NOV. 12 | PHYSICAL: NPD: Q4 releases will push year-end only slightly below 2008

DVD Release Calendar

Redbox Sued for Alleged Late Fees

An Illinois woman has filed a class action lawsuit alleging that kiosk operator Redbox has reaped more than $100 million in illegal and punitive late fees.

Full Story >>  

 TOP DVD TITLES

Rental Title                                                Street

Transformer 2                                              10/20/09

Land Of The Lost                                         10/13/09

Proposal The                                               10/13/09

Drag Me To Hell                                           10/13/09

MONSTERS VS ALIEN                                9/29/09

Year One                                                    10/6/09

Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past                            9/22/09

Imagine That                                                10/6/09

State Of Play                                               9/1/09

Trick R Treat                                                10/6/09

Sell-thru Title                                             Street

Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past                            9/22/09

I Love You Man (Widescreen)                        8/11/09

Crank 2                                                       9/8/09

Observe And Report                                     9/22/09

State Of Play                                               9/1/09

Monsters VS Aliens                                     9/29/09

17 Again                                                     8/11/09

Transformers 2  (Rental Ready)                     10/20/09

Last House On The Left (Unrated)                  8/18/09

Knowing   (Widescreen)                                7/7/09

Python fans have spent this October celebrating the 40th anniversary of the infamous British comedy troupe's Flying Circus, first broadcast on the BBC in 1969. As part of the inevitable media hooplah, we'd previously reported on the six-part documentary series, Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut), set to air on IFC beginning October 18th. The series mixes interviews with the surviving Pythons with footage, behind-the-scenes looks, and comments from celebrities who've been influenced by cheese shops and funny walks and lumberjacks.

What's that, you say? You don't have IFC? Well, fear not, because what media blitz would be complete without a carefully timed accompanying DVD release? Arriving on shelves October 27th, a mere week or so after the show airs on IFC, you can get your greasy mitts on the entire set on DVD for $29.99. We've got a little preview for you in the form of the below three clips. It may not be much of a cheese shop, but it looks like a great early Christmas gift for Python fans.

as next year. Read more...

This week DVD Talk introduces its newest monthly column, Talking Out of Frame: Art House Cinema on DVD, sponsored by the good folks at Criterion. Every month, Talking Out of Frame will survey the movies covered here on the site that take filmgoers off the beaten path. The best of foreign, indie, and documentaries, new and old, will be featured. In this debut edition, our writers look at films as diverse as David Mamet's Homicide, Sam Mendes' Away We Go, the new film by Paul Schrader, and Masaki Kobayashi's nearly ten-hour WWII epic, The Human Condition, alongside plenty of others. Plus, links to upcoming discs and notable films currently in theaters. This is the place where adventurous cinephiles interested in Talking Out of Frame can get the scoop on all that's happening in the art house.
 

A slew of new reviews have been added to the DVD Talk Review Database recently. Check out out these highly rated releases: Karloff & Lugosi Horror Classics - four films with the classic horror actors. While they are lesser works to genre fans this release surely is one of the year's highlights; Dusan Makavejev: Free Radical - a trio of films that are playful, creative, culturally rich, and full of insightful commentary on the human condition; and The Joe McDoakes Collection - all 63 one-reel shorts from the Joe McDoakes series - sharp, focused and almost always consistently funny. Other recent reviews include: Wrestling Ernest Hemingway, Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases, Vol. 3, and Lake Tahoe.  Visit the DVD Talk Review Database for all the latest reviews.

‘Julie & Julia’ on Sony’s Menu for Dec. 8

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is cooking up a feast of extras for the Dec. 8 (order date Nov. 5) home video release of the culinary comedy Julie & Julia.

Full Story >>   

‘G.I. Joe’ Set For Nov. 3

Paramount Home Entertainment has slated Nov. 3 for single- and two-disc DVD and two-disc Blu-ray Disc releases of G. I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

Full Story >>  

Zillion TV Aims For Direct-to-Consumer Offering

ZillionTV, the on-demand content service with five studio partners, could be embedded in set-top boxes and connected HDTVs in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to company CEO Mitch Berman.

