Home Media Magazine - August 31 - September 6, 2008 - (Page 22) NEWS www.homemediamagazine.com ‘I Am Legend’ Gets Ultimate Edition I Am Legend” plus 23 making-of By Billy Gil PRODUCT Will Smith actioner I Am featurettes, four animated comics Legend is getting the ultimate collec- and 12 deleted scenes. tor’s edition treatment from WarThe Blu-ray Disc has the theatriner Home Video. A three-disc DVD cal version on the first disc, with ($49.92) and focus points that two-disc Blu-ray explore the mak($59.99) arrives ing of I Am LegDec. 9 (prebook end plus some of Nov. 4). the same mateThe new edirial on disc two tion (the original of the DVD verDVD and Blu-ray sion: 21 of the I Am Legend were released making-of feaMarch 18) houses two versions of turettes, “Cautionary Tale” and the the film, one with a controversial animated comics. Disc two has the alternate ending, as well as a digital alternate version, its digital copy, copy of the alternate version and the remaining two making-of feahours of special features. turettes and the 12 deleted scenes Disc one of the DVD has the the- found on the DVD version. atrical version as well as a commenThe previously released DVD tary by director Francis Lawrence and Blu-ray Disc of I Am Legend and producer-screenwriter Akiva topped the sales and rental charts Goldsman, while disc two has the in March, according to Home Mealternate version and its digital dia Magazine market research. The copy. Disc three has the featurette film made $256.4 million at the “Cautionary Tale: The Science of U.S. box office. Pioneer Boosting High-Def Continued from page 9 everyone wants. The next pass, if done well, drills deeply into the film through the use of BD-J programming and online BD Live features. This is especially promising — for me at least — with films that take place in historical settings or are based on true stories. It can be fascinating to delve into the real-world side of the story. BD-Live also brings the possibility of making film watching a “widearea” group experience, something that’s simply not possible with DVD. If several connected people want to watch a movie together without being in the same room, building or even city, BD Live can enable that. So I think the trick is to make BD Live features both easy and fun — no one will want to deal with a complicated control panel or work too hard to use online features. CE players are not computers, and I think our minds are in a different place when we’re in a storytelling mode. I HM: Is it important that every Blu-ray player have BD Live capability? in their equipment, and are the most likely to have a broadband network in their homes. As more and more compelling BD Live applications come along, these technology leaders can show their neighbors why BD Live should be in their home too. I HM: Won’t marketing two profiles be confusing to consumers? which has been quite rapid in the past few years. All those TVs represent a significant investment in the technology by consumers, and we think they are hungry for high-def content. If high-def versions of new titles provide meaningful features that DVD simply cannot offer, it’s not hard to imagine BD eventually overtaking DVD. I HM: Does Pioneer manufacture upconverting DVD players? Don’t they undercut the argument to buy Blu-ray? Parsons: I certainly hope not. For now, I think it just comes down to two types of Blu-ray players: one that connects to the Internet (BD Live) and one that doesn’t (BonusView). Compelling BD Live content will be needed to show why an Internet connection on a CE player is desirable. I HM: What do you say to consumers who are satisfied with standard DVD? DVD Up at Trans World Continued from page 1 for an increased DVD presence often proved futile. “We increase DVD shelf space whenever we can on our own,” said a Second Spin manager. “It’s what’s selling right now.” At the f.y.e. in Mission Viejo, Calif., DVD and Blu-ray selections rivaled music, which an employee said reflected sales. He said the store did favor buying used DVD titles over music due to greater demand for movies. Albany, N.Y.-based Trans World operates 790 largely f.y.e., Suncoast and Second Spin retail stores, in addition to related Web sites. The company reported a 17% decline in same-store (open at least 12 months) music CD sales that contributed to a second-quarter (ended Aug. 2) loss of $19.2 million, compared to a loss of $10.1 million during the prior-year period. DVD comps, by comparison, increased 1%. Video represents nearly 39% of Trans World’s revenue (equal to music), up from 36% during the same period last year. Jim Litwak, president and COO of Trans World, denied the company was underplaying DVD in favor of music. He said the strategy was to grow all non-music business while at the same time protecting music. “The reason why you may see some of the stores confused is … they are Parsons: Not until everyone can clearly see and understand the feature’s benefits. It’s easy for those of us in the technology industry to forget that there are a lot of people who love conseeing a lot of new [music] product that tent but are not particularly excited they hadn’t seen in a while,” he said. about being first to own the latest techAfter a steady decline in shelf space nology. Fortunately, the early adopters devoted to music, Litwak said 2008 like lots of new features and functions was the first year the company hadn’t reduced its music inventory, which reflected a jump in used product. A Weekly Product Update* The COO agreed music sales are declining, but added that when the STREET BOX OFFICE TITLE DATE PREBOOK (MILLIONS) GENRE PRICE company was able to reverse a yearover-year negative 27% music comp Hancock 11/25 10/9 $226.5 Action DVD $28.96, BD $39.95 to negative 17%, it proved the corpoSony Pictures. 