Gizmo

On HD DVD, pre-death and firesale's, it had only sold a few hundred copies.

Will the BD double that? Such an odd choice. At least make this a double pack with something else.

onebyone

Holy crap.

My god, I love Scream Factory. It's like Christmas everyday with them.

hasslein

I've been to several forums and am very surprised no one seems excited about Saturn 3. It's not a great movie by any means, but for me it is a definite upgrade because an oop foolscreen edition that is overly priced by dealers or region 2 dvd is the only option right now. I haven't seen it in decades, but I do remember Farrah shows the goods ...

J. Farley

Another Blu release of Assault on Precinct 13, but The Initiation of Sarah (my most wanted title on Blu) is relegated to DVD? Very lame.

zyzzle

I'm super excited about SATURN 3... It never had a proper DVD release, so I resorted to importing a 1.85:1 version from Aussie land. But, it had PAL speedup, of course. So, that impending release is the best of the bunch. Also, I'm curious about the Cabal cut of NIGHTBREED. I've never seen that picture.

Also, it's *very* good news that Shout is 'experimenting' with the lost TVMs of the '70s. I'll certainly go out of my way to support whatever releases they put out in that domain. I truly hope they sell well. But, how well is "well"? Hundreds of copies? Thousands of copies? Warner Archive has given us some very good ones also!

Shout is a godsend for us obscure catalog and horror film fanatics.

Why So Blu?

I still have my HD-DVD of Cat People.

MTRodaba2468

A. You're previous post didn't mention anything about previous sales numbers, but that "the movie was pretty terrible." While I'm not going to spend my time debating the merits of the movie (I like it, but there are certainly better movies out there), we all know that quality has nothing to do with sales. If that were the case, Michael Bay's Transformers wouldn't be one of the top selling DVDs of all time.

B. I wouldn't go solely on the HD-DVD sales to determine how well this will or won't do. Due to simply sticking around, Blu-Ray has a stronger market penetration than HD-DVD ever did. People that had upgraded to Blu-Ray after the format war ended that want the title (like myself) now have the chance to do so. Also, while I won't speak for everyone, I do know a number of people, both in real life and online, that plan on grabbing all of the Scream Factory releases, just like a lot of the Criterion collectors out there. That can also contribute to sales. Will either of those points ensure it'll be a big seller? Not at all. But I wouldn't look at the sales numbers on what ended up ultimately being a failed format to determine whether it's major risk, especially for a label that doesn't have the same sales expectations as a major studio.

Why So Blu?

I remember as a kid, Cat People used to air on KCOP channel 13 here in the socal. That station used to have "scared to death week," and run Re-Animator, Cat People, Friday the 13th, etc.My little 7-9 year old self used to shit my self watching horror movies on fucking network television (we did not own a VCR until the 90's). Then again, watching a young and nubile Natassia Kinski used to make me feel weird at that ripe young age, too.

I'm sure the Scream Factory release will be awesome and be loaded with special features. SF's main selling point is their supplement sections to all of their releases. They're the U.S answer to Arrow Video's stuff in the UK and Blue Underground here in the states.

Josh-da-man

I like Cat People because it comes from that early 1980s school of horror movies that featured elaborate special effects and carried hard-R ratings. Like The Thing, The Howling, or An American Werewolf in London.

And Nastassja Kinski being very generous with her... er... pussy doesn't hurt, either.

Gizmo

Transformers has wide appeal. Sure, it's a crappy movie (I do like it somewhat for the popcorn factor), it'll sell millions of copies because of the name and Director attached to it alone.

At the time, Cat People on HD DVD had to compete with maybe 300 different movies (available on the format).

Today, Cat People has to compete with thousands of Blu-ray's on the market. Not only that, the three biggest retailers of Blu-rays (Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart), as far as I know, don't even carry Shout! Blu-rays (Best Buy might, but I think I've only seen Pirahna a few years back). Ignore the fact that all retailers are shrinking DVD/BD sections as well.

So Cat People on Blu-ray, aside from it being a super niche title, will have to deal with being in zero physical retail stores, be priced much higher than 'competing' films no one knows about (Mill Creek and friends), come from a studio that retailers don't typically carry Blu-rays of, and being, well, Cat People.

I'm sure some people like the film, and as evident here, the film has some good sex scenes, but c'mon. This is not going to sell as well as Halloween II. Or even Halloween III (which was never carried at Best Buy, oddly enough, I saw the DVDs at Target). There could be Shout! fans like there are for Criterion, but this isn't going to be a big seller and was likely one of the titles Shout! got in a package deal for the better Universal films. Shout lately has gotten super niche, which is great for these 'lost classics', but all it tell's me is they blew there load on most 'good' films and this is the garbage they got in package deals.

Why So Blu?

Adam Tyner

At the same time, though, who cares? I want to watch the movies I want to watch.

Let's say I as a viewer am really interested in watching the Cat People remake, so I buy a copy for myself. How is my life in any way different if 300 other people buy it or if 300,000 other people buy it? There's only one copy that matters to me, and it's the one in my hands.

