            -Established 1997-  Join us on...    |
Looking for stories that used to be listed above? Use the button bar or these links to access the following sections: Reviews (DVD, laserdisc and hardware reviews), FAQ & Archives (old feature stories and interviews, and Jim Taylor's Official DVD FAQ) and Upcoming DVD Art (at look at upcoming cover artwork). Finally, My Two Cents - Archives contains all past daily editorial posts dating back to 12/97. |
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| GIVEAWAYS |
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| DVD & HD FORMAT STATS |
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 TOTAL U.S. DVD PLAYER SALES (last data reported 8/24/07 - CEA): 133,443,356 |
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| Editor's Note: The Consumer Electronics Association has discontinued its reporting of DVD player sales data, and they have not begun reporting on Blu-ray player sales. However, our original CEA DVD Player Sales chart will remain available here for future reference. | |||||||
| TOTAL DVD TITLES (11/26/09 - DVD Release Report): 107,591* |
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| *Net total of R1 DVD-Video discs released/announced. Discontinued & adult not included. |
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| TOP 10 SELLING DISCS (11/15/09 - Nielsen/VideoScan): |
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| TOP 10 RENTAL DISCS (11/22/09 - Home Media Research): |
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| TOTAL BLU-RAY DISC TITLES (11/27/09 - DVD Release Report): 2,015/112* |
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| *Net total of Region A discs released/announced. Discontinued & adult not included. |
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| TOTAL HD-DVD TITLES (FINAL FORMAT TALLY as of 7/4/08 - DVD Release Report): 429/0* |
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| *Net total of R1 discs released/announced. Discontinued & adult not included. |
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| SOFTWARE MARKET SHARE - BD VS DVD (YTD through 11/22/09 - Nielsen/VideoScan): |
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| NUMBER OF AFI TOP 100 FILMS ON DVD - 2007 LIST (11/17/08): 99/1 (1) |
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| Released/Announced or In Development - ( ) Not yet available on DVD. |
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MY TWO CENTS - 12/23/09 - by Digital Bits editor Bill Hunt |
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All right... we've got a couple cool review items for you on this our last post before the Christmas holiday.
First, I've finished a pair of reviews of recent Blu-ray titles, including Indican Pictures' The Wonder of It All and Lionsgate's Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Collection. Both are well worth your time, so do check them out. Also today, our very own Barrie Maxwell has turned in a new holiday Classic Coming Attractions column - his last column of 2009 - featuring reviews of 12 new and recent DVD and Blu-ray releases, including TCM/Universal's Remember the Night, VCI's A Christmas Carol (Blu-ray), Fox's Miracle on 34th Street (Blu-ray), VCI's Summer Storm, Warner's Karloff & Lugosi Horror Classics, Warner Archive's Wichita and The First Texan, E1 Entertainment's The Barbara Stanwyck Show: Volume 1, Criterion's Downhill Racer, A&E and The History Channel's The World at War, and Grapevine Video's California Joe and Canyon City. As always, he also runs down the latest classic release announcements. Enjoy! Finally today, we've kicked off a pair of new Giveaways, offering each of you the chance to take home copies of Fox's (500) Days of Summer and Universal's 9 on DVD. Entries will be accepted until Noon (Pacific) on Sunday, January 3rd. Click on the links to get started and good luck! And that's it for this week. We'll be away over the next few days as we celebrate the holiday, but we'll return bright and early on Monday morning (12/28). So with that, from all of us here at The Digital Bits, we wish you a very Merry Christmas, and hope that you each have a wonderful holiday with your family and friends. Be sure to watch some great movies on Blu-ray once you've finished all that gift-buying and feasting! Peace out and see you Monday! 12/22/09 Afternoon, folks. Hope your pre-Christmas activities are proceeding well. Thanks for indulging us yesterday, as we honored our late friend Paul Prischman. Those of you who own and enjoy copies of Monster House, The Fly II, Blade Runner: The Final Cut, both versions of Spider-Man 2, American Gangster, the Gladiator: Extended Edition, the Blue Thunder: Special Edition, both versions of Kingdom of Heaven and a few other titles on DVD (a few are also on Blu-ray) have something in your own lives made better by Paul's efforts. If you read the tribute Doogan and I wrote for Geek Monthly, you'll know that he was truly one of the great people we've ever met in this business, and he touched a lot of lives out here. He will be sorely missed. For those who might be interested, our tribute to Paul will continue to be available the Paul's Brain Trust website, which we'll host here on The Bits indefinitely. We should also note today the passing of two other people known to many in the entertainment industry. Actress Brittany Murphy passed away on Sunday of causes as yet unknown. There's been some speculation that she had drug additions, but whatever the reason for her death, it's a shame, as she was enormously talented. She was just 32. And a little less well known publicly, but no less missed today, is screenwriter Dan O'Bannon, who died late last week at the age of 63. Some of you may not know his name, but you definitely know his work. O'Bannon wrote the original scripts for Alien, Total Recall and Screamers, and co-wrote the film Dark Star with director John Carpenter, in which he also starred. The debt the geek world owes him is large indeed. Here at The Bits today, our own Russell Hammond has once again updated the Release Dates & Artwork section with all the latest