You don’t need to throw away or replace a DVD just because it’s scratched up. With some careful rehab, you can get the disc back into playing shape. [More]
movies
Starz Movies Fall Off Netflix Streaming This Week
By 2.28.12
Your Netflix streaming queue is probably about to get a bit lighter. As we noted back in September, Netflix and Starz did not renew their deal, meaning about 800 movies will be leaving Netflix’s streaming service by the end of the week. [More]
Going To The Movies Is The Most Expensive It's Ever Been
By 2.10.12
All the whizbang 3-D hoopla IMAX excitement at movie theaters is coming at a hefty price, as the National Association of Theatre Owners says the average ticket price was at a record high in 2011. [More]
Best Buy Upgrade & Save Promo: Upgrade, Don't Really Save All That Much
By 1.11.12
It seemed like a pretty solid promotion: bring in one of your old DVDs to Best Buy. Trade it in at the customer service desk. Receive a coupon for any $5 off Blu-Ray with a price of $9.99 and up. Step 4: Savings! Except, according to the employees on the floor while Carl was shopping, the deal changed while he ran out to his car to grab another DVD. [More]
Verizon Wants To Take On Netflix In Entertainment Streaming
By 12.7.11
Dipping its toes into the waters inhabited by Netflix and Amazon, Verizon is planning to launch its own streaming video system. The company’s aggressive plans call for its service to potentially reach 85 million households. [More]
Sony Will Make "Moneyball" Downloadable Before Offering It On Disc
By 12.5.11
As watching movies online — legally — becomes more popular, discs are gradually moving to the wayside. Sony is helping things along in this direction by announcing it will offer Moneyball online Dec. 22, 19 days before it hits shelves on Blu-ray and DVD. Indie films often get this sort of treatment, but it’s rare that you see a major studio film take the increasingly popular distribution plan. [More]
100,000 "Atlas Shrugged" DVDs Recalled
By 11.11.11
100,000 “Atlas Shrugged” DVDs have been recalled for an important danger they posed to unwary consumers: the title sheet suggested that viewers help someone out besides themselves. [More]
Movie Studios Create Special Blu-Ray Slipcovers For Target, This Target Tosses Them In Trash
By 11.3.11
Michael has a cool hobby that I had never heard of until today: collecting new Blu-Ray disc releases, especially limited editions and interesting slipcovers. Studios issue exclusive slipcovers to certain retailers: a great marketing opportunity and plenty of fun for collectors, right? Sure. If the employees at Michael’s local Target hadn’t been ordered to slip off those neat slipcovers and toss ’em before putting new movies in plastic security cases before they go on the shelves. [More]
"Field of Dreams" Will Become Youth Baseball Complex
By 10.31.11
If you were saving up the $5.4 million it was going to take to buy the real Field of Dreams featured in the movie “Field of Dreams,” in hopes of keeping it out of the hands of evil land developers, it’s time to move on. A family from a Chicago suburb has bought the property and plans to open it as a youth baseball and softball complex in 2014. [More]
Netflix Loses 800K Subscribers In Third Quarter
By 10.25.11
While no business likes to lose 800,000 customers in the span of a few months, such a drop could pass for good news in the Netflix halls in these post price-hike days. [More]
Report: Disney Blocks Johnny Depp From Talking To ABC Stations About "The Rum Diary"
By 10.25.11
Things get weird and ugly when journalism collides with the inelegant demands of outlets’ corporate masters. A Houston TV reporter alleges Disney prevented reporters from ABC affiliates from interviewing Johnny Depp at the Austin Film Festival because he was there to promote the upcoming movie The Rum Diary while his film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides has just come out on home video. [More]
UltraViolet Restrictions On Green Lantern Makes Reader Feel Ultraviolent
By 10.17.11
Reader Justin is steaming because he just found out that the promised “digital copy included” isn’t actually a normal file, but a license to watch the flick through the movie industry’s new “UltraViolet” system. [More]
The Electric Car Gets Its Revenge
By 10.14.11
Last night I caught an advance screening of a new documentary, “Revenge of the Electric Car.” It’s by the same director who did “Who Killed The Electric Car?” except this story ends in triumph instead of tragedy. [More]
These Are The Most Pirated Movies
By 10.13.11
Although it’s tough for bean counters to take much joy in their product being massively pirated, there’s little question that popularity with the freeloaders translates to success with paying customers. That’s why it’s not much of a surprise that Avatar, the all-time highest-grossing film, is also the most pirated. [More]
Theater Owners Win Game Of Chicken With Universal
By 10.13.11
Movie theater owners successfully stared down Universal Pictures, which planned to release the Ben Stiller comedy Tower Heist on video on demand three weeks after it debuted in theaters. After a large contingent of theaters vowed not to play the movie if Universal stuck to the plan, the studio backed down. [More]
Some Theaters Refuse To Show Movie That Will Go On Demand 3 Weeks Later
By 10.12.11
Having a more difficult time getting viewers out to theaters, movie studios want to get their films into homes faster. Theaters aren’t happy with plans to subvert the traditional theatrical window, and the conflict is coming to a head with the Ben Stiller comedy Tower Heist, due out in theaters Nov. 4 and slated to go on demand three weeks later. Some theater owners, including mega-chain Cinemark, are protesting the quickie on-demand plan by refusing to show the film unless the studio changes its plans. [More]
Woman Sues "Drive" For Not Having Enough Driving
By 10.11.11
A woman has filed a lawsuit against the movie Drive because she felt the moving didn’t have enough driving in it relative to what was promised in the movie trailer. [More]
Disney To Run 3D Re-Release Idea Into Ground
By 10.6.11
Never afraid to exploit a good idea for all its worth and more, the studio that brought you Bambi II announced it will capitalize on the success of its 3D theatrical re-release of The Lion King by using its cattle prod to jolt four more golden geese back to life. [More]
