UPDATE - 3/6/02 - 3:30 PM PST)
As promised, we've got something special for you this afternoon. Our
own Dan Kelly was fortunate enough this weekend to chat one-on-one with
director Baz Luhrmann. Baz talked about his films, his work with DVD,
the idea of "challenging" his audience and much more. I think
you'll find it fascinating and well worth a read. So head on over to
Baz! Enjoy... ;-)
(EARLY UPDATE - 3/6/02 - 1 PM PST)
We'll be back in a couple of hours with a brand new special feature
story, but first we wanted to check in with a look at the DVD cover
artwork for Buena Vista's Beauty and the
Beast: Platinum Edition (street date: 10/8). We've also got
(surprise!) a look at their Nixon: Director's
Cut (street date: 3/12) and the Oliver
& Company: Special Edition (5/28):
Stay tuned... ;-)
We've got word in
Rumor Mill this morning of a couple of additional TV series
being released on DVD later in 2002. Definitely give it a look.
(LATE UPDATE - 3/4/02 - 3:15 PM PDT)
Okay, we're back with new DVD review of DreamWorks' Almost
Famous: Untitled by Greg and Lions Gate's
Also, we're reposting a chart from the EETimes
which might help all of you to make better sense of what's being
considered (format-wise) for the next generation of DVD disc,
specifically for high-definition.
Back tomorrow with more...
(EARLY UPDATE -
3/4/02 - 2 PM PDT)
Okay... we'll start the week by updating you on more upcoming DVD
releases. Buena Vista's gettin' busy on 5/14 with David
Blaine: Fearless and the long overdue Oliver
& Company. Chungking Express,
Country Life, Out Cold and Walking
and Talking follow on 5/21. Columbia TriStar has added Cruel
and Unusual to its 4/30 slate, and Earth
vs. the Spider to 5/7. HBO has The
Protector and Traces of Red
set for 6/4. Koch International is releasing The
Snows of Kilimanjaro and The Last
Time I Saw Paris on 4/23. MVD is releasing Kids
in the Hall on 4/16. Sidewalks of
New York is coming from Paramount on 5/21. 20th Century Fox's
May slate includes Waking Life
(5/7), From Hell (5/14) and Between
Heaven and Hell, D-Day,
The 6th of June, Desert
Rats, To the Shores of Tripoli
and Yank in the RAF (all 5/21).
And their June slate so far includes Hombre,
The Hustler, The
Verdict and Shallow Hall
(all 6/4). Universal's added Brewster's
Millions, Duel, It
Came from Outer Space, Silent
Running and Which Way is Up?
to their 5/21 lineup. And upcoming Warner titles include National
Geographic: Vietnam's Unseen War, War
Letters and West Point: The First
200 Years (all 5/21), MaCabe and
Mrs. Miller, Scooby-Doo and the
Ghoul School, Scooby-Doo Goes
Hollywood, Scooby-Doo's Creepiest
Capers, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,
The Women and South
Park: Insults to Injuries (all 6/4) and Saddle
Club: Adventures at Pine Hollow (6/18).
This falls in the category of rumor, but I'll post it here anyway -
word is that Universal filmed a feature for the upcoming Back
to the Future DVDs at the recent FX-2002
Back to the Future Exhibit in Orlando. This news is according
to e-mails by various attendees of the show. The largest collection of
privately owned BTTF props &
costumes in existence was on display, and Universal apparently wanted to
document them for a featurette on the discs. Street date is still
tentatively in December.
you hear? Miramax and MGM are planning on remaking Akira
Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. Is that
about the worst idea you've heard so far this year or what? Just leave
aside the fact that it's already been remade numerous times (with some
good and some lousy results). Isn't anyone out there getting sick of
seeing Hollywood pillage the classics of film history for lame remakes
starring guys like Chris Klein? Did we really need another Rollerball?
Another Planet of the Apes? Was it
really necessary to make live action versions of The
Grinch, Scooby Doo,
The Flintstones and Josie
and the Pussycats? Aren't there better stories to be told?
Isn't Hollywood interesting in telling stories at all?
Speaking of which, I saw a really interesting episode of PBS's Frontline
this weekend, called The Monster that Ate
a link to the official site). This is recommended viewing for
anyone who frets the lack of really truly good and original movies being
made in the last couple of years. The site features interviews with
studio execs, directors, independent filmmakers and even
transcript of the complete show. Definitely worth a look. The gist
is that the Hollywood studio appetite for blockbusters, sequels,
franchises, dumb-ass teen flicks and explosion movies is basically
killing independent filmmaking. Not that that's a new conclusion, but
the problem has gotten much more serious in the last two years, as
corporations tighten their ownership hold on the studios. It's gotten to
the point that a lot of really great, intelligent and fresh independent
filmmaking is going almost completely unseen, because they're getting
crowded out of theaters by all these 2,000 screen blockbuster releases.
Once again, corporate America spins horribly out of control. You've got
Hollywood killing great filmmaking, a Starbucks on every corner, the
Detroit automakers sending jobs overseas, WalMart killing retailers in
small town America and Enron giving everyone the shaft. I'm a proud
American, but you begin to understand why half the world hates us. Don't
get me started. Anyway, the point is, this particular Frontline
is a must see for anyone connected with (or possessing the love of)
Got a couple new DVD reviews coming this afternoon. Back soon...
