Hi All,

We've been approached by some studios to create a " studio forum"' and want to hear your thoughts on this.

It would be a sponsored forum solely managed & moderated by the studios to which all of you would have direct access. They would be able to promote upcoming releases but there would be no direct sales. The community would be able to ask them any legit question and get their answer straight from the source.

What do you all think?

IB steph :-)

I'm speaking as a member here, and not as an admin, but a big in my book, and I doubt you would find many (if any) who would think this is a bad idea. I hope it would (include) some of the bigger studios and not just smaller indie ones, but, any is good in my book. Anytime the studios can interact with their customers is a big plus, as long as they listen and it's not going in one ear and out the other.

awesome.. I agree! :-)

As long as we can criticize the studios (in a respectful manner).

Sure.

I agree. If they are asking for feedback on their products, they should be willing to accept praise and criticism. The last thing that I want is for studios to just shill their products on this forum. They should at least have one member of their studio willing to interact with us.

If they actually intend on following and interacting, then I'm all for it.

Wasn't this first done with howard from vivid? I don't think that worked out so well.

But I guess if there's people from major studios, then I could give it another chance.

Sounds good. How soon might this start up?

Sounds good to me.

Agreed on all accounts. I love when people directly involved with a DVD/Blu-ray release sound off here.

I was on the fence about upgrading The Monster Squad. But when Michael Felsher posted an update about what they are doing with the Blu-ray release, it made me want to run out and buy it now.

It's fine if the studios' PR departments intend to make an effort for discussion/comment/concerns about releases and not just a repository for press releases and promo events.

If the studios are moderating, no doubt they'll take down anything that isn't direct praise. I'm all for this if there's a third party moderator.

Yes,we would definitely NOT be moderating this ourselves so I do imagine that any overly harsh criticism that isn't perceived as " constructive" would be deleted by them.

Yeah, I do wonder where the line will be drawn in regards to criticism.

I say do it. One, it will make the site more money and hopefully take away some of the more intrusive ads that people have been complaining about. Two, everyone will know exactly what they're getting into when they enter the forum; that it's moderated by a studio, and their harsher opinions may be deleted. However, this is balanced out by the fact that we'll still have the regular hd/dvd/movie forums, which won't be affected by this. I say "Do it!" The worst that can happen is everybody hates it, nobody posts there, and DVDtalk has made some money off the studios. Plus, even if the studios delete any "hate" posts, it at least has to mean that, at some level, SOMEONE has heard that complaint, which is more than we have now.

I guess it can't hurt, but it sucks that it will be moderated by the studios.

I doubt it will be a forum I'll frequent.

I think it is a good idea and opens for many things like studios getting direct feedback from the consumer and the possibility that they contribute stuff for giveaways. It could also lead to special events where forum members ask questions about future releases and unreleased stuff similar to the annual chats at the Home Theater Forum. Still, Studios should be aware that the majority of the forum members likes good movies and they are not going to take very well being shoved down their throats with a marketing promotion for a lame direct to DVD film.

Only if the studio's newest starlet posts a photo of herself holding a sign that says "Hi Rockmjd23"

I have a bad feeling about this...

If they want to play with us, why do we have to play by their rules? The benefit more here from hearing us than we do from them.

I wasn't even aware of the movie before that post (other than hearing the title via osmosis) and it caused me to research it and decide to do a blind buy as long as the quality is what was implied.

As long as whomever does the interaction is able to partake in honest back and forth about their releases and their quality, I think it could bring a new element to this site.

I've changed my mind, the forum does sound pretty cool.

However, the minute anything I post gets deleted by a "studio mod" I'll be jumping into the Movie forum, posting a thread on the subject and reposting away from their authority. No problem with that, correct?

This sounds like a great idea and I fully support it.

I cant wait to see Pixar Studios on here and chris_sc77 give his honest thoughts to the studio

If that's the case, I don't like the idea.