Home Media Magazine - November 4-10, 2007 - (Page 28)

NEWS Blu-ray Steps Up Promos to Boost Format Continued from page 1 www.homemediamagazine.com ly as the end of the fourth quarter. “When both formats launched and hardware prices were high, we made a decision to support both formats and let the consumer decide,” he said. “But now that hardware pricing is affordable for both Blu-ray and HD DVD, it appears consumers no longer want to decide. So the notion of staying in two formats for the duration is something we are re-evaluating now that we are in the fourth quarter.” Silverberg noted that Warner has the top-selling Blu-ray title of all time with 300 and is consistently No. 1 or No. 2 in both Blu-ray sales market share and in number of Blu-ray titles in the market. “We can definitely talk Blu-ray,” he said. “We are committed to the format.” A Warner source said the studio is watching what happens now that WalMart and other big retailers have drastically dropped the price on Toshiba’s entry-level HD DVD player. If there is a significant spike in HD DVD software sales, the studio may cast its lot with that format, whereas if there is no real impact, Warner may go Blu-ray only. The studio would find itself in good company. Blu-ray is supported by the lion’s share of consumer electronics companies, while only Toshiba makes a dedicated set-top HD DVD machine. The Sony-developed format received another boost during the Bluray Festival when the Home Theater Specialists of America, a national buying consortium of 62 dealers and 800 installers with combined revenue of more than half a billion dollars a year, officially endorsed Blu-ray Disc as its next-generation format of choice. The decision, according to director David Berman, was reached after a membership survey found 92% favoring Blu-ray over HD DVD. believe that revolutionary technology, my friends, is indisputably, undeniably and inevitably Blu-ray.” Chapek’s words, appropriately delivered just after the USC marching band finished its fight song, paled in comparison to remarks 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment worldwide president Mike Dunn made the previous day during a Blu-ray presentation on the Fox studio lot. In front of the same group of journalists, Dunn chastised Paramount Home Entertainment, which a month ago dropped its support for Blu-ray Disc and went exclusively with HD DVD. He accused the studio of “taking the bait,” referring to a reported $50 million payout, to align itself solely with the HD DVD camp, which is led by Microsoft and Toshiba. Dunn also intimated that the format war is being perpetuated by Microsoft in the hopes of confusing consumers so much that they don’t support either format and ultimately buy their entertainment online. He didn’t name the computer giant by name, but blasted “the orchestrated campaigns of confusion and anti-consumerism fueled by an 800-pound gorilla that would prefer to force us all into the practice of paying tolls for the right to exchange information and enjoy entertainment.” Chapek’s and Dunn’s fierce rhetoric underscores the growing enmity in Hollywood between the studios supporting Blu-ray Disc and those behind rival format HD DVD. Disney, along with Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Lionsgate, are exclusively in the Blu-ray camp. Universal Studios and Paramount/DreamWorks support only HD DVD, while Warner Home Video, at least for the time being, releases titles in both formats. While study after study fingers consumer indifference as the chief obstacle the studios face in getting consumers to transition from standard DVD to high-definition disc, the format war has tapped resources and confused consumers, prompting many to hold off buying either a Blu-ray Disc or an HD DVD player until a uniform standard emerges. Studio executives in both camps concede the stakes are high — the packaged media business for years has been Hollywood’s biggest cash cow. Executives fear that if the format war is not resolved and they can’t pool their resources behind one standard highdef disc format, the decline in DVD sales will continue and consumers uncertain about which new format to buy will throw up their hands and go online for entertainment. Entertainment’s defection several weeks ago from the Blu-ray side. The festival coincided with the launch of a new branding and consumer-education campaign, with the tagline “I Do Blu,” that premiered Oct. 28 during the final game of the World Series. Blu-ray backers are courting the press, particularly the new vanguard of online Web sites, bloggers and discussion boards that cater to the early adopters. “It’s a great idea,” said Ron Epstein, a founder of the Home Theater Forum, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. “The early adopters are all on the Internet — that’s where they find their information.” Steve Feldstein, SVP of marketing and corporate communications for 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, agreed. The battle heats up “These are the people who are reguThere was one more indication that larly covering technological advances the Blu-ray camp is done playing nice. in home entertainment,” Feldstein At the entrance