Home Media Magazine - June 29 - July 5, 2008 - (Page 6)

NEWS www.homemediamagazine.com TV Stars Recall Storied Careers By Chris Tribbey AS VEGAS — The TV stars of yesteryear showed up for a panel at Home Media Expo last week, but their discussion went far beyond DVD, touching on sex, hormones and paparazzi. Moderated by TVShowsOnDVD. com’s Gord Lacey, the panel brought together a sex idol, two cowboys, a former child actor and a “Happy Days” mainstay. “People still want to see me up in the hayloft in a bikini,” said Charlene Tilton, who played Lucy Ewing Cooper in “Dallas.” She talked about how her daughter watches the series on DVD. “When the DVDs started coming out, she and her friends would start having ‘Dallas’ Friday nights,” Tilton said. “‘Mom, this is better than ‘The O.C.!’ she said. I told her, ‘I’m acting. Don’t try that at home.’” Josie Davis, who played Sarah Powell on “Charles in Charge,” said she is looking forward to having all of the series on DVD. But she added she has mixed feelings looking back at herself in the show. L you might have otherwise missed. “I’m a huge ‘Friends’ fan,” Davis added. “I had to have the damn things on DVD.” Robert Fuller, who starred in the 1960s Western series “Laramie” and “Wagon Train,” and the 1970s medical drama “Emergency!” reminisced about his work. “I did all my own stunts …. [and] I get calls from people saying, ‘Because of you I’m a doctor. Because of you I’m a paramedic,’” he said. Brown added, “I did a lot of my own stunt work until I got smart. I stopped doing everything except the bar fights.” Tilton joked, “I did all my own stunts: cheerleading … rolling.” The TV stars said they are mostly in touch with people they worked with (L-R, front): Don Most, Josie Davis and Charlene Tilton; (back): Peter Brown and Robert Fuller; and Gord Lacey. Photo by: Joe Coomber on their most famous shows. “I’m still in touch with everyone “It’s so different when you’re 12,” she work in “Laredo” and “Lawman,” from the show,” Most said. “I saw Ron Howard a few weeks ago. We said. “It was like a family, but we went quipped, “You sure don’t look 12.” “You don’t either, sir,” she replied. played some golf together.” through puberty during that time. It The stars said the paparazzi back Don Most of “Happy Days” fame was difficult to have all those hormones going and trying to be an adult. … I felt said, “I’m just glad [it’s on DVD] for in their days were fans. “It wasn’t that bad back then,” like a geek back then, but I ended up people to see it.” Tilton said she loves DVD for the Most said. “You gave them a couple reaching out to a lot of other geeks.” Peter Brown, 72, known for his fact you can catch up on TV shows shots, then they let you go.” CINEVOLVE TOUTS ITS FIRST DVD SLATE AT SHOW By Billy Gil Panel: Blu-ray Disc Will Face Challenges By Erik Gruenwedel AS VEGAS — The euphoria around Blu-ray Disc and BD Live was tempered a bit at the show when an industry panel cautioned that consumer adoption of the next-generation format was vital to home entertainment, but hinged on a variety of factors, including education, pricing and retailer participation. “It’s a lot more critical that this take hold and consumers be educated about what is on a high-def disc,” said Scott Hettrick, moderator of the session at Home Media Expo 2008. Dave Hoffman, VP of Nielsen Home Entertainment and VideoScan, said Blu-ray sales continue to be largely driven by suburban male video gamers under age 34 with high incomes. But, he added, updated data suggests that 40% of Blu-ray adopters also are over age 35 with families. Hoffman cited 2007 data that said the average Blu-ray shopping basket was $162.36, which included $40.16 in disc purchases and $61.53 in products such as video games and food. By comparison, the average DVD shopping basket was $92.93, which included $19.79 in related product purchases. Russ Crupnick, VP and senior industry analyst for The NPD Group, said NPD data suggests that 9% of L HDTV owners intend to purchase Blu-ray in the next six months, which he said translates to 4 million new Blu-ray owners. He said if each of those buyers acquires four titles at $25 a piece, the incremental revenue gain to the industry is $400 million. “It’s improving,” he said. “We can do better, but it’s not all that horrible.” Crupnick said BD Live should cre- ate excitement for Blu-ray at retail. Patrick Wahlquist, with the Home Theater Forum, said from an enthusiast’s perspective, BD Live is “just not that important.” He said early adopters are more interested in how a Blu-ray movie looks, sounds and is priced. He