Today @ VSDA: Wednesday, July 8th

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Today @ VSDA!

Wednesday, July 8th (Page 2)

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The Paramount booth at VSDA - yes, it's a massive, walk-through Titanic!

Meanwhile, back at the Convention Center, there's lots of activity. As you can see, Paramount is here in full force, promoting their upcoming VHS release of Titanic on September 1st.

Now, I know what you're all asking: when will Paramount release Titanic on DVD? Well, I can tell you that, at the DVD Video Group meeting, I overheard a reporter asking Paramount president Eric Doctorow that very question. To which he replied, "We haven't decided anything yet, we just really have our hands full with the VHS version right now." I can tell you, that after speaking briefly with their director of marketing, Dorrit Ragosine, I do not expect any mention of a Titanic DVD to be made at VSDA. However, Dorrit did indicate that they will finally be announcing their initial DVD line-up very soon, likely within the next month or two. So hopefully, we shouldn't have too much longer to wait. I also know that they are very much hard at work on a strong line-up of DVD titles, and (as indicated in their initial press release) when they do start releasing DVD product, their commitment to the format will be serious.

I'm also told that once Titanic does hit DVD (and eventually DVD, laserdisc and Divx) fans will be completely blown away. The film has been digitally mastered, under THX guidelines and the strict scrutiny of director James Cameron, for both widescreen and pan & scan. All of the original audio stems, including both sound and music elements, have been obtained and remixed for the home theater experience. The result (from early reports) will be a tremendous sensory treat for the eyes and ears.

Incidently, for those who may be interested, the booth you see in these pictures has been purchased by Wal-Mart for a special promotion once the VHS hits store shelves later this year. Here at the show, you can walk inside, where a special 'green-screen' stage has been setup, that allows visitors to be photographed and inserted on the bow of the ship (taken from the classic "I'm flying!" scene of the film).

The back of the Paramount booth.

Also making quite a splash here at VSDA, is 20th Century Fox home video, which is already promoting the X-Files movie release to VHS (just in time for the holidays, according to their press packet). As you can see from the picture below, the back side of their booth is another 'green-screen' stage, which in this case, lets you be inserted sitting at the desk of Fox Mulder himself in his basement FBI office. FYI - I'm definitely doing this one, so expect a scan of the pix later this week...! ;-)

The Fox booth at VSDA, with X-Files picture opportunity.

I do have some bad news for DVD fans however. I have now heard, that barring a surprise announcement on Friday, there will be no Fox DVD announcement here at VSDA. As you may know, I had been told by very good sources that Fox would announce upcoming DVD releases (of at least catalog product) starting in September. But the buzz among those in the know here at the show is that the announcement got derailed at the last moment. My feeling is that we should wait and see what happens on Friday. I have heard that Fox would like to be releasing DVD in the same general time-frame as Paramount, which would seem to indicate September - October. Again, it seems merely a matter of when, not if. They may very well wait till a few weeks after VSDA to spill the beans. In any case, Fox's continued absence from the DVD bandwagon, and their coyness with regard to information about the format, is a bit of an embarrassment to the industry. Well... as I said, let's see what happens on Friday. But note to Fox: if there is no announcement on Friday, you can likely expect your phones to heat up on Monday...

Buena Vista, on the other hand, is finally becoming more active in the DVD arena. Martin Blythe (director of public relations for Buena Vista Home Video) tells me that although there will be no DVD releases from them in September, DVD fans should definitely not take this as a lessening of their commitment to the format. Apparently, issues with digital mastering resulted in several titles being pushed back, so the studio decided to skip the month, and concentrate instead on October. Finally, we will see the first animated film (albeit a direct to video title) on DVD: Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas. Other titles to be released in October, include: The Santa Clause, Kundun and Deep Rising.

Buena Vista pushes retailer support at their VSDA booth.

I asked Martin about the possibility of the classic animated titles from Disney appearing on DVD, especially in light of the recent foreign distribution agreement with Warner Bros, which specifically mentions Dumbo and Alice in Wonderland as future DVD releases in Europe. He said that Buena Vista is still concerned about digital copyright, but that consumers should be patient "and encouraged" with regards to this issue. My guess is that Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is being used to test the idea of animated DVD releases here in the U.S.. I also mentioned to Martin, that one of the most often requested features I hear from Bits readers, is 16x9 enhancement of Buena Vista discs. He did specifically mention that there are active discussions going on as to the possibility of adding additional features to Buena Vista DVDs, "of which 16x9 enhancement is one." He also said that there is talk of souping up their Miramax DVD releases, which are definitely ripe for special edition-type treatment.

Finally, to wrap up the Wednesday report from VSDA, I'll like to show you a few pictures of some of the celebrities that were here at the show today, to help retailers promote upcoming video product. This kind of 'meet & greet' situation, is a very effective way to sell product, and gives convention visitors a chance to shake hands with their favorite stars, and get a quick photo and autograph. So enjoy, and stay tuned for the Thursday and Friday updates, as well as the VSDA 1998 Photo Gallery, which will be up here at the Bits this weekend!

Tim Curry promotes Adams Family Reunion
at the Warner Home Video Booth.

Robert Duvall signs autographs for
Universal Home Video's The Apostle.

Paul Shaffer of Late Night fame, promotes
Blues Brothers 2000 for Universal.

Artist Todd McFarlane promotes the release of Spawn
for HBO, based on his comic of the same name.

Thursday, July 9th