Adam Tyner

...but also bear in mind that just because Sony has put together a slick HD master doesn't mean it's exclusively for Blu-ray. Sony's mission statement at one point (and I'm guessing this is still the case) was to have high definition masters for their entire film catalog, plus HD masters are also used as the source for new DVDs, cable/satellite, streaming, video on demand, etc. (Remember, before Twilight Time put out The Egyptian, Fox had already produced two different HD masters of that film, neither of which had seen the light of day. Turn on any high-def channel and you'll see hundreds of movies in HD that have zero chance of ever making it to Blu-ray. Studios do stuff like this all the time.) Plus it could've been that Sony was considering a Blu-ray release to tie in with the release of the remake, but someone else in the company shot the idea down, although it doesn't sound like that's the case.

FWIW, Twilight Time posted this on their Facebook wall:

Putting together a quality remaster, especially if the materials are in great shape, really isn't all that expensive anyway. Limiting to 3,000 doesn't hurt Sony since I'm sure there's a flat licensing fee...they get paid even if no one buys it. For Twilight Time, I'm sure they picked the number of 3,000 knowing they'd pull a nice profit, and keeping it a limited edition is a pretty tried and true marketing tactic.

I wouldn't say "no, there'll never be another Blu-ray release of Fright Night!", but I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for one. With as many catalog titles are being licensed out these days, I really don't think the bigger studios care all that much about catalog titles on Blu-ray. It kind of begins and ends with Warner anymore. Your best bet, if you're unhappy with this price point (which is understandable) would be to wait for a release in the UK or whatever.

JackBurton

That would push me over the edge to order this & Mysterious Island. Unfortunately, I can't get the code to work

NoirFan

Apologies: the code only works for those who have purchased Screen Archives product from Amazon in the past.

g

It's also in their interest to get you to buy there release though.

Superdaddy

Just ordered one, thanks for the tip. And my Mysterious Island came in yesterday.

Mr. Cinema

How long did it take for Mysterious Island to arrive? Did they ship the day you ordered?

Adam Tyner

I think he and I both preordered. Mine showed up on the 11th or 12th, I think.

JackBurton

No worries - I placed an order anyway. In hindsight, the condition seems appropriate given the code name.

d2cheer

So 3000 copies at ~$35 each they make a whopping $105,000 total? Doesn't make a lot of sense... how would they make any money on this at all?

Adam Tyner

If you're an operation with just a couple of people, if you're not paying much for the license, if a lot of the burden of work is placed on someone else, if you have a release every month or whatever, and especially if it's not the only thing your business does, you make kind of a lot of money. Also by selling directly to consumers, they get to keep all of the cash instead of it being siphoned away by middlemen and retailers, their marketing costs are pretty much non-existent, plus there's a strong likelihood that everything they manufacture will be sold. I suspect that we'll see a lot more of this sort of thing in the future.

I think you'd do well to read http://www.kentaiblog.com/2011/09/ev...d-edition.html

d2cheer

Thanks, that was a good read.

joltman

I wonder if the boss is from Shout Factory and the BD was Rock n Roll High School?

abintra

Thankfully there are still a couple of distributors like Lionsgate, Image and Anchor Bay still licensing titles from the majors and offering similar quality at more affordable prices also.

I wish there were more able to do that rather than seeing the format break into two groups of mass released titles and deliberately exclusive options at prices high enough that is going to limit their market to fans for only their select favorites and those with substantial disposable income.

Alan Smithee

Regarding that article- as I've said before, companies might just have to be more patient in seeing their stuff sell large numbers. I'd like to know what that title in question was which sold less than it should have. Blu-Ray's been out a little over 5 years now, and I've only been able to enjoy it for close to 2. Like DVD, there's been some titles I had to get right away, but there's plenty of others that I haven't yet gotten but plan to eventually- exactly WHEN I can't say, but as long as they stay in print I'll buy them at some point. I do try to support the smaller releases whenever I can; even though I've worked in retail I still don't know how studios count their sales and whether I'm doing any good in "supporting" something by buying it when I do. Funny that "BMX Bandits" was mentioned there, I got that from Amazon just because I needed one more thing to get free shipping and it was cheap enough, though I still haven't watched it but I did want to show my support for that kind of stuff. One of the first Blu-Rays I bought was "Screwballs", also from Severin. That movie might not have been good enough to upgrade from regular DVD, but since it had never been released on disc before I bought the Blu-Ray because it was available.