said enthusiasts are not looking for the “killer app” in movie watching. Features such as GPS navigation on Transformers and Cloverfield was fun for “five minutes,” he said. He said the PlayStation 3 continues to be the dominant Blu-ray player due to functionality, Internet connectivity and price. Tom Adams with Adams Media Research said bells and whistles such as BD Live and digital files are important to satiate early adopters. Kiosk Exhibitors Grow at EMA Show By Billy Gil AS VEGAS — Exhibitors touted the burgeoning movie kiosk industry at Home Media Expo 2008, with the number of kiosk exhibitors roughly doubling since the 2007 show, according to show organizers. Polar Frog Digital, which calls itself a “digital rack jobber,” provides an ondemand platform and in-store DVD burning for rental and sellthrough, complete with copy protection, as well as digital downloading. Polar Frog has 12 free-standing kiosks at such outlets as military bases and a Long’s Drugs in Walnut Creek, Calif., but the company also is seeking to offer its digital platform to L iMozi representatives flank the company’s new kiosk. Photo by: Joe Coomber partners. Polar Frog boasts more than 10,000 video titles from independent studios in its library. Titles are searchable on Polar Frog’s interface, with additional information such as actors in the film and other films featuring those actors. “The holdup [in upping the number of kiosks with Polar Frog technology] is the studios providing the right content,” said Todd Rosenbaum, CEO of Polar Frog. “The content has to match the price of admission.” Rosenbaum added the company hopes to provide special interest content to such non-traditional retailers as home construction, sporting goods, beauty supply, fast food and airport stores. “We’re not trying to replace physical goods,” he said. “We’re a channel provider.” Meanwhile Polar Frog has licensed See KIOSK, Page 40 LAS VEGAS — Cinevolve Studios, a full-service distributor for independent feature films and documentaries, celebrated one year of existence last week at Home Media Expo 2008 by announcing its first slate of theatrical and DVD releases. Its first DVD, Home Front, streeted June 2. The Showtime documentary is about troops coming home who have been wounded in Iraq. Coming to DVD in November is Becoming Family, a documentary about tsunami relief in Sri Lanka. The British black comedy Twelve in a Box will be released theatrically in November and on DVD in Q1 2009, and the drama We Pedal Uphill will come out theatrically in November. Cinevolve was started by two former employees of Cinema Libre, who also happen to be filmmakers. Arik Treston, co-founder and CEO, and Nicole Ballivan, co-founder and president, left Cinema Libre in February 2007 and in June, started the Los Angeles-based company. Along with Sinohui “Joel” Hinojosa, VP of home entertainment, and strategic partnerships with Adam Chapnick of Doc Workers, a theatrical consulting and grassroots marketing firm, Cinevolve aims to make the process of distribution easier and more transparent for filmmakers. One effort will involve creating a “distribution 101” for filmmakers and making it readily available on the distributor’s Web site, www. cinevolvestudios.com. Of the studio’s approach to finding films to distribute, Treston said, “The through line of our films is good quality.” Ballivan added, “Being filmmakers and having had films go around the world, we know there’s an audience for these films.” Treston said, “As filmmakers we know the perils of distribution.” Ballivan said the studio doesn’t search just for niche titles, but seeks films to which the studio can attach its non-traditional, grassroots marketing efforts. Those efforts include working with various organizations, such as contacting Doctors Without Borders to create a marketing campaign for Becoming Family around the anniversary of the Asian tsunami. Cinevolve is looking to bow two DVDs a month and is aiming to release its first Blu-ray Disc in Q1 of 2009. Treston said they will seek to release a film on Blu-ray “if it’s a film that fits the format, looks great and can have a lot of extras.” Treston, said the company also would like to distribute films electronically through various outlets such as iTunes and Amazon’s Unbox. SUPPLIER Home Media Magazine June 29–July 5, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.cinevolvestudios.com http://www.cinevolvestudios.com

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Home Media Magazine - June 29 - July 5, 2008

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