The Buzz at VSDA 2000

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The Buzz at VSDA 2000

This year's Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) show was even more lackluster than last year, if such a thing is possible. It was surprising to see which studios were visible at the show (and which weren't). Paramount, MGM, 20th Century Fox, Universal and DreamWorks all opted to have private meeting rooms instead of a booth on the show floor. And while some studios did have booths (like New Line, Warner and Buena Vista), these seemed to serve more as places to hold signing opportunities than anything else. There were often few or no department staffers available to answer questions. I don't know how many people said, "Gee, I don't know..." to me when I asked about upcoming DVD titles - I lost count after a while. Attendance even seemed down from last year. In fact, the adult video industry's hall (which was next to the main VSDA hall) was nearly as big as the main hall, and it was often more crowded with people. That should tell you something. As one might expect, the sightseeing in the adult hall was also far more interesting... but that's a report for another website.
	The most surprising thing about this year's show to me, was just how few announcements were made. DreamWorks obviously announced their American Beauty the day before the show started, and that was it. After three days of walking around the show floor, we didn't learn much about upcoming DVDs that we didn't already know. There was not an official peep on DreamWorks' Gladiator (although we did learn that it will be a 2-disc Signature series special edition and that it will likely street in November). There was very little talk of holiday 2000 releases.
And Buena Vista said almost nothing about their upcoming Toy Story/Toy Story 2-disc Collector's Set and their Ultimate Toy Box 3-disc Collector's Set. But we did get artwork at least. If you click on each of the two pictures below, you'll get to see the complete sell sheet for each set, including disc specs (be patient - each image file is a good 190k in size). I was just happy to learn that both Toy Story and Toy Story 2 will be presented in anamorphic widescreen on DVD, and that they will both feature the same fully-digital transfers that Tarzan and A Bug's Life did. Very cool. Toy Story 2 will also be available separately as a Gold Collection DVD, but Toy Story will only be available in these two sets for the foreseeable future.

In other BVHE news, the studio was promoting Mission to Mars, High Fidelity, Shanghai Noon, The Tigger Movie and their Scream boxed set at the show, but they weren't exactly forthcoming about details. Sadly, they still seem clueless about Princess Mononoke, so we'll be shocked if the DVD includes the original Japanese audio like everyone wants. All in all, Buena Vista wasn't exactly blowing people out of the water at VSDA. Fortunately, things quickly got better. We did have a great meeting with the DVD folks from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. They have a terrific slate of titles in the works for 3rd and 4th Qtr 2000 and next year. Unfortunately, much of what we learned was off the record. But here's what we can tell you. The studio is very excited about their upcoming 2-disc Titus: Special Edition, which was produced by David Prior - the same producer who developed the terrific Fight Club. The second disc of the set looks at the craft of making a film, with a featurette, a Q&A with director Julie Taymor and more. The set will also feature a commentary track with Anthony Hopkins, as well as the director and composer - look for it on August 15th. Also in August are The Sound of Music: 5-star Collection 2-disc set (8/29), a Rogers and Hammerstein 6-disc DVD boxed set (8/29), the Planet of the Apes: Evolution (8/15) with all 5 Apes films and a 6th disc of extras (the first will also be available separately at some point) and Here on Earth (8/8). September will finally see the release of the studio's Edward Scissorhands DVD (which features new Tim Burton commentary and lots of conceptual art) on 9/5. That same day will see a series of 2-disc double feature titles: The Fly/The Fly II, The Fly/Return of the Fly and Fantastic Voyage/Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. All will be in anamorphic widescreen. The Omen Collection will also street on 9/5 (with four films, the first three of which will be available separately as well). On October 31st, you can finally expect the release of Anna and the King. Also coming in October are Where the Heart Is (date TBD), The Rocky Horror Picture Show 2-disc Special Edition, The Brothers McMullen and She's the One (all 10/3). And following on 10/31 are a trio of holiday films, including Olive: The Other Reindeer, Miracle on 34th Street and Doctor Doolittle.