Full Story >>  

Panasonic Unveils 50-Inch 3D Plasma TV

First introduced in the form of a 103-inch plasma HDTV, the electronics giant Sept. 28 unveiled a smaller, 50-inch Full-HD 3D plasma, which includes active shutter glasses that allow for theater-quality 3D at home.

Full Story >>  

Sony to Deliver Digital Copy Direct from Blu-ray Disc

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Sept. 28 said going forward it would incorporate directly on a Blu-ray Disc the digital copy of a new-release movie playable on the PlayStation Portable (PSP). The digital file can be transferred from the disc to a PSP using the Blu-ray drive in a PlayStation 3.

Full Story >>  

Wolverine shows off Q4 DVD, Blu-ray potential
SEPT. 24 | PHYSICAL: Kickoff title sets Blu-ray bar above 20%
Click for the full story

NPD: Blu-ray will penetrate mainstream by next year
SEPT. 24 | PHYSICAL: Set-top price tags expected to fall through Q4
Click for the full story

Warner schedules Hangover for Dec. 15
SEPT. 23 | PHYSICAL: Five $100 million-plus titles street before holiday
Click for the full story

Top Rental Titles - August 24-30, 2009

Title                                  Street

Duplicity                                             8/25/09

FIGHTING                                          8/25/09

Last House On The Left                       8/18/09

I Love You Man                                   8/11/09

17 Again                                              8/11/09

Sunshine Cleaning                                8/25/09

Hannah Montana The Movie                8/18/09

Adventureland                                     8/25/09

Soloist The                                          8/4/09

Obsessed                                            8/4/09

Top Sell-Thru Titles - August 24-30, 009     

Title                                  Street

Coraline  (2D/3D)                                7/21/09

Knowing   (Widescreen)                       7/7/09

FAST & FURIOUS   (WS)                   7/28/09

Watchmen   (Widescreen)                    7/28/09

Push (Widescreen)                               7/7/09

Unborn The (Widescreen)                   7/7/09

Gran Torino (Widescreen)                   6/9/09

Defiance                                             6/2/09

Paul Blart Mall Cop                              5/19/09

Madea Goes To Jail (Widescreen)       6/16/09

Reviews on Upcoming DVDs

Observe and Report - DVD Review
REVIEW: WARNER Street: Sept. 22 Prebook: now > Dark comedy of questionable taste, slightly reminiscent of Taxi Driver. Click for the full review» » » 

Camille - DVD Review
REVIEW: NATIONAL Street: Sept. 15 Prebook: now > Hot stars Sienna Miller and James Franco are the glue of this quirky romantic tale. Click for the full review» » » 

Life on Mars: The Complete Series - DVD Review
REVIEW: DISNEY Street: Sept. 29 Prebook: now > Keitel, Imperioli and classic rock spice U.S. remake of BBC series. Click for the full review» » » 

Lymelife - DVD Review
REVIEW: SCREEN MEDIA/GAIAM Street: Sept. 22 Prebook: now > Alec Baldwin leads an inspired cast in this indie. Click for the full review» » » 

Earth - Blu-ray Review
BLU-RAY REVIEW: DISNEY Street: Sept. 1 Prebook: now > DisneyNature’s debut feature is a stunning high-def family documentary. Click for the full review» » »    

 Want to know what to watch on DVD in September?

Here's a pretty good list from some of America's top independent video retailers.

Get Ready You Videophiles!

Coming out in Video Next Quarter

2009 4Q TITLE LIST

9/15             WOLVERINE 

9/29             MONSTERS VS ALIENS

10/6            MY SISTER’S KEEPER

10/13          LAND OF THE LOST

10/13          CURIOUS GEORGE XMAS MOVIE

10/20          TRANSFORMERS REVENGE OF THE FALLEN

10/27          ICE AGE 3

11/10          UP

11/17          STAR TREK

11/24          SNOW WHITE

11/24          SANTA BUDDIES

11/24          ANGELS & DEMONS

11/24          FOUR CHRISTMASES

12/1            NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 2

12/1            TERMINATOR SALVATION

12/8            JULIE & JULIA

12/8            HARRY POTTER & HALF BLOOD PRINCE

12/15          HANGOVER

12/15          GI JOE

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 What's Hot in DVD This Week!

