REDBOX VOWS TO ACQUIRE WARNER BROS DVDS ‘THROUGH ALTERNATIVE MEANS’
I love capitalism, and now you get another look into why Hollywood loves Castro and hates liberty:
Looks like Redbox has told Warner Bros to take a hike with its effort to double the waiting period for new rental DVDs to 56 days. When the contract to acquire discs directly from Warner Bros expires today Redbox will “work to provide Warner Brothers’ movies through alternative means[.]” …
(Earlier this morning Walmart agreed to continue housing Redbox kiosks to early 2015.) But Warner Bros also is taking a gamble: There’s nothing to stop Redbox from flooding the market with used Warner Bros DVDs a few weeks after they’re released, when rental demand for the titles lets up. Still, Warner Bros wants to increase the delay before providing discs to low-cost rental companies because it believes that will help to boost sales.
Warners next step is to convince retailers to only sell a limited number of titles to each customer, that way it’s more difficult for Redbox to acquire the number of titles necessary to fill their kiosks. But there are two incredibly stupid points made in this articlee worth pointing out:
Redbox is taking a big risk by choosing to buy Warner Bros discs from outside sources: That could be more costly. What’s more, the company may not be able to buy enough copies of hit films to satisfy its customers[.]
What? A ‘big risk?” As opposed to satisfying NO customers at all by not having any of these titles? But the article’s closer is the real howler:
Susquehanna Financial Group’s Vasily Karasyov says today that “declining DVD sales have no impact on major studios’ profitability” because discs are expensive to produce and market.
Oh, so DVD sales have no effect whatsoever on studio “profitability.”
THEN WHY ARE STUDIOS GOING TO WAR WITH THEIR CUSTOMERS TO INCREASE DVD SALES?
THE 100 BEST MOVIES STREAMING ON NETFLIX RIGHT NOW
This myth that Netflix Streaming is “lacking” in content, really is a myth created mostly by people who want the latest and awfulest. You not only have access to the films listed here, you also have access to an overwhelming and neverending catalog of great television, include a number of British shows that await discovery.
Everyone understands the power of streaming and it scares them more than a little bit, especially those who don’t want to see the power a very few hold over our popular culture slip away. About six left-leaning multi-nationals control almost all of the entertainment content created today, and they do it through the intentional bottle-necking of distribution. Streaming is the first step to democratizing distribution, and that freaks many on the left out.
In other news: Entire ‘Arrested Development’ cast signs on for Netflix revival.
CAN JERRY SEINFELD’S SUPER BOWL AD TRUMP FERRIS BUELLER?
Except for the Jay Leno “pop in,” this is epic and blows the Bueller redux out of the water. The Thanksgiving moment is classic Seinfeld.
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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING
The Enforcer (1976) — The Dirty Harry franchise is, at least to me, a trilogy. “Sudden Impact” and “The Dead Pool” are very entertaining films, but they don’t feel like they belong with the three that came before. Part of the reason is that the last two are very much 80’s action films while the first three fit snugly into the previous decade — which had its own sensibility. Also, Clint is noticeably middle aged in the last two entries, not the lean, young, fierce man we see Callahan as. “Sudden Impact” really feels like an outlier because — if memory serves — most of the action is set outside of San Francisco. Also, even though “The Dead Pool” is set in Frisco, it’s still Hollywood-centric, which feels out of place.
Again, I enjoy the latter two films, but the first three really are Dirty Harry films. The two that followed are Clint Eastwood movies, not that there’s anything wrong with that.
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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINKTACULAR
CATCHING UP WITH MARY TYLER MOORE
MATTHEW VAUGHN RETURNING TO DIRECT ‘X-MEN: FIRST CLASS’ SEQUEL
RYAN REYNOLDS GIVES DENZEL A BLACK EYE
KEVIN SMITH DISCUSSES ‘HIT SOMEBODY’ AND HOW THE OSCARS ARE LIKE HIGH SCHOOL
SHOULD APPLE USE ITS $100 BILLION IN CASH TO BUY HOLLYWOOD?…
WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE GANG FROM ‘CHUCK?‘
WISDOM FROM DIRECTOR BRAD BIRD (‘THE INCREDIBLES,’ ‘RATATOUILLE’)
JOSHUA JACKSON HINTS HOW ‘FRINGE’ CAN CONTINUE EVEN IF FOX CANCELS IT
40 FILMS THAT SHOULD’VE BEEN AWESOME BUT WEREN’T
A LOOK BACK AT THE ARMY AIR FORCES FIRST MOTION PICTURE UNIT
R.I.P. VETERAN TV DIRECTOR JOHN RICH; CREDITS INCLUDE ‘GUNSMOKE’ AND ‘GILLIGAN’S ISLAND‘
THE MOST EGREGIOUS 2012 OSCAR SNUBS
RED-BAND TRAILER FOR BOBCAT GOLDTHWAIT’S ‘GOD BLESS AMERICA’ (NSFW)
GEORGE LUCAS: ONE (MEGA) HIT WONDER?
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COMING SOON TO HOME VIDEO
HUGO: Critically-Acclaimed, Enchanting Film Debuts on Blu-ray 3D™, Blu-ray™ and DVD February 28.
HUGO will be available in a three-disc Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, as well as a two-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, each of which boast nearly an hour of behind-the-scenes special features including an illuminating making-of featurette, a retrospective on the extraordinary genius of filmmaker Georges Méliès, a look at the mechanical man at the heart of HUGO, plus interviews with the cast and crew and more. The film will also be available as a single-disc DVD. All Blu-ray and DVD releases available for purchase will be enabled with UltraViolet, a new way to collect, access and enjoy movies. With UltraViolet, consumers can add movies to their digital collection in the cloud, and then stream or download them – reliably and securely – to a variety of devices.
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CLASSIC PICK FOR WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1
2:15 PM EST: Reap the Wild Wnd (1942) — Two sailors vie for the affections of a southern temptress while fighting off pirates. Dir: Cecil B. Demille. Cast: John Wayne, Ray Milland, Paulette Goddard, Raymond Massey. C-124mins.
Not one of John Wayne’s better known titles, but still very entertaining with a rare opportunity to feast your eyes on the ravishing Paulette Godard in Technicolor.
Epic filmmaking courtesy of Mr. DeMille, a tense finale, and some complicated relationships. Good stuff. Well worth a look.
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Please send comments, suggestions and tips to jnolte@breitbart.com or Twitter @NolteNC.
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