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Disney
If I had to pick one studio with the highest highs and the
lowest lows, I might have to go with Disney. For every Toy
Story or Fantasia box set, there's a non-anamorphic, featureless
Pocahontas or a rehashed Nightmare Before Christmas. While
Buena Vista and Disney's overall output has improved over
the past few years, it still remains spotty in terms of transfer
quality, supplements and pricing. At Studio Day, only representatives
who oversee Disney's animated DVD output were in attendance,
so no news could be had on their live action fare, Miramax/Dimension
releases or issues like rental pricing and DTS.
While I still look forward to Disney's higher profile animated
titles, the lack of consistent anamorphic enhancement and
missing features compared to their laserdisc versions continues
to rankle. Unfortunately, there is no indication that will
change. According to reps, there is discussion and hopes to
see titles like Pocahontas and TRON receive
the special edition treatment comparable to their laserdisc
releases, in the end it just hasn't happened yet. And again,
whatever existing transfers and sound mixes are evaluated
and so no across-the-board support for remastering these animated
classics exists. Disappointing as it is, it seems it continues
to be business as usual at Disney.
In terms of titles, plans continue to release their back
catalog of animated films over the next few years, though
plans for the "Platinum" series of their most prized
ten animated classics are on hold. When will we see such gems
as Snow White, The Lion King and Aladdin,
and in what condition and with what features? No official
word yet, so apparently patience is a virtue? However, Disney
is looking in to releasing some animated collections of shorts
of their most popular characters, like Mickey Mouse and
Donald Duck. No definite plans, though, so aside from
these small tidbits, not too much news coming out of Disney
this time....
MGM
In terms of sheer number of DVD titles released, it seems
MGM is leading the pack as of late. With a whopping 40+ titles
released in January alone, the biggest question asked of MGM
is "Can you deliver quality with that quantity?"
According to MGM, the answer is "Yes." Certainly,
the options in terms of choice and affordable pricing (typically
$14.95 to $19.95 at title) are attractive. But MGM continues
to face criticism from fans for an inconsistent support of
anamorphic, and the lack of supplemental features. However,
MGM is planning an aggressive (to say the least) slate for
2001, with many great titles, some special editions, a quite
a few anamorphic titles to boot. As for rental pricing, the
same party line was given...the issue is of course being evaluated,
but no position has been taken. And as for DTS, MGM still
has no plans to support the format on any upcoming titles,
with reps citing consumer awareness and penetration along
with cost issues as determining factors. Personally, with
no more Bond titles, it seems unlikely MGM will find a title
that is a good match for DTS...
As for titles, there quite a few goodies in MGM's Santa bag.
Expect plenty of digging through their vast vaults of Orion,
Nelson, Polygram and United Artists titles. Some highlights
include a Rocky 5-pack, with the first disc getting
the special edition treatment, while the other four films
will be movie-only but will feature remastered elements. The
Princess Bride special edition is expected in the second
half of 2001, and MGM is planning to remaster it. In exciting
news for Brian De Palma fans, MGM will be revisiting
Dressed To Kill (in its unrated form), Blow Out
and Carrie, with documentarian Laurent Bouzereau
handling production chores (which is a good thing, as Bouzereau
has written a book on De Palma and is probably the best producer
out there for this job.) While MGM "expects" to
remaster these titles, only Carrie is confirmed to have a
new anamorphic transfer (which is a good thing, as the current
one really sucks), and watch for it in the second half of
2001.
As you may now, MGM will also gain control of the rights
to current Image titles like Dances With Wolves,
The Silence Of The Lambs and the RoboCop series,
and is planning their own versions of these titles. However,
like the recent reissue of This Is Spinal Tap, any Criterion-produced
supplements will remain unavailable to MGM, so they plan on
creating new extras for these releases. No dates on these
yet, though we're told to expect Silence Of The Lambs to tie
in with the eventual Hannibal video release. And as far as
The Terminator special edition goes, Van Ling is hard
at work on it, and a fully loaded and remastered special edition
(with, yes, anamorphic transfer and surround mix) is expected
sometime in 2001.
Other goodies from MGM on the way next year include Buckaroo
Banzai, The Howling, Running Scared, Bio
Dome, Roadhouse, The Sure Thing, Valley
Girl, UHF, The Fog (without, alas, the laserdisc
extras) and after some resolving of rights issues, the Bill
& Ted movies will arrive in the second half of 2001.
Also coming are special editions of The Greatest Story
Ever Told and Marilyn Monroe's Some Like It Hot. Finally,
two notes on Bond. Don't expect to see Casino Royale
on DVD next year (still pending for reasons not revealed)
and a fixed version of Never Say Never Again restoring
the cut four minutes of footage has been released.
We'll have details on how to tell the difference and get a
replacement copy in Monday's release news update...
Trimark
Unfortunately, given the very packed house at Dave's, I was
unable to talk much with the independents on hand at Studio
Day. Artisan did not attend, though I was able to talk with
Trimark a bit about their upcoming DVD plans. As you may know,
they were recently acquired by Lion's Gate, so Trimark as
a movie production company does not exist per se. However,
Trimark will continue to function as Lion's Gate video distribution
arm, and Lion's Gate's existing distribution arrangement with
Universal Home Video will end this coming August, so watch
for Trimark to begin releasing all of Lion's Gate product
by the end of 2001.
In terms of titles, Trimark will be releasing the critically
acclaimed art house hit Steal This Movie as a special
edition next year, and watch for Wim Wender's The Million
Dollar Hotel as well, with Wenders commentary, and other
members of the cast and crew hoped (hey, Mel, are you busy?)
And in even better news, Trimark will finally be issuing the
entire Leprechaun series on DVD. Leprechaun 4: In Space...finally!
So until next year...
Well, that about wraps it up, though I'm sure I've forgotten
many details and titles in this report. In case my aging memory
banks or badly scribbled note pad should reveal any more titles,
watch the site for updates this week. And don't miss our coverage
of Universal's Touch Of Evil and Fox's X-Men events this week
as well.
But before I go, I would just like to say thanks to Dave's
Video for staging this event, their exceptional staff,
including the tireless Linda Lukas, as well as Hobie, Keith
and Jarod. Bill Hunt of The
Digital Bits was also there, as was of course Ron Epstein,
Parker Clack and the gang from Home
Theater Forum. A really great time, and I'm looking forward
to next year's HTF festivities.
Lastly, congrats to all those contest prize winners, all
the independent producers who showed their mugs (finally,
putting a name to a face!) and of course all the studio representatives
who took the time to come down and chat with us little guys.
And, most of all, thanks to all of you who read this. Hope
you had fun, and enjoy those upcoming DVDs!
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