I wonder if Regal’s ‘pre-packaged bankruptcy reorganization’ will involve working out the tiff that they have with New…
Continue ReadingI wonder if Regal’s ‘pre-packaged bankruptcy reorganization’ will involve working out the tiff that they have with New Line? We shall see…
NEW YORK (Variety) – Ailing Regal Cinemas, the nation’s largest movie exhibitor, has pulled out of the New York market into which it had entered with much fanare a year ago. [More]
Thanks to Storm for the tip!
The cool folks from The Dwarven Forge have sent along some pics and info on some way cool minis they’re making, check them out! [More]
We need your voices! In September, Warner Home Video will release a horribly chopped up, full frame, pan-and-scan DVD of the 1978 animated version of The Lord of the Rings. NO! this cannot happen. Your signatures on our petition will teach Warner Bros. that the only acceptable format is anamorphic WIDESCREEN, for this and all future film versions of LOTR (are you listening P.J.?). Click for full details and sign our petition! [More]
Greetings – Quickbeam here.
Call to arms!
Attention all fans of The Lord of the Rings and fans of the DVD format. I have confirmation from Bill Hunt at The Digital Bits [http://www.thedigitalbits.com] that the original 1978 animated LOTR will be on DVD for the first time ever, yes, but it will NOT be released in the original widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Instead, it will be cramped into an old pan-and-scan version without a new film transfer!
For those who don’t know about movie aspect ratios, this means more than 25% of the full onscreen image cannot be seen because of the cropped frame. If the DVD were in anamorphic widescreen, then the viewer would be able to see the entire image as the artists originally intended. Anything else is unacceptable. If Warner Bros. gets away with this, the video presentation on this DVD will look like mud and much of the image will be missing.
For a great illustration of how dramatically this will affect your experience of a film, CLICK HERE for a special page showing the difference between widescreen and pan-and-scan. Thanks to Bill for this material.
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/aspectratios/widescreenorama2.html
Come on Warner Bros! We are not going to buy sub-standard crappy DVDs.
This movie has long been out-of-print on VHS. We have waited over 23 years for a nice, clean, new digital presentation of this film. And NOW with a new DVD, a medium capable of so much, the studio is taking the cheap way out and not giving the consumer the original version of the film. Even though this Ralph Bakshi film has its flaws, it is still an important watermark in the history of animation and was the first ever adaptation of Tolkien’s work to the silver screen.
This is an important issue. Because the studio thinks “it’s just fantasy” they will dump the film under their “Family Films” label and not produce the DVD properly.
And what about the upcoming new live-action films? Will they suffer this too? Since AOL/Warner Bros. owns New Line Cinema does that also mean Peter Jackson’s films will get the same careless treatment on DVD? It is time for Tolkien fans to speak up!
At the very least Warner Bros. can present the DVD with standard full frame on one side of the disc and anamorphic widescreen on the other side (as they have with most of their films like Beetlejuice and Unforgiven). Just give the consumer a choice!
Click here to sign your name to our online petition, and tell Warner Bros. you will not spend your money on a DVD that is poorly produced. Tell them that you will CANCEL YOUR PRE-ORDERS for this title. There are many many thousands of us – after all we are the core Tolkien fan community online. Speak with your money and don’t buy this disc!
Remember, the DVD release of “Princess Mononoke” was held back for several months because of a highly successful campaign by fans. They wanted Buena Vista Home Video to include the original Japanese language track, and they won in the end!
I will take the entire petition, with all of its signatures printed out, and present it to the Vice-president of Warner Bros. Home Video in Burbank. I will sit down in person with him and state exactly what the consumers expect for this older version of LOTR and the new versions yet to come.
Thanks for all your help, folks!
Much too hasty,
Quickbeam
SMH.com in Australia has an interesting article on the way kids view the marketing and hype surrounding their favourite books. Although the article focusses mainly on the Harry Potter phenomenon, it does wonder whether LOTR hype will have the same effect. Abby, who sent us the link adds, “I for one, have no intention of buying LOTR merchandise, it’s just not my thing (maybe a poster, if it was really beautifully done, but that’s all). What do your other readers think? Are we happy to let LOTR live in our minds and on screen, or do we want it in our bedrooms and living rooms and cutlery draws (!) as well?” [More]
While surfing Amazon.com today, Ringer fan Steve noticed something pretty cool:
Just browsing over at Amazon, where I always check out were our fav writer sits on the top sellers list. Surprise, surprise: JRRT has the no 6, 11, 15, 16 and 25 top seller spots.
Check out the entire list.[Top Selling Literature & Fiction]
