Available Studio Library Catalog Title Listings with the Blu-ray Releases Highlighted

[Arkadin]

No, I've gotten past that stage and have become used to it. I think Blu-ray is going to give the older titles the shaft. If selection is what I'm looking for, then it'll have to be DVD and I'll either have to hope it's a decent transfer, or else watch it on the smaller TV.

As for Catalog Blu-ray, thank God for Warner and Criterion. Hope they keep it up, while Paramount, Fox and Sony pick it up.

that would all be well and good except for one small thing--the studios are deleting their dvds of older classics at an alarming rate.
sure there are new "archive" collections that are taking up some of the slack, but they are overpriced big time, and don't include the titles that are being deleted left and right.
People trying to see many old classics are soon going to be stuck with only streaming or waiting for the movie they are interested in to come on TCM or some other channel.
and we all know the quality of those options don't even match dvd for the pre-1970 films.
People on here that don't give a flip about movies before 1995 don't understand and don't care that fans of all cinema across the years are about to be faced with a major crisis of content imo.
and for people that mention Netflix--forget it.
once a dvd gets deleted people steal all the available copies and they don't get replenished in the Netflix library.
100's of great films are about to just disappear unless you happen to own a copy of the dvd, and that's not an exaggeration. It's happening already.
It is pointless at this point to wonder if all of these films will ever come out on blu-ray because they won't. Literally 100's will never come close to receiving a blu-ray release unfortunately.
It is now quite apparent that the main type of film that will be missing on blu-ray will be the exact type of film that dominates dvd--the American studio classic.
blu-ray is exceeding expectations for foreign language classic films imo, and is doing fine for current films and for cult films--but for the one type of film most movie buffs care about the most--the American studio classic--it has been a bitter failure so far save for a few treats from Warner, and 1 or 2 bones from Fox and Sony.
a total tragedy of epic proportions because we finally have the medium to do these films justice.

[Kosty]

Well I think I know how to "interpret" a 35% drop. That's about 1/3 less. Another way is to say it in actual volume. In this case, 98 less movies were released during that time. Or, if you prefer, 98 more were released the period before that.

Can someone come up with another interpretation?

Yes.

Its not actual volume, its the count of releases.

In actual "volume" of units sold or revenues generated, Blu-ray has done more with fewer releases.

If you look at it from the standpoint of the studios having a limited resource in the available titles to release from their catalog of library titles, it makes perfect sense that they would want to schedule the release of those assets in the manner that would maximize the revenues over the entire lifetime of the Blu-ray format.

In this case, some studios choose to release more and some less of their limited inventory of theatrical catalog titles in 2010 while the format was showing substantial growth in household penetration and retailer support. That enables them to release those limited assets in the future when they have the potential for even greater revenues and profits upon release in the future when the user base is larger and the level of retailer support in even greater in 2011 and beyond.

You make it sound like they stopped releasing theatrical catalog titles on Blu-ray altogether, which is a gross exaggeration of the circumstances. Its clear they slowed the pace, to the levels that they needed to do to support the continuing growth of the format in 2010, and were successful in that regard.

[Kosty]

The worst thing is that 35% drop was from a anthill of releases to begin with. I mean not all of us have 20 years left to watch movies. We cant wait that long to get the movies we want on blu-ray. By your charts the release rate of theatrical catalog is only 1/3 of the release rate as dvd. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to see that it will take WAY longer to get those same catalog titles out on bluray if at all.

I dont see how any consumer can say that is not bad. Its pretty bad for us movie lovers as time is not on our side unless your a kid.

The new releases are comming out reguardless. They have no choice to not bring them out. They would get sued buy shareholders if they didnt.

The majority of the major studios however are choosing to lower theatrical catalog output.

Again, you are fixating on the count. Also you seem to be making an assumption that Blu-ray is going to go away in a couple of years and that the studios will not have the chance to release the titles before the format dies and goes away. You also seem to think that it likely that the pace of releases will not increase in the future or that the circumstances in 2011 or 2012 will be the same that the studios considered in 2010 when setting the schedule of releases. All are in direct contradiction to the studio statements made during Blu-con 2010.

New releases are time sensitive while catalog releases are less time sensitive, so it makes perfect sense that the studios would schedule the release of those limited assets in a time frame where they revenues they generate and the increase in the growth of the Blu-ray format would be maximized. The only thing the release pace of 2010 shows is that some studios thought that the pace of releases they had in 2010 was the best way to achieve those goals, nothing more.

[Kosty]

Originally Posted by Kosty
I agree with that for the number of studio releases, but my point was still valid that out of all of the Blu-ray titles in release, any highly involved consumer should find plenty to watch.

I'll remember this next time I'm at a buffet and all my favorites are gone. When I complain there is Kosty behind the counter telling me " there is still plenty to choose from". I wouldn't like that answer in that situation either.

Most buffets do not have 3400+ items with over 33 new items added to the menu every single day.

[Kosty]

I dont know about you, but when I go to a buffet I want Prime Rib, not shit on a shingle.

