V For Vendetta DVD rumor

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

From The Rumor Mill (http://www.thedigitalbits.com/rumormill.html#051206):

Our industry sources have checked in to report that Warner is currently planning to release V for Vendetta on DVD on 8/1 in two versions - single-disc (SRP $28.98) and a 2-disc special edition (SRP $34.99). The single disc version will include the movie, along with the Freedom! Forever!: Making V for Vendetta featurette. The 2-disc set will include that, plus the Designing the Near Future, Remember Remember: Guy Fawkes and The Gunpowder Plot and England Prevails: V for Vendetta and the New Wave in Comics featurettes, along with a Cat Power montage. We expect that there will be an HD-DVD version as well, likely released day and date.

-Augie

[Sean Walsh]

SRP for the single disc is $28.98?

Even though I know retail prices will be lower.......good grief.

[Sleeper]

Those prelim prices seem exorbitantly high.

[SpecialAgentPunk]

Cat power montage? I love her music and all...but why does she get a montage?

[estee]

What...no director's cut with 50 minutes of added footage? What a rip-off. ;)

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

Sean, Sleeper -- They'll be cheaper at the stores you purchase them at, or at Amazon. You kids these days -- when I first started buying DVDs in 1998, those were the normal prices. I think my copy of SCREAM was a single disc for $35.

Estee -- Wait for 2007, I'm sure. ;-)

SAP - Because they could get the music rights cheaply, and it adds a bullet point to the back of the packaging. I'm kidding, but it wouldn't surprise me all the same.

-Augie

[Sabrina_Fried]

Is it me or do alot of forthcoming DVDs have insanley high SRPs? The new versions of the Star Wars Special Editions with the Original Trilogy as special features will be going for US $30 a movie! (That's $44 Canadian apparently, despite the current strength of the Canadian Dollar)

Oh sure, I am certain there will be sales, and stores will compete with the prices, but I don't even pay this much for anime!

Sabrina

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

To be fair to Lucas, the Special Edition DVD are two-disc sets with two different movies. One is the latest whizbang special edition. The other is the preferred version mastered so pitifully as to try to get the fans to hate them so Lucas can feel like he's been right all along. It's not cheap to change that many minds so quickly. ;-)

I hope you've been reading TheDigitalBits.com (http://www.TheDigitalBits.com) lately; Bill Hunt's commentary on LucasArts' outrageous method of releasing these DVDs is spot-on.

-Augie

[LtMarvel]

I get junk email from WB:

V for Vendetta

Critics' Quotes:
"The best action-thriller of the year!"
John Ferguson / ABC-TV

"Spectacular and exhilarating."
Michael Wolff / VANITY FAIR

Synopsis:
Set against the futuristic landscape of totalitarian Britain, V For Vendetta tells the story of a mild-mannered young woman named Evey (Natalie Portman) who is rescued from a life-and-death situation by a masked man (Hugo Weaving) known only as "V." Incomparably charismatic and ferociously skilled in the art of combat and deception, V ignites a revolution when he urges his fellow citizens to rise up against tyranny and oppression. As Evey uncovers the truth about V's mysterious background, she also discovers the truth about herself - and emerges as his unlikely ally in the culmination of his plan to bring freedom and justice back to a society fraught with cruelty and corruption.

Bonus Features:
Disc 1-
Freedom! Freedom! Making V for Vendetta
Disc 2 (Special Edition Only)- Designing the near future
Remember Remember: Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot
England prevails: V for Vendetta and the New Wave in comics
Cat Power Montage

My email came with pre-order prices:

Special Edition
$22.95

Widescreen
$19.95

[torippu]

To be fair to Lucas, the Special Edition DVD are two-disc sets with two different movies. One is the latest whizbang special edition. The other is the preferred version mastered so pitifully as to try to get the fans to hate them so Lucas can feel like he's been right all along. It's not cheap to change that many minds so quickly. ;-)

I hope you've been reading TheDigitalBits.com (http://www.TheDigitalBits.com) lately; Bill Hunt's commentary on LucasArts' outrageous method of releasing these DVDs is spot-on.

-Augie
I love the most recent comments from The Digital Bits:

First up today, Video Business has just posted a story on the Star Wars DVD issue. There are some quotes and comments in there that are probably going to piss a lot of you off. According to the piece: "[Lucasfilm] felt there was little need to invest resources into sprucing up films that have already been restored to pristine form." Says Lucasfilm spokesperson John Singh: "The late '90s theatrical versions represent George's vision for Star Wars. We hoped that by releasing the original movies as a bonus disc, it would be a way to give the fans something that is fun. We certainly didn't want to be become a source of frustration for fans." Hoooo-boy. Well... so much for that idea. You know what they say: If wishes were horses, we'd all be covered in hoofprints and dung.

The story further indicates that Lucasfilm will be contacting its fans directly (probably via their Star Wars.com website and newsletter) to explain the situation. In other words, their corporate spin machine is about to start telling you why they're doing you such a big favor, and why you shouldn't care that the original versions of these films are being handled so shoddily. ('Cause... you know... it's not like they REALLY exist anymore anyway, right?) And oh, by the way, would you all please quit yer bitching and just fork over another $90 already? Because, you see, George urgently needs to build the Skywalker Ranch - East out in The Hamptons or the Lucasfilm Empire will collapse. And just for you Jedi loyalists, every paying Hyperspace member that owns at least 10 different copies of these films on VHS, Betamax, SelectaVision, Laserdisc, VideoCD, DVD (and eventually HD-DVD, Blu-ray Disc and LucasDigital 3D-matic Download)... gets the EXCLUSIVE opportunity to purchase them all again, this time dipped in 12-karat gold (along with a special bonus disc featuring video of George Lucas telling you why making these movies was all just a big waste of his time and nobody should ever have liked them in the first place)!

Happy happy joy joy! Happy happy joy!

We overstate, of course... but only a little. You know... as much money as Lucasfilm rakes in from Star Wars, you think they could treat their fans (and their films) with just a little more respect.

Hhmmmm. You know, this all reminds us of a line from this little art film we liked back in the day...

"Buy more. Buy more now. Buy more and be happy." - THX-1138

The more I read about this release, I more I realize that I am not going to get suckered into buying another version of these films.

Trip (who regrets selling his VHS copies of the original movies) when the widescreen VHS tapes were released back in the day.)