Daily Call Sheet: Six Masterpieces Set for Blu-ray Release, ‘Avatar’ Sequels Delayed, YouTube Set To ‘Redefine TV’
by John Nolte
DVD RELEASE DELAYS LEAVE RETAILERS UNFAZED
This is why Hollywood hates the free market:
Netflix appeared to shrug off the latest announcement from Warner Bros. Home Video that it will double the delay — to 56 days — between the time it releases its DVDs to retailers and the time it makes them available at wholesale prices to online renters and kiosk operators. Warner Bros. was not allowing those DVDs to be streamed anyway, and since Netflix is focusing on its streaming business and apparently attempting to phase out its DVD-by-mail business, the new delay would seem to have little impact on its overall strategy. B. Riley & Co. analyst Eric Wold told Bloomberg News that while Netflix may seem unaffected by the move, for kiosk operators like Redbox and Blockbuster Express, where new releases dominate their rentals, “that kind of delay would really hurt them.” Both kiosk operators are expected to begin buying new releases at retail discounters like Wal-Mart and Best Buy and making them available on a next-day basis.
The customers are just as willing to wait, and by the time those 56 days roll around, we’ll probably have forgotten all about these stupid movies.
‘AVATAR’ SEQUELS MAY BE FURTHER AWAY THAN YOU EXPECTED
Is that a promise?
Bleeding Cool recently caught up with AVATAR producer Jon Landau, who told them that the first of James Cameron’s sequels is “four years away”, which potentially puts AVATAR 2 in theaters around 2015 or 2016.
I’ll be 50 in 2016. That’s kinda freaking me out.
YOUTUBE SPENDS $100 MILLION TO REDEFINE TV
This is just another form of streaming:
That bet goes both ways. Beginning this month, YouTube is gambling $100 million that by seeding professional production firms such as Young Hollywood — whose slate of YouTube-only programming premieres Monday — it will draw more eyeballs for longer viewing sessions.
Williams calls the online video giant’s move a “game-changer” and argues that the growing number of stars who sit on his white sofa — Cruz came to see Williams straight from Jay Leno’s Tonight Show couch — spotlights the emerging clout of Web-only shows.
The Old Guard and very few who controlled distribution are losing their grip, and that’s a great thing for America.
‘REWIND THIS’ TRAILER: THE VHS REVOLUTION MAY NOT BE QUITE OVER
Some nostalgia I get, but even when they were the only game in town, I hated VHS. Clunky, lousy quality, and a lousy quality that only degrades over time.
UPCOMING BLU-RAY RELEASES: SIX MASTERPIECES
Available From Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment January 24:
THE APARTMENT: COLLECTOR’S EDITION: Winner of five 1960 ACADEMY AWARDS®, including Best Picture, The Apartment is legendary director Billy Wilder at his most scathing and satirical best. With audio commentary from film producer and AFI member Bruce Block and two featurettes— including a loving tribute to actor Jack Lemmon—this special Collector’s Edition is your chance to own one of “the finest comedies Hollywood has turned out” (Newsweek)!
SPELLBOUND: “The secret recesses of the mind are explored with brilliant and terrifying effect” (New York Herald Tribune) in this fascinating psychological thriller from Alfred Hitchcock. Featuring powerful performances from Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck, this masterpiece of mystery, romance and suspense boasts an ACADEMY AWARD® -Winning score by Miklos Rozsa and a haunting dream sequence by Salvador Dalí.
REBECCA: For his first American film, Alfred Hitchcock teamed up with producer David O. Selznick (Gone With the Wind) to create a “spine-tingling” (LA Weekly) romantic thriller that Won the ACADEMY AWARD® for Best Picture. Based on Daphne Du Maurier’s timeless novel, this dark, atmospheric tale of fatal obsession features Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson, as well as a “haunting score by Franz Waxman” (Leonard Maltin).
NOTORIOUS: From legendary director Alfred Hitchcock comes this “torrid, tense, tinglingly suspenseful” (Cosmopolitan) film that ranks as one of his best. ACADEMY AWARD® Winner Ingrid Bergman* “is literally ravishing” (Pauline Kael), and Cary Grant and Claude Rains give “excellent performances” (Variety) in this “taut spy movie that delivers a romantic punch” (The New Yorker).