Here's a story for all those of you who have been e-mailing me with
panicked worries about Blu-Ray disc obsoleting your current DVDs. I've
said many times that we were still a ways away from any kind of actual
HD-DVD format specification. And here's proof - the DVD Forum officially
voted (last week) to go away from blue laser (aka Blue-Ray) technology
with MPEG-2 compression for next generation digital movie discs, and
stay with existing ruby laser technology with "low-bit-rate"
the whole story here from the EETimes). Of the 17 members of the
DVD Forum, some 11 voted for this plan, with the remaining 6 abstaining.
It should be noted that those 6 happen to be behind Blue-Ray (including
Matsushita, JVC and Philips). Here's quote from the story:
Blu-ray is a recording format for real-time
interlaced TV programs, including HDTV programming, while low-bit-rate
encoding is positioned as a prerecorded HD-DVD playback format for
movies, said Chris Buma, program manager for A/V disk recording at
Philips. "We don't see Blu-ray as replacing DVD; rather, it
complements the next-generation DVD format." One of the
reasons many would rather avoid blue laser technology is that it would
be substantially more expensive. A U.S. exec (speaking on conditions of
anonymity) claimed a switch to blue-laser
equipment would make advanced players prohibitively costly, whereas a
red-laser-based player that could handle both MPEG-4 and MPEG-2 decoding
would carry a palatable retail premium of $25 to $50.
So what should all this tell you? For one thing, existing DVD is alive
and well. More importantly, viable HD-DVD is still a ways off. How far
away depends first on these corporations, and second on the studios
endorsing a compression/anti-piracy scheme. And I'd lay down good money
that any eventual HD-DVD or Blu-Ray players will be backwards compatible
with CD, Video CD and existing DVD, so your movie collections will still
be good. But I wouldn't expect to see HD-DVD discs in your Christmas
stockings anytime soon.
(LATE UPDATE - 3/1/02 - 4:45 PM PST)
We've got one more fun Buena Vista item for you today - a look at the
cover artwork for Wes Anderson's The Royal
Tenenbaums! No word on features or when the disc will street,
but we'll update you as soon as we hear anything. Loved this movie...
Also this afternoon, we've got Todd Doogan's latest
Views. Todd takes an in-depth look at some of the 350 reader
last column, in which he (I think quite rightly) lamented the
dying art of the special edition on DVD. It's very funny and well worth
reading, so don't miss it.
Unfortunately, editing Todd's 14-page Word doc into HTML took a lot
longer than I expected. And my fingers are aching from the effort.
Anybody got a quick fix for carpel tunnel? Please? ;-)
I'll have those new reviews for you on Monday. And that's all she wrote
for now. Have a great weekend, everyone!
- 3/1/02 - 11:15 AM PST)
Michael Wiese Productions contacted us this morning with the official
details on their forthcoming Hardware Wars:
Collector's Edition DVD (street date 4/1 - timed to take
advantage of the release of Episode II
to theaters). The disc will contain over an hour of material, including
director's commentary ("like none you've ever heard"), the
producer's comments, a rare look at a pirated Foreign Version from 1979,
an interview with Fosselius on the hit TV show Creature
Features, the never-before-seen Director's Cut, Antique
Sideshow (a prequel revealing the recent re-discovery of Hardware
Wars), and much more. It is said to be "5.1 Pro-Logic
and Mono Compatible" and it is an NTSC, all Region disc. The DVD is
only available from the
website, but you can preorder now ($14.95 plus shipping). Here's a
look at the cover artwork...
Now then... we've also got detail on the major Disney DVDs coming later
this year. First up is, Oliver and Company
and Snow Dogs on May 21st. The
4-disc Pearl Harbor: Vista Series
debuts on July 2nd. On July 23rd, Disney unveils Tarzan
& Jane. The Schoolhouse Rock:
30th Anniversary Edition arrives on August 27th, which
collects every song from the show. Mickey's
House of Villians hits disc on September 3rd. Disney's Monsters,
Inc. follows on September 17th. And the Beauty
and the Beast: Platinum Edition rounds out the year on
October 8th, with no less than THREE versions of the film included on
The definitive 2-disc Monsters, Inc.
will SRP for $29.99, and will include...
Disc One - the fullscreen Version
of the Film (1.33:1) specially reframed for standard TVs, a Widescreen
Version of the Film (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 televisions (original
theatrical aspect ratio), Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX, a Dolby Digital
5.1 Surround EX sound effects only track, THX-certified with THX
Optimizer, audio commentary by the filmmakers (Director Pete Docter,
Co-Director Lee Unkrich, Executive Producer John Lasseter and Executive
Producer and Screenwriter Andrew Stanton)
Disc Two - (divided into two
worlds: The Monster World and The Human World), outtakes (including Company
Play), a performance of Put That
Thing Back Where it Came from or So Help Me (written,
choreographed, produced, directed and catered by Mike Wazowski), For
the Birds (the 2001 Oscar-nominated Pixar animated short
film, the music featurette If I Didn't Have
You (performed by Billy Crystal and John Goodman) and an
exclusive sneak peek of Finding Nemo
(Disney/Pixar's new upcoming feature)
And trust me when I say that that's just scratching the surface. The
Beauty & The Beast: Platinum Edition
(available for a limited time only (SRP $29.99) will include...
