Tagged: Warner

Superman The Complete Anthology

It’s interesting to watch how time and again, writers, artists, moviemakers, and studio executives struggle to find ways to adapt the very first comic book super-hero. Superman was something readers (and rival publishers) had never seen before, and he served as the template for the heroic fantasy that followed these last seven decades. When you have powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, you need visionaries to bring the character from the printed page to other media. Robert Maxwell figured out how to do that with the popular radio serial. In fact, Maxwell came up with various characters and concepts that seeped into the comics, a symbiosis that made both stronger.

I was given to considering Superman in his many forms when the eight-disc Superman The Complete Anthology Blu-ray set arrived for review. Warner Home Video has taken all the previous versions and spruced them up a bit, added some new features, and placed them in a handsome box. Despite the uneven content, this is a must-have for fans.

When the Fleischer brothers got a chance to animate the Man of Steel, they set the standard that all other animators have emulated or strived to match. It certainly raised the bar when Superman came to the movie serials, with Kirk Allyn looking the part but the low budget and low-tech kept his feats to the above-average, not super-human. Things got somewhat better with the George Reeve television series of the 1950s, imprinting the archetype on two generations of television watchers and comics readers. Again, Maxwell receives credit for his serious translation to the half hour demands of syndicated television before he left and it got dumbed down in subsequent seasons. (more…)

Warner now lets you upgrade TV DVDs to Blu-Ray editions

  • News
  • August 17, 2010

Warner just sent out word that their successful program to allow fans to upgrade their existing DVD films to Blu-ray editions has now been expanded to include television series. If you’re like me, this is welcome news. Here’s the official release:

Converting your TV collection on DVD to Blu-ray just got easier with the addition of several TV favorites now eligible for upgrade on DVD2Blu.com.

Starting today, through TV on DVD2BLU, consumers can now experience their favorite television series again for the very first time in stunning 1080p picture quality and crisp, superior sound that only comes from a Blu-ray Disc.  Titles such as “Smallville”, “The Sopranos”, “Fringe”, “Supernatural” and more can be upgraded for as low as $14.95 plus shipping.  Consumers who place orders of over $35 will receive free shipping.    

The process to upgrade is simple.  Consumers select the titles they want to upgrade on DVD2BBLU.com, mail in their standard DVDs with pre-paid postage and a short time later receive copies of the same title and complete season on Blu-ray.  See below for a complete list of TV titles available for upgrade with DVD2Blu.com:
 
$19.95

  • Smallville Season 8
  • Supernatural Season 1
  • Supernatural Season 4
  • Chuck Season 2
  • Fringe S1
  • The Sopranos S1

 $14.95

  • Smallville Season 6
  • Smallville Season 7
  • Supernatural Season 3
  • Chuck Season 1
  • Pushing Daisies S1
  • Pushing Daisies S2
  • Terminator SCC S1
  • Terminator SCC S2
  • Nip/Tuck S4

Warner to Release ‘Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics’ in November

  • News
  • August 11, 2010

The long-awaited documentary, Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics, screened at Comic-Con International and was previously announced as being included as a bonus in the forthcoming Batman Beyond complete series boxset. Now we have word that the crown jewel of the company’s 75th anniversary celebration will be available on its own this November.

Here are the official details:

BURBANK, CA (August 11, 2010) – Warner Bros. Pictures presents an enthralling examination of the creative forces behind the World’s Greatest Super Heroes in Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics, an all-new documentary that takes viewers behind the scenes of the iconic company with unprecedented access to the Warner Bros. and DC Comics archives. Narrated by Ryan Reynolds, Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics will be distributed by Warner Home Video on November 9, 2010 on DVD for $24.98 (SRP). Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics will also be available On Demand and for Download.

Behind the amazing tales of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and a host of other well-known characters is the equally impressive story of the challenges, creativity and triumphs of the company that brought those characters to life. Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics is both a celebration of the best writers and artists in comics and a thoughtful exploration of 75 years of DC Comics history.

Produced by the Academy Award ® -nominated team behind Spellbound (Feature Documentary), Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics combines excerpts from comics, films and television series with the insight of some of history’s most influential comic book creators and editors, among them Neal Adams, Karen Berger, Mike Carlin, Dan DiDio, Neil Gaiman, Geoff Johns, Jim Lee, Paul Levitz, Dwayne McDuffie, Grant Morrison, Dennis O’Neil, Paul Pope, Louise Simonson, Mark Waid, Len Wein, and Marv Wolfman.

Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics is written and directed by Mac Carter. Jeffrey Blitz (Spellbound, The Office) served as executive producer. Producer is Gregory Noveck and co-producer is Ivan Cohen.  Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics is produced by Sean Welch and Janet Eckholm.

“From the bans to the breakthroughs, from humble pulp beginnings to the literary rise of the graphic novel, the story of DC Comics holds a mirror to an ever-evolving enterprise and the society reflected in its comic book pages,” said Diane Nelson, President, DC Entertainment. “It’s a true American story – Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics is a riveting, exciting, surprising revelation of that fascinating history and the men and women who forged it.”

Fox Wants to Delay ‘Watchmen’ Release

  • News
  • December 30, 2008

Warner Bros and 20th-Century Fox attorneys met with U.S. District Court Judge Gary Feess on Monday for a conference in the wake of the Christmas Eve ruling saying 20th had rights to The Watchmen after all.

Fox’s lawyer indicated that the studio would seek to delay the schedule March 6 release which has sent fans awaiting the Zack Snyder-directed feature into despair.

Warner’s attorney, Stephen A. Marenberg, made it clear they were ready to go to trial, as scheduled for January 20 and remain defiant of the ruling. "We respectfully but vigorously disagree with the court’s ruling and are exploring all of our appellate options. We continue to believe that Fox’s claims have no merit and that we will ultimately prevail, whether at trial or in the Court of Appeals. We have no plans to move the release date of the film," the studio said according to The Hollywood Reporter. "We continue to believe that Fox’s claims have no merit and that we will ultimately prevail, whether at trial or in the Court of Appeals."

When he steered the argument back to the core issues, Feess said, “I have spent more time than I think you can imagine working on your case at a time when I didn’t expect to be working on it.” As a result, he was looking for remedies not rehashing.

"We are gratified by the recognition of our rights in the Judge’s order, which speaks for itself," Fox said in a statement.

Fox’s contention has been that their agreement with producer Lawrence Gordon required him to offer them first dibs on the feature each time it was reconfigured.  They claim the Zack Snyder version, which was ultimately filmed, was never offered to them. Gordon, who has not been named in the lawsuit, did not testify during the hearings to date and Feess said Monday that his silence hurt Warners’ case. “The court takes a dim view of this conduct,” Feess wrote as a footnote to his December 24 ruling, according to The New York Times. “The court will not, during the remainder of this case, receive any evidence from Gordon that attempts to contradict any aspect of this court’s ruling on the copyright issues under discussion.”

Warner has said when they signed with Gordon, he never mentioned his obligation to Fox and if anyone owes the studio money, it should be the producer not Warner Bros.

Judge’s Ruling Favors 20th Over Warner on ‘Watchmen’

  • News
  • December 26, 2008

Judge Gary Allen Feess handed Warner Bros. a legal lump of coal on Christmas Eve, as he issued a brief ruling indicating 20th-Century Fox has the distribution rights to Watchmen, according to Variety.

His five-page ruling said, “Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the ‘Watchmen’ motion picture.”

Frees, over the fall, urged Warner Bros. and 20th to iron out their differences.  He repeated the suggestion in the document, saying, “The parties may wish to turn their efforts from preparing for trial to negotiating a resolution of this dispute or positioning the case for review.” Warner is set to release the film on March 6, 2009.

Fox acquired the rights from DC Comics in the 1980s with producer Lawrence Gordon’s production company.  When 20th lost interest, Gordon moved the project to Universal and Paramount Pictures before landing it with Warner, parent company to DC.

Fox contends that Gordon never obtained all rights from them and they have a controlling interest in the highly-anticipated feature based on the Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons comic.

Given the holidays, Freees promised a lengthier explanation prior to the January 20 trial date.  Warner Bros. had no comment on Wednesday.

‘Watchmen’ Lawsuit Explained for You

  • News
  • September 4, 2008

In a story that has had more twists and turns than the graphic novel it’s based on, the legal battle over the movie rights to Watchmen is in the final stretch.  Gary Allen Feess, a federal judge, set a trial date of January 6th for the copyright suit between 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers.  The date is two months before the film’s scheduled release.

The comics readers, wary of anyone attempting to adapt Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ seminal graphic novel, was set ablaze once they saw the trailer in front of The Dark Knight.  Unfortunately shortly after the trailer was released the fate of the film was almost immediately put in doubt when a federal judge’s ruling allowed Fox to seek to block the release.  Fox claims that the film infringes on their rights stemming from their attempt to adapt the acclaimed graphic novel in the early ’90s.