Look at the first few posts in this thread. Most of the top 500 grossing movies of all time and most of the AFI Top 100 and Top 10 of 10 movies are already out on Blu-ray. Thats plenty of prime rib already on the buffet with more to come in 2011.

[bruceames]

Yes.

Its not actual volume, its the count of releases.


In actual "volume" of units sold or revenues generated, Blu-ray has done more with fewer releases.

Sales are all fine and dandy, but I can't watch sales on my TV. Blu-ray has done more with less because most of the sales are new theatrical, which they don't mess with. Those will get released, that's a given.

If you look at it from the standpoint of the studios having a limited resource in the available titles to release from their catalog of library titles, it makes perfect sense that they would want to schedule the release of those assets in the manner that would maximize the revenues over the entire lifetime of the Blu-ray format.

On the contrary, they have more than ever. Certainly more than DVD did. The movie years 1997-2005 produced probably 4000+ theatrical titles alone.

In this case, some studios choose to release more and some less of their limited inventory of theatrical catalog titles in 2010 while the format was showing substantial growth in household penetration and retailer support. That enables them to release those limited assets in the future when they have the potential for even greater revenues and profits upon release in the future when the user base is larger and the level of retailer support in even greater in 2011 and beyond.

You make it sound like the studios are worried about running out of catalogs to release. They each have thousands of titles in their vault. Certainly more than enough to not have to slow down 35%.

You make it sound like they stopped releasing theatrical catalog titles on Blu-ray altogether, which is a gross exaggeration of the circumstances. Its clear they slowed the pace, to the levels that they needed to do to support the continuing growth of the format in 2010, and were successful in that regard.

I made it sound like the studios have slowed down 35%, which they did. I don't remember saying they stopped altogether.

[Kosty]

that would all be well and good except for one small thing--the studios are deleting their dvds of older classics at an alarming rate.
sure there are new "archive" collections that are taking up some of the slack, but they are overpriced big time, and don't include the titles that are being deleted left and right.
People trying to see many old classics are soon going to be stuck with only streaming or waiting for the movie they are interested in to come on TCM or some other channel.
and we all know the quality of those options don't even match dvd for the pre-1970 films.
People on here that don't give a flip about movies before 1995 don't understand and don't care that fans of all cinema across the years are about to be faced with a major crisis of content imo.
and for people that mention Netflix--forget it.
once a dvd gets deleted people steal all the available copies and they don't get replenished in the Netflix library.
100's of great films are about to just disappear unless you happen to own a copy of the dvd, and that's not an exaggeration. It's happening already.
It is pointless at this point to wonder if all of these films will ever come out on blu-ray because they won't. Literally 100's will never come close to receiving a blu-ray release unfortunately.
It is now quite apparent that the main type of film that will be missing on blu-ray will be the exact type of film that dominates dvd--the American studio classic.
blu-ray is exceeding expectations for foreign language classic films imo, and is doing fine for current films and for cult films--but for the one type of film most movie buffs care about the most--the American studio classic--it has been a bitter failure so far save for a few treats from Warner, and 1 or 2 bones from Fox and Sony.
a total tragedy of epic proportions because we finally have the medium to do these films justice.

The greater the overall sales success of Blu-ray and the greater the amount of owners and household penetration the greater the chance that the long tail of deep studio classics will eventually find a Blu-ray release.

[PSound]

Yes.

Its not actual volume, its the count of releases.

In actual "volume" of units sold or revenues generated, Blu-ray has done more with fewer releases.

If you look at it from the standpoint of the studios having a limited resource in the available titles to release from their catalog of library titles, it makes perfect sense that they would want to schedule the release of those assets in the manner that would maximize the revenues over the entire lifetime of the Blu-ray format.

In this case, some studios choose to release more and some less of their limited inventory of theatrical catalog titles in 2010 while the format was showing substantial growth in household penetration and retailer support. That enables them to release those limited assets in the future when they have the potential for even greater revenues and profits upon release in the future when the user base is larger and the level of retailer support in even greater in 2011 and beyond.

You make it sound like they stopped releasing theatrical catalog titles on Blu-ray altogether, which is a gross exaggeration of the circumstances. Its clear they slowed the pace, to the levels that they needed to do to support the continuing growth of the format in 2010, and were successful in that regard.

I agree with the need to control the output, but scaling back on releases in a year when OD sales are suffering does not make sense.

I don't think the studios have a lack of belief in Blu-ray, but there is something at play here. Releasing even less than "A-title" fare would result in increased revenues without much risk. I won't guess as to why the studios opted not to release more titles, but the economics of releasing a lower volume of titles do not make economic sense based on their current overall revenue and the increase in Blu-ray sell-through for titles that have been released.