2008. Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman. A sarcastic and misunderstood superhero grudgingly agrees to an extreme rate strategy to minimize internal makeover to improve his public image. Also available as an unrated version ($28.96), two-DVD special edition ($34.95) and UMD ($24.94). music sales while growing other segments was working. Wall-E 11/18 10/7 $216.5 Animated DVD $29.99, BD $35.99 “That’s a positive statement in the Disney. 2008. Voices of Fred Willard, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver. In the future a waste-collection robot goes on current economic climate,” Litwak a space odyssey that will determine the future of the human race. Also available in a three-DVD set ($39.99) and a three-disc BD set ($40.99). said. Edward Woo, research analyst with The Incredible Hulk 10/21 9/9 $134.4 Action DVD $29.98, BD $39.98 Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Universal. 2008. Edward Norton, Tim Roth, Liv Tyler, William Hurt. Dr. Bruce Banner and his alter ego Hulk battle the Abomination in this Angeles, said Trans World shouldn’t epic tale directed by Louis Leterrier. Also available in a three-DVD special edition at $34.98. juxtapose its history in music sales with market realities that include reWhen Did You Last See Your Father? 11/4 10/2 $0.9 Drama DVD $28.96 duced inventories by competitors and Sony Pictures. 2008. Colin Firth, Jim Broadbent, Juliet Stevenson, Gina McKee, Claire Skinner, Matthew Beard. Based on the novel by Blake failed businesses by others (i.e., Tower Morrison, a son deals with his father’s terminal illness and comes to terms with their relationship. Records and Video and Musicland). “I think they are hoping for some The Stone Angel 10/21 9/23 $0.5 Drama DVD $26.99 rebound or stabilization in the muVivendi. 2008. Ellen Page, Ellen Burstyn, Cole Hauser, Kevin Zegers. Based on the novel by Margaret Laurence, a woman reflects on her sic business,” Woo said. tumultuous past and searches for a way to reconcile herself with it. He said the transition to new products to make up for lost music sales Mister Lonely 11/18 10/7 $0.2 Drama DVD $24.95 is hampered by the company’s limGenius. 2008. Diego Luna, Samantha Morton. A Michael Jackson impersonator falls in love with a Marilyn Monroe look-a-like and they move to ited available capital. a commune of celebrity impersonators in the Scottish Highlands. Bonus features include deleted scenes and a making-of featurette. “But they should move quicker on movies, which while flat, is not the nega* In order of box office, then prebook date tive 20% that music is,” Woo said. Parsons: People were satisfied with VHS, too. DVD didn’t exactly explode on the scene in early 1997. It took about three years for most people to understand what it was and how much better the experience was over the incumbent format. Given enough time, consumers should be able to better understand how terrific a Blu-ray title can be, and I think the “DVD is good enough” argument will begin to fade away. I recently dug up an analyst’s statement at the end of 1998 that predicted a “long and healthy life ahead for VHS.” Thank goodness they were wrong. As for how to compel a transition to Blu-ray, I think this follows the adoption rate of HDTV in the home, Parsons: Yes, we make them, and they do not seem to be interfering with Blu-ray sales as much as you’d think. Upconverting DVD players produce a simulated HD picture, since we’re using mathematical algorithms to guess what’s missing in the picture compared to an actual HDTV signal containing six times as much information. If you do the arithmetic, that means that we’re filling in more than 80% of a picture that wasn’t there before. The methods do surprisingly well — until you look at the Blu-ray version side-by-side with it. Then you can clearly see the difference, particularly on a bigger display with 1080p resolution. Interestingly, we’re now seeing a shift in interest from upconverting players to Blu-ray, so it seems that our customers understand the point of this feature very well: The upconverting capability makes DVDs look better on an HD display, but nothing beats the HD picture that Blu-ray delivers. JUST ANNOUNCED Home Media Magazine August 31–September http://www.homemediamagazine.com
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