WB Archives in Classic Horror on DVD, Blu-Ray and Streaming Forum

Forum Jump

WB Archives

Author	Comment
dhtreptow		#81	[-]
Mar 22 09 4:30 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Professor X wrote: Richard wrote: It makes monetary sense to cut out the retailers who take so much of the profit. But these DVD's are overpriced, especially to those of us who want to buy a lot of them. If the DVD's least had trailers along with the feature, they'd be worth $15, although that's a little high, too. I don't see why barebones catalog titles coming directly from the manufacturer should cost more than similar products bought at a retail store. I picked up a lot of the MM double features at Best Buy for $12.99 or even less, and they were pressed double-sided discs with a keepcase. A single layer DVD-R in a sleeve shouldn't really be priced at $20. Your paying for a service here, almost a custom service where some stuff is easily going to sell less than 500 units maybe even less than 200. So you're basically paying to have hundreds of options that they otherwise have little or no intention releasing available on demand as needed. There has to be a continual infrastructure for that. It's apples and oranges.
	Remove this ad
Chesterbelloc		#82	[-]
Mar 22 09 5:10 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The AP has a story on WB's Archives: Warner Bros. brings film vault into digital age The Associated Press Sunday, March 22, 2009 LOS ANGELES: Warner Bros. is reaching into its film vaults so it can sell old movies on made-to-order DVDs, in a move it hopes will goose sales of a vital product in a downturn. Starting Monday, the studio will sell copies of 150 films from the silent era to the 1980s Brat Pack that have never been released on DVD. Internet downloads of the movies will cost $14.95, while DVDs sent in the mail are $19.95. Both can be ordered at http://www.warnerarchive.com. The initiative, which Warner claims is the first of its kind for a major studio, is an effort by the Time Warner Inc. subsidiary to combat what could be a fundamental decline in demand for DVD purchases a falloff that can be blamed on market saturation as much as the recession. Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger warned of this shift last month when he noted that most U.S. households own 80 DVDs already, leading people to become "more selective" about what discs they buy. U.S. DVD spending fell 7 percent last year, to $21.6 billion, according to The Digital Entertainment Group, an industry consortium. While high-definition Blu-ray disc spending nearly tripled, it represented a small slice of the market, at $750 million. Now retailers are cutting back shelf space for DVDs. And digital downloads have come nowhere near to making up the difference, said Tom Adams, president of Adams Media Research, who doesn't predict overall growth in home video until 2010. Home video revenues are a key profit driver for the studios in some cases, accounting for 60 percent more money than what a studio collects at the box office. So the recent decline has forced studios to do everything from lay off staff to pare back movie making. Warner's decision to open up its vault "sounds like it's a risk-free way for them to generate a little money on some very old content," Adams said. By making the DVDs only when the movies are ordered by a customer, Warner doesn't have to worry about filling up a warehouse with inventory that struggles to sell. Many of the titles Warner is releasing in the new venture have made the rounds on another Time Warner subsidiary, the Turner Classic Movies cable channel, and on VHS. But the studio will keep mining a 6,800-feature film library, amassed when Ted Turner bought Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's archive in 1986, which in turn was bought by Time Warner a decade later. Twenty more films or TV shows will be added to the program of re-releases each month, with 300 expected by year's end. To put it in perspective, the studio has released only about 1,100 movies on DVD since the technology was spawned 12 years ago. "There are still thousands of movies that we own that consumers haven't been able to get," said George Feltenstein, senior vice president of theatrical catalog marketing for Warner Home Video. "I expect that we'll be selling thousands of copies of every title over a period of time, and making a lot of people really happy." Titles include "The Mating Game" (1959), starring Debbie Reynolds, and a string of Cary Grant flicks from "Mr. Lucky" (1943) to "Once Upon a Honeymoon" (1942). There's also "Wisdom," a modern-day Robin Hood tale from 1986 starring Emilio Estevez and Demi Moore. Reynolds noted that in the past, the only way to watch some old films was to have a projector at home and obtain a bootleg copy. She said fans have been asking her to get some of her films on DVD, like "The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady" (1950), which is expected in a later batch of releases. "I was a girl that was raised with radio and I had to go to the theater to see movies," said Reynolds, 76, during an interview in a screening room on the Warner lot. "Now you get to see everything at home on a DVD. It just seems like a miracle that it can be done this way." Robert Crawford, a 53-year-old auto worker in Saginaw, Mich., expects to use the new Warner program to add to his 5,000-disc collection, a mix of Blu-ray discs and DVDs. He bubbled at hearing of upcoming releases such as "Beast of the City" (1932) starring Walter Huston and Jean Harlow, or "Rasputin and the Empress" (1932), which features three Barrymore siblings, including modern "Charlie's Angels" actress Drew Barrymore's grandfather, John. "Some of these films I've been waiting on for years," said Crawford. "Let's face it, Best Buy doesn't carry every title, neither does Wal-Mart. They don't have the shelf room." Check out my movie collection at: http://www.dvdaf.com/search.html?where=larryw7&init_form=where_0_larryw7*mode_more