Disc One - an all-digital
presentation utilizing an all-new high definition transfer for the DVD
(widescreen 1.66:1 aspect ratio, enhanced for 16x9 TVs), Dolby Digital
5.1 surround sound newly created for the 2002 large format release, THX
Certified, French language track, three versions of the film (the Special
Edition includes the all-new musical sequence Human
Again, the Original Theatrical
Edition is the animated film masterpiece audiences around the
world know and love, and the Work in Progress
Edition as shown at the 1991 New York Film Festival), audio
commentary from the filmmakers, a karaoke/sing-along track (watch the
film and sing along to all your favorite songs as the words pop up on
the screen), Maurice's Invention Workshop Game (help Chip in Maurice's
Workshop and begin a journey that continues on Disc 2 in which the
viewer can break the spell and make all the enchanted characters human
Disc Two - The
Story Behind the Story (the viewer is transported into
Belle's library as celebrity hosts Celine Dion, James Earl Jones, David
Ogden Stiers, Ming Na, Angela Lansbury, Robby Benson, Page O'Hara and
Jodi Benson share the stories behind several of Disney's most beloved
characters), A Tale as Old as Time
("making of" featurette), Character Profile Game, Beauty
and the Beast Broadway musical featurette, Disney's Animation
Magic, Chip's Musical Challenge Game, Beauty
and the Beast music video by Jump 5, Break the Spell
adventure game and a complete and exhaustive section for ultimate
collector's and film fans, which includes the early presentation reel,
an alternate version of the Be Our Guest
number, an alternate score (The
Transformation - original demo recordings with introduction
by Alan Menken), a production and character design art gallery, pencil
tests, animation tests, a layout and background art gallery, camera move
tests, poster and ad design artwork, trailers and TV spots, the Large
Screen Format trailer and more
here for Disney's complete press release with all the details in
ASCII Text format (including specs on these titles plus Pearl
Harbor and others). Whew!
We'll be back with not one but two new reviews this afternoon, as well
as Todd's new Doogan's Views
column. Stay tuned...
All right, we've got some serious mojo in
Rumor Mill for you today, so do check it out. There's word on
more Star Trek, some long overdue
Tarantino special editions and even some Universal news. Definitely
worth a look.
Also today, we've got a look at the final Legend:
Ultimate Edition artwork for you. Remember, click to preorder
from DVD Planet.
Surprise! We've got word on MGM's forthcoming Blue
Velvet: Special Edition. The disc streets on June 4th (SRP
$24.98). Look for the disc to include a new anamorphic widescreen
transfer personally supervised by director David Lynch, the Mysteries
of Love documentary featuring rare interviews with Lynch,
Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan and other cast and crew members,
the Are You a Pervert? deleted
scenes featurette, Siskel & Ebert's critical review, a photo
gallery, trailers and more. Audio is English Dolby Digital 5.1, French
stereo and Spanish mono, with subtitles in English, French, Spanish and
Portuguese. By the way, all those other MGM June titles we mentioned
yesterday will street on June 4th as well.
You Star Wars fans will be
pleased to learn that Fox TV will be debuting the final trailer for Star
Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones on March 10th (smack
dab between Malcolm and a new X-Files).
Word is the 2 and 1/2 minute trailer features serious Jedi-in-action
material. The trailer will appear in theaters later in March with Ice
Age, ET and other
here for the whole story via EWOnline.
You know... the hype that happened on Episode
I might be suspiciously absent this time around, but I for
one am no less excited. In fact, after reading the cautiously glowing
script reviews at
I'm getting down right pumped (by the way - avoid those links if you
wish to stay spoiler free). It's almost a cliché to say these
days, but Star Wars was THE film
of my childhood. And the thought that I've got two more chances to
recapture that giddy feeling I first got in 1977 makes me happy, happy,
happy. What a great year this is gonna be for movies! You got Episode
II, you got Lord of the Rings: The
Two Towers, you got Spider-Man,
Star Trek: Nemesis, Panic
Room, Minority Report.
Sure hope at least half of those titles turn out to be at least half as
good as I'd like them to be...
By the way, if ANYONE out there has a complete copy of the Episode
II screenplay, drop
me an e-mail. I'm dying to read it and I'll make it worth your
Afternoon all! Todd wanted me to let everyone know that the
store has officially opened. And his The
Short Films of David Lynch DVD (which includes Six
Men Getting Sick, The Alphabet,
The Grandmother, The
Amputee, The Cowboy and
The Frenchman, along with his Lumiere
short originally available on the Lumiere
Shorts DVD) is now available for order (for $39.95 plus
shipping and handling). Also, the Eraserhead
DVD is available as a backorder item only, which will ship around April
1st. It also sells for $39.95. Both DVDs come in custom 8" x 8"
cardboard DVD boxes with informational booklets (16-pages for the
shorts, 20-pages for Eraserhead).
Here's a look at the cover artwork...
Columbia TriStar's got some interesting new titles on the way. Look for
All in the Family: The Complete First Season
on March 26th. Bite the Bullet and
Breakout are due on April 2nd.
