Redbox Teams With Verizon For Subscription Streaming and DVD Rental Service
by Russ Fischer on Feb.06, 2012, under Stuff We Like
Redbox, the DVD rental kiosk company owned by Coinstar, has been steadily encroaching on the market share of Netflix and storefront DVD rental shops for the past few years. The company’s biggest promise, the details of which have so far remained a mystery, is the eventual launch of a streaming service that will compete directly with similar offerings from Netflix, Amazon, iTunes and other companies.
Today Rebox announced that it has partnered with Verizon to make this streaming service a reality. The venture, which is currently unnamed, will charge customers a monthly subscription fee for which they’ll be able to take DVDs from Redbox kiosks, and access streaming catalogue film titles, with that aspect of the business powered by Verizon’s existing digital infrastructure.
Back in December, TechCrunch reported the likely collaboration between Verizon and Redbox, which was going by the internal name Project Zoetrope. Reported details at the time were that the service might use a credit system, similar to the internal currencies used on Xbox Live; you’d buy a certain number of credits per month, which could then be applied to DVD kiosk rentals or streaming video. Those details are unconfirmed at this time.
Today’s press release suggests that this is more Verizon’s venture than Redbox’s, with the latter owning only 35% of the project, and Verizon 65%. Indeed, the streaming aspect will entirely be handled by Verizon, with the company working to secure digital content rights from studios. Given the often-contentious relationship Redbox has had with studios — going to far as to sidestep limitations on DVD rentals by purchasing discs without going throuh studios — one has to wonder how easy this will be to implement. Studios like revenue streams, but will they be quick to license content to a venture in which Redbox is participating?
The small details of this service — including pricing — are yet to be revealed, but the companies are calling this an “over the top” digital service, which suggests they have plans to eventually compete with pay cable and satellite services. There might also be live broadcast content eventually included in the subscription. That all seems pretty grandiose at the moment, but we know almost nothing of what this service will eventually offer.
Deadline theorizes that this announcement, which seems very incomplete, was pushed by the meeting that Coinstar CEO Paul Davis will have later today to discuss the company’s fourth-quarter earnings with analysts, and that details aren’t anywhere close to being ready for release.
‘Battleship’ Super Bowl Ad Unveils Humanoid Aliens
by Terri Schwartz on Feb.06, 2012, under Stuff We Like
The team behind "Battleship" certainly saved the best for the Super Bowl.
The upcoming alien invasion flick's Super Bowl TV spot unveiled one of the components of the movie that has me most intrigued: the aliens. While they have been teased in previous trailers, this spot really put the extraterrestrials in the forefront, and I was a bit surprised by how they ended up looking.
The aliens themselves look like something out of "Halo" with their armored suits and advanced weaponry. Though that form of the "Battleship" baddies was teased in the last trailer for the film, this time around we also get to see them without their armor. It looks like these extraterrestrials are humanoid in form, albeit with larger-than-average, three-fingered hands and cat-like eyes. Still, they don't seem to be as alien as we could have imagined.
I must admit, I was a bit surprised the aliens ended up being put at the forefront. The first trailer for the project made them seem like they would be kept a mystery, but there is nothing mysterious about this new TV spot. It could be that we're supposed to be curious about why the aliens have invaded Earth, but based on their offensive behavior I'd just assumed it's because they could.
Either way, it seems safe to assume that no one quite dreamed up this outcome when they were playing "Battleship" as a kid. Except for those spinning, animal-like spiked aliens with the tails. Those are freaking awesome.
What do you think of the "Battleship" aliens? Tell us in the comments section below or on Twitter!
McG Considered Releasing ‘This Means War’ With Alternate Endings
by Russ Fischer on Feb.06, 2012, under Stuff We Like
It takes a gutsy filmmaker — and, perhaps more to the point, a gutsy studio — to emulate the strange release of the 1985 film Clue. When originally released, Clue went out with three different endings, and audiences didn’t know which one they were going to see. (There’s also a reported fourth ending, but that’s a topic for another post.) The endings were collected for the home video release, and most people have seen the edit of Clue where each possible ending is played in succession.
McG has just finished This Means War, the film in which Tom Hardy and Chris Pine play best friends and fellow CIA operatives who discover they’re both dating the same woman, played by Reese Witherspoon. It’s a big, weird romcom, essentially, and as such might not be the most serious movie around. And so at one stage of development, the idea of doing Clue-style multiple endings was thrown around. No real spoilers follow, but if you don’t want to know anything at all about how this movie might end, beware what lies below the jump.
Movieline reports that at a press day for This Means War, McG said,
We wanted to have flexibility and even talked about two endings and releasing it on 3,000 screens — 1,500 have this [ending] and 1,500 have that one, and just not saying anything… But it felt a little gimmicky in the end.
One ending would have had Witherspoon’s character choosing Hardy, the other Pine. McG also joked about a third ending, “where the two boys end up in each other’s arms.” But the concept behind this movie was evidently too important to be trifled with by releasing multiple endings. Too bad. (Personally, I’m hoping that Reese also turns out to be some sort of intelligence agent who is playing the guys against one another, and ends up killing them both in the end.)
