blockbuster Tagged Articles at Cinematical

It's no secret that video retailer Blockbuster had a rough quarter. Their profits are dipping, stores are closing -- suffice to say things aren't looking good. But, the company is looking for new ways to compete with services like Netflix and Redbox and so they're getting into the digital content game. But, as some critics have pointed out, the results so far are lackluster to say the least. Blockbuster and NRC/MOD systems have announced the pilot of digital media kiosks where customers use an SD memory card to download movies and TV to take home to play on their TV with the aid of a proprietary device (provided to participants of the trial). But the kicker has to be that the content would be DRM protected and customers pay $1.99 for a movie that must be viewed within 30 days and is only viewable for 48 hours.

The digital download service is just the latest in Blockbuster's new strategy to hold on to customers by offering something other than the brick and mortar experience. Some of their other ideas have included DVD subscription services and DVD kiosks. Blockbuster is hoping these new services could reduce the effect that illegal downloading has cost their bottom line as well as open them up to new tech-savvy customers. I understand that Blockbuster needs to fight off the pirates like everybody else, but I doubt that products bogged down with DRM are going to persuade your average pirate to go legit. But on the upside, at least Blockbuster's latest scheme would mean that there's nothing to return, and you don't have to deal with receiving damaged or scratched discs -- but in the grand scheme of things, that ain't much.

If Blockbuster wants to live to fight another day, I think they are going to have to come up with something a lot better than this, don't you?

In an apparent effort to stem the tide of consumer interest in their movies, 20th Century Fox has decided not to make their new releases available to a large, legitimate DVD rental retail operation. Reason? They're not charging enough.

That's the message I get from reading an article at Company Town, a Los Angeles Times blog. Reportedly, Fox "has instructed its DVD wholesalers not to sell discs to Redbox -- which is owned by Coinstar Inc. -- or other DVD kiosk companies until 30 days after they are released." Fox is not alone among Hollywood studios. "Many studios are wary of Redbox, whose business has doubled in the last year, because its kiosks rent out DVDs for just $1 per night. That undercuts stores with higher rental prices, Netflix and disc sales." Universal Studios is involved in a legal case with Redbox because the studio wants a 45-day window. However, EngadgetHD notes that Disney, Lions Gate, and Sony have agreed to deals with Redbox.

With DVD sales down, studios want to maximum their revenues from every source and, to be fair, waiting 30-45 days to be able to rent a movie for $1.00 doesn't seem unreasonable to me. But, though the big red machines have popped up outside convenience stores in my neighborhood, I haven't tried them out yet. Have you? Does it work as advertised? Are you a repeat customer? Why you do rent from Redbox rather than Blockbuster, Netflix, or your local video store? What's the biggest determining factor for you: price, selection, or convenience?

Maya Entertainment, a multifaceted company that produces, distributes, and exhibits Latino films, has teamed up with Blockbuster to present the Maya Inaugural Indie Film Series. These seven full-length films include La linea (The Line), a drama about a drug cartel in Tijuana; it packs an impressive cast, including Andy Garcia, Esai Morales, Valerie Cruz, Armand Assante, Ray Liotta, and Danny Trejo.

The film series just started in Los Angeles and kicks off in NYC August 1st, expanding across the US this September. Read the official list and descriptions after the jump.

Harold Ramis is the comedy writer and director everyone's cribbed from, from Sandler to Apatow. After leaving "Second City TV," Ramis went on to write, direct, and occasionally star in comedic touchstones like Animal House, Caddyshack, Stripes, Groundhog Day, and of course, Ghostbusters, which have starred a slew of loveable losers fighting to get their sh*t together in the army, on the golf course, or in the middle of a war with supernatural beings. After taking a few years off, Ramis is taking it back to the beginning with this summer's Year One, which stars Jack Black and Michael Cera as loveable loser cavemen who, when Black's Zed accidentally burns down the village, find themselves in the middle of a very familiar holy war. Read on and find out what the big daddy of buddy movies had to say about evolution and self-improvement, male full frontal nudity and the lack thereof, and what the heck is up with Ghostbusters 3.

Year One opens nationwide this Friday, June 19th.

Cinematical: How much more stressful is it to deal with marketing a summer blockbuster and competing with the other movies that are out?