Race the Sun and Cruel
and Unusual follow on April 30th. May 7th will see To
Gillian on Her 37th Birthday and Earth
vs. the Spider. On May 14th, The
Cowboy will arrive on DVD. And on May 21st, the studio will
release a Memento: Special Edition.
We've also got a look at some of MGM's June DVD lineup for you. Here's
what to expect: Best Seller, Caveman,
Cheech and Chong's The Corsican Brothers,
Deal of a Lifetime, Great
Balls of Fire, Hero and the Terror,
High Spirits, The
Jackie Robinson Story, The
Manhattan Project, Men at Work,
Mr. Saturday Night, UHF
Before we leave today, how about some upcoming DVD artwork? Several of
you have complained that we haven't updated our Upcoming
DVD Artwork section in a while. That's deliberate. On our
current server, all that artwork downloading to the Net is killing our
bandwidth allotment. So we're waiting to update until we're on the new
server. More on that in a moment. In the meantime, here's some cool
stuff to tide you over: Columbia TriStar's All
in the Family: The Complete First Season (3/26) and First
Men in the Moon (1964 - 3/26), Fox's Black
Knight (4/16), MGM's UHF
(6/4), Warner's Ocean's 11 (5/7),
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker - Uncut
Version (4/23) and The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (4/3) and Universal's Legend:
Ultimate Edition (5/21 - note that the Legend
artwork is subject to change). Click on each to pre-order from DVD
Back to the server issue. Our next post will be on Thursday, barring
some MAJOR announcement tomorrow. That's so we can FINALLY get the move
to the new server completed. We think you'll notice the difference in
speed right away. No more server crashes, no more "service
temporarily unavailable", no more long download times. Imagine
that? (sigh) Just be aware that the site (and our e-mail) might be
spotty until then.
So we'll see you Thursday! 'Till then, stay tuned...
(LATE UPDATE -
2/25/02 - 11 AM PST)
Just wanted to jump in here with a cool bit of DVD news.
Washington Post.com today published an interview with Roger
and Me director Michael Moore. During the interview, he
confirms that the film will be released on DVD this year.
here for the full text. Thanks to Bits
reader Mike for the tip!
You fans of the Lone Wolf and Cub
manga will be happy to learn that AnimEgo
is going to be releasing the original film series on DVD this summer.
Here's an e-mail I received this morning from Bits
reader Jerry: "I purchase anime from
AnimEigo.com. I found a listing of Samurai films I've never noticed
before, to my surprise & delight. They are listing The Lone Wolf
& Cub (6 films) a.k.a.; the Baby Cart films and Zatoichi
(7 of this films series) as coming to DVD this spring (of 2002). They
will announce a firm date when they're ready to duplicate. I watched the
laserdisc years ago of Lone Wolf. As it turned out the Laser was
a pan & scan and edited version (bad dub), according to Leonard
Maltin's movie guide, from a great 6 film series. I e-mailed Amimego
because I had a few questions regarding the release of the series. I
asked about Anamorphic and release dates - separate or all 6 together. I
received a nice reply from Robert Woodhead, CEO, of AnimeEigo. To quote:
"When we do the DVD of LW&C, it will be "anamorphic"
digitally transferred from a new print. Summer more likely, we expect
the inevitable snags. It's much more complex than it seems. One at a
time, every few months." I wanted to pass this info on to you..."
Cool news indeed. For the record,
link to the official announcement at AnimEgo.
This just in from our friends at A&E Home Video (and it is
official) - Gerry Anderson's UFO
is coming to DVD this summer. UFO: DVD Set 1
is being released on 7/30. More when we have it.
The official Weird
Al website has announced the release date for the UHF:
Special Edition - look for it to hit store shelves on June
4th. The disc will feature both anamorphic widescreen and full frame
versions. Extras will include audio commentary with Al Yankovic and Jay
Levey (plus surprise special guests), deleted scenes (hosted by Al), a
photo gallery (with over 200 pictures), a "behind the scenes"
documentary, the film's teaser and theatrical trailers, the UHF
music video and more.
In other news,
a story on Yahoo about the first copy-protected CD released here
in the States (for the record, it's Charley
Pride: A Tribute to Jim Reeves) not passing muster with
consumers... or at least not ONE consumer anyway.
And finally, Bits reader
Christopher has e-mailed us a link to
story that he says describes more accurately what Windows XP's Media
Player does in tracking DVD and CD usage. Thanks, Chris!
(EARLY UPDATE - 2/25/02 - 12:01 AM PST)
In light of the death of animator Chuck Jones this weekend, a lot of
you have been asking us when Warner Bros. will get around to bringing
his classic Looney Tunes shorts to
DVD. I've spoken to the studio about this, and they've apparently been
working on them for a while now. It seems that the shorts are badly in
need of restoration before they see their DVD debut, but that's
definitely been a ongoing project for some time. Now, however, I think
you'll see this become a bit of a higher priority for the studio. I know
I'm not the only one who wants a complete DVD boxed set of all the
classic Tunes animation (and a
complete boxed set it must be, or a series of in-order volumes that
eventually leads to the complete Looney Tunes
catalog available on DVD). So get busy Warner. The fans are waiting...
and nothing would honor Jones' memory more. By the way, cudos to Warner
for their online
Now then, let's get the week off to a good start, shall we? We've got
word on a whole bunch of upcoming DVD releases from Buena Vista/Disney.
