'Brothers Grimm' (Japanese Import) - High-Def Digest review

[jed]

Peter's review of the Japanese edition of 'The Brothers Grimm' on HD DVD is up. So, how does this import HD DVD compare to the Disney/Blu-ray edition? In a direct compare, both deliver an excellent transfer, but there are some surprising differences between the audio and supplement packages on both discs.

Full review here:
http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/brothersgrimm_jp.html

[Spideybat]

I must be one of the few people who didn't like this at all.

[Dr_Gonzo]

I must be on of the few people who really love this movie - but then, I'm a BIG Gilliam fan and a sucker for most of his work.

[Blurry]

Originally Posted by Dr_Gonzo

I must be on of the few people who really love this movie - but then, I'm a BIG Gilliam fan and a sucker for most of his work.

I definitely enjoyed it quite a bit. I have this import and it looks stunning and sounds great as well.

[dkny75]

Originally Posted by Blurry

I definitely enjoyed it quite a bit. I have this import and it looks stunning and sounds great as well.

I agree that it looks stunning but I don't know about sounds great. I don't have a BD player to compare the two but I thought the sound was a little weak. Overall a good disc though.

[freekedoutfish]

I'm slightly confused now....

...this is a disney film (who are BR exclusive), but its been released on HD DVD in japan?

I know that different companies, in different countries own rights to the same films. So its not unusual to have a film on BR in America, but on HD DVD in Europe.

But in this case, the rights are owned by only Disney and not a different company.

Can someone explain how this works, if Disney is meant to be BR exclusive?

[kannisto]

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

I'm slightly confused now....

...this is a disney film (who are BR exclusive), but its been released on HD DVD in japan?

I know that different companies, in different countries own rights to the same films. So its not unusual to have a film on BR in America, but on HD DVD in Europe.

But in this case, the rights are owned by only Disney and not a different company.

Can someone explain how this works, if Disney is meant to be BR exclusive?

List of distributors for this film can be found in IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0355295/companycredits

Toshiba Entertainment is the distributor in Japan and they chose to release it on HD DVD last year. (Since May 1st this year Toshiba Entertainment changed owners and now they are using a new trade name: "Showgate").

Distributors
Dimension Films (2005) (USA) (theatrical)
Miramax Films (2005) (USA) (theatrical)
Miramax Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
Ascot Elite Entertainment Group (2005) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
Buena Vista International Italia (2005) (Italy) (all media)
Concorde Filmverleih (2005) (Germany) (theatrical)
Concorde Home Entertainment (2006) (Germany) (DVD)
Film Pop (2005) (Turkey) (theatrical)
Golden Village Entertainment (2005) (Singapore) (theatrical)
Hollywood Classic Entertainment (2006) (Czech Republic) (DVD)
Metropolitan Filmexport (2005) (France) (theatrical)
Mongkol Film Company (2005) (Thailand) (theatrical)
RCV Film Distribution (2005) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
SPI International (2005) (Czech Republic) (theatrical)
SPI International (2005) (Slovakia) (theatrical)
Toshiba Entertainment (2005) (Japan) (theatrical)
Warner Bros. (2006) (Argentina) (theatrical)
West Film (2005) (Russia) (theatrical)

[freekedoutfish]

Originally Posted by kannisto

List of distributors for this film can be found in IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0355295/companycredits

Toshiba Entertainment is the distributor in Japan and they chose to release it on HD DVD last year. (Since May 1st this year Toshiba Entertainment changed owners and now they are using a new trade name: "Showgate").

Does that mean that technically it would be possible for another company (who back HD DVD) to buy the rights to (for instance) Pirates 1-3 in another country and produce them on HD DVD outside of America?

[kannisto]

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

Does that mean that technically it would be possible for another company (who back HD DVD) to buy the rights to (for instance) Pirates 1-3 in another country and produce them on HD DVD outside of America?

Sure it would be possible if they could work out a distribution rights agreement with the company that owns the original rights to the movie. With some movies the distribution rights are held by the original production company (and their subcompanies) more or less worldwide though.

I'm not any expert on the distribution rights topic in general though...

[freekedoutfish]

Originally Posted by kannisto

Sure it would be possible if they could work out a distribution rights agreement with the company that owns the original rights to the movie. With some movies the distribution rights are held by the original production company (and their subcompanies) more or less worldwide though.

I'm not any expert on the distribution rights topic in general though...

Its a shame Universal cant just make an officer to buy the rights to alot of BR exclusive films outside of America and distribute them as HD DVD in europe or japan.

With the no-region coding, it would make it easy to import them.

I wouldnt expect them to get big names like Pirates or Spiderman, but im sure if they put a big enough offer on the table they could aquire alot of films that are currently BR exclusive.

Maybe not Universal, but Warner could give it a go or some other neutral company. If you were a small time company who had chosen to be BR exclusive, and a big company like Warner or Universal offers alot of money to buy the rights to some select films, you would hardly say no?

But im not expert on marketting.... or how it all works either!

Maybe im being niave.

[taygan315]

I have never seen this movie. Never heard of it. May have to look at this one a little more at bb.

[mrkiller]

this film was weird and original, i may get the blu-ray version but i have to rewatch the DVD again before making my choice