Perhaps the best quote of the day references McG’s last big film, however, rather than This Means War, when Tom Hardy insisted that he should have shot the man on man ending:
I know, I know…I pussed out on the ending of Terminator 4… so I should’ve gone for the dark ending of this one.
This Means War opens next Tuesday, February 14.
Harrison Ford Up For ‘Blade Runner’ Sequel?
by Jeremy Gordon on Feb.06, 2012, under Stuff We Like
Film geek scoop of the day: Harrison Ford is apparently in early talks to appear in Ridley Scott's new "Blade Runner" movie.
One imagines he would be back as the iconic Rick Deckard, though, of course, that's mere speculation at this point. A "Blade Runner" sequel is at least two years away from coming to fruition, and nothing has been set in stone, including Ford's possible casting.
But if he is involved in Scott's new take on the "Blade Runner" universe, then there's a lot of ways it could play out.
First off: Is Deckard a replicant, or is he not? Purveyors of all 27 director's and producer's cuts will be aware of the long running discussion, sparked by Scott and Ford's "is he or isn't he" flip-flopping through decades of interviews, commentaries, and sly asides. If Ford shows up as an older, grey-haired Deckard, that would seem to suggest no; after all, replicants can't age and have a limited life span, as established in the original "Blade Runner."
Or not. What if replicants can in fact age, despite earlier testimony? That would raise a whole new batch of questions related to "Blade Runner"'s ongoing soul-searching regarding the nature of humanity. With the next stage of humanity so refined, what would that mean for the previous model?
It wouldn't have to get that heavy, either -- we could just be introduced to a by-the-numbers conspiracy involving members of Congress who turn out to be replicants, or something. A ripoff of the Cylon plot from "Battlestar Galactica," because it worked so well before. But knowing Scott and Ford and the "Blade Runner" pedigree, that would be unlikely.
In the other direction, Deckard could just be a typically aged human being, fat on his days of being a detective and fighting the good fight against those stinking robots. He'd show up to offer our new protagonist a word of advice, or maybe a bad one. The Guardian mentions that Ford would play a "replicant nemesis," so it might not be all hunky dory in the Runner-verse. A villainous Deckard might be better than no Deckard at all, if Scott is intent on building upon his arguably greatest film.
Again, talks are still early and the whole project could fall apart well before a planned 2014 release date. But let's hope not -- if early returns on "Prometheus" are indication, Scott still has a lot of gas left in the tank, and Ford is as good as his director.
Tell us what you think in the comments section and on Twitter!
VOTD: ‘Raiding The Lost Ark,’ a Magnificent Feature-Length ‘Raiders’ Documentary
by Russ Fischer on Feb.06, 2012, under Stuff We Like
Jamie Benning has made three excellent ‘making of’ documentaries — or ‘filmumentaries,’ as he calls them, about the original Star Wars trilogy. His efforts collate interviews and rare behind the scenes footage and photos in what are essentially the most detailed commentary tracks a fan could hope for.
Benning followed his Star Wars docs with Raiding the Lost Ark, which tracks the creation of the first Indiana Jones film, Raiders of the Lost Ark. We’ve showcased the beginning of this ‘filmumentary’ in the past, but the full-length version is now available online. It’s a must-see for any Raiders or Steven Spielberg fan. No matter how much a viewer knows about the making of Raiders, I’d be very surprised if there was nothing here that is new, as Benning has incorporated everything from classic interviews to the minutia of little-seen production reports.
On the film’s Vimeo page, Benning says,
After 8 months of reading, chatting, trawling, editing and agonising, it’s finally here! You can contact me on Twitter @JamieSWB and at Filmumentaries.com. There is also a Raiding the Lost Ark Facebook group.
In a blog post at Empire, Benning talks about how he started creating these feature-length making-of films, and explains how some exclusive info ended up in his possession for this Raiders film:
So, back in May, after what had been a truly great few months for my Filmumentaries, I bit the bullet and thought I would tackle my next favourite film, namely Raiders of Lost Ark. It was clear before any big effort, that there wasn’t going to be enough source material to work with to make something as detailed as Star Wars Begins. There wasn’t anything like the wealth of deleted scenes and interviews for Indy’s first adventure. It just hadn’t been put under as much scrutiny as Star Wars. “Crystal Skull!” I hear you shout. Yeah, well Red Letter Media has that sewn up! Being a certified nostalgist, I am all about celebrating these wonderfully visceral, tangible films from my childhood.
In order to bridge the gaps I decided I would have to generate some of the content myself in the form of interviews with as many members of the cast and crew as I could find. I ended up speaking to Colonel Dietrich himself, Wolf Kahler, for three hours over tea in a leafy London suburb. I then spoke to Mark Mangini, part of the Oscar winning sound editing team via the web, and to the legendary Darth Vader sculptor Brian Muir, who also worked on the Ark and the Egyptian panels in Raiders. My search for original material was boosted by a kind individual who recorded an interview with his friend, actress Sean Young, who talked about her audition for the part of Marion Ravenwood. Now that has to be an exclusive for Raiding the Lost Ark!