For later in 2000, the studio is also prepping killer DVD special editions of Titan A.E., X-Men and Me, Myself & Irene. Look for each to include some really cool bonus material. And Fox is very excited about the transfer on Titan A.E., so it should look really amazing. You'll also be happy to learn that the studio is jumping heavy into DTS support. They have some six titles coming in 2000 that feature DTS soundtracks, among them Last of the Mohicans, Courage Under Fire and Speed. And yes, the titles that were released previously in non-anamorphic will now be 16x9. The studio also expects to revisit the Die Hard Trilogy early next year with new anamorphic transfers and DTS sound. We can't get into specifics as far as upcoming 5-Star titles, but rest assured that Fox is prepping a great slate of their classic catalog films for 2001. We get a LOT of e-mails here at the Bits about the Alien Legacy documentary disc, which some people were able to get as part of a special mail-away offer when they purchased the Alien Legacy boxed set. But many people didn't get the disc, even after sending away for it within the proper time. And others would just like to buy it for a small price. When I mentioned this to Fox, they told me that they will consider making it available online at some point (for a small fee), possibly for charity. Stay tuned on that. On the TV front, Fox will continue releasing new seasons of The X-Files on DVD at about six month intervals. The studio will debut Buffy the Vampire Slayer in January and The Simpsons in February. They're also looking at the possibility of releasing Chris Carter's Millennium and Harsh Realm on DVD, as well as both new and old Outer Limits series and the classic TV show M.A.S.H.. Best of all, I've been assured that any time they release a series to DVD, they'll do it a complete season at a time - none of this 2-episodes-a-disc-every-few-months like Paramount's Star Trek. And that includes Buffy and Simpsons. Finally, there's still no word on Star Wars. The studio expects to re-release the original trilogy on VHS in the coming months, but any release to DVD is pending Lucas' availability, which makes a release before the end of 2001 unlikely. There are production-side rumors of a possible January or early 2001 release of Episode I to DVD, but that is completely unconfirmed. We'll have to wait and see. The studio did make it clear that the decision to debut Star Wars on DVD is completely up to Lucasfilm - they'd love to get it on disc as soon as possible.

Universal had some things to say about their upcoming DVD plans. I was frankly surprised that they weren't crowing more about their recent Jurassic Park announcement or their new Classic Monsters titles - go figure. They did reveal that they plan to release Orson Wells' noir classic Touch of Evil as a DVD collector's series on October 31st. The disc will include the newly-restored version of the film, the 57-minute never-before-released documentary Reconstructing Evil: The Making of Touch of Evil, and (exclusive to the DVD) a copy of the 58-page memo to Universal that Wells wrote outlining the changes he wanted made to the film (which was the basis of this restoration). In other Universal DVD news, the studio is releasing the straight to video Casper's Haunted Christmas on 10/31, as well as a collector's edition of Somewhere in Time in honor of the film's 20th anniversary. The disc will include a new documentary, commentary with the director and more. U-571 is expected to be the big holiday DVD release from the studio in December. Pitch Black is coming sometime between September and November and Ridley Scott's Legend will finally street in November. We'll have more on that title soon. It was very cool to learn that all of the studio's Alfred Hitchcock films are currently in development for DVD as well. We already know about the studio's Spielberg plans, with E.T. and Schindler's List coming in 2001. Look also for the Back to the Future Trilogy early next year. And you can look forward to day and date DVD releases of all the studio's current theatrical slate in the 4th quarter and early 2001. On the DreamWorks front, look for Chicken Run, The Road to El Dorado and Gladiator all to street before the end of 2000. As we mentioned earlier, Gladiator should street in November, as a 2-disc Signature Series release.
Warner Bros. is continuing to get busy with their DVD work, and the title everyone wants to know about is Superman. We have it on good authority that the disc will street during the 4th quarter, and that the new transfer of the restored film is terrific. There's still no word as to whether Superman II-IV will arrive in 2000, although there will be a boxed set of the films at some point. Naturally, the studio is very excited about Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday, which will street on September 1st (yes... a rare Friday street date). The disc will feature 6 minutes of restored footage, as well as a director's commentary and more. Look for the Oliver Stone Boxed Set to also arrive in September, with LOTS of cool extra features. You can expect North by Northwest on August 29th and Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker on October 24th. The studio is also planning upcoming releases of Battlefield Earth (October), Ready to Rumble (9/19), The Perfect Storm and Annie Get Your Gun. And good news - the complete Loony Toons library of animated shorts is definitely being prepped for DVD release sometime in the forseeable future.

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