to the Blu-ray Festival’s said. “They are at the forefront.” opening breakfast, at the Hollywood 20th Century Fox shuttled reporters and Highland complex, was a huge to the Fox studio lot for a presentation blowup of a Deadline Hollywood article of upcoming Blu-ray titles. One such by renegade online columnist Nikki title was Sunshine, due Jan. 8, which Finke. The article raised questions will be the first Blu-ray title with picabout Paramount Home Entertain- ture-in-picture and audio-mixing cament’s claim that it sold 190,000 pabilities. copies of Transformers on HD DVD in Choosing sides a single week. The two-day festival, orchestrated by The biggest buzz at the Blu-ray Disney, could be seen as a guns-blazing Festival was generated by the likelipre-emptive strike against the rival HD hood that Warner Home Video, DVD camp, which is enjoying wide- which since the Paramount defecspread publicity over the fact that Wal- tion has been the only studio to supMart, Circuit City, Amazon and other port both next-gen formats, may big retailers have just slashed prices of soon align itself exclusively with one the entry-level Toshiba player to less camp or the other. than $200. Wal-Mart offered a limitedIn an interview, Dan Silverberg, time $99 price. VP of high-definition media for That is expected to give the HD DVD Warner, admitted “one thing that format a significant boost, particular- may be changing is our strategy,” ly in the wake of Paramount Home and that a change could come as ear- L AT E F L A S H E S I DVDTALK.COM SOLD DVDTalk.com, one of the top DVD review sites in the United States, has been sold to California’s Internet Brands, which owns numerous automobile and housing Web sites. — Chris Tribbey frey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation, said in an analyst call. He downplayed the optimism, however, citing the unprecedented number of hits due on DVD this fourth quarter. — Erik Gruenwedel I DREAMWORKS TRUMPETS ‘SHREK THE THIRD’ DISCS DreamWorks Animation expects fourth-quarter revenue to be largely driven by the Nov. 13 release of Shrek the Third on DVD and HD DVD. “We are confident it will be among the top performers this holiday season,” Jef- I CINEQUEST INKS DEAL Indie film distributor Cinequest Distribution has partnered with Rivercoast Films, the video company founded by former First Look Home Entertainment veterans Michael Katchman and Tony Ventura. The focus of the venture will be video releases of international and independent films. — John Latchem ‘Amazing Journey’ on DVD ‘RATATOUILLE’ DIRECTOR BRAD BIRD FINDS BLU-RAY DELECTABLE By John Gaudiosi rad Bird, the director of Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille, heaped praise on the Blu-ray Disc format and what it brings to computer-generated movies during the Blu-ray Disc Festival. “[Executive producer and Pixar executive] John Lasseter is bursting at the seams over all of the capabilities of Blu-ray Disc,” Bird said during a Q&A. “We call it film school in a box.” For the Ratatouille disc, he had crews document the process from start to finish. “We caught some unscripted moments that show that movie-making is hard,” said Bird, who doesn’t like it when movie studios “fake” making-of special features for movies long after the fact. “At Pixar, we’re dealing with a lot of creative people with a lot of strong opinions, and we have conflict and war during production. But they’re good fights.” Bird said every Pixar film’s creation will be documented by high-definition cameras to take advantage of Blu-ray technology. A home theater enthusiast, Bird loves the way Blu-ray brings the movie he creat- ed into homes. “If you turn off the lights and watch it on a home theater screen or on a good HDTV, consumers will see the movie the way it was meant to be seen, which is not the case in many movie theaters today,” Bird said. “I’m looking forward to seeing all of the films I’ve yet to see on Blu-ray, as well as classics that I want to experience as they were meant to be played, like Lawrence of Arabia and Citizen Kane,” he said. “You can watch a film 100 times on Blu-ray, and the picture quality will never falter.” Universal Studios Home Entertainment and VH1 premiered Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who Oct. 30 at the Paley Center for Media’s eighth Annual DocFest ‘07 in New York City. The screening was in celebration of the film’s DVD release by Universal. (L-R): Universal Studios Home Entertainment president Craig Kornblau; Gary Arnold, senior entertainment officer for Best Buy; The Who’s Roger Daltrey and producer Nigel Sinclair. Photo by: Jason Kempin/FimMagic.com HOME MEDIA MAGAZINE (ISSN 1934-9882) is published 51 times per year (weekly except 3 issues in December) 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 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://DVDTALK.COM http://fimmagic.com

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Home Media Magazine - November 4-10, 2007 Contents News In Focus News News TV DVD Indie Film Reviews Pipeline Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced

Home Media Magazine - November 4-10, 2007

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