Rapfred		#83	[-]
Mar 22 09 6:27 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	DVD-R, ShmeeVD-R... I can't wait to get my mitts on AL CAPONE (with Method men Rod Steiger, Nehemiah Persoff and Martin Balsam doing the Actors Studio proud), the bizarre but endearing CONVICTS FOUR (originally called REPRIEVE, but retitled to give it some Rat Pack-ish oomph), Irwin Allen's THE BIG CIRCUS (a big top extravaganza with disasters in every ring), and I WAS A COMMUNIST FOR THE F.B.I. (Frank Lovejoy fans, rejoice). I'm also tempted to pull the trigger on SOULS FOR SALE. Although the box cover and teaser clip tout a behind-the-Hollywood-scenes silent comedy starring Eleanor Boardman and Richard Dix, a synopsis at the bottom of the page describes an altogether different movie: "Horror film great Vincent Price stars in this tale of slave girls arriving in San Francisco, who, aided by a soldier-of-fortune, try to escape through secret labyrinths." Which means this could well be Albert Zugsmith's trippy-dippy CONFESSIONS OF AN OPIUM EATER under its alternate title. Oh, to see Zuggy's cracked masterpiece featuring a two-fisted, powder-puff punching Vinny in all its anamorphically enhanced glory.
pinkfloyd95209		#84	[-]
Mar 22 09 6:45 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Joe Karlosi wrote: and I recall the days of paying $20 for VHS tapes ... . Joe, I recall when it cost between $60-$100 to buy a VHS Tape back in the Early 1980's when videos were mainly RENTED not owned. That makes me feel really old!
Chris Koenig		#85	[-]
Mar 22 09 6:48 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Paul Haight wrote: According to this old thread, Buena Vista owns ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS and NOT OF THIS EARTH. They reportedly submitted CRAB MONSTERS to the Ontario Censor Board way back in 2006. Well that sucks...kinda. I didn't know that Corman had rights on those two titles, but then he's remade "Not of this Earth" how many times now? Problem is that since Buena Vista now owns these two, will they be released on DVD in decent transfers and hopefully from good elements. Oh well, guess now I can hope for "The Cyclops" to come out from WB and leave these be.
TAUBLAR		#86	[-]
Mar 22 09 7:02 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Personally I don't know if they are DVD-Rs or not, but we won't have long to wait to find out fore sure.... An Evening With Warner Home Video Monday March 23rd 8:00-11:00 P.M. E.S.T. Meet the people that bring you your favorite Warner Home Video product with an opportunity to ask questions regarding past and future releases In Attendance George Feltenstein, SVP Catalog Marketing Ronnee Sass, VP Publicity & Promotion Janet Keller, Manager of Publicity
Professor X		#87	[-]
Mar 22 09 7:09 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	dhtreptow wrote: Professor X wrote: Richard wrote: It makes monetary sense to cut out the retailers who take so much of the profit. But these DVD's are overpriced, especially to those of us who want to buy a lot of them. If the DVD's least had trailers along with the feature, they'd be worth $15, although that's a little high, too. I don't see why barebones catalog titles coming directly from the manufacturer should cost more than similar products bought at a retail store. I picked up a lot of the MM double features at Best Buy for $12.99 or even less, and they were pressed double-sided discs with a keepcase. A single layer DVD-R in a sleeve shouldn't really be priced at $20. Your paying for a service here, almost a custom service where some stuff is easily going to sell less than 500 units maybe even less than 200. So you're basically paying to have hundreds of options that they otherwise have little or no intention releasing available on demand as needed. There has to be a continual infrastructure for that. It's apples and oranges. They probably already have these titles archived on a hard drive cluster somewhere, and given the potentially low sales, it's not like they're ever going to be able to recoup the cost of the transfers. Most likely, some intern somewhere takes an order, burns a copy onto DVD-R, and sends it out. Sorry, but I just don't see high costs being associated with such an operation. If Criterion - given their licensing fees - can offer DVD-9s and a keepcase for $15.99, a major studio like WB should be able to do DVD-Rs and a sleeve for $9.99 + S&H. It would appear some people here are nostalgic for the days when a laserdisc of CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON cost $90. I'm not sure I understand that kind of elitism, especially now that cable channels no longer show old movies.
Tumak		#88	[-]
Mar 22 09 7:43 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Chesterbelloc wrote: Internet downloads of the movies will cost $14.95 Could one burn the download to a DVD-R? Could it be the same quality (anamorphic when appropriate) as the DVD-Rs they send you? $14.95 is better than $19.95, if either way I'm gonna end up with a DVD-R...
