Home Media Magazine - October 7-13, 2007 - (Page 40) NEWS Studios Spruce Up Packaging for Q4 Titles The Complete Series (Warner, 32- tions, laden with such added materielaborate of the packages is the Har- DVD set $169.98) come in minia- al as toys and clothing, often appear ry Potter Limited Edition Giftset, avail- ture houses, reflecting their family at specific retailers looking for someable on DVD ($119.97), Blu-ray Disc sitcom status. thing extra to catch customer eyes. and HD DVD ($149.99). The 12-disc “We are seeing a demand for very sets have all five films, two bonus Cult Titles elaborate packaging,” Palizzi said. discs with games, three hours of exThe upcoming Sony release of “For a Wal-Mart [ for example] … tras, five souvenir bookmarks, four Close Encounters of the Third Kind: there is a shelf space issue. But the trading card packs and more. 30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition on common trend is that retailers are A release of this caliber calls for Nov. 13 (prebook Oct. 11) includes looking for more and more ways to such a set, as it is the most successful such extras as a scrapbook featuring be unique and stand out and draw film franchise of all time, worldwide, iconic art from the film. The $39.95 traffic into their stories.” according to Jeff Baker, GM and SVP DVD and $49.95 three-disc Blu-ray Among the projects Premium Conof theatrical catalog for Warner. sets also have all three versions of the cepts is working on are a boxed set of Meanwhile, Warner’s Nov. 13 1977 film together for the first time the “Saw” films for Lionsgate that boxed sets of the “Ocean’s” fran- — the original theatrical cut, the re- will feature a voice-recordable “Jigchise, in DVD, Blu-ray and HD DVD edited 1980 theatrical special edition saw” puppet, to be featured at such versions, come in a slimmed-down, and director Steven Spielberg’s de- specialty retailers as Trans World; a hip, black, white and red boxed set. finitive director’s cut, released in version of the Reservoir Dogs: 15th AnSimilarly, Sony Pictures Home En- 1998 as the Collector’s Edition. niversary Two-Disc Special Edition (Litertainment’s upcoming “SpiderMeanwhile, Warner’s Dec. 18 re- onsgate) featuring shot glasses with Man” Blu-ray Disc set, timed to the lease of Blade Runner: Five-Disc Ulti- the characters from the Quentin Oct. 30 DVD release of Spider-Man mate Collector’s Edition (DVD $78.92, Tarantino film; and a version of Walt 3, is attractively set in O-ring packag- Blu-ray and HD DVD $99.98) comes Disney Studios Home Entertaining, embossed with dull and gloss in a briefcase, a reference to the brief- ment’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At varnishes, but it is relatively slim, case the film’s Deckard character car- World’s End (on DVD and Blu-ray taking up about the amount of space ried, with collectibles galore inside. Dec. 4) with a “Pirates” pocketwatch. of three Amarays stacked together. The title will street the same day in As for what the bigger retailers are “The ‘Spider-Man’ titles will be two- and four-disc DVD versions. looking for, that depends. made available for the first time on Warner Nov. 20 will release a four“The consensus is that there is a Blu-ray. I don’t think there’s any- disc collector’s edition of Led Zep- need for different types of packaging thing else [that’s needed] for that,” pelin: The Song Remains the Same to meet different types of movies,” said Gregg Shack, VP of worldwide (DVD $44.98). The limited run edi- said Brian Lucas, a spokesperson for creative advertising for SPHE. tion will include a collectible T-shirt Best Buy. “We are really excited He added that it works case by case and re-created ticket stubs. about the fact that there are some when it comes to conceptualizing movies coming in the back half of Retail Wants Extra, Extra video packaging. the year that we can expect some “You’re always trying to separate Steve Palizzi, president and unique packaging for. yourself on the shelf from other founder of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based “We’re lucky because we have a lot titles,” he said. Premium Concepts & Design Inc., of store space dedicated to DVD, so produces promotional concepts for for us, it’s not how many titles can TV DVD Sets studios looking for something extra you fit, but what conveys the exciteThe fourth quarter also will see for their titles. These special edi- ment of the category.” scads of eye-popping TV DVD sets, many of which are complete series. L AT E F L A S H E S Nov. 6 (prebook Oct. 10) comes The XFiles: The Ultimate Collection (61-DVD set $329.98), from 20th Century Fox I HP GETS CONTENT dered by the jury in the Duluth, Minn. Home Entertainment. Oct. 9 Fox and Hewlett-Packard has signed 30 content trial to pay $220,000 in damages, the AP MGM will release Stargate SG-1: The providers with more than 4,000 movies