Indications of Incoming Indicator Entertainments

[TechnicolorAcid]

Gabriel Over the White House

[Black Hat]

La Cava, in my view, is the most underappreciated director of the studio system.

I've loved everything I've seen from him, but that's only his four 'top' features on LB (Stage D, 5th Ave G, My Man G, G over the WH). What else would you recommend?

On top of the ones already mentioned I'll add Primrose Path, The Affairs of Cellini and The Age of Consent. For whatever reason almost all of the films brought up TCM shows fairly often so keep an eye out.

[therewillbeblus]

Thanks, Black Hat!

[Finch]

The latest newsletter clue is for Island of Doomed Men (1940) with Peter Lorre, another Columbia Pictures/Sony title confirmed.

[eerik]

Cereal At Midnight interview with Sam Dunn

In the US, the ratio for titles that got 4K discs is 9 UHD to 1 BD. UK is closer to the previously reported 8 to 1.

[rapta]

Cereal At Midnight interview with Sam Dunn

In the US, the ratio for titles that got 4K discs is 9 UHD to 1 BD. UK is closer to the previously reported 8 to 1.

I think he was saying the US sales are 90% UHD to 10% BD when both options are offered (i.e. Rollin, Ozploitation etc). So in short, he's questioning whether they bother with Blu-ray at all!

That said, he says UK is 80% UHD to 20% BD, which is still surprising, but shows they should maybe adjust the ratios. At the moment they tend to do 60% UHD to 40% BD, so maybe they should steer it to 70% UHD to 30% BD (or even 75% UHD to 25% BD). I personally am buying the BD as a) I don't have a 4K setup (just the player), and b) the BD is cheaper, but if I ever do get a 4K projector/display then I'll just double-dip on the standard edition 4K disc of the films I want to see in full 4K. So in the meantime, I appreciate they still offer Blu-ray LE as well as 4K UHD LE.

Of course, they could've done what Second Sight do and make their limited edition releases Dual Format (4K + Blu-ray) by default, and avoided any controversy. But I suppose then you might still have people moan about buying discs they don't need (I was that person when BFI started to do it, and Arrow too occasionally, but later bought the titles in sales/offers anyway).

[MichaelB]

The BFI went dual-format BD/UHD once (for Full Circle), and I gather they got tons of complaints, so they haven't done it since.

The problem is, you don't "avoid any controversy" by doing that, because right now there's pretty much no viable way that a boutique label can avoid charging less than £24.99 RRP just for a UHD-only release, given current manufacturing costs (Sam touched on this in the interview). So if you're effectively forcing people to pay that amount - or possibly more, given the need to add a BD as well (and while they're cheaper to manufacture than UHD discs, they aren't free!) - when they have no interest in upgrading...

...well, there's your controversy!

Second Sight do ultra-lavish limited editions of well-known cult titles at prices a fair bit higher, which is presumably how they can afford to cover their manufacturing costs. But would, say, Two Orphan Vampires or Black Magic Rites have been viable at a £29.99 RRP or more?

(For the record, I'm not speaking on behalf of Indicator here; this is my own interpretation of the situation.)

[rapta]

Yes Michael, you're right, those titles you mention perhaps wouldn't have been as viable at £29.99 RRP as most collectors would be far more selective at that kind of price-point. £24.99 seems more reasonable at the moment for people collecting 4K (and £19.99 at the more reasonable end of things, speaking as someone who's perfectly happy with regular HD most of the time).

I suppose with BFI releasing Full Circle as dual format (UHD + BD) they decided to pool it into one release as it was quite a niche title compared to the other 4K titles they've done before and since (their only Flipside 4K title to date), but like you say the RRP was quite high for that and might have actually put some people off buying it. I certainly didn't grab it 'til it was quite a bit cheaper, but conversely I was actually willing to shell out for their now-cancelled Watership Down 4K when told it would have been dual format or nothing.

Therefore, I suppose it depends on the appeal of each title. Some of the more popular Rollin titles would have probably done good numbers as dual format (e.g. Fascination, The Night of the Hunted), but I understand most Indicator collectors want consistency across the range - not some titles as dual format but others on separate formats.

I wonder what Arrow's reasoning was for making Carlito's Way dual format, but not the case for other major Universal titles they've released since (Blackhat, Tremors 2) or just before (The Lighthouse, The Last House on the Left, Boyhood) which got individual 4K and Blu-ray releases. Similarly, Criterion have recently announced Raging Bull 4K here, but unusually haven't concurrently announced a regular Blu-ray edition as they usually have been doing since launching 4K titles in the UK. I suppose some of these might be contractually enforced, but perhaps they could also be testing out certain titles in terms of how well they might sell compared to doing individual format options.

[MichaelB]

Since loads of people complained to the BFI about their dual-format BD/UHD release, it’s a racing certainty that other labels have received similar complaints - and it’s a perfectly valid point. There were similar mutterings about dual-format BD/DVD releases fifteen years ago, but the price differential was usually only a couple of quid, and the total RRP was rarely over £20, which appears to be the commonly-accepted threshold between “reasonable” and “expensive”.

[tenia]

French perspective here : it's all a question of ratio, but I've seen people complaining about not being able to future-proof Carlotta's releases because they're doing separate UHD and BD releases, and I've seen other people complaining about Potemkine doing DF UHD/BD releases because they feel they're getting forced-sold discs they're not actively pursuing.

No surprise other labels will get flak no matter what they do (I'd prefer DF as I'm not - at least not at the moment - 4k able).

[MichaelB]

Absolutely - it's swings and roundabouts, and there's no right answer short of the label making every option available, but at a fair bit of additional expense to themselves.

But, to me, the argument "why should I pay a fair bit more money for a disc that I'm never going to use?" is ultimately more persuasive.

Things might change if the cost of manufacturing UHD discs substantially falls, of course.

[tenia]

Forgot to add : part of the problem (though it's not the case for most indie labels who almost entirely ditched DVD) is now having 3 formats coexisting.

This being written, I'm amazed at the UHD-to-BD ratio stated by Sam.

[Aunt Peg]

Personally I really like dual discs, primarily because if one disc dies years later I'll still have an additional one even if it is a Blu Ray or DVD.

[Finch]

Since Sony are releasing the new restoration of Man's Castle on a barebones Blu-Ray on May 21, I'm hoping that the recent deal with Indicator includes this film.

[hearthesilence]

I posted this in the dedicated Borzage thread, but Rita Belda gave an excellent presentation on the restoration which was accompanied by demonstration clips (in DCP format no less) and a pretty detailed slide show that showed all the paperwork they gathered dealing with censorship issues, including correspondence with multiple parties. That alone would make a hefty supplement. Also Dave Kehr has always championed this film - he was at the presentation and a big reason why it's running at MoMA - and given how much he's written about Borzage, he could be an ideal choice for an interview supplement.