MANHATTAN: Nominated for two ACADEMY AWARDS® ,and considered “one of [Woody] Allen’s most enduring accomplishments” (Boxoffice), Manhattan is a wry, touching and finely rendered portrait of modern relationships set against the backdrop of urban alienation. Sumptuously photographed in black and white and accompanied by a magnificent Gershwin score, Allen’s aesthetic triumph is a “prismatic portrait of a time and a place that may be studied decades hence” (Time).
ANNIE HALL: Considered to be “Woody Allen’s breakthrough movie” (Time), Annie Hall won four ACADEMY AWARDS® ® including Best Picture and established Allen as the premier auteur filmmaker. Thought by many critics to be Allen’s magnum opus, Annie Hall confirmed that Allen had “completed the journey from comic to humorist, from comedy writer to wit [and] from inventive moviemaker to creative artist” (Saturday Review).
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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING
Killer Elite (2011) — Review coming.
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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINKTACULAR
WHERE WAS DAVID CROSS WHEN THESE OTHER MOVIES HE DID NEEDED TO BE BASHED?
THREE NEW PHOTOS FROM ‘THE DARK KNIGHT RISES‘
RELATIVITY MEDIA TO PROMOTE ‘ACT OF VALOR’ WITH 4 SUPER BOWL SPOTS
‘PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 5′ SCRIPT BEING REWRITTEN
OSCARS SET TO MOVE FROM HOLLYWOOD TO DOWNTOWN L.A.?
ANCHOR BAY HAS PICKED UP MICHAEL BIEHN’S DIRECTORIAL DEBUT, ‘THE VICTIM‘
ROBERT DOWNEY JR DISCUSSES PLANS FOR ‘IRON MAN 3‘
‘THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO’: THE BOOK VS. THE FILM VS. THE FILM (SPOILERS)
‘THE DEVIL INSIDE’ DUO WILLIAM BRENT BELL, MATTHEW PETERMAN PREP NEW HORROR PROJECT
A LOOK AT ‘THE ARTIST’ IN THE CONTEXT OF FILM HISTORY
WILLIAM SHATNER TO STAR IN ONE-MAN BROADWAY SHOW
NEW ‘SHOWTIME ANYTIME’ APP BRINGS SHOWTIME MOVIES AND SHOWS TO THE IPAD
SIX OF THE BEST – LITTLE-SEEN GEMS
TIVO STUDY: PEOPLE WITH DVR’S WATCH FEW SHOWS LIVE
COOL VIDEO: ‘BOARDWALK EMPIRE’ VISUAL EFFECTS REEL
JAMIE FOXX SAYS TARANTINO MOVIE WILL BE ‘HISTORIC’
WHEN WILL THE FOUND FOOTAGE HORROR FAD END?
STALLONE AND SCHWARZENEGGER MAY REUNITE FOR ‘THE TOMB’
‘SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND’ AND 9 OTHER UNSUNG SCI-FI TV CLASSICS
‘BREAKING BAD’ SEASON 5: WALTER WHITE’S FATE REVEALED?
THE 10 MOST OBNOXIOUSLY OVER-IMITATED MOVIE CHARACTERS
SPACED AND THE MECHANICS OF THE PERFECT COMEDY TEAM
5 SURPRISINGLY TOUCHING ‘FUTURAMA’ EPISODES (SPOILERS)
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CLASSIC PICK FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 13
TCM:
5:30 PM EST: Tender Trap, The (1955) – A swinging bachelor finds love when he meets a girl immune to his line. Dir: Charles Walters Cast: Frank Sinatra, Debbie Reynolds, David Wayne. C-111 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format.
The gorgeous widescreen cinematography alone is worth a look, not to mention the stars.
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Please send comments, suggestions and tips to jnolte@breitbart.com or Twitter @NolteNC.
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42 Comments
I can wait quite a while for the crap they're producing these days.
"‘AVATAR’ SEQUELS MAY BE FURTHER AWAY THAN YOU EXPECTED"
Unfortunately, I suspect this isn't about the movies having problems and possibly not being produced, but about coordinating their release with the completion of the "Avatard" land at Disneyworld's Animal Kingdom.
(Disclaimer: I love Disney World. I despise Avatard so much I may never go to Disney World again once they install this stain on it.)
Netflix is beginning to show some good old movies, saw Blithe Spirit recently and found it charming, even with the restoration glitches.
