Twilight Time thread - Page 10

I think AGAIG is a very good film and worth the price if it had a great transfer. I have it on DVHS from years ago and it has pretty bothersome EE. I will be SHOCKED if the BD isn't from the same master.

Tom

I wouldn't. I doubt it'll be from the camera negative but Sony seems to give many films new masters.

No.

Interview with one of the owners

Why would AGAIG go to TT instead of retail? Easy, Sony gets a nice upfront cash payment with no effort other than providing an HD master. They make the same - or more - with this arrangement since it would be tough to move even 5-10,000 units of AGAIG at retail.

Nobody forces you to buy a Twilight release, so why should you care?

If you want a Twilight Time-distributed movie you don't have much of a choice do you

There might be other distributors overseas. Bottom line: if you do not feel that it is worth the price, then don't buy it.

I don't. I'm perfectly entitled to voice my opinion on the matter regardless.

I'm not taking absolutely everything that Mr. Redman says says as 100% truthful. I cling to the notion that Twilight Time might be the recipient of some sweatheart deals?

As Good As It Gets was a very popular movie and I reject the idea that it needs limited distribution. The seller may need or desire limited distribution.

"Sweatheart deals"???

I just skimmed that interview, but what I took away is "Columbia ain't ready to release, so we're doin' it". Then they can afford to replicate only 3000 discs, thus constituting a Limited Edition and their right to charge whatever they want. It's the American Way.

I think BDs are dirt cheap, so should you (as a LD collector). I just hope the bloody thing looks a lot better than JTTCOTE.

Apparently, you haven't read this thread .

The officially sanctioned opinion is that of the Twilight Time apologists and you have to toe their party line. If your opinion is not their opinion, then you are not entitled to voice it.

All of the rest of us are just whiners beating a dead horse.

It's actually quite simple. Sony feels that they will make more money for less effort by licensing AGAIG to Twilight Time for release under the limited distribution model. Considering how much it costs to get a catalog title into retail stores, Sony is most likely correct for that title.

As a company, which would you rather do: make $30,000 in one lump sum immediately by simply sending a hard drive and letting someone else shoulder all the costs and risks, or make $50,000 over a two period and incur the danger of returns, accounts payable costs, royalty calculations, artwork & advertising approvals, and loss of perceived value of the title when the Blu-ray gets dumped into the bargain bins to burn off the 40,000 copies that didn't sell at retail?

I'm not aware of a single Blu-ray disc distributor that allows you to source their titles on Blu-ray from another distributor if you're dissatisfied with their prices. Perhaps you can enlighten us on all the "choice" you get with other companies.

True... sort of... Not jumping in to bash here... but one difference with Twilight Time is that there is only one distributor (SAE) from whom you can buy their Blu-ray releases... whereas Sony, for example, sells directly to the public or you can buy via Amazon or various retail outlets or digital downloads from iTunes.

Which makes me think... Twilight Time might be able to help themselves if they also worked a deal to include digital copies with their movies. I admit I am sometimes willing to pay a little more for a digital copy... and Twilight Time could set themselves apart by including an HD digital copy unlike the mass-market releases that only come with SD digital copies.

Their deal does not include anything but the right to make 3000 Blu-rays. This model is predicated on a specific number. That number is 3000. There are no digital copy rights, streaming rights or anything else.

My response was to this post: "Nobody forces you to buy a Twilight release, so why should you care?"
If I didn't have to deal with TT's lame business model to get these movies on blu-ray, then I wouldn't care. But since I do, I have good reason to care.

Umm... I know what their deal is. My point was, they could try and negotiate rights to also deliver digital copies for those 3000 releases. Right now their magnets are the only major "bonus" they are giving out and not everybody gets one of those... but if they could negotiate for digital copy rights that would be a nice feather in the cap.

Durn you, now everybody will be ordering for the magnets...

If only Sony had magnents all their problems would be over. It's the same for Fox. How can the big boyz not have a magnet design department? They desire high, supported prices and they never heard of magnets, yeah!

Perhaps... but that digital copy you make yourself will not be a legal one. We already had one thread shut down over this, so please let's not go down this path on this thread to talk about illegal copying (and yes, ripping a Blu-ray results in an illegal copy for reasons we have already beaten to death in another recently closed thread).

How many of you bought Fright Night from a distributor overseas? Oh, right, none.

Right- it seems that overseas distributors haven't happened to have yet made a deal for a particular anecdotal title. Therefor, unlike with any other domestic distributor, it is apparently impossible for such a deal to be made and this is why Twilight Time is terrible where all others are not. Astute logic, of course.

