Warner Random Speculation

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Buttery Jeb · #276 Post by **Buttery Jeb** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 2:57 pm

Is it wrong that the only title I'm really excited for is the anniversary edition of "Woodstock," a release that won't even show up until '09 (along with triple-dip editions of "Gone With the Wind," "North by Northwest" and "The Wizard of Oz").

-BJ

Ashirg · #277 Post by **Ashirg** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 3:10 pm

Promised silents are from MGM, not from Warner, so they fall under "A number of other new-to-DVD special editions and thematic box sets drawn from Warner’s classic MGM and RKO collections will also be part of this anniversary slate."

Jean-Luc Garbo · #278 Post by **Jean-Luc Garbo** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 6:14 pm

Some Came Running - YES! =D>

davebert · #279 Post by **davebert** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:23 pm

Gold Diggers of '37 suggests we will get a Busby vol. 2 this year, which is exciting. Maybe that's old news, but it's new to me! Having taken the plunge, I am somewhat excited about an increased attention to Blu-Ray, but only if there's not a "Blu Ghetto" reserved for action flicks and mainstream current fare; so many classic restorations of company prestige pics involve HD masters, it'd be a shame not to give consumers the choice to get these on Blu as well as DVD.

I'm not in the future-proofing state of mind just yet, when it comes to guarding my wallet strings, but it would be a nice gesture to cinephiles nonetheless.

HerrSchreck · #280 Post by **HerrSchreck** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:28 am

miless wrote:Oh man... WB is going to be releasing The Man With The Golden Arm?
I've been holding off on the PD 'special edition' but now WB will do it justice (even though probably only available in that Sinatra set)

I never understood why it took so long, since they had a mighty fine vhs of it out in the 90's, which I've held on to, resisting to PD dvd editions. W Preminger, Sinatra, and Novak, (not to mention to ground breaking subject matter for a big studio A pic) it's not like we're dealing w some obscure programmer that few would be interested in.

Warner still sucks moldy lawn hose for announcing release dates for the load of silents, then postponing, then reannouncing, then letting those re-announced dates go by without a fucking word to their buyers. I'm most slavering for the TCM Chaney 2, as I have the bulk of the Vidors & Sjostroms (and Greeds Schmidlin recon.. tho Id appreciate having an Apocalypse type branching dvd which allowed me to bypass the stills/reconstr at will, and see it the way it was originally released). But thats just me, and I'm sure I'll buy em all.

#281 Post by **Mr Sausage** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 4:04 am

Warner Release wrote:A new classic DVD Horror collection starring Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre among others

Lack of silents aside, Schreck, I just know this got your (and my) spit glands swelling.

HerrSchreck · #282 Post by **HerrSchreck** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 9:58 pm

No arguments there. No doubt BEAST W 5 FINGERS is one of the Lorres... probably also THE STRANGER ON THE 3RD (or is it 5th? still groggy) FLOOR. I think thats an RKO (I have a good TCM broadcast tape of this) so sb a no brainer for WB.

Any ideas on the Boris stuff?

#283 Post by **Mr Sausage** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 3:37 am

HerrSchreck wrote:No arguments there. No doubt BEAST W 5 FINGERS is one of the Lorres... probably also THE STRANGER ON THE 3RD (or is it 5th? still groggy) FLOOR. I think thats an RKO (I have a good TCM broadcast tape of this) so sb a no brainer for WB.

Any ideas on the Boris stuff?

Has The Walking Dead been released? I think it's Warner's. West of Shanghai, with Karloff as a Chinese General, is a possiblity. Not really horror, but sounds like a hoot.

SoyCuba · #284 Post by **SoyCuba** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 6:00 am

Mr_sausage wrote:
HerrSchreck wrote:No arguments there. No doubt BEAST W 5 FINGERS is one of the Lorres... probably also THE STRANGER ON THE 3RD (or is it 5th? still groggy) FLOOR. I think thats an RKO (I have a good TCM broadcast tape of this) so sb a no brainer for WB.

Any ideas on the Boris stuff?
Has The Walking Dead been released? I think it's Warner's. West of Shanghai, with Karloff as a Chinese General, is a possiblity. Not really horror, but sounds like a hoot.

I know very little about who owns what picture, but how about Devil's Island, You'll Find Out (a horror musical with Karloff and Lorre and Lugosi) or The Invisible Menace.

Donald Brown · #285 Post by **Donald Brown** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 2:22 am

Warner Bros. absorbs New Line Cinema:

This afternoon, Time Warner is announcing that New Line will become a unit of Warner Bros. This is, of course, a very difficult and emotional time for all of us who have worked at New Line. While there is not much we can say that can lessen the impact of this announcement, we did want you to know about the decision before you read about it in the press.

