean’s Thirteen turned up a full video of Ocean’s Twelve star Catherine ZetaJones’ recent romantic comedy No Reservations. A search for The Bourne Ultimatum revealed full-length videos of Knocked Up and Sunshine, the latter in French. Google Video search results include YouTube as well as video sites GoFish, Vimeo, MySpace, Biku, and Yahoo Video, in addition to Google Video uploads. NLPC alleges that Google makes it cumbersome for copyright holders to file complaints about illegal content, and that once a video is taken down, it can reappear within a matter of minutes. The problem, Boehm said, is that Google has little filtering for its video service, beyond pulling content deemed pornographic or offensive. He said Google has promised to implement filtering but hasn’t yet done so, even though other, smaller video services with fewer resources have done so. He thinks Viacom has a strong case against Google. “I think they’ll lose because the courts will find the law says you shouldn’t facilitate copyright theft,” Boehm said. “It’s not a victimless crime. It’s a theft by a billion-dollar corporation of property that belongs to other people.” Boehm hopes his group’s efforts will shame Google into more actively filtering for copyrighted video. Regarding the complaints, Google spokesman Gabriel Strickler told the AP, “As a company that respects the rights of copyright holders, we work every day to help them manage their content, and we are developing state-of-the-art tools to let them do that even better.” Boehm said by focusing on boosting its audience and profits, Google is not only “sending the message that piracy is OK,” it’s damaging creativity in the movie industry. “One of the downsides of this for the consumer is if, in fact, movies continue to lose profitability —which has been happening, ultimately we’re going find a thinning out of titles being produced,” he said. “So as a result we’ll just end up getting commercial fair. We’ll have Spider-Man 40. “All of the smaller and more interesting types of genres are going to end up being unprofitable because who’s going to pay 10 or 15 bucks for a movie or video if [you can just watch it online]?” HOME MEDIA MAGAZINE (ISSN 1934-9882) is published 52 times per year by Questex Media Group, Inc., 306 West Michigan Street, Suite 200, Duluth, MN 55802. Subscription rates: $49.99 for one year in the United States and Possessions; $79.99 for one year in Canada and Mexico; all other countries $99.99 for one year (by surface mail). Add $75 annually for air-expedited service. Single copies (prepaid only): $6.99 in the United States, $8.99 in Canada and Mexico, $13.99 all other countries. Back issues, if available: $9.99 in the U.S.; $15.99 in Canada and Mexico; $26.99 for all other countries. Include $6.50 per order plus $2 per additional copy for U.S. postage and handling. Periodicals postage paid at Duluth MN 55806 and additional mailing offices. 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Home Media Magazine - September 30 - October 6, 2007

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