By : Agent DVD | Posted: 10 Aug 2009

For the first time, the DVD Critics Awards are open to a consumer vote. In addition to the regular categories for which winners are selected by a panel of judges, special categories have been created specifically for consumers, with nominees chosen from studio submissions to the DVD Critics Awards, and winners to be picked via an online vote held from Aug. 10-28.

Sony Drops PS3 Price to $299
Sony announced Aug. 18 that its PlayStation 3, long the priciest of the next-generation video game consoles and the only one to include a Blu-ray Disc player, will get a $100 price cut. A new 120GB slimmer version of the system will retail for $299 starting in September.

Fox softens stance on channel-specific versions
AUG. 14 | PHYSICAL: Sell-through versions most popular SKU despite studio rules Click for the full story» » » 

Retailers report steady used game sales, rentals
AUG. 14 | PHYSICAL: VBG members account games for one-third of business Click for the full story» » » 

Connecting with… Sonic Solutions' Mark Ely
AUG. 14 | Q&A: Sonic will be 'key piece of the infrastructure for getting content to the home' Click for the full story» » » 

DVD business stays strong
AUG. 14 | FROM VARIETY: Direct-to-video titles contribute significant revenue Click for the full story» » » 

Television's killer app
AUG. 14 | FROM VARIETY: New HDTVs equipped with Internet connection Click for the full story» » » 

Fox seeks 30-day delay for DVDs in kiosks
Balance business for all!

Studio directs wholesalers not to sell new releases to Redbox, others as issues arrise over price point protection. Click for the full story

EMA’s 2009 ANNUAL REPORT IS NOW AVAILABLE

If you are an EMA member, you should have recently received a copy of our 2009 Annual Report on the Home Entertainment Industry by mail. This annual report provides a comprehensive overview and analysis of the home video and video game industries for the year 2008.   The report is a snapshot of DVD and video game software and hardware trends, consumer spending, product diversity, the retail marketplace and new and emerging technologies. For more information, click here.

Warner builds indie film VOD distribution
Sign of the times

Studio signs deals with Image, Oscilloscope, others Click for the full story

IPhone apps also expected on more DVDs, Blu-rays in Q4 Click for the full story 

Online movie watching doubled in two years DIGITAL: Nearly a quarter watch on PC-connected TVs

Marantz readies flagship Blu-ray player

JULY 31 | FROM TWICE: Models are brands first BD Live-capable players Click for the full story» » »   

Where did Quentin get it? Tarantino movies pack a ton of film references, and his soon-to-be-released WWII saga, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, is no different. Here's a list of titles that will give you a crash course in freewheeling war movies.

Sam Fuller's epic story of five fighting men who cut a path from North Africa to Czechoslovakia. A rich, realistic and individual look at war.	An extraordinary melding of war drama, satiric comedy and heroic action adventure, and featuring Burt Lancaster, Peter Falk and Bruce Dern.	This very tough, very funny and very violent film is one of the high points of action cinema. Twelve convicts are offered amnesty if they go on a suicide mission.	John Sturges' film based on a true story about an Allied POW escape from the Stalag Luft North made Steve McQueen a star.	A first-rate World War II action film about a group of Allied commandos who are plotting to destroy German guns.
This spaghetti action-war movie stars Bo Svenson and Fred Williamson in the fast-paced story of a group of AWOL army badasses in WWII.	An entertaining WWII movie about a weird collection of misfit soldiers who penetrate German lines to pull off a complicated gold heist.	Fassbinder's BRD Triology. In 1978, Rainer Werner Fassbinder began a series of films that would trace the history of postwar Germany through the eyes of three women. Also includes Veronika Voss and Lola.	Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton star in this breakneck-paced thriller about an elite squad of soldiers sent to free an American general from a Nazi mountain stronghold.	Stanley Baker and Michael Caine star in this epic about British colonial troops under siege by thousands of Zulu warriors.

Thanks to Facets Video for the above.

New DVD Reviews: The Soloist, Coraline, and Combat Shock

Why you should or shouldn't rent these titles

New Movie Reviews: Orphan, The Ugly Truth, and G-Force

From a couch potato's point of view!

TV on DVD: Grey Gardens, Tracey Takes On, and Gunsmoke
God, we luv TV on DVD???  