On March 12th, look for On the Line,
Iron Monkey, Mexico
City and New Port South,
with the animated The Hunchback of Notre Dame,
the straight-to-video The Hunchback of Notre
Dame 2, Adrenalin, Baz
Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom and
Tall Guy following on March 19th.
April 2nd will see a huge batch of live-action catalog titles, including
Turner & Hooch, Three
Men and a Baby, Three Men and a
Little Lady, Ruthless People,
Taking Care of Business, Three
Fugitives, Tin Men,
Dick Tracy (!), Iron
Will, Angels in the Outfield,
Homeward Bound 2, White
Fang and White Fang 2: Myth of the
White Wolf. Following on April 9th are Serendipity,
High Heels and Low Lives and Texas
Rangers. May 5th will see the DVD release of The
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, with The
Others, Corky Romano
and Snow Dogs following on May
14th, and Out Cold on May 21st. On
June 4th, look for more live-action catalog titles, including Krippendorf's
Tribe, Annie (the 1999
TV version), Mr. Wrong, The
Joy Luck Club, V.I. Warshawski,
Scarlet Letter and The Good Mother.
Max Keebles Big Move and
Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch
arrive on June 18th. And finally, July 2nd is the new street date for
the Pearl Harbor: Vista Series
Just to keep you going, here's the DVD cover artwork for a trio of
those titles that I know there's a lot of interest in right now - Dick
Tracy, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
and Strictly Ballroom. All three
titles (though it's hard to tell by the packaging) will feature at least
some special edition content.
DVD-related Big Brother note for you Windows XP users (like me):
if you watch your DVDs using Windows Media Player, you may (or may not)
be surprised to learn that the software keeps track of what titles
you're watching and reports that information back to Microsoft. Guess
ya'll better lay off the porn, huh? For the record, Microsoft says they
don't use the information for marketing purposes. Wink, wink, nudge,
Some very sad news today from right here in our own neck of the
woods... Orange County, California. Chuck Jones, former animation cel
washer, iconic animation director and Mark Twain lover extraordinaire,
died yesterday of heart failure (click
for more information). For everything he has given us - from the
attention-seeking Charley Dog, the day-dreaming Ralph Phillips, the
mysterious Michigan J. Frog, the misunderstood super genius Wile E.
Coyote, the cucumber cool lover Pepe Le Pew and on to Daffy's swaggering
turn as Duck Dodgers and beyond - we'll always be grateful. And we just
wanted to say goodbye. Chuck Jones was, and always will be, the greatest
15-year old who ever lived.
Say hello to Tex, Friz and Mel for us...
September 21, 1912 - February 22, 2002
We've got some good DVD announcements for you today. First of all,
Warner has revealed (as we reported in
Rumor Mill a month ago) that they'll release their new Ocean's
11 remake on May 7th. That same day (and this is official),
Paramount will release Star Trek: The Next
Generation - Season Two on DVD. Other upcoming titles to look
forward to: Anchor Bay will release Tender
Mercies, Plenty, Can't
Stop the Music and Highlander
on 4/16. Artisan's got Iron Eagle 2
and All Quiet on the Western Front
coming on 4/23. Buena Vista will unleash Corky
Romano on an unsuspecting public on 5/14 (in case anyone but
Corky cares). As you already know, Columbia TriStar's movie-only Ali
streets on 4/30, along with Race the Sun.
Universal's Flixmix: Ultimate Fight
is due on 4/16. And in addition to Ocean's 11,
Warner will release S.O.B., The
Great Race and Skin Deep
on 6/4 (sweet!).
Now then... a lot of people have been e-mailing us worrying that this
new Blu-Ray disc announcement spells the end of DVD. Don't even begin to
worry about this. The recent announcement was for a disc specification,
not a home video format. There's probably at least a year's worth of
haggling over HD video format specs before any hardware will come to
market. Then there's the encryption issue, which is a serious stumbling
block for Hollywood, particularly given how fast DVD's CSS encryption
was cracked. And you can put this fact in the bank: the Hollywood
studios aren't going to do anything that will cannibalize the massive
profits they're making from standard DVD anytime soon. Our estimate is
that standard DVD will be around at least 10 years before any kind of HD
format makes a major impact. That might not sound like a long time, but
remember - VHS has only been around about 20 years. That doesn't mean
you won't be able to watch HD movies at home soon (via broadcast, D-VHS
tape or even early HD-DVD discs) - just that they're not going to kill
DVD for a long time. Laserdisc died a fast death only because it was
never really a mass market format in the first place. But it's already 5
years into DVD, and do you see people dumping their VHS players by the
thousands? Of course not - people have both. The same will happen with
DVD and HD-DVD. Keep in mind too that any Blu-Ray/HD-DVD hardware is
likely to be completely backwards compatible with existing 5" disc
formats, meaning that you'll still be able to play all your current CDs
and DVDs on the new equipment. So relax. Buy and enjoy your discs
And if you're wondering about
latest Doogan's Views column, he's talking about the death
of good DVD special editions, silly... NOT the death of the format as a
whole. You've gotta actually READ the whole column, 'cause he's making
an important point. ;-)
One other thing we want to mention this morning, and it's another
cautionary advisory of sorts. Our friends at
Force.net are running with a story that was first reported on
the French website
Alliance. Apparently, a DVD promotional magazine released
there (made by Fox Pathé Europa) contains a promo disc with
trailers of other films "available on DVD". And among the
trailers are all three original Star Wars
films. Does this mean they're coming to DVD soon? I'd caution you
strongly before you start getting too excited. George Lucas made it
we were at the Ranch for Episode I) that Episode
II would be released on DVD in the normal timeframe after its
theatrical release. So we can reasonably expect it in time for the
holidays. But ANYTHING else should be taken with a major grain of salt.