[bruceames]

that would all be well and good except for one small thing--the studios are deleting their dvds of older classics at an alarming rate.
sure there are new "archive" collections that are taking up some of the slack, but they are overpriced big time, and don't include the titles that are being deleted left and right.
People trying to see many old classics are soon going to be stuck with only streaming or waiting for the movie they are interested in to come on TCM or some other channel.
and we all know the quality of those options don't even match dvd for the pre-1970 films.
People on here that don't give a flip about movies before 1995 don't understand and don't care that fans of all cinema across the years are about to be faced with a major crisis of content imo.
and for people that mention Netflix--forget it.
once a dvd gets deleted people steal all the available copies and they don't get replenished in the Netflix library.
100's of great films are about to just disappear unless you happen to own a copy of the dvd, and that's not an exaggeration. It's happening already.
It is pointless at this point to wonder if all of these films will ever come out on blu-ray because they won't. Literally 100's will never come close to receiving a blu-ray release unfortunately.
It is now quite apparent that the main type of film that will be missing on blu-ray will be the exact type of film that dominates dvd--the American studio classic.
blu-ray is exceeding expectations for foreign language classic films imo, and is doing fine for current films and for cult films--but for the one type of film most movie buffs care about the most--the American studio classic--it has been a bitter failure so far save for a few treats from Warner, and 1 or 2 bones from Fox and Sony.
a total tragedy of epic proportions because we finally have the medium to do these films justice.

I agree Arkadin. The studio classics are for the most part being abandoned by the format, but fortunately foreign movies seem to be plentiful enough.


You got me a little concerned though about the state of the DVD classic library. I'll have to check that out and get what I need while I can.

[chipvideo]

I dont know about you, but I learned in school that a couple means two. You couldnt be further from the truth. You seem to be speaking for the studios. I am sorry, but we dont care about how many copies a studio sells. We dont work for the studios. We care about having the titles out and not over a 50 year peroid like you are pretty much saying.

Again, you are fixating on the count. Also you seem to be making an assumption that Blu-ray is going to go away in a couple of years and that the studios will not have the chance to release the titles before the format dies and goes away. You also seem to think that it likely that the pace of releases will not increase in the future or that the circumstances in 2011 or 2012 will be the same that the studios considered in 2010 when setting the schedule of releases. All are in direct contradiction to the studio statements made during Blu-con 2010.

New releases are time sensitive while catalog releases are less time sensitive, so it makes perfect sense that the studios would schedule the release of those limited assets in a time frame where they revenues they generate and the increase in the growth of the Blu-ray format would be maximized. The only thing the release pace of 2010 shows is that some studios thought that the pace of releases they had in 2010 was the best way to achieve those goals, nothing more.

[Kosty]

However, the content in general is increasing- even for catalogs. So there should be plenty to "eat" at the buffet.

Keep in mind that catalogs were still made and the depth was increased this year. Like I said before, there is a finite number of viable catalog for BD. It will get used up some time. And don't be alarmed that many titles pre 1990-2000 don't make it to BD at all.

The top 10,000 titles that were from films that generated 50M plus in adjusted gross box office are inevitable to be released on Blu-ray with the exceptions being if the source elements do not exist.

Virtually all new day and date movies and new theatrical releases that came out on DVD since 1997, which is about 6700 titles, are an absolute lock to be released on Blu-ray.

Its the deeper catalog pre 1997 and titles that are artistic gems that I have some concerns about.

Thats about 7000 to 10,000 titles that made it to DVD of pre 1997 theatrical releases that did not have over $50 million domestic gross that their are decisions to be made on restoration. I think that most of those will eventually find an eventual Blu-ray release in the years to come, but I worry about the quality of the source and what resources will be given to clean them up.

At the absolute worse case, we will have 5 years of steady Blu-ray releases at the current pace or at the pace that we will see in 2011 to look forward to , but probably a lot more than that. Its not so much the amount of eventual releases, that concern me, its the pace of release and quality that are the variables.

[Kosty]

I dont know about you, but I learned in school that a couple means two. You couldnt be further from the truth. You seem to be speaking for the studios. I am sorry, but we dont care about how many titles a studio sells. We dont work for the studios. We care about having the titles out and not over a 50 year peroid like you are pretty much saying.

I'm thinking more like a 5-10 year period.

I only care about the studios making money in how it effects what we see as consumers in the resources spent to prepare the releases, to release them and for them to keep on making movies that we want to watch.

[chipvideo]

Look at the first few posts in this thread. Most of the top 500 grossing movies of all time and most of the AFI Top 100 and Top 10 of 10 movies are already out on Blu-ray. Thats plenty of prime rib already on the buffet with more to come in 2011.

So your just comming up with excuses because the studios showed us less support in 2010 than they did in 2009.

[Rob71]

So your just comming up with excuses because the studios showed us less support in 2010 than they did in 2009.

No, he's refuting your hyperbole. Describing the state of BD releases as "shit on a shingle" has no basis in reality.

[chipvideo]

I'm thinking more like a 5-10 year period.

I only care about the studios making money in how it effects what we see as consumers in the resources spent to prepare the releases, to release them and for them to keep on making movies that we want to watch.

I think 20 years is the maximum life for blu-ray. It could be less. So you think 5-10 years? The studios better hurry up then if we want to have those of disc. I dont give a shit about new movies. That is not what I care about. They have no choice but to release new movies on disc, so we know for sure we are gonna get day and dates. Its the catalogs that they have choice to release or not. That is the problem.