Officials: US wins WTO films, music case vs. China

Associated Press

The U.S. has largely prevailed in a trade dispute with China over restrictions on the sale there of American CDs, DVDs, books and computer software, two officials familiar with the ruling have told The Associated Press.

Emmy nominations announced

FROM VARIETY: 30 Rock tops list; Family Guy, Flight of the Conchords broke into key categories Click for the full story» » » 

Star Trek flies out with space-age box

PHYSICAL: Tour of Enterprise built into Nov. 17 packaging Click for the full story» » »

Home Video Award Winners

The Entertainment Merchant's Association just announced this year's award winners for best home video and hall of fame inductee.  Check it out at; http://www.entmerch.org/home_entertainment_awards.html

VARIETY BOX-OFFICE REPORT: Fox's toon breaks foreign box office records

By Pamela McClintock of Variety -- Video Business, 7/6/2009

It was a win-win situation at the box office, with Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs raking in record international box office for an animated pic, while Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen became the year's domestic B.O. champ. Opening on Wednesday to get the jump on the holiday weekend, 20th Century Fox's Ice Age 3 won the five-day sesh with $67.5 million; the Transformers sequel took $65 million. The 3D dinosaurs trampled the world's box office, with the biggest opening ever for an animated film at $148 million. Worldwide total stands at $215.5 million. For the three-day weekend sesh, Ice Age and Transformers raced to a rare tie, with $42.5 million.

Want more of Farrah? Here is a Fawcett DVD List. 

Click on this link to see all of Farrah Fawcets DVDs available for sale.

Is Piracy a subject to lie about? 

Source: Home Media Magazine 

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has filed additional papers against RealNetworks alleging the Seattle-based technology company deceived the court regarding RealDVD copying software’s ability to circumvent antipiracy safeguards included in movie DVDs. The MPAA and RealNetworks are currently awaiting a decision by a federal judge whether RealDVD violates copyright protections thereby violating provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. During court testimony Real argued that encryption safeguards ARccOS and RipGuard did not qualify as such.

The MPAA filed the charges June 24 in San Francisco District Court after it was disclosed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office June 11 that Real, in patent filings in 2007 and 2008, had asserted ARccOS and RipGuard as copy-protection safeguards. “Real and its witnesses have told the court that ARccOS and RipGuard are not copy protection technologies and that Real's engineers did not know how ARccOS and RipGuard worked,” MPAA wrote in the filing. “Yet Real simultaneously has told the PTO that RipGuard and ArccOS are ‘copy protection mechanisms’ and then described specific techniques used by ARccOS and RipGuard.”

RealNetworks spokesperson Bill Hankes characterized the MPAA motion as "a regurgitated argument" using misleading sound bites from patent applications the studios have long been aware of.  "Hollywood is once again trying to use a sleight of hand to distract the court and the press from the real issue in this case: whether the studios should be allowed to take away consumers’ fair use rights [and] sell it back to them," Hankes said.  "RealNetworks will respond to the false and misleading allegations contained in the studios' latest maneuver directly to the court."

What's Hot in Home Video This Week!

Throttling CEO Points A Finger At His Biggest Competitor

22 June 2009 12:45 PM, PDT imdb

Netflix chief Hastings has indicated that his company's principal competitor is not likely to be Blockbuster or the other brick-and-mortar video rental stores, and not big-box stores like Best Buy and Walmart. Nor is it likely to be video-on-demand services from cable companies and Internet sites. "By the end of the year, kiosks will likely be our No. 1 competitor," MSNBC quoted Hastings as saying. "There are already more kiosks in America than video stores," he added. Russ Crupnick, an entertainment analyst for market researcher Npd Group, told MSNBC, that almost 90 percent of U.S. homes has a DVD player and that most still rent them from video stores. By contrast, the percentage of people who download movies from the Internet this year is estimated to be "a sliver" of that percentage, Hastings said. But Redbox, the largest operator of DVD-rental kiosks, with more than 15,400 vending machines set up, is now installing on average one new kiosk every hour of the day.

