Movie Formats/Viewing (theaters, discs, streaming, new inventions, etc.)

[Novecento]

Buy physical media, people!

Yes - sigh.... even if you don't like the whole "physical" thing, the image is so much better on a blu-ray than anything streamed which is invariably compressed.

[drinkanddestroy]

Yes - sigh.... even if you don't like the whole "physical" thing, the image is so much better on a blu-ray than anything streamed which is invariably compressed.

And streaming sometimes freezes with bad internet connection

[noodles_leone]

Streaming has the game changing ability to always be with me: I can start a film on the TV in my living room, finish it on my iPad while doing the dishes and then in lying my bed. I can show clips to my coworkers on my phone, tablet or PC when cowriting a script, during a production meeting or even right on set. Getting rid of these abilities would cost me way too much.

I now own 400+ films on iTunes, many of which I already had on some kind of physical media, I'll probably have twice as much in less than two years.

[XhcnoirX]

I now own 400+ films on iTunes, many of which I already had on some kind of physical media, I'll probably have twice as much in less than two years.

You don't exactly 'own' them tho... http://screencrush.com/you-dont-own-your-itunes-movies/

[noodles_leone]

You don't exactly 'own' them tho... http://screencrush.com/you-dont-own-your-itunes-movies/

I know. Still totally worth it so far. Now, everything can change the day Apple fully switches to a subscription based model (a move that could very well start to be implemented at today's keynote, by the way), but so far, it's been an almost perfect experience.

The biggest problem I've had yet is that a few years ago they cancelled the ability to take screenshots of iTunes movies (on mac, PC and iOS), which is a huge bummer for my use. Yet again, most DVD/BD players (even computer based ones) don't allow that either.

[drinkanddestroy]

Is Netflix killing the movie theater? Not so fast.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/is-netflix-killing-the-movie-theater-not-so-fast/2018/12/24/7a16dbf8-037a-11e9-8186-4ec26a485713_story.html?utm_term=.708436f11a53

[drinkanddestroy]

Netflix raising prices (at least in America; not sure about other countries)

https://www.apnews.com/76214d0d5b1a4d0890a2d3040a3ddb33

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/15/netflix-to-raise-prices-by-13percent-to-18percent-its-biggest-increase-ever.html

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/15/media/netflix-raising-prices/index.html

[drinkanddestroy]

"Forget Netflix - The real joy of movies is still in theaters"

https://apnews.com/2d2f7d4b089340bab9d32c9e97834067

[drinkanddestroy]

There's a debate going on over whether Academy should change rules to make films ineligible for Oscars if they are not given a traditional theatrical release before being streamed. Academy Board of Governors will vote next month.

https://www.indiewire.com/2019/03/netflix-responds-oscars-backlash-steven-spielberg-rule-change-1202048493/

https://apnews.com/e7852471a1dd4139aef380eff80e989c

[noodles_leone]

Now it seems Steven is saying he never wanted to start a campaign and that the whole outrage was based on fake quotes.

[drinkanddestroy]

Venice Film Festival is including Netflix productions https://apnews.com/7212655541984a88a2d9dbb6abd85c5a

[drinkanddestroy]

How Disney's acquisition of Fox may affect theaters' screenings of classics

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2019-08-09/will-disney-let-theaters-screen-old-fox-movies

[dave jenkins]

Glenn Erickson, of CineSavant fame, has these sobering ruminations in his latest post:

And more distressing rumors are afoot. There were more merger-related layoffs at 20th Fox just a day or so ago, many from their home video department. The word online is that repertory theaters are being told that Fox titles will no longer be made available to them. And just yesterday I heard from a European home video executive, that Fox is no longer licensing its films to him. Is that policy the same for other vendors? Placing paranoia aside, we can figure out for ourselves that Disney isn’t plotting to rake in millions by making Sonja Henie musicals and other Fox oldies only available via its streaming site. The launch of Disney’s streaming platform is revolving around its new Marvel and Star Wars TV series.

Just the same, this might indeed be the beginning of the strangling of hard media, which the big companies have been treating like a necessary irritant for at least ten years. An unanswered question here is, how will this impact MGM discs, when Disney inherits Fox’s home video distribution contract? Already we have Netflix, that seems to purposely not make discs of many of its shows. The choice seems to be hit and miss. The first seasons of the Netflix Marvel shows Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage eventually made it to Blu-ray in the U.S., but no sign of the second or third seasons, and no sign of Iron Fist, The Punisher or The Defenders. (Some of these have been released on disc overseas.) The Netflix Lost in Space reboot has also appeared on disc. But no sign whatsoever of Roma, The Ballad of Buster Skruggs, Okja, etc. on disc.

I think this is definitely the ‘disruptive’ mode of marketing that happens when a broad field of providers dwindles down to a few behemoth companies — the biggest power no longer just competes on the level of products, it uses its heft to demolish all other competing delivery systems. The idea is to make theaters kowtow to studio demands, and to eliminate most discs. Why go to all the trouble of making a product, when you can instead sell limited access from the web?  For the consumer, it may eventually come down to a choice of subscribing to ten different streaming companies, or nothing. What’s available will be at the whim of corporate overseers.

We used to say that movies have lives of their own, but the streaming model may make most of them less accessible than ever. Netflix wiped out Blockbuster with its mail-rent system, and then dropped all but a few of its deep library, both for hard rental, and then on its streaming site. Just think, it will be just like before home video: movies will distributed or withheld, and changed as deemed fit — without our being informed. Hundreds of Fox movies from the 1930s that are already difficult to see, will be shoved deeper into storage, because the corporate committees will deem them to have insufficient profitability to be made available. And since we’ll have nothing permanent in our hands with which to compare an altered presentation, we’ll have to accept the ‘intellectual rights holder’s’ version of the truth.  You know, like the ‘rumor’ that there ever was a movie simply called Star Wars, without the ‘Episode IV: A New Hope’ alterations.

[drinkanddestroy]

Apple and Disney are each launching streaming services  https://apnews.com/7ad99db7474246d7a1ffb7aa656ecc2e

[T.H.]

Apple's service seems doomed unless they produce a giant hit of a series, but there are so many people that will get it just because its Apple. They're going to have to produce a ton of good content for it to stick.

I despise Disney but that streaming service will be successful. I doubt it will have much relevance to classic movie fans because I can't seem them utilizing the Fox library outside of the classic action movies like Die Hard, Alien, Aliens, Predator, etc. Maybe they'll have some John Ford movies on there...maybe. But there certainly won't be enough for me to subscribe.

This streaming thing is kind of a bummer. At the beginning of the decade I (naively and stupidly) thought that there would be a Spotify like service where virtually any movie ever made can be watched for a 10-20 dollar a month subscription -- but instead we just have a bunch of HBO on demand like services. Not the worst thing but I'm primarily interested in movies and don't have 20-70 hours to spend per TV series. Shit, I scoff at watching movies north of 2 hours that weren't made by one of the greats.