We'll look into this, but I'd definitely caution you (very strongly) not
to let yourself get excited just yet.
Okay - that's it for now. Have a great weekend!
We've got some DVD news for you today. First a bit of street date news
- Artisan's Frank Herbert's Dune: Special
Edition has been moved from April 23rd to June 11th. Just
Around the Internet today, there's word that
is seeing big DVD sales numbers for their Moulin Rouge disc
since the Oscar nominations were announced. No surprise there. Also
today, it looks like
is asking the Bush administration to get tougher on foreign DVD
pirates. In particular, the MPAA's Jack Valenti wants closer
attention paid to the three biggest offenders - Malaysia, Taiwan and
Thailand - which are the world's largest exporters of renegade DVDs. Can
you say "Axis of Evil DVD"? Also, today, there's a couple of
good press stories on the recent Blu-Ray announcement online (click
for those). Did you notice that Matsushita and company have even created
a new logo for the Blue-Ray discs? Whatever they call 'em, we're calling
'em HD-DVDs. ;-)
One other news note today: Video Store
magazine's Enrique Rivero has written a great cover story on the issue
of widescreen vs. full frame DVD releases. You should find that online
soon (probably sometime next week)
clicking here. And if you read the current print issue, featuring
the same story, you'll see a demonstration of the difference provided by
The Bits from our
to Anamoprhic DVD. It's definitely worth a read, because the
message the studios send is that they're not planning on abandoning
widescreen as DVD goes even more mass market. Good news indeed. Nice
Rounding out the day's news content, we've got a trio of new DVD
reviews. First up is Greg's look at Universal's
Park III: Collector's Edition. We also have Brain Ford
Sullivan's take on MGM's
SG-1: The Complete First Season. And finally, Drew brings it
all home with his review of Fox's new
the Right Moves DVD (street date: 3/5). Enjoy!
Also this afternoon, be sure to check out the
announced winners of the last Trivia Contest, which are
now posted. ;-)
Okay... with all the server and computer stuff going on, it's been
taking us a while to get back to all our review candidates. But we're
going to send out the next few invitations to join our staff by the end
of the day today. And now that we're almost back to normal, we'll try to
get the process completed soon. Look for the first announcements in the
next few days.
Have a great day!
(LATE UPDATE - 2/20/02 - 3 PM PST)
We've just posted
new column in the
Views section, and I think it's one you'll definitely want to
check out. In addition to reviewing Warner & PBS's DVD release of
Grapes of Death: Special Edition and IndieDVD's
Flies, Todd's got something important to say about the
direction our favorite digital format is headed. And it's not good. So
over there, give what he has to say a read and
drop him a line to
let him know you thoughts.
In other news today, we've got word from HBO that their Mr.
Show with Bob and David DVD set is not going to be delayed
after all. Well, okay... it will be delayed a little. But not
indefinitely. It was to have been released on April 2nd - now it's due
on June 11th. Okay... I can wait that long. Thanks to Chris for the
And how about Rhino these days?! Look at what they've got coming to DVD
in the weeks ahead: Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner's 2000
Year Old Man (street date 2/26), The
Best of the Blues Brothers (3/12), Cheap
Trick: Music for Hangovers, Mystery
Science Theater 3000: I Accuse My Parents and Mystery
Science Theater 3000: Red Zone Cuba (all 3/26), Gumby,
Volume 1 and the Gumby Boxed Set
(both 4/9 - set includes 7 discs, a miniature Gumby figure, an interview
with the creator, the pilot, storyboards, bumpers, behind-the-scenes
footage of animators and more), and Battle of
the Planets, Volumes 5 & 6, The
Juniper Tree, The Transformers,
Season 1 - Parts 1-3 and The
Transformers, Season 1 Boxed Set (all 4/23 - Transformers
Boxed Set includes 4 discs, 16 episodes, bumpers, outtakes,
alternate sequences, an original series script, a mini documentary from
the Botcon 2001 Convention and 2 limited-edition cels).
The folks at Rhino have been busy little beavers lately, haven't they?
Those Gumby and Transformers:
Season 1 boxes look very cool!
(EARLY UPDATE - 2/20/02 - Noon PST)
Just a quick first update today. We've received word from Columbia
TriStar on their forthcoming DVD release of Michael Mann's Ali.
As we've said previously, the disc debuts on April 30th (SRP $27.96).
Features will include anamorphic widescreen video, Dolby Digital 5.1
audio and theatrical trailers. No word on whether there will be a
special edition release in the future.