They key to this story legally is the concept of "turnaround".  When a studio abandons a property they put it into turnaround, basically saying that another studio can take the property and develop it but they have to compensate the original studio for development costs plus interest. 
(more…)

Tarzan Returns to the Big Screen

  • News
  • September 3, 2008

Tarzan is returning to the Big Screen but not as an animated musical sequel from Disney but a played-for-straight adventure from Warner Bros, and director Stephen Sommers (The Mummy). Variety reports this morning that Sommers and Stuart Beattie will be co-writing the screenplay. The duo last worked together on 2009’s G.I. Joe film for Paramount, which recently completed lensing.

Producer Jerry Weintraub has been trying to mount a new live-action version of Tarzan since 2003, working from a screenplay by John August (Shazam!) and at one point Guillermo del Toro was in talks to direct the film.

Ever since Edgar Rice Burroughs first wrote about his man raised by the apes in 1912, it has been repeatedly interpreted for serials, movies, radio, television and comic books. Burroughs penned some 23 books featuring his character in addition to creating other fantastic realms and characters including John carter, Warlord of Mars and Pellucidar.  While Johnny Weismuller’s performance informed the image in the minds of a generation or two of moviegoers, today more people probably know him from the 1999 Disney animated feature.

This will be Warner’s second go-round with the Lord of the Jungle after 1984’s underrated Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes from Hugh Hudson.  The film introduced us to actor Christopher Lambert later known for Highlander.  Warner’s television network, the CW, had a disastrous version of Tarzan in 2003.
 

DC and Warner Talk Movies

Warner Bros. is apparently looking to emulate the success Marvel has had making its own movies, such as Iron Man and Incredible Hulk.

Variety is reporting some Warner honchos held meetings with people at DC Comics to try to develop a better pipeline from page to screen.

Warners has never had such a strategy, and there have long been complaints the studio has been slow to exploit a potential treasure trove of franchises. And while the studio is basking in critical love for “The Dark Knight,” it has watched studio rivals rake in big bucks from Marvel Comics characters, and Marvel itself get into the tentpole business.

While it’s assumed there will be another Batman pic, there’s been no formal announcement. And Warners has no movies based on the classic DC universe to preview at this year’s Comic-Con.

Few details are coming out, aside from this official statement: "We’re constantly looking at how best to exploit the DC Comics characters and properties." Exploit?

Now, if only someone from Warners would talk to DC about straightening out their comic book line.

‘Tales of the Black Freighter’ Sails onto DVD

One of the big looming questions with the Zack Snyder adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s Watchmen was how they would handle the Black Freighter side story.

Now we have an answer: It’s going straight to DVD, says The New York Times (via Cinematical). For those unfamiliar, the story of the Black Freighter is contained within a comic book that’s being read by a character in Watchmen. It features a man who had been captured by undead pirates and escapes, only to meet an even worse fate.

Instead of filming the Black Freighter story and splicing it into the Watchmen film (as Moore does in the graphic novel), Snyder decided to break it out into a separate film. The Times, which doesn’t usually cover such Hollywood business, uses the news as an example of efforts to drive up DVD sales, which have been stagnant:

The second film, tentatively called “Tales of the Black Freighter,” follows a side “Watchmen” storyline about a shipwreck and will arrive in stores five days after the main movie rolls out in theaters. The DVD will also include a documentary-style film called “Under the Hood” that will delve into the characters’ backstories.

Warner, the No. 1 distributor of DVDs, bills the effort as a way to renew retail excitement for little silver discs now that the once-booming market has matured.

After years of blistering growth, domestic DVD sales fell 3.2 percent last year to $15.9 billion, according to Adams Media Research, the first annual drop in the medium’s history. While it is still a blockbuster business, any decline is cause for concern because DVD sales can account for as much as 70 percent of revenue for a new film. Results for the first quarter this year were mixed, with overall sales flat but notable softness for some new releases like Warner’s box office hit “I Am Legend.”

Thundercats Scratch the Big Time

thundercatspicture1a-2833801Variety reports that Warner Bros. Studio has optioned a script by Paul Sopocy to turn the Thundercats cartoon into a CGI-animated feature.

Sayeth the article, "Warner-based Paula Weinstein will produce through her Spring Creek Prods. banner, along with Dick Robertson and Lew Korman. Property revolves around a group of humanoid cats (with feline names like Lion-O, Tygra, Panthro and Cheetara) who must flee their planet of Thundera after it’s destroyed. Once crash-landing on another planet, Third Earth, they must thwart Mumm-Ra, an evil sorcerer, bent on killing them off."

Give me strength.  Seriously, what’s next, Jem and the Holograms?  I’m much more psyched about Warner acquiring the screen rights to Terry Brooks’ Shannara series…

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