As for Fright Night, I don't know why that wouldn't sell any worse than other stuff that's been put out through traditional retail, like "Armed and Dangerous" or "Short Circuit 2".

Adam Tyner

Another thing Armed and Dangerous and Short Circuit 2 have in common: Sony owns both films and had zero interest in releasing them on Blu-ray either, letting Image Entertainment do the work while they sat back and collected a licensing fee.

Alan Smithee

But those are available in stores at a low price, and presumably aren't as limited.

Pizza

I would think there's a big difference between Lionsgate and Twilight Time: one's a much bigger fish in the home video pond. And, I certainly understand TT's strategy, they're hitting a nitch market with a limited run campaign. Does the higher price suck? Sure. But, I'll pay this over not having it or it only being offered as an MOD.

Adam Tyner

...but that's also a completely different business model. Lionsgate makes money by selling a metric ton of a lot of things, kind of carpetbombing with somewhat recognizable movies, heavily focusing on the '80s, '90s, and on. Thin margins are okay because of the scale -- they're shoveling these things out there -- and there sure are a lot of hands are in that pot.

Twilight Time makes money selling a limited quantity of a small number of things, targeted towards a more specific audience and, Fright Night aside, seeming to skew more towards the '60s. They need more substantial margins for it to work, and it helps that they're selling directly to their end customers. They're selling fewer copies, I'd imagine, but they're also likely selling close to every copy they manufacture, unlike the larger shops.

Even if a company like Lionsgate or Image were handling these same movies, they'd have a hell of a time actually getting them in stores. Fright Night would be the lone exception of their BDs so far.

Look, I'd obviously rather spend $12 instead of $40. Who wouldn't? I'm just saying I don't know how viable 'the old way of doing business' will be going forward, especially for titles that are a niche-of-a-niche-of-a-niche. Once things shake out, I don't think the standard price point will be this high (I sure hope not, anyway!), but I think you'll see this same general approach adopted more widely.

Pizza

I agree with what you said and I sort of just said the same thing. Still, some days I feel this "niche-of-a-niche-of-a-niche" thing is hogwash sold to us by corporate. The UK is a much smaller market and still manages to get a lot of this niche stuff out on DVD and, I assume, still make money.
All the same, I'll pay the higher price for key films that I love like this one. I certainly wouldn't do it for all films.

Adam Tyner

About the niche thing, it's not so much that I don't think that it couldn't work...I think it's a combination of marketing, the way people buy these movies, larger studios not finding them worth the hassle, retailers not being interested in stocking them, that pervasive mindset of "oh, I already have that on DVD" or "it's an old movie, so it's not going to look good in HD"...

d2cheer

And that is one of the reasons why I feel that blu will never take over DVD for good or both will go by the wayside in favor of steaming or something else. I already have the DVD of Fright Night. Would I like to have it in blu... meh maybe but not for $30+. Do I like the blu format? Sure but even if I could update all of my DVD's with blu's for only an additional dollar per disk I still would not do it. I will never watch all the movies I have collected now and updating them would be a waste of money. Most upconverted DVD's do look pretty good on my setup. I think many people in general are getting out of that must have collecting mentality.

joltman

The new business model should be put a slipcover on it, then there are tons of guaranteed purchases from the blu-ray.com members!

Pizza

Still, there are a lot of folks that want their slipcovers and will pay for them. I can understand that since I like pretty packaging too, but I weaned myself off of that by storing my discs in slimline jewel cases. It's been rather nice too, now I don't worry about getting those cheaper (and cheap looking) multiple sets stuffed with individual DVD/blu-rays but lack of nice individual packaging. Everything gets its own case.
Still, slipcovers do add an element of coolness to the packaging. I like how the new Moroder Metropolis looks for example. All the same, at least with most of my DVDs, I toss them out.

Superdaddy

Shipped 11/9, arrived 11/14. The tracking had it out for delivery on Saturday 11/12, but it never came. Showed up Monday instead.

dullboy

Just got a shipping notice on this. My ass hurts.