Harold Ramis: You know, it's the same level of stress every time you make a movie, because you've pinned all your hopes and dreams on it and you've fantasized what success will be like, but at the time you can't escape fantasizing what failure will be like. [laughs]

I conceived this movie on a big scale, to do a Biblical epic comedy. I knew it was ambitious and when the studio said "Yes, we'll do it," and it became real, I thought, "Oh my God!" [laughs] It's one thing to fail small, but to make a big movie that doesn't work is so risky.

As you've undoubtedly heard, Blockbuster is in serious financial trouble ... I don't know that a lot of us cinephiles care since we were all driven to Netflix , Hulu and The Autuers for very specific reasons. But hey, people do rely on Blockbuster, and I'd rather people rent movies through them than never see them at all, and it's kind of handy to have it nearby so that you can finally rent Quantum of Solace after months of a Very Long Wait. It would be nice if they hung in there.

But now that they've unveiled their master plan of salvation, you probably shouldn't hold your breath. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Blockbuster plans to rescue themselves by selling movie merchandise. Some of their plans include stocking replicas of Men in Black and Top Gun sunglasses along with "a slew of other items," which hopefully include equally hot pieces of movie swag like Field of Dreams cracker jack and Jurassic Park baseball hats.

How this differs from their current business plan is perplexing since Blockbuster has always sold movie merchandise in their stores. Or at least they've always hoped to sell it, as it's usually too broken and greasy to interest discerning buyers. (In fact, that's how I came to own a little stuffed Hidalgo -- he was too cute and clean to leave to the ravages of their shelves.) And in these tough economic times, your business plan shouldn't rely on hoping people buy a t-shirt or poster from you, it should be on providing the home entertainment people are relying on. Unfortunately, Blockbuster lost sight of that a long time ago.

Have you ever wondered how on earth rent-by-mail DVDs manage to get so scratched up? Take a close look at the photo above, from Boston.com, and notice how carefully a gloved Netflix employee is scratching up a DVD so it has that "used" appearance we've all come to know and love. Isn't that considerate of them?

Bad jokes aside, the gallery of images below provides a behind-the-scenes look at "an unmarked warehouse" in Northborough, Massachusetts, where about 50 Netflix employees "sort through and repackage more than 60,000 discs every day." To be fair, it's the customers who manage to scratch up DVDs, and Netflix appears to make a good-faith effort to discard DVDs that have become unplayable -- at least to the extent they can, since they're sorting them at the rate of 500-700 per hour.

Netflix angered some customers this week with the announcement that it would be increasing the $1.00 per month surcharge for Blu-ray customers, which was just added last fall. They explained in an e-mail that they had "increased significantly" the number of Blu-ray titles they stocked, and "as you've probably heard, Blu-ray discs are substantially more expensive than standard-definition DVDs." How big an increase depends on how you look at it: Information Week described it as a "300% increase," since the surcharge would increase from $1.00 to $4.00 for customers on the "three disks at a time" monthly plan. Overall, the same plan would cost 24% more per month.

I don't have Blu-ray capability (it's a long, sad story), so I'm wondering what your experiences have been renting Blu-rays, either online or in person. Completely satisfactory? Are you downloading / streaming more movies to watch on your computer or TV? Or do you prefer to buy your DVDs and Blu-rays?

Those crazy cats from The Onion are back with a news story that takes a look at a new tour which gives folks a chance to check out the archaic system that was renting movies. Yes, it's a joke, and your local Blockbuster store is still around (and open!), but I could totally see something like this existing in, say, 10-20 years from now. Follow their news reporters inside an actual Blockbuster store, where they find actors playing Blockbuster employees, as well as actual renters. Real renters! I love the couple who say they can't believe how people used to live like this. Then you get the tourists with cameras taking shots of two "historical performers" having a conversation about a video. Love it!

What do you think? How far are we away from something like this existing in real life? And would you pay a visit? Take the kids?

Today I'm glad to be cheaper than cheap. Had I not been so frugal, I would have bought myself an HD-DVD player this past weekend after seeing a commercial advertising one for less than $150. And then, I would have been excited about renting HD-DVD discs from Netflix, to which I've been a very happy subscriber for more than four years. But then I would have received an email (like the one seen here), stating that Netflix has just decided to exclusively support Blu-ray as its sole hi-def format. Thankfully, I am cheaper than cheap and have no plans to purchase one of those expensive Blu-ray players. In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, maybe I no longer plan to spend the $20 a month on Netflix.