Also this morning, we've been talking with Universal about the
impending Region 4 DVD release of Battlestar
here for details). According to the studio, they are beginning to
consider releasing TV product on DVD, but there's nothing on the slate
for this year so far. However, we'd like to direct everyone to
online petition, this one created by Richard Hatch's Battlestar
Galactica.com, to get the show released widely on DVD. As you
may recall, Hatch played Apollo on the 70's, Sci-fi TV series (no, he's
not the Survivor guy). If we can
help gather enough signatures (the petition is up to about 3,600 so
far), maybe we can get Universal to consider this more seriously. So get
on over there and sign up. This isn't just about Battlestar
Galactica - this is about sending a message to Universal that
TV product on DVD is not only viable, but in demand by consumers. So
let's get busy...
And finally, we've got word that the Hardware
Wars: Special Edition is coming to DVD in April! Yes... the
original Star Wars spoof comes
home on disc. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll kiss your money good-bye!
This news comes from the
Wiese Productions website. Here's more info: "This
will include a remastered surround-sound track (imagine those space
irons flying by!) and a director's commentary track by Ernie Fosselius.
We also will include a 1998 television program featuring Ernie
presenting his collection of never-before-seen "Hardware Wars"
merchandise (a parody of Hollywood merchandising, plus a complete
version of Ernie's rare book, "The Hollywood Gift Catalog"
plus more." No word yet on price, but watch the site for
updates. Thanks to Jim for the tip!
(LATE UPDATE - 2/19/02 -
3:45 PM PST)
We've got some new upcoming DVD announcements for you this afternoon.
First of all, Columbia TriStar has announced Not
Another Teen Movie for 4/30. 20th Century Fox is releasing
full frame versions of the following films (to go along with the already
released widescreen versions) on 5/21: The
Abyss, Anna and the King,
Big Momma's House, Cast
Away, Edward Scissorhands,
Day, Lake Placid, Men
of Honor and The Predator.
Strand Releasing has set Monkey's Mask
for 3/12. Universal has announced The Skulls
2 and the Spy Game: Collector's
Edition for 4/9. And Warner has added Cosmic
Voyage: IMAX to their 4/30 slate.
Speaking of 20th Century Fox, we've got a list of the studio's first
ten D-VHS "D-Theater" titles (expected sometime around June):
Die Hard, X-Men,
Independence Day, Bedazzled,
Courage Under Fire, The
Siege, Titan AE, Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Fight
Club and Entrapment.
Also this afternoon, we've updated the
DVD Player Sales numbers to include the 169,176 players that
shipped in the first week of February (ending 2/1 - technically the last
week of January, but CEA is tracking it in Feb.). All charts have been
We meant to have the Trivia Contest
winners posted last week, but computer issues prevented it. I'll have
them up shortly. Also, look for a new Doogan's
Views column tomorrow, with lots of new DVD reviews.
(EARLY UPDATE - 2/19/02 - 2 PM PST)
What a busy weekend! I'm finally up to speed on my new computer
(almost, anyway) and we're getting ready to make the move to the new
server. Lots of behind-the-scenes work is on-going.
But, lest you think we were napping, we DID catch the big news today. A
group of several companies in the DVD camp (Hitachi, LG Electronics,
Matsushita, Pioneer, Royal Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony and Thomson to
be exact) have just announced that they've jointly established the basic
specifications for a next generation, large capacity optical disc video
recording format called "Blu-Ray Disc". This would be the
basis for the much talked about HD-DVD format (and you'd better believe
this announcement was motivated by a desire to steal some thunder from
news). The disc can record and play back up to 27 gigabytes of
data using a blue laser. The nine companies plan to begin licensing the
new format as soon as specifications are completed (sometime this
spring). You can read
full press release on the Matsushita website.
Now... this is pretty preliminary. But it iIS significant, because
getting all these companies to agree on a basic spec will help to
prevent the kind of format wars that have plagued the first generation
of DVD-recordable devices (Toshiba and Mitsubishi are notably absent
from this group - when and if they'll get on board is yet to be seen).
Still, "Blu-Ray" (as it's being called) has a long way to go
before we see it in stores. The matter of digital copy protection is
still of great concern. The advantage to the recently announced D-VHS "D-Theater"
scheme is that video tapes can't be played in computer DVD-ROM drives
(thus making them harder - but not impossible - to hack). Since these
discs probably will be computer usable, any copy protection scheme will
have to be VERY robust to convince Hollywood to get on board
(particularly after DVD's CSS encryption was cracked so easily). All
that said, this announcement is good news for the vast majority of
serious video-philes who, like us here at The
Bits, believe that digital disc (and not tape) is the future
of home entertainment. We'll keep our eyes on the development of "Blu-Ray"
you can be sure.
We'll be back with more soon, but I wanted to jump in here with some
new upcoming DVD cover artwork first. So here's a look at Columbia
TriStar's forthcoming Ali (street
date: 4/30) and the Jerry Maguire: Special
Edition (also 4/30), along with Universal's Spy
Game: Collector's Edition (4/9), Slap
Shot: 25th Anniversary Special Edition (3/26) and Mulholland
Drive (via USA, street date: 4/9). Click on each cover to
pre-order the disc from DVD Planet. Enjoy...
Just to let everyone know, since today is a holiday here in the States,
we're taking the opportunity to continue our server and site work
behind-the-scenes here at The Bits.
But we'll be back tomorrow with our usual daily update. Enjoy the rest
of your long weekend!