Sure, I obviously want companies like Shout Factory to succeed because they put out stuff I like, but the balance sheets are their problem. I'm not saying that in a cruel or callous way. Beyond "are they doing well enough to invest in future titles?", the business end of things for Shout Factory is of no real relevance to me. I like to play cheerleader with shops that do a particularly great job, and it's always heartening to see a film/release I'm enthusiastic about find its audience (though I don't much care about Cat People specifically), but my interest pretty much ends there.

You also have to bear in mind that:

* Scream Factory is better equipped to market to a niche audience than Universal. I do think theirs is a brand with a following too.

* It's not a shovelware release like Universal was dumping on HD DVD back then to fill a quota; with a handful of releases every month, Scream is better equipped to make sure it doesn't get lost in the shuffle. Universal didn't give a shit how many units their catalog HD DVDs moved. If they did, they wouldn't have churned out obscure, unwatchable dreck like Mobsters or The Watcher.

* Limited distribution means limited distribution costs. I'd imagine a lot of horror fans are used to buying titles like this online anyway, so why fight tooth and nail to get a tiny handful of copies into each Best Buy store and sacrifice what I'm sure is a not-insignificant chunk of their margins? They can sell online at their own price and have tighter control over everything.

* Scream's exposure is probably pretty limited. Assuming this was part of a package deal, they get to amortize the licensing costs over however many titles. They're almost certainly not doing any transferring/remastering themselves. It probably wouldn't take a lot to get a title like this in the black.

orangerunner

This affects you because these numbers dictate where you can buy it and how much you are going to pay.

I just saw the Shout! Blu-ray Lifeforce in Walmart the other day for $19.99. I imagine they only brought in the three copies that were on the shelf and I imagine they won't sell more than one.

Pretty soon these titles just won't be available at the major retailers so the options narrow down to a store special ordering it for you (at the regular retail price, of course) or buying it online.

Here in Canada, any shipping from the US to Canada is at least $7-$10 sometimes more as well as taxes and brokerage fees if shipped via courier.
Shipping within Canada isn't much cheaper.

In the near future physical media will be a niche and discs will be $30 for a new title. Fine for some but it will certainly grind my shopping to a halt.

Maybe part of the problem is that we've been spoiled with Blu-ray $5 bin deals and $2 pawn shop DVDs over the past couple of years. I can't imagine forking over $20-$30 for titles like Eve of Destruction, Cat People or Psycho III.

Maybe that's just me...

Adam Tyner

...but the prices for all the Scream Factory discs have been pretty consistent, from the obscure to the marquee draws.

I've found B&M so useless for genre catalog titles that I was basically forced to shop online exclusively. Retailers want new releases and bargain bin filler...not a whole lot of what's in-between.

PhantomStranger

Walmart would never carry Scream Factory Blu-rays in the U.S. I've never seen one, though Shout does get a few of their niche DVDs onto Walmart's shelves in the States.

Torchur317

I liked Cat People, good to see it's getting a blu-ray release!

Matthew Chmiel

Fixed.

Unless it's a retail exclusive (as in this movie is not sold anywhere else and not "LOOK AT THIS COLLECTOR SLIPCOVER!") or a super crazy deal that an online retailer is not matching, I just stick to Amazon for most of my Blu-ray (and physical media) ordering.

Adam Tyner

Yeah, I couldn't even tell you the last time I bought a BD in an actual store, but it's especially dire for anything but the highest profile catalog titles. It was horror catalog titles that made me start ordering everything online, though. If I had to hop over to Amazon and buy one movie this week, why not buy all of this week's releases that I'm eyeing in one fell swoop?

davidlynchfan

DVDTalk people enjoyed Cat People.
Well,the majority of anyways..that's what I'ved learned so far. Of course this post is in no way a my taste is better than yours in anyway. And I do still have the HD-DVD.. I personally thought the film was just alright if forgettable but to reiterate again:

DVDTalk People enjoys Cat People. heh.

zyzzle

I liked CAT PEOPLE. Have the HD-DVD, which I backed up & burned to BD-R for safety's sake. I don't need another version of it.

Also, why do we need another release of ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13? The previous Blu is excellent. And I love Carpenter. Why not release DARK STAR instead?

I'm sure the glory days of cheap catalog titles are over. I'll cringe at paying $30 for a 'lost' and / or niche horror classic in 1080p. The day is coming and it's already here with Twilight Time titles.

I'll then limit my spending to those titles that either had never been released in any format, or released only on VHS and / or P&S versions.

riotinmyskull

DARK STAR already has a blu-ray release too.

JackBurton

PatD

"The whole world is celebratin'!"

I'm really looking forward to knowing what the extras are! Perhaps, "Robert Beltran Reminisces".

Lt Ripley

[QUOTE=Josh-da-man;11771310]sci-fi movies like Outland that I never really could warm up to.

Outland is great!

PileOfFudge

Just found out that both Psycho II and III are being primed for BD release by Scream Factory. Anyone know if there will be special features, such as commentaries included? On Amazon they're priced just over twenty dollars, so I would assume they're going to have plenty of extras even though no special features are yet listed.