Actually, my cheapness combined with my laziness will probably keep me a Netflix customer, but I can't imagine others will be so loyal. Apparently Blockbuster's online rental service still offers both HD-DVD and Blu-ray, so perhaps a number of HD fans will be switching over. Of course, also considering how significant a player Netflix is, this could be a heavy hit on the coffin nail for HD-DVD. The decision made by Netflix comes soon after last month's moves by Paramount and Warner Bros. to also go Blu-ray exclusive. It may only be a matter of time before Blockbuster, which primarily rents Blu-ray at its stores, will dump HD-DVD itself.

According to the Netflix emails going out today, any "Saved" HD-DVD selections in your rental queue (meaning for releases not yet out) will be switched to regular DVD by the end of the month. However, it seems you will still be able to rent HD-DVD discs that Netflix already currently offers throughout the year.

The movie-rental chain Blockbuster is expanding its horizons -- into theatrical exhibition, of all places. The corporation has announced that next month it will open its first movie theater, a multiplex, in Cholula, Mexico. The multiplex will be called Blockbuster Cinema, but Blockbuster isn't simply licensing its brand name -- the company will operate the theater under a 10-year agreement. The new 11-screen theater will be located in a shopping center that will also include a Blockbuster rental store.

This surprises me -- it seems like the traditional theatrical model is on the way out, or will need to change drastically, and many companies are trying to find alternatives. In addition, big theater chains are trying to find other events to hold in their multiplexes these days. Of course, I'm thinking of the United States -- I don't know anything about the state of theatrical film exhibition in Mexico, and perhaps theaters are flourishing there. The Hollywood Reporter article linked above does note that Mexico has one of the most saturated markets in Latin American for movie theaters. DVD rentals may not be as easy or popular in that country. Blockbuster's biggest U.S. rental competitor, Netflix, has also branched out -- but into theatrical and DVD distribution through its Red Envelope arm, to enhance the rental business. How is a multiplex in Mexico going to help Blockbuster's primary business goals?

Last year at this same time, I wrote a Monday Morning Poll that attempted to reveal which summer blockbuster would turn out the biggest unsatisfactory performance. Though I'm far from a negative guy (I really do hope all of this year's blockbusters provide highly entertaining moviegoing experiences), sometimes it's fun to try to pick out which film won't please the fans. Back in 2006, prior to the season's official start, I chose Superman Returns to be that film. And, from a personal standpoint, I was right. Not only did the film not live up to my expectations, but Singer's Superman just wasn't believable. He looked more suited to save the day during a fashion catastrophe than a national crisis. But that's me. That's how I felt.

This year, it's a whole different story. The majority of blockbusters are sequels, and all of them look pretty damn awesome. While Michael Bay is always an easy target, his Transformers has the words "visual orgasm" written all over it. Tacky special effects aside, it's hard for me to sit here and say anything bad about Live Free or Die Hard when the franchise has been nothing but kind to the fanboy inside me. Though early reviews are mixed, I'm certain Spider-Man 3 will win over everyone in the end. Shrek the Third, Surf's Up and Ratatouille will all cancel each other out. Regardless of the bad vibe I've been feeling, the legions of Johnny Depp fans will keep Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End from sinking. And, as much as I feel it won't be the best installment in the series, Harry Potter is Harry Potter -- the boy can't can do no wrong.

So, where does that leave us? Well, this year I'm going to drop down a tier and include films like The Simpsons Movie and Rush Hour 3. Yup, these are my picks for most disappointing blockbuster(s) this summer. Yes, The Simpsons fans (including me) have been waiting a long time for this film, but I feel it's too little, too late. The magic has passed, and it's about time we start realizing that. As far as Rush Hour 3 goes, c'mon -- Chris Tucker hasn't acted in six years, Brett Ratner can't do anything without pissing off a few hundred thousand people and, face it, Jackie Chan's shtick has gotten a little old. But that's me.

So, what do you think: Which summer blockbuster do you feel will turn out the most disappointing?

Note: Don't worry, to combat the negative, next week we'll take a look at summer surprises. So start thinking ...