reported. — Chris Tribbey Complete Series Collection, a 54-DVD for its on-demand DVD service. HP Video set at $329.98. Nov. 6 Sony will reMerchant Services allows retailers to I SONY TV AND PLAYERS lease Seinfeld: The Complete Series, a produce and sell on-demand DVDs and PAIRED AT 2008 CES 32-DVD set that comes with its own limited-edition discs at a fraction of the Sony Pictures Television will partner coffee table book, at $283.95. cost of a normal DVD production. with its parent company’s hardware at But some TV DVD sets are taking —Erik Gruenwedel the 2008 International CES. New Sony a step further with packaging that recontent will be paired with Sony TVs and flects the series. Sony Nov. 6 will reI RIAA WINS SUIT players at the show. — Chris Tribbey lease The King of Queens: The ComThe Recording Industry Association of plete Series at $232.95, the 27-disc set America and several record companies I GREENBERG AT PEACE ARCH comes in a mini delivery truck. Both won the first case to go to trial in which Peace Arch Entertainment Group Inc. the Oct. 30 release of Everybody Loves someone was accused of sharing copy- has hired former Showtime acquisitions Raymond: The Complete Series set righted music online, the Associated executive Larry Greenberg as SVP of ac(HBO Video, 44-DVD set $279.98) Press reported. Jammie Thomas was or- quisitions. — Billy Gil and the Nov. 6 release of Full House: Continued from page 1 www.homemediaretailing.com ‘Jericho’ Launches on DVD (L-R): Executive producer Jon Turtletaub appeared with cast members Kenneth Mitchell and Skeet Ulrich at the Jericho: The First Season DVD launch party at Crimson Hollywood Oct. 2. CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment hosted the party. In addition to the DVD, attendees received a bag of peanuts. When CBS tried to cancel the show, fans sent more than 40,000 peanuts to network executives to voice their displeasure. It worked. “I thought there would be a big uproar and then it would go away,” Turtletaub said. Photo by: Jon Didier Chernin Criticizes Google Continued from page 1 Chernin said media accounts characterizing Hulu — News Corp.’s budding video sharing site with NBC Universal — as a reaction to YouTube were misunderstood. He denied that Hulu was intended to be a “YouTube killer.” “YouTube is not dangerous to us at all, with the exception that copyright-violated content is made available there,” Chernin said. “I do believe YouTube could do a much more aggressive job taking down content that is copyright violated.” The COO said MySpace was “significantly” more aggressive in protecting copyrighted content. He denied YouTube lacked the technology to filter out illegal videos. “I think it is pretty safe to say they have the technology,” he said. “I haven’t heard a lot about Google being technologically constrained.” Separately, Jeff Zucker, CEO of NBC Universal, said the U.S. Justice Department should increase its antipiracy efforts. In comments before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Zucker cited data from conservative think tank Institute for Policy Innovation that said piracy of intellectual property, including movie DVDs and music CDs, has cost the U.S. economy $58 billion in lost output and more than 370,000 jobs. With a penchant for entrepreneurialism within News Corp. properties, Chernin was asked whether he worries about cannibalizing existing revenue streams for the sake of new technology. He said it is vital that News Corp. aggressively open up new markets in ways that aren’t margin destructive. Creating new business that doesn’t destroy an existing highermargin business isn’t easy, he said. “I would say it is the primary question to wrestle with,” he said. “A lot of the existing business will go through various evolution cycles. And the real key is to build new businesses faster than the old ones may decline.” Chernin said he isn’t worried about the burgeoning success of social networking Web site Facebook, which reportedly has outpaced MySpace in some countries. “I have a healthy level of paranoia and respect for Facebook,” he said. “And I admire and respect a lot of what they are doing. Like most things in life, competition is a very valuable thing. [Facebook] has garnered our attention.” He said MySpace continues to outpace Facebook “on any metric” in terms of growth, page views, unique visitors and time spent on the site. He said the user-generated content on social networking sites continue to be a fast-moving and evolving market. “[Facebook has] done a good job, and they deserve kudos for that job,” Chernin said. “I think it is good to have a competitor. It’s such a dynamic, fast-growing area that we need to constantly innovate. I think that is our key job.” 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 iss http://www.homemediaretailing.com
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