(LATE UPDATE - 2/15/02 - 3 PM PST)
Oh... we couldn't let the week go without posting a couple more things.
First of all, that link we posted to The Back
to the Future Australian DVD trailer is no longer working. So
here's a screen shot of the most important bit of info on it, namely the
part where it says "Summer 2002". Again, keep in mind that
this date is relevant to Australia only (December is when it's due in R1
- also keep in mind that summer in Australia is winter here in the
Northern Hemisphere, so we're probably looking at about the same release
Thanks to Adam for that. Also today, we've just posted Todd's review of
Anchor Bay's awesome new
Evil Dead: Book of the Dead - Limited Edition (street date:
3/5). Trust us on this - if you're a fan, just get your money ready.
It's very cool.
Okay. NOW have a good weekend! ;-)
(EARLY UPDATE - 2/15/02 - Noon PST)
Boy... some of you aren't going to be happy when you hear this. Our
friends over at Dark
Horizons have posted word that the complete Battlestar
Galactica TV series is being released in Australia (Region 4)
for a limited time as a DVD box set. Unfortunately, Universal tells me
that there are no plans to do this here in the States anytime soon. And
I report this knowing that the firestorm's about to begin...
More bad news today - HBO is considering shelving the Mr.
Show with Bob and David DVDs until New Line gets around to
releasing its lingering in limbo Run Ronnie
Run movie. This comes from the
Bob and David's
Not pleased about this? My advice is to organize yourselves and contact
this link) and HBO (via
this link) and tell them what you think. But PLEASE be polite
about it or you're not likely to do more than make yourselves look like
fools. And if you get decent petitions going, we'll post links to them.
Here's some good news today: Columbia TriStar has just released details
on their Jerry Maguire: Special Edition
(street date: April 30th). Look for the 2-disc set to include anamorphic
widescreen video, Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, audio (and video) commentary
with director/writer Cameron Crowe and actors Tom Cruise, Rene Zellweger
and Cuba Gooding, Jr., deleted scenes with optional commentary, the Secret
Garden music video by Bruce Springsteen, the How
to Be a Sports Agent featurette (featuring footage with the "real"
Jerry Maguire - Drew Rosenhaus), the Rod Tidwell commercial featuring
Cuba Gooding, Jr., rehearsal footage with optional commentary, the Mission
Statement, a photo gallery, theatrical trailers,
filmographies and the film's screenplay (via DVD-ROM). SRP for the set
is $29.95. Sounds like a great release!
Just FYI, we'll be back to announce the Trivia
Contest winners later today.
One last thing - we're going to be moving the site to a new server over
the next few days. So e-mail is going to be spotty for a few days, and
you may notice a disruption on the site as well. Just FYI...
Have a great weekend and see you back here next week!
(LATE UPDATE - 2/14/02 - 5:30 PM PST)
A quick clarification on two issues this afternoon. First up, there's
been some confusion about the release date for the Back
to the Future DVDs, stemming from a trailer for the set that
says "Summer 2002" (you can view it online
with Quicktime - thanks Adam!). This trailer was released in Australia,
so it DOES NOT pertain to the Region 1 release. As we reported in
Mill yesterday, December is when to expect it here in the
States. Keep watching Universal's newly-launched
site for details. And, of course, we'll post inside news on the
DVDs as we hear it.
Second issue: we've been getting concerned e-mails from readers who
have been seeing "DIVX" software available for download around
the Net, and who suddenly fear that the Circuit City-backed (and long
defunct) pay-per-play disc system was suddenly making a comeback. Rest
easy. The DIVX you're seeing now is simply a free "codec" for
viewing video on PCs over the Net. They simply borrowed the name as a
here to learn more.
Now you can sleep easy. ;-)
(EARLY UPDATE - 2/14/02 - Noon PST)
To start things off this morning, we've got better artwork for you on
the Friends: Season One box set...
In news today, word is that co-directors Joel and Ethan Coen have
recorded their first ever "straight" audio commentary track
for USA's upcoming The Man Who Wasn't There
DVD, which streets on April 16th (SRP $26.98). Fans of the Coens may be
aware that they recorded a "tongue-in-cheek" commentary on
their Blood Simple DVD from
Universal. The disc will also include an interview with cinematographer
Roger Deakins, a "making of" featurette and deleted scenes.
Also, there's word that the film version of The Band's The
Last Waltz (directed by Martin Scorsese) will be released on
DVD this year in honor of the film's 25th anniversary.
here for more from Launch.com via Yahoo. According to the story:
"The DVD then comes out May 7, containing
not only the film but also previously unreleased "jam footage"
featuring the Band and concert guests such as Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr,
Neil Young, the Rolling Stones' Ron Wood, Dr. John, and Stephen Stills.
Scorsese and Robertson provide scene-by-scene commentary for the DVD,
and there are interviews with surviving Band members Levon Helm and
Garth Hudson, concert guests Ronnie Hawkins and Mavis Staples, and
various crew members and journalists who covered the event, along with a
photo gallery and the original theatrical trailer for the film.
Suggested retail price for the DVD will be $24.98." Very
By the way... Happy Valentine's Day! To keep in the spirit of things,
make it a point to go out and kiss somebody today. Just be sure you know
where their lips have been first.