DVD and Blu-ray cover art and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, a small portion of ANYTHING you purchase from Amazon through our links goes to help support our work here at The Bits, and we really appreciate it. Also today, our very own Dr. Adam Jahnke has just returned from a whirlwind adventure across "The Pond" to check in with a last Electric Theatre column for the year. This time around, Adam takes on James Cameron's Avatar and more, so don't miss it. (You'll find my own thoughts on the film below, so read on...) In release news today, Warner has set The Informant! as one of their new Blu-ray+DVD+Digital Copy Combo Pack releases on 2/23 (SRP $35.99). Warner also has New Line's The Final Destination 3D set for release on DVD and Blu-ray on 1/5, with both 2D and 3D versions (and 3D glasses). Sony has set The Damned United for release on DVD and Blu-ray on 2/23, followed by The Bible: Jesus and The Bible: Esther on DVD only on 3/2. Universal has set Couples Retreat for release on DVD and Blu-ray on 2/9, followed by Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant on both formats on 2/23. Paramount has set individual Blu-ray editions of The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration and The Godfather, Part II: The Coppola Restoration for release on 2/2. Not sure if we've mentioned this one before, but Fox has set Wall Street for Blu-ray release on 2/2 as well. The studio has also set I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell for DVD only release on 1/26. Infinity will bow Twilight Vamps and Bikini Frankenstein on DVD on 1/19, followed by Mickey Rooney: The Long & Short of It on DVD on 1/26. Magnolia will release The Burning Plain on DVD and Blu-ray on 1/12. And Disney is planning to release Miramax's Everybody's Fine on DVD in February. Finally today, Weatherman Dave and I managed to take in a 3D IMAX screening of James Cameron's Avatar on Saturday morning. Now the film's story, while well meaning and honestly told, is paper thin and fairly silly. It's equal parts Dances with Wolves and The Lion King. But in the experience of this film - and it IS an experience - story doesn't really matter. What's important is the filmmaking technology on display here, much of it (by no surprise) the work of the effects team at WETA Digital - the same people who dazzled us all with The Lord of the Rings films. Whatever else you think of Avatar, I believe it represents a watershed moment in the cinema. In fact, I think it's going to have a larger ultimate impact on the business than the original Star Wars. This film represents the first time I have EVER seen fully-digital characters that actually seem to have genuine life in them, and a soul behind their eyes. Gollum from the Rings film came close, but here the filmmakers just 110% nailed it - their new motion-(and even facial expression)-capture technology is just extraordinary. And once you can create all-digital characters that seem "real", I think you can do virtually anything. I'm guessing it will be just a few years before we see a major "human" digital character on screen that is virtually indistinguishable from the actual human actors around them. Sooner or later, I'm betting that some well-known current actor or actress will have their likeness and voice digitally transcribed so they can continue to star in films for decades looking virtually unchanged. You may even see deceased actors brought back to life on the big screen, with the permission of their estates. The other achievement here is, of course, the convincing use of the 3D process. This is not a cheesy, "spears poking at your eyes" kind of effect, but the creation of a fully believable and immersive 3D viewing space. The net effect of this is two-fold: It draws you as a viewer more fully into the story, and I think it restores the idea of big-screen, theatre-going as a special and unique experience. This is the thing that people are forgetting: Once all theatres are equipped to present films like this, 3D will not be simply used for roller-coaster action, sci-fi and fantasy films. This process can (and I think ultimately will) be applied to ANYTHING and EVERYTHING, from big action films to small, intimate dialogue dramas. It will ultimately be just like the transition from black and white filmmaking to color. And when that happens, people will have a reason to go back out to the cinema in larger numbers. Because while the industry is working hard to deliver a 3D experience at home with new HDTVs and Blu-ray players, I find it hard to believe that they can truly capture the full sensory experience I enjoyed this weekend while viewing Avatar in 3D IMAX. And the funny thing about it is, I went into this film feeling really very skeptical about it. I mean, I'd seen all the commercials on TV and though, "Really? Twelve-foot tall blue people on dragons? Right." But the 2D commercials - even in HD - just don't begin to capture the experience. And as I left the theatre, I had two distinct thoughts. First, James Cameron may just have saved (or at least breathed much new life into) the film business. And second, (and no offense to Cameron meant) imagine what a truly subtle and more sophisticated filmmaker might do with this technology! I can't wait to find out. In any case, forget its glaring script deficiencies: Avatar in 3D is a ride WELL worth taking. The best critic quote I've heard so far about the film comes from J. R. Jones of the Chicago Reader: "Watching it, I began to understand how people in 1933 must have felt when they saw King Kong." Yes - EXACTLY. As an exercise in storytelling, Avatar is fairly mundane. But I think you'll be surprised, because the film's dazzling technological showcase means you won't care. Thus much at least is absolutely certain: Virtually ANYTHING is now possible on the big screen. We'll be back tomorrow with one last post before the Christmas holiday, featuring a new Classic Coming Attractions column from our own Barrie Maxwell. So stay tuned! 12/21/09
Bill Hunt, Editor The Digital Bits billhunt@thedigitalbits.com |
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