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#4161 Re: The Sunset Strip » Trailer for the new Indiana Jones movie revealed » 971 weeks ago
Forgot about that one.
I doubt Indiana Jones is the biggest movie of the summer, although definitely top 5. I don't have a summer release list handy, but I'm going to assume the Batman flick or some kid film will take the top spot.
Indy reaches the wide demographics. I think TDK will be a better movie, but that doesn't seem to mean much when it comes to box office. The first Indy movie adjusts to over $600 million in 2008 dollars. The biggest Batman film, Batman '89, adjusts to around $430 million by comparison. The second Indy flick adjusts to $365 million and the third one adjusts to $337 million. It's a huge franchise, on the level of the likes of Spider-Man, Pirates, or Shrek. In fact, Pirates is kind of a rip-off of the swashbuckling style of Indy. Pirates and National Treasure's success is proof that this style of movie can be hugely successful. Indy is a lock for $300 million domestically. TDK isn't. TDK will be very fortunate to be that big due to the fact that it will have such dark content. I think Indy will make in the range of $310-320 million. Potter, which comes out in November, will also be big -- probably around $295-300 million. Narnia 2 should make over $275 million pretty easily. TDK will likely make around $250-275 million. Those will be the 4 biggest movies of the year unless Wall-E, a Pixar movie about a robot, breaks out and ends up huge. Pixar has been on the decline in their box office power since Finding Nemo.
#4162 Re: The Sunset Strip » Trailer for the new Indiana Jones movie revealed » 971 weeks ago
Looks like a cookie cutter action flick to me. Just a way for them to pass the torch and phase out Ford so they can continue this cash cow for years. I was never really a hardcore fan of this franchise.
Thanks for posting the trailer though. Going by that release date, looks like this film will start the summer blockbuster season.
Nope. Iron Man comes out in early May. Indy will likely be the most successful film of the summer in the U.S. Worldwide, Narnia 2 will give it a hard time.
#4163 Re: The Sunset Strip » Blu-Ray or HD-DVD? » 972 weeks ago
^ That seems like a very good summary of the situation.
I think a lot of what people will prefer depends on what they want from movies. Like i'm a bit of an audiophille and videophille and so what I really like to see is an absolutely top notch video and audio transfer at very high bit rates. So i want PCM 5.1 at a high rate or DTS-HDMA loseless for my sound!! And I don't want too much noise on the video transfer due to lack of space. These things are especially important to me as I use front projection on a big screen so they get quite obvious when theres an issue. But I'll grant not all users can tell the difference or care about the difference.
Then theres the features thing, I'm not so into features. I don't mind a good feature - but not if i have to sacrifice main-title quality to fit it on. And to me - most of the 1.1 and 2.0 profile features are gimicy. If I want to play a game i'll buy a game - i'm buying these movies for the movie. But again i realise thats just my 2 cents.
The region locking however is a major pain in the ass!
I'm not into special features that much either, but the PIP on the 300 HD DVD is fucking awesome. That is the single coolest special feature I've ever seen. I couldn't care less about games or web-enabled crap. But good PIP commentaries are sooooooo much better than boring ass audio commentary tracks.
What I am hoping for is that if and when Toshiba gives up, they will work with the BDA to create the TL Twin discs on Blu-ray. This would be a 3-layer disc, all on one side of the disc. Dual layer Blu-ray, single layer DVD. It would be nice to have a standard def version since most of us don't have Blu-ray or HD DVD drives in our computers and certainly not in our car DVD players, etc. Triple Layer Twin is such an awesome idea in my opinion...and hell, you could stretch it out further more than likely to a quadruple layer Twin so that you can have a dual layer Blu-ray as well as dual layer DVD (particularly for longer films for DVD quality). It makes it much easier on the consumer to not have to worry about which side they are putting into their player. All on the same side of the disc and the player will recognize which layers are readable. It provides ultimate compatibility. And they could phase out DVD by doing this by simply producing the Twin discs. The problem for the BDA right now is they can't legally do this since Toshiba is the head of the DVD Forum. But if and when Toshiba throws in the towel to Blu-ray, I hope they get together and work on this.
#4164 Re: The Sunset Strip » Blu-Ray or HD-DVD? » 972 weeks ago
Good to see BD winning the war, appart from the Region Locking its definately the better format I feel.
There are numerous cons to both formats.
HD DVD cons:
1. "only" 30 gigs of space. Longer films like Lord of the Rings extended editions would present problems.
2. no scratch protection; discs are very fragile compared to Blu-ray.
3. only one hardware maker; players aren't perfect and could be described as "glitchy."
4. lower maximum bit rate (goes back to the space issue).
Blu-ray cons:
1. The stupid "profile" crap where some players will not be able to play certain special features on newer discs.
2. High hardware prices.
3. No combo discs (these are great on HD DVD for ripping to your computer, or hell, even WATCHING it on your computer or any other DVD player for that matter).
4. Region locking and DRM. It has caused some issues with players being able to read the discs properly.
Overall, I would rate them pretty equally at the moment. Blu-ray has more potential because of its space. And it is catching up to HD DVD's special features by finally implementing profiles 1.1 and soon profile 2.0.
#4165 Re: The Garden » "Sweet Child O' Mine" Interrupts S.F.A Press Conference » 972 weeks ago
It's soccer. 
#4166 Re: The Garden » I got a weird problem on my PC » 972 weeks ago
Here's some advice. Get a Mac!
#4167 Re: The Sunset Strip » Your favorite music themes from movies? » 972 weeks ago
The Godfather, Batman, Halloween, Jaws, Pirates of the Caribbean.
#4168 Re: Guns N' Roses » AXL ROSE Negotiating For More Money Before Releasing 'Chinese Democrac » 972 weeks ago
I like what that guy from anti-music had to say on the matter. Universal is concerned about making their money back due to how pathetic sales in the music industry are right now. I say that they should provide a lossless version of it for download through a pre-order on the official GN'R website. Sell it for $10. Don't officially release the album on physical CD, Amazon mp3, iTunes, etc. until you've sold 2 million copies through the pre-order. People are allowed to pre-order as many copies as they wish. There are probably some die-hards out there who would pay $100+ if it meant helping the album get released as soon as possible. In fact, some might even spend as much as $1000 on it. 2 million copies x $10 = $20 million before the actual release of the album.
Even if demand is much smaller than it once was, you could still sell the pre-order for $5 and that's still $10 million before an official release. The pre-order idea is a great way to capitalize on the die-hards' desire to get the album without sending the album to the pressing plant where it will surely leak. The best way to prevent piracy causing a huge dent in the album's sales is to build in a guaranteed revenue from it. A pre-order like this is the best way to accomplish it.
#4169 Re: The Sunset Strip » Rob Zombie in talks to remake Conan » 972 weeks ago
LOL this could turn out to be one of the worst movies ever made.
#4170 Re: The Sunset Strip » HEATH LEDGER DEAD » 972 weeks ago
He did have pneumonia. That might have further added to his confusion along with his lack of sleep.