Bill Warren		#89	[-]
Mar 22 09 8:07 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The WB order system seems to be screwed up. I placed an order for four titles, making every choice the program required. But when I clicked on Place Order, I was immediately told there was a problem and the order hadn't gone through. So I placed it again, leaving out one title. That seemed to go through just fine. But then I received eMail confirmations of BOTH orders. So I went through the Contact Us process, slowly and carefully. I clicked on Send. The form for sending them eMail appeared again, so I filled it out again. And the blank form appeared yet again. I have the unpleasant feeling that neither eMail was sent. Dammit.
Boris FW		#90	[-]
Mar 22 09 8:33 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	They also have a toll free customer service # on the website.It's only open Mon - Sat.
	Remove this ad
Mike Mariano		#91	[-]
Mar 22 09 8:57 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Professor X wrote: If Criterion - given their licensing fees - can offer DVD-9s and a keepcase for $15.99, a major studio like WB should be able to do DVD-Rs and a sleeve for $9.99 + S&H. With respect, Professor X, that's not really true about Criterion's pricing. ONIBABA and KWAIDAN each list at $29.95, THE BLOB and FIEND WITHOUT A FACE each list at $39.95, etc. Criterion may have a few titles at the $15.99 tag you mention, but for the most part their titles are more expensive. I hear ya if you'd rather not pay $20 a pop for the WB Archive stuff, but you can't really use the logic that Warner should be in line with Criterion's pricing, because Criterion discs are generally much higher priced.
Mike Mariano		#92	[-]
Mar 22 09 9:02 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Bill Warren wrote: The WB order system seems to be screwed up. I placed an order for four titles, making every choice the program required. But when I clicked on Place Order, I was immediately told there was a problem and the order hadn't gone through. So I placed it again, leaving out one title. That seemed to go through just fine. But then I received eMail confirmations of BOTH orders. So I went through the Contact Us process, slowly and carefully. I clicked on Send. The form for sending them eMail appeared again, so I filled it out again. And the blank form appeared yet again. I have the unpleasant feeling that neither eMail was sent. Dammit. Bill, a friend ordered a movie and got the same response you did, that the order didn't go through. Then he checked his e-mail and found he'd gotten a reply saying his order had been accepted. By reordering, it sounds like you may have actually duplicated your order. I would call WB to check that, and cancel one of the orders if need be. This type of software glitch sometimes happens when ordering online.
Mike Mariano		#93	[-]
Mar 22 09 9:56 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Rapfred wrote: I'm also tempted to pull the trigger on SOULS FOR SALE. Although the box cover and teaser clip tout a behind-the-Hollywood-scenes silent comedy starring Eleanor Boardman and Richard Dix, a synopsis at the bottom of the page describes an altogether different movie: "Horror film great Vincent Price stars in this tale of slave girls arriving in San Francisco, who, aided by a soldier-of-fortune, try to escape through secret labyrinths." Which means this could well be Albert Zugsmith's trippy-dippy CONFESSIONS OF AN OPIUM EATER under its alternate title. Oh, to see Zuggy's cracked masterpiece featuring a two-fisted, powder-puff punching Vinny in all its anamorphically enhanced glory. It looks like the credits/summary has been corrected. I checked the preview clip, and it's a silent film from the 20s. Definitely not the Vincent Price/Zugsmith rarity. Wish it was, though!
cjh5801		#94	[-]
Mar 22 09 10:22 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Bill, a friend ordered a movie and got the same response you did, that the order didn't go through. Then he checked his e-mail and found he'd gotten a reply saying his order had been accepted. Same thing happened to me when I ordered DOC SAVAGE and CAPTAIN NEMO AND THE UNDERWATER CITY. Glad I checked the e-mail before I tried again, but it probably wouldn't hurt to wait awhile for them to get the kinks out of the system if you aren't in any hurry to order (unless you're in the same boat as Bill, of course, in which case call ASAP to straighten it out). - Clark hollowaypages.com
Paul Denham		#95	[-]
Mar 22 09 11:29 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The site wasn't meant to go live until the big roll out tomorrow. That's probably why people are having problems. Looks like a great service at a reasonable cost to me. And from what I understand, these will come in a case with printed artwork as well as artwork on the disc. With coupons and free shipping the sting isn't too bad...if it's a title you've desperately wanted, not just something you are casually interested in. And then of course they tweak prices in the future or come up with special sales. I would love to see Universal, Paramount, Mgm, and Fox follow suit. $20 for ANY title in their catalog, from a quality master and OAR and 16:9 where applicable? HELL YEAH- SIGN ME UP!
Jameson281		#96	[-]