Ummm... if you know what their deal is then what they could try or not try is kind of not relevant? The one thing studios have not and will not license is digital rights of any kind when it's a limited edition model especially, but, as far as I know, any kind of licensing deal.

I wouldn't jump on any conclusions about overseas distributors, let's face it - Twilight Time have been releasing BDs only for a very short time.

The (apparent) unavailability of overseas distributors' editions of Twilight Time titles is a silly argument to pitch against Twilight Time. It's something Twilight Time has zero control over- the same as with every other distributor.

If anything, the Twilight Time releases of these titles (which might otherwise not see release at all) could increase general awareness of the films and prompt interest in other territories where overseas distributors may decide to pick them up.

I have no interest to pitch against them. I am very happy with my The Big Heat. But I am used to be cautious with my purchases - many times I've got burnt with cheaper overseas BDs not to mention some HD DVD titles in the past. It is not silly as a collector of films to think of these things.

Why are you extrapolating all possible future deals from a few known past deals?

Do you know for a fact that Sony has refused to license limited digital copy runs? Do you know for a fact that Twilight Time or anyone else has even tried?

No, I suspect you don't.

Prior to Twilight Time licensing these 3000 copy limited runs, nobody had done that... so would you have posted that Sony wouldn't do that last year? I mean, since it had never happened, it never would using that logic?

Why does everything have to be an argument?

I made a simple statement that it would be cool if Twilight Time could (note the word "could") license digital copies for their 3000 copy limited runs as a bonus that would set them apart.

Neither you nor I know if Twilight Time thought of this or even tried... so for you to say "it can't happen" just because it hasn't happened makes no sense.

If you can post where Twilight Time has said that they tried to negotiate digital copy rights and were denied, then do so... otherwise it is all conjecture and does nothing to refute the idea that this would be a nice thing for them to be able to do.

I suspect they didn't think of it and have not tried.

Sony, for example, isn't selling digital copies of the movies they have licensed to Twilight Time... so maybe they would have been willing to negotiate for those rights as well.

My guess?

Digital copies would be the last thing to happen in this sort of arrangement only because of the logistics involved, mainly the DRM and licensing to the customer. Plus, somebody like Apple is going to want a cut since it's unlikely TT would have the resources (or bandwidth) to authorize and distribute digital copies on their own. They would need a partner to handle that and that comes out of their pockets.

What would get me to pay the extra freight is...well...extras. If the titles included things like making of featurettes, the original trailers, interviews with cast and crew (at least for those still alive) photos and a little book about the movie, I'd consider the price well worth it.

It's not so much that I really need all that stuff - it's just that I want it if I'm paying SE prices.

The way it is now, it's like paying $16 for a CD album, but instead of a full disc of songs, they just give you the one or two really good ones since they figure that's all you'd listen to anyway.

The price here simply doesn't offer value for me.

I have recently made my first purchase of a Twilight Time disc. As was mentioned above, my problem with these guys is not their product, or even their business model per se, but their distribution model. Having only a single distributor creates a monopoly which translates to no competition for pricing, and in the case of Screen Archives, whatever level of customer service they are capable or willing to provide.

Specifically, Screen Archives charges full list for the disc, and full price for the shipping. Their standard shipping is only first class US Mail, and they don't ship for two days after the order. My order was placed on the afternoon of the 21st, was processed on the 22nd, not shipped until the 24th. The shipping was obviously not until late on the 24th as the postal tracking shows received on the 25th. So, for an order placed on a Monday, the package was still in the state of origin on Friday. If Amazon had worked like this when they were getting started, they would not be in business today. It would certainly be in Twilight Times's customer's best interest is Screen Archives were not in business today and a more competent company were handling these orders. Or better yet, several vendors were handling these orders.

It is apparent that there are always complaints about Twilight Time. This previous one referred to Amazon. Well, if you have Amazon Prime you can usually get the item in a couple of days, assuming that it qualifies. If the item is through one of the many Amazon vendors, then it could show up in two weeks, but usually less. If you order through Amazon UK, the fastest that it ever showed up was in a week, but the typical time seems closer to two week plus. The end user, us, should simply be thankful that we can actually get the limited edition BR's out of Twilight Time. If TT's shipping or policies are not to your liking, then don't order.

Are you assuming for some strange reason that Sony would not put Fright Night on UV/Netflicks/Blockbuster/whatever? Not that I have any personal interest in such services or digital copies.