By Chris Tribbey | Posted: 18 Jun 2009

A Minnesota mother of two was found guilty June 18 of Internet music piracy and was ordered by a jury to pay the music companies represented by the Recording Industry Association of America $1.92 million. Jammie Thomas-Rasset first lost her anti-piracy case, the first of its kind, in October 2007, and was ordered then to pay more than $222,000 in fines. The June 18 ruling was much harsher: $80,000 for each of the 24 songs Thomas-Rasset was accused of stealing.

“We appreciate the jury’s service and that they take this issue as seriously as we do,” Cara Duckworth, an RIAA spokeswoman, told CNET. “We are pleased that the jury agreed with the evidence and found the defendant liable. Since day one, we have been willing to settle the case and remain willing to do so.”

Thomas-Rasset was first accused by the RIAA of illegally sharing two dozen songs on a file-sharing service in 2005. It was the first music file-sharing case ever to go to trial. However, the U.S. District Court judge ruled in September 2008 that a retrial was warranted after he erred in telling jurors that the RIAA companies did not have to prove that anyone actually downloaded the songs Thomas-Rasset allegedly shared. “Based on the court’s error in instructing the jury, it grants Thomas a new trial. Because the court grants a new trial on the basis of jury instruction error, it does not reach Thomas’s claim regarding excessive damages set forth in her motion for a new trial,” the judge wrote in his September decision to grant a new trial.

The RIAA announced in December 2008 that it was done prosecuting those who download and share music, after threatening tens of thousands of individuals over the practice, and that it would instead work with Internet Service Providers to go after Web sites offering illegal fire-sharing services. However, it continued with its case against Thomas-Rasset.

“In this case, each plaintiff contends that … the defendant, Jammie Thomas-Rasset, without the permission or consent of such plaintiff, used an online media distribution system known as Kazaa to download the plaintiffs’ copyrighted recordings and/or to distribute the copyrighted recordings to the public,” Chief Judge Michael Davis wrote in his instructions to the jury. “Plaintiffs are not contending that the defendant’s ripping CDs for her own personal use constituted infringement in this case.”

SKRITEK 

CNY's own New Classics World Cinema to offer SKRITEK on DVD in August.  That's right, Czech Republic Filmmaker Extraordinaire Tom Vorel's classic will be available on DVD soon.  More details to follow.

Here are some of Skritek's Festival Awards: Nove Mesto Film festival, Czech Republic, Prize for Best Screenplay, Tomas Vorel, Best Female Actress; Eva Holubova, Golden Prime Main Award for Best Film Comedy; Syracuse International Film and Video Festival, USA, Best European Film, Tomas Vorel, Director; Skip City International D-Cinema Festival, Saitama, Japan, Best Film Technology; Association of Czech Cinematography, Best Cinematography 2006, Marek Jicha; Czech Lions 2006, Best Actress Award, Eva Holubova, Best Art Design    

Wizard of Oz Blu-ray 70th Anniversary  

Warner Home Video will release Wizard of Oz as a features-packed and pricey Blu-ray 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition on Sept. 29. The high-def debut of one of the most popular films of all time will carry an $84.99 price. The studio also will bring the title out on DVD, in UCE ($69.92) and two-disc ($24.98) versions. 

VOD Orders Climbed 21% In 2008

In an all air announcement that sounds much better than it is, video-on-demand orders increased 21% last year, with operators processing 3.8 billion VOD orders in 2008 excluding adult programming, according to a report from audience-measurement firm Rentrak.

Consumers who watched VOD ordered an average 17.8 VOD assets per month in 2008, Rentrak found in an analysis of data collected from January 2007 through December 2008. In a given month, around 13% of all VOD-enabled set-top boxes were used to purchase transactional on-demand content. Rentrak's report was based on its OnDemand Essentials service, which processes data from more than 70 million digital cable set-top boxes from major TV providers, including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Cablevision Systems, Insight Communications and Verizon Communications. The company's annual VOD report measured 35.2 million unique set-tops in 2008, compared with 31.8 million in 2007.

Other findings: In 2008, free VOD accounted for 74% of all non-adult orders -- amounting to 2.8 billion views -- while subscription VOD accounted for 23%; and transactional on-demand accounted another 3%. Of the 203,640 unique titles tracked by Rentrak last year, 91% were free VOD, while 6% were subscription and 3% were transactional.