Mar 22 09 11:48 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Over at DVD Savant, Glenn Erickson has posted an article about this. He traded e-mails with Warners' George Feltenstein, who told him the plan is to eventually make EVERYTHING available.
dhtreptow		#97	[-]
Mar 22 09 11:52 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Professor X wrote: dhtreptow wrote: Professor X wrote: Richard wrote: It makes monetary sense to cut out the retailers who take so much of the profit. But these DVD's are overpriced, especially to those of us who want to buy a lot of them. If the DVD's least had trailers along with the feature, they'd be worth $15, although that's a little high, too. I don't see why barebones catalog titles coming directly from the manufacturer should cost more than similar products bought at a retail store. I picked up a lot of the MM double features at Best Buy for $12.99 or even less, and they were pressed double-sided discs with a keepcase. A single layer DVD-R in a sleeve shouldn't really be priced at $20. Your paying for a service here, almost a custom service where some stuff is easily going to sell less than 500 units maybe even less than 200. So you're basically paying to have hundreds of options that they otherwise have little or no intention releasing available on demand as needed. There has to be a continual infrastructure for that. It's apples and oranges. They probably already have these titles archived on a hard drive cluster somewhere, and given the potentially low sales, it's not like they're ever going to be able to recoup the cost of the transfers. Most likely, some intern somewhere takes an order, burns a copy onto DVD-R, and sends it out. Sorry, but I just don't see high costs being associated with such an operation. If Criterion - given their licensing fees - can offer DVD-9s and a keepcase for $15.99, a major studio like WB should be able to do DVD-Rs and a sleeve for $9.99 + S&H. It would appear some people here are nostalgic for the days when a laserdisc of CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON cost $90. I'm not sure I understand that kind of elitism, especially now that cable channels no longer show old movies. It's got nothing to do with nostalgia. I just see the writing on the wall for largely unknown 80-year-old films getting self-space and quantity pressings. More and more if you want this kinda stuff, you gotta pay a little more for the obscurity of your tastes, because there are too few picking up the tab on such titles. Consider that, Studios are constantly complaining catalog sales have dropped way off. The nature of catalog titles left are even more obscure than what's previously been released. Small labels have been dropping like flies and don't handle much pre-70's stuff. Best Buy and Walmart won't shelve it, and no other B&M stores are left. The Warner exec. ( George Feltenstein) who's always sticking up for classic releases probably had to kiss some ass just to get this thing going at all.
Jobla.scarletstreet		#98	[-]
Mar 23 09 1:30 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	To my eyes, the website does offer a phone number which accepts orders, and they are accepting debit as well as credit cards. I'll phone them tomorrow and see if that's the case. The webpage itself sure isn't perfect. I clicked on BRAINSTORM 1965 and got a written description for the later film of the same name with Chris Walken and Louise Fletcher. The film clip in b&w appeared to be Anne Francis, however. Then, I clicked on HEART BEAT (1980). This time, the written description was correct, but the film clip appeared to be from some b&w family film. As someone said above, this is brand new, and there are probably some bugs as of now.
Joe Karlosi		#99	[-]
Mar 23 09 5:26 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	pinkfloyd95209 wrote: Joe Karlosi wrote: and I recall the days of paying $20 for VHS tapes ... . Joe, I recall when it cost between $60-$100 to buy a VHS Tape back in the Early 1980's when videos were mainly RENTED not owned. That makes me feel really old! Ditto -- but the point is, $20 for a custom DVD isn't so bad.
GhostofChaneysLiver		#100	[-]
Mar 23 09 6:20 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	They probably already have these titles archived on a hard drive cluster somewhere, and given the potentially low sales, it's not like they're ever going to be able to recoup the cost of the transfers. Most likely, some intern somewhere takes an order, burns a copy onto DVD-R, and sends it out. Sorry, but I just don't see high costs being associated with such an operation. You have to at least give Warners props for at attempting to please those of us that crave the older obscure titles. They are also successfully getting the word out (not just on geeky online fan forums). I heard a news story about this on the radio this morning and there is an article regarding this in today's USA TODAY. Wouldn't it be interesting if this experiment becomes a rousing success and sales waaaaaay exceed what the top suits figured -- blowing away the tiered old theory that nobody wants these older forgotten titles. I'd love for them to realized their is a market for these films after all. Anyway, I'm going to support it best I can (even if it's only one or two titles a month). I suggest everyone do their part and show some support. If this project goes down in flames you can kiss any hope of ever getting your most desired obscure title released from the vault. Cromwell
	Remove this ad

<< Previous Topic Next Topic >>

Add Reply

Yuku free message boards

WB Archives