chris_sc77

I would actually disagree and would say we get better films nowadays. The thing is they usually don't get the attention they deserve. They don't get the box office success or the awards they deserve. Sometimes they do though but I think there are just as good films (in fact better) being made now.
Fight Club, Eyes Wide Shut, Perfume, magnolia, Memento, The Prestige, Batman Begins, Lost in Translation, Titus, Grindhouse, 25th Hour, The proposition, Lord of the Rings, Sideways, Eternal Sunshine..., Kill Bill, 21grams, Amores Perros, Pan's Labyrinth, CHildren of Men, Casino Royale, Minority Report, Munich, Amelie, A Very Long Engagement, There Will Be Blood, The New World, Zodiac, Battle Royale, V For Vendetta, Sweeney Todd, The Fountain, Into The Wild, etc, etc, etc. (Insert you fav. movies of the past 10 years here.)

Sondheim

While I can't agree with the idea that movies are better nowadays, I do firmly believe that the quality of films has remained fairly steady over the past 100 years. I mean - I adore "Casablanca" and "The Maltese Falcon" and "Nights of Cabiria" and "Singin' in the Rain" and "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" and "The Third Man" and "The Grand Illusion" and many, many other films of the thirties and forties and fifties as much as the next guy (ok, probably a helluva lot more than the next guy, since the "next guy" probably hasn't seen any of those movies) but I also equally love many movies of the past ten years. They haven't had the same amount of time to obtain "All-Time Classic" status, but I firmly believe that fifty years from now we'll be able to name as many "masterpieces" from the 80s and 90s and 2000s as we can from just about any other period in film history. Some of them may be undiscovered at this point, and some that we "revere" now may prove to not hold up very well - but I don't believe (though, lacking time travel abilities, I can't say for certain) that we'll see any trend towards an increase or decrease in overall film quality, especially taking into account the worldwide film industry, and not just Hollywood (ok, some probably will see such a decrease, but I doubt a majority of film scholars/film buffs will.) Sure there are a ton of crap films being made - that's always been the case. But there also some really fantastic films being made, and that's what you have to look at. (My personal favorites include "Pan's Labyrinth", "Brick", "The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", "The Return", "Spirited Away", "The Son", "Being John Malkovich", "Y Tu Mama Tambien", "The New World", "Nobody Knows", "Talk To Her", "The Triplets of Belleville", etc.)

Will there ever be a film as universally beloved as, say, "The Wizard of Oz"? I'm not so sure. But I think that has more to do with the world we live in today than it has to do with the quality of the films themselves.

That's my opinion at least.

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And with that said, I'm very excited for this DVD. "Sweeney Todd" was, along with "There Will Be Blood", my favorite movie of last year. I plan to see it at least once more before it leaves theaters, and then I'll most definitely be buying the DVD.

dav725

Without realizing it, you are making my point exactly:

And let me try to address a few other things said by some other posters.

I work in film development, for a film studio, and I can tell you that none of the movies you listed above could be made today. Why? Because people like you wouldn't see them in a theater. If Network came out today you'd wait to see it on dvd. DVDs are a different section of a film company, (and sometimes even an entirely different company)...and one poster who said that a film's success or failure is calculated by the end of the theatrical run, is correct.

I've seen so many great projects get shut down in development because they knew that people...adults, mainly, wouldn't come out to the theaters. Teenagers go out and spend money in theaters, so the business caters to them. That is why you get Alien VS. Predator.

You wouldn't believe how many great directors come in here with great projects that get turned down...all because people have gotten lazy about going to theaters.

Despite that, good and great films do get made. But it is so much harder. Recently, I thought that Thank You For Smoking, Little Miss Sunshine, No Country For Old Men, I'm Not There, Brokeback Mountain, Lust/Caution, Control, and Sweeney Todd...were all great films.

Why do they put out dvds faster? Believe me....directors and filmmakers don't think this is a great thing. They want to make movies, not dvds. Its because theatrical runs are getting shorter (can you believe that a great movie used to play in theaters for many months). And now, because less people go see films in theaters, they need to make more money on the dvd to make up for the shortfall. Some may think that the dvd business is actually helping out the film business, but many in the industry think that the dvd business is putting the theatrical divisions out of business.

Maybe I'm repeating myself, but MANY FILMS DO NOT GET MADE BECAUSE OF THE ADULT MOVIE GOING AUDIENCE STAYING AWAY FROM THEATERS AND WAITING FOR THE DVD.

And trust me, its not the Alien Vs Predator movies that are suffering. It's the modern day Networks and All The Presidents Men.

And where are the good actors?? Are you really going to tell me that Robert Redford ever gave a performance anywhere near one by Daniel Day Lewis?

adamblast

I'd be ecstatic if they did a big full-featured release with this... But my expectations are low.

April doesn't sound promising. Sounds too fast for any new extras to speak of, but *not* so fast as to indicate studio hope for an Oscar bump.

Can't wait for my own copy of this.

The Valeyard

Why don't you take this to the Movie Forum and let this Sweeney Todd DVD Release Thread actually be about Sweeney Todd coming out on DVD? This Thread has seriously veered away from it's original intent (which I'm guilty of doing myself).

Your Post is better served in the Forum about movies in general and I'm sure there will be plenty of people in that Forum who will argue or agree with you ad nauseum. I may be one of them.



So....back to Sweeney Todd's upcoming release. More than likely HD-DVD, huh? I know Dreamworks handled domestic release but I was hoping Warner would handle the home release chores.

That and I was hoping for a quicker Blu-Ray release.

DamingR

Add in Juno and you've got all the films I saw in theaters in 2007! There are lots of people who go out of their way to see the great films in theaters. You are just on the wrong message board. This is DVD TALK, remember.

I am not an industry insider, but I can't believe that DVD profits aren't considered when financing a project. I really doubt that Kevin Smith could ever make another movie under those circumstances. All his movies have been box office bombs, but they all sell well on DVD. You would have to be a fool to discount DVD profits when financing movies. Why not exclude foreign grosses too? That would be just as logical.

lancer02

Thanks, good to see you treat newcomers so well. Just making an observation, didn't know I would be attacked. Sorry for the opinion.