New Line will maintain its own identity and will continue to produce, market, and distribute movies. But New Line will now do so as part of Warner Bros. and will probably be a much smaller operation than in the past. Time Warner hopes that operating New Line as a unit of Warner Bros. will allow New Line to focus on the creative side of movie-making, while reducing costs and taking advantage of Warner Bros.’ distribution systems. The company will be holding group meeting with New Line employees tomorrow in Los Angeles and New York to discuss this announcement, and is committed to letting employees know as soon as possible about how this change affects them individually.

#286 Post by **Matt** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 5:20 pm

Here is the internal memo (courtesy Defamer):

To: New Line Colleagues
From: Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne
Subject: Our Company

This afternoon, Time Warner is announcing that New Line will become a unit of Warner Bros. This is, of course, a very difficult and emotional time for all of us who have worked at New Line. While there is not much we can say that can lessen the impact of this announcement, we did want you to know about the decision before you read about it in the press.

New Line will maintain its own identity and will continue to produce, market, and distribute movies. But New Line will now do so as part of Warner Bros. and will probably be a much smaller operation than in the past. Time Warner hopes that operating New Line as a unit of Warner Bros. will allow New Line to focus on the creative side of movie-making, while reducing costs and taking advantage of Warner Bros.' distribution systems. The company will be holding group meeting with New Line employees tomorrow in Los Angeles and New York to discuss this announcement, and is committed to letting employees know as soon as possible about how this change affects them individually. For our part, we will be stepping down as Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOS of New Line. This was a painful decision, because we love New Line and the people who work here have been like our second families. But we will be leaving the company with enormous pride in what all of us at New Line have accomplished together. From its humble beginnings 40 years ago, our studio has created some of the most popular and successful movies of all time. Those movies are a tribute to the amazing creative energy and entrepreneurial abilities of the talented people at New Line. They are a legacy that will endure forever. Although we are stepping out of New Line, we intend to remain actively involved in the industry in an entrepreneurial capacity, and will keep you advised of developments. We thank all of you who have worked so hard to make New Line such a success. We are very proud of every one of you.

Bob & Michael

Lino · #287 Post by **Lino** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 7:18 pm

I guess The Golden Compass bombing didn't help much either, huh?

patrick · #288 Post by **patrick** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 1:37 am

I believe The Golden Compass is the major force behind all of this. Hopefully John Waters is able to stick around at New Line or find another home as friendly as New Line has been.

My guess is that New Line is going to become the Dimension to WB's Miramax, which I guess was pretty much what it always was up until the success of the Lord of the Rings movies.

miless · #289 Post by **miless** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 7:07 am

well, Waters' last film wasn't produced by New Line... but without New Line distributing it surely wouldn't have gone anywhere.

The Fanciful Norwegian · Sat Mar 01, 2008 9:49 am

Lino wrote:I guess The Golden Compass bombing didn't help much either, huh?

Funny thing is it's doing great business overseas (non-U.S. B.O. is around $250 million and that's not including Japan, where it just opened) -- but New Line gave all that up to secure the financing. Whoops.

Andre Jurieu · #291 Post by **Andre Jurieu** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:56 pm

Some more information (or the company's standard response to its employees) regarding the assimilation of New Line (taken from some internal communications to New Line employees on the morning of the announcement):

(3) this decision wasn't made because we had a bad year; this was just part of his long term strategic planning. We don't need International to finance our pictures the way we do; it was a good model when we were a separate entity, but it doesn't make sense when we're part of Time Warner. Discussed example of how The Golden Compass would have been different for us if were part of WB.

So essentially the company's position seems to be that they would have been able to reap the benefits of the foreign box-office from The Golden Compass if the project had been done under the WB banner, since Warner's handles their financing in a different method.

#292 Post by **Jeff** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 3:15 am

From Home Media Magazine:

The Warner Bros. studio celebrates its 85th birthday this year with a major home entertainment catalog campaign that will be highlighted by the DVD debuts of more than 50 restored classics and the release of a new five-hour documentary about the studio narrated by Clint Eastwood.

The year-long campaign begins this quarter with the release by Warner Home Video of two collections: Oscar winners and gangster films. The gangster-film slate includes an Ultimate Collector’s Edition of Bonnie and Clyde, a branded marquee positioned as the Cadillac of Warner special editions. It’s due March 25.

In subsequent quarters, Warner will release seven more themed collections. Coming in the second quarter are Frank Sinatra and “Dirty Harry” collections. The third quarter will find the studio releasing sets of superhero films, musicals and Westerns, the latter including a special edition of How the West Was Won. And in the fourth quarter Warner will release horror and holiday collections, including an Ultimate Collector’s Edition of A Christmas Story.

Many of these classics also will be issued on Blu-ray Disc, including Bonnie and Clyde, which will be packaged as a hardcover book with pages of behind-the-scenes stories and photos.

