The Hot Blog Archive for July, 2009
A Tale Of Two Clip Packages, Pt 2
Kick-Ass came into Comic-Con with a completely different set of expectations.
There was no line waiting for the 5:45p event to start. One well-know writer was so irritated by a Paul WS Anderson movie being squeezed in from 5:30 to 5:45 that he left the auditorium before the event even started. And truth be told, it only became a part of my day because I ran into the director, Matthew Vaughn, at lunch.
Yet… it became one of the real high moments of the day for me.
The film, based on a the Millar and Romita, Jr. comic book, did what it needed to do with its choice of clips. It set up the story. And it gave the audience no fewer than 3
A Tale Of Two Clip Packages, Pt 1
In one corner
12 Comments »More Comic-Con To Come….
A dead battery and reception problems… but my take on Avatar, Alice In Wonderland, Kick-Ass, and District 9 will all be up this afternoon, along with a chat with Jim Cameron.
#SDCC – Updating As The Mood Takes Me
10:11a – The stunner, so far, was a walk of the convention floor. Don’t tell the media, but Hollywood has pulled out of this part of The ‘Con. WB is the only studio with a “full block” of space. So on this floor, Lionsgate and MGM are taking up as much space – or more – than Sony or Paramount. Universal is fronted with a TV site… mostly Heroes… apparently paid for by Nissan. There is a lot of tv this year, though it still doesn’t fill the space the movies cleared out. Films are being fronted by liscencees almost exclusively. Yes, the events still go on. But the lack of floor space probably represents a 30% to 50% cut to Con budgets on and of itself.
8:50a – How have I avoided the Industry/Press badge pick-up line that seems a few hundred deep this morning? I guess I never showed up on the first morning of GeekDance before.
EXCLUSIVE: Headlines Of The Future
3D Comic-Con Event Marred By 2D Projection Problems
NYT: Stock Analysts Think Burton
I Don't Get it
From Disney – Be the First to See the ALICE IN WONDERLAND Teaser Trailer!
The Loyal Subjects of the Red Queen, the Loyal Subjects of the White Queen, and the Disloyal Subjects of the Mad Hatter are all building armies on Facebook. The fan page with the biggest army at 4PM PDT on Thursday, July 23 will get to see an exclusive new trailer from Disney
It's 12:37p… Do You Know Where My Posts Are?
I don’t.
3 Comments »Buying Watchmen Blu
Since WB didn’t manage to cough up an early copy (“it’s not my department”), I went out today to buy the extended cut of Watchmen on Blu-ray. I am not unwilling to expect that I will prefer it considerably to the original. We’ll see.
What fascinated me was that, looking for a quick fix, I ran to Barnes & Noble, the closest DVD retailer, and I girded myself to pay $6 or $7 more than I would on Amazon… that would make it $26.49 or $27.49. A part of setting that price was that on B&N Online, it was $22, a couple of bucks more than Amazon. Storefronts cost money, so….
What I found was a retail price of $35.49, discounted (ha ha) 10%. So, $31.95.
And I turned around and walked out of the store, drove the 15 minutes in traffic to go to Target, and paid my $25.49 there.
The $6 wasn’t important. The idea of paying more than $30 for a mainstream Blu-ray that costs $20.49 ion Amazon, free shipping, no tax… well… just wasn’t gonna do it.
Moreover, why would the studios ALLOW B&N to put a $35 retail price on Blu-rays that people walk by every day. Where is my incentive to buy a player and the discs when as an otherwise unaware consumer, I am assuming that the discs cost double – or more – what regular DVDs retail at. It is horrible promotion of a still fragile emerging technology.
If B&N doesn’t want to use the space for Blu at $25 or $26, I can understand that… so keep the Blu-rays out of B&N.
As much as this industry obsesses on piracy, it really has to start obsessing on how its future is branded, because dumb stuff like this is the kind of thing that sticks in consumer minds, along with the parade of idiotic “reports” from “experts” that we will see throughout the next 6 weeks of dead summer news time.
Seeing The Trouble
Sony figured it out… if they can’t keep Redbox from destroying the rental business with $1 a day rentals – though some have argued in here that the avg Redbox rental is multiple days and thus, the avg renter cost is higher than you might expect – they need to do what they can to keep Redbox from destroying the ancillary market for used DVDs.
4 Comments »Adam Yauch & Oscilloscope
I was saddened to hear about Adam Yauch’s bout with cancer. I met him for the first time just a few weeks ago. We talked about his business and the future of indies. Couldn’t be a more decent guy or a person who cared more about the work he was doing.
It is a little anxiety-provoking to hear that Yauch has a similar kind and placement of cancer to the one that has been so hard for Roger Ebert to overcome. The good news is that Roger’s speechlessness is a result of complications, not the cancer itself… and Adam is about 15 years younger than Roger was when his journey with this illness began. Obviously, even with the physical losses he has sustained, Roger has continued to be a leader in the critical community and, some would say, has been inspired to do his best work in decades.
I wish Adam Yauch the best and I look forward to a bright future for him and for Oscilloscope .
(For The Record – I just got my DVD of The Garden, packaged beautifully, as Oscilloscope is know for, and featuring the DP/30 interview with Scott Kennedy.)