The found footage movies need to be stopped. It's an excuse for hack film making at it's absolute worse. None of them can even hold a candle to the superior "Cannibal Holocaust".
"Unsung Sci-Fi TV Classics" – I really enjoyed "Sapce: Above and Beyond," and was sad to see it cancelled — and quite annoyed, too, since it ended on a cliffhanger.
Another show that could have made that list: "Masters of Science Fiction," of which only a handful of episodes were made. One of the episodes was based on a short story by John Kessel titled "A Clean Escape," wherein Sam Waterston plays a man with no memory following a nuclear war. One of Waterston's finest performances, I think.
What is prompting this move to hold the Oscars in the Nokia Theater? That is absurd. The Kodak was built for the Oscars and is a beautiful theater.
How about moving back to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion?!
I'm certain I'm not dreaming when Comcast prototyped the dbs tv system in 1993,at a Ritz_Carlton,where I was working a/v/broadcasting/networking.500 channels,voip on-screen,rss feeds,and and internet browswer in the tray.Sony stated they had NO interest in the brand new Fraunhoffer compression codec for a digital Walkman(i.e.,mp3's,I was stunned),so we played F-18x(THE actual F-18 combat trainer-simulator)all nite and bribed the guard,on the SGI Onyx supercomputer,with free porn and food from the Inn.
Youtube has become more of a free market in terms of what gets "shown" than broadcast television. A vewier "votes" by whether they upvote or down vote a video and whether they subscribe to a channel that produces consistently good content. Videos like those produced by Freddie Wong, the Epic Mealtime gang, and Danboe are just to name a few, are under constant pressure to produce fresh, audience building and sustaining content–which is something that Hollywood hasn't been trying to do for years.
SPACE: ABOVE & BEYOND is a sadly, sadly, sadly missed hour of great sci fi entertainment. Loved that show once they kinda/sorta dropped the whole "let's colonize outer space" angle to the first few episodes that pretty much had to set up the vastly superior war stories yet to unfold. Great — and I mean GREAT — characters, and, yes, a killer ending (even if it was a cliffhanger) that still sends shivers to me bones thinking about it.
Spaced is an amazing show. But as great as it was, I don't think I'd want a third series. It ended perfectly and the cast has aged quite a bit since the last series 12 years ago.
It's Shatner's World, We Just Live In It … love it.
I hoping by the time the "Avatar" sequel comes out, I still won't have seen the first one.
"What is prompting this move…"
$$$$$$$$$
It is Hollywood after all.
They may dream of making the rest of us live in a 'Socialist Utopia'.
But for themselves, it's all about the Benjamen's.
Finally I can cross Notorious off the BluRay list. All that's left for me is On the Waterfront, Lawrence of Arabia, and Red Dawn.
I love Disney World and Disneyland myself and if I ever get a chance to go to DW, I will skip Animal Kingdom in severe protest.
I've had that on my Netflix instant list for ages. I'm going to start it asap…
I am glad to see one of my favorite movies,The Apartment, re-released in a new format… but I see no reason to upgrade from my DVD. The only special effects in the movie are the actors.
"You hear what I said, Miss Kubelik? I absolutely adore you."
"Shut up and deal…
I am glad that the world will end before the Avatar sequel comes out.
Am I the only one who finds Annie Hall just really really boring?
Wait….you still watch the Oscars?
Oh, my gosh – awesome!
I'm rather offended that you didn't mention Tobuscus or his Literal Videos.
……not even "Kids React" gets a mention?
TV SF classics: I'm probably one of the few that remember and loved "Probe"!
Notorious is one of the all-time, best flicks ever made!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
John, any news of a Lawrence of Arabia Blu-ray remastering? This is the 50th anniversary year…
Hence the words "Just to name a few." Here are a few more though which are why I enjoy watching youtube rather than paying for cable: How it should have ended (HISHE); Wheezywaiter, FPS to name a few more. I'd rather watch a Russian fire off a mini-gun for a minute and a half than be told I'm missing out on the latest episodes of "30 Rock" or "Glee." Or better yet, Four minutes of watching the Canadians from Epic Mealtime create bacon covered goodness is better than almost the entirity of the 2011 movie season.
The message I got from Annie Hall was that Woody destroys what he touches. He meets a fresh young woman, introduces her to his life and shrinks and turns her into himself, the one person he could not live with.
Christopher Walken was great as the brother.