Warner Home Video is partnering with two major retailers on the promotion: Best Buy and Amazon.com.

The impetus for the campaign: You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story, a new documentary produced, written and directed by award-winning filmmaker and Time magazine film critic Richard Schickel. The documentary will be broadcast nationally as a three-part PBS special in September, in partnership with American Masters. It will be issued on DVD that month as well, along with a 550-page companion book written by Schickel and fellow film critic George Perry.

“Our studio history is something we take very seriously,” said George Feltenstein, Warner’s SVP of classic catalog marketing, whom Bonnie and Clyde star Warren Beatty, at a gala launch event Tuesday night on the Warner Bros. studio lot, called “a force of nature” for his dedication to classic cinema.

“He knows everything about every movie ever made,” Beatty said.

The DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases represent “an incredibly important and crucial kickoff to the studio’s 85th anniversary,” said Ron Sanders, worldwide president of Warner Home Video. “This studio has such a rich history of quality.”

Sanders said that while the catalog campaign clearly is a commercial undertaking, “the dirty little secret is that it’s also the chance for several opportunities — film restoration we probably couldn’t afford otherwise and, secondly, it allows us to reintroduce great classics to a new generation of filmgoer.”

Beatty, in an impromptu speech, agreed. “What I’m really interested in is film preservation and restoration — although I don’t mind making a little money, as well,” he said. Referring to his involvement with the Ultimate Collector’s Edition of Bonnie and Clyde, he added, “I’ve been giving the DVD people here a terrible time.”

Beatty praised Feltenstein for his long career in bringing classics back to life on videocassette and, later, DVD, and talked up the DVD format in general as a great way to preserve Hollywood’s legacy in an easy-to-obtain and affordable fashion. “When I think back to what I had to do to get two 16mm prints [back in the 1960s],” he said. “It took me two and a half weeks.”

Of the 6,800 films in Warner’s library, about 1,400 are now available on DVD. Among the classics being restored and readied for DVD debuts this year are All This and Heaven Too, Brother Orchid, Deception, Gold Diggers of 1937, Kid Galahad, Lady Killer, San Antonio, Thank Your Lucky Stars and Watch on the Rhine.

Several other notable films previously released on DVD will be spruced up as special editions or Ultimate Collector’s Editions, including Goodfellas, Heat, Dirty Harry, How the West Was Won and Bonnie and Clyde, which was part of Warner’s inaugural DVD release slate in March 1997.

Warner also announced that four classics are going on moratorium this year, with DVD and Blu-ray Disc relaunches planned for 2009: Woodstock, Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz and North by Northwest.

Dylan · #293 Post by **Dylan** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 3:28 am

I wonder if the new edition of Woodstock will include the original cut (edited by Thelma Schoonmaker and Martin Scorsese) in addition to the "director's cut," which is all that is available these days.

TheGodfather · #294 Post by **TheGodfather** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 8:28 pm

I`m wondering what they`re gonna do with those Ultimate Editions of Goodfellas and Heat. And what they`ll add to the already excellent editions that are out now.

Cinephrenic · #295 Post by **Cinephrenic** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 8:33 pm

Ultimate Editions of Goodfellas and Heat

They are already in 2-disc editions, what else could they do with them?

TheGodfather · #296 Post by **TheGodfather** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 8:44 pm

Cinephrenic wrote:
Ultimate Editions of Goodfellas and Heat
They are already in 2-disc editions, what else could they do with them?

I know, that is what I`m wondering. What else do they need?
They`re already good as it is IMO

#297 Post by **domino harvey** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 8:47 pm

Joe Pesci interactive karaoke jukebox

dx23 · #298 Post by **dx23** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 8:58 pm

Most likely released them on Blu-Ray with the same special features. WB is not one to double or triple dip unnecesarily.

videozor · #299 Post by **videozor** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:21 pm

Jeff wrote: Warner also announced that four classics are going on moratorium this year, with DVD and Blu-ray Disc relaunches planned for 2009: Woodstock, Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz and North by Northwest.

I don't know how the latest editions of both Gone... and Wizard... could be bettered, but this is NbNW that deserves update: original mono, second commentary track, at the least. 2009 is the 50th anniversary of this film, if I'm not mistaken. And, I believe, there are some goodies on the Criterion LD that were not used oin the orginal DVD...

tryavna · #300 Post by **tryavna** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:36 pm

“Our studio history is something we take very seriously,” said George Feltenstein, Warner’s SVP of classic catalog marketing

<sigh!> If only they would extend that seriousness to their silent catalogue.... But not a silent title listed in this paragraph:

Among the classics being restored and readied for DVD debuts this year are All This and Heaven Too, Brother Orchid, Deception, Gold Diggers of 1937, Kid Galahad, Lady Killer, San Antonio, Thank Your Lucky Stars and Watch on the Rhine.

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