You're not alone. I find most of Woody Allens work boring and pretentious.
Do it! I found the show completely on accident. Back around 2005, I was flipping through channels and saw The Young Ones on BBC America (another one of my favorite Britcoms) and Spaced came on after it. I was about to change the channel, but decided to give it a shot since nothing else was on. I was hooked about 2 minutes in.
On the Unsung Sci-Fi TV… I enjoyed Journeyman, Space Above and Beyond, and I had watched M.A.N.T.I.S. but had forgotten about it. Someone mentioned Time Traxx in the article and I enjoyed it when it was on too. I never watched Kyle XY because I thought it might be the typical Disney ABC Family fare that is usually not very watchable.
I guess no one is ever going to mention Voyagers, Highlander, the War of the Worlds TV series, VR5, Hard Time on Planet Earth, or Earth 2. A couple of those where when I was in my early teens, so I might be biased. lol
A sequel to Avatar? Was the first film really good enough to warrant it, or does my question sound rhetorical? Pirates 5? I regret actually going to theaters to see Pirates 3, and had no interest in Pirates 4, yet Hollywood keeps churning out more unappealing sequels. Iron Man 3, The Expendables 2 and The Dark Knight Rises sound like the only good sequels coming out in the near future.
Interesting list of films about to be released on Blu-Ray. Saw Notorious and some of Spellbound, and the number one reason to see them? Ingrid Bergman. It's hard not to keep your eyes off her in those films. I do not understand why The Apartment won the Oscar for Best Picture; I mean, it was 1960, the year we saw films like Exodus, Spartacus, The Alamo, The Magnificent Seven, Elmer Gantry. It may have been a funny film, but Best Picture? I don't think so.
I also remember Time Trax real well, as time travel holds great fascination for me. Enjoyable show, and Dale Midkiff did a good job in the lead role; he's been turning out to be a reliable actor in the few other productions I've seen him in.
If the Avatar sequel involves the humans coming back and blowing up Na'vi from above, I might be interested. But man, oh man, I hated that movie. I hated every second of it.
BTW, if Disney puts Avatarland in Animal Kingdom…cross that bridge, I guess. I will be hard-pressed to despise Disney. This just seems like a bad move.
no sequel until 2016? If Universal ever has a Transformers ride in Orlando, SmurfLand will be DOA.
I wish to thank Matt Hochburg, Mike Newell, Mike Scopa, and Len Testa for their amusing podcast WDW Today.
ain't happening. Doc Brown and Marty McFly went to 2015, and we still don't have ROLLERBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Voyagers had a great concept, but it was stuck in the Sundays @ 7 slot, just like TerraNova Beta AKA Earth 2
totally agree. they seem to think it'll bring in the teenage male crowd
Nope you're not the only one. The only Woody Allen movies I'll watch are Radio Days and The Purple Rose of Cairo.
"‘AVATAR’ SEQUELS MAY BE FURTHER AWAY THAN YOU EXPECTED"
Somehow I doubt any extra time will be devoted to, say, writing a competent script not beholden to cliches only the worst fanfic writer would touch.
Probe was pretty good, clever but not awesome. Journeyman was terrific and had all kinds of potential, but was sadly canceled before it could really get going.
Space: Above and Beyond was awesome. Brilliant, groundbreaking, prefiguring much of what later appeared in Battlestar Galactica. The episode "Who Monitors The Birds?" was transcendent, some of the best TV I've ever seen.
Yes! Believe it or not, I still enjoy watching them.
I loved The Young Ones as well. I watched them on MTV back in the late 80's.
@cliffball
I recently looked at some MANTIS episodes on tape, and I have to agree that the series DOES work as a Silver Age superhero comic brought to TV. It is not "edgy" but in retrospect does every sci-fi series have to be.
Another thing I appreciated was how the pilot for the series was more groundbreaking in the following ways:
* It helped expose a broader audience to the acting talents of Alias' Carl Lumbly (still underrated actor) and Firefly's Gina Torres (she's underrated, too.)
* It proved that Sam Raimi had to superhero chops to handle blockbuster comic book fare like a series of film starring a certin Marvel Comics webslinger.
* Best of all, the Republican in the series, MANTIS, is the GOOD GUY for once. And he's Black on top of it. Even now, seeing a Black Republican is a rare event like witnessing the return of Halley's Comet.
So, MANTIS indeed deserves some long over due props.
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