4K Synergy Offers Refreshing Change

During a Digital Hollywood panel on which I participated, about the future prospects of OTT, the moderator asked each us how this year’s Consumer Electronics Show was different from past years’ events.

I was up first, but my prognosis easily rattled off my tongue: If you look at this year’s spotlight attraction, 4K Ultra-HD, there’s more cohesion and unity, and a greater focus on the whole consumer experience, than there’s been in years.

And that explains why studio executives are so optimistic about the future of home entertainment, despite DEG numbers that show disc sales fell 11% in 2014 and the continued dominance of subscription streaming in the electronic distribution sector of the business.

Everything seems to be coming together for 4K, and one reason is that consumer electronics companies are working not just on one aspect of the new technology but on the whole enchilada. It’s not just about a better picture, it’s about partnerships with content providers — a concerted outreach to make 4K available on all devices, from the most elaborate home-theater TVs to tablets and smartphones — and an all-out effort to make the 4K viewing experience quick and easy, despite the much-bigger size of the files and greater bandwidth requirements.

Everyone’s working together on home entertainment’s “Next Big Thing” — and I honestly feel we’ve learned a lot from past mistakes, from the bruising format war that dirtied the launch of high-definition discs to the disaster that was 3D. The year, not so long ago, when 3D was the show floor rage, all I remember is a plethora of incompatible formats — including those horrid Toshiba TVs with frames that reminded me of dog scratch collars — and mass confusion about eyewear. And then there was that nasty little problem about consumers maybe not wanting to watch everything in 3D, which no one seemed to have taken into account.

With 4K, it’s full speed ahead — and the alluring consumer promise to finally be able to replicate the movie-theater experience in their own home appears to be resonating. I was up in Arcata a week ago, renting an apartment for my oldest son, Justin, who attends Humboldt State University, and ran into a retired ranch hand who now works behind the counter at the Days Inn (yes, I’m living the life).

We got to talking, and when he found out I was in the entertainment business he just had to tell me how excited he was to get a 4K TV. “My friend has one, and it’s like a whole new world,” he said. “It’s a completely different viewing experience — much more so than Blu-ray over DVD.”
That’s not Mike Dunn or one of our other industry thought leaders talking. That’s Rich the ranch hand, your everyday, average Joe.

This year’s CES, much more so than past shows, was truly an invigorating, enriching experience. I left the show Thursday morning with the feeling that our business is back on track, and that we’ve not only developed a great new product that consumers genuinely will want, but we’re also bringing it to market in the right way.

It’s all about the consumer experience, you see. And if we keep that notion at the top of our minds and let everything we do be guided by it, I honestly believe we are destined to succeed.

Forever Changes

It’s been quite a year, but one without any really big, transformational changes.

Netflix and streaming are still the way most people “rent” movies. Blu-ray Disc and DVD remain home entertainment’s cash cow. Electronic sellthrough, despite its fancy new “Digital HD” name, remains a small part of the overall business. And UltraViolet, in the minds of most people, still refers to those rays from the sun you want to avoid.

What’s in store for 2015? To echo those immortal words from the Beach Boys, God only knows.

The No. 1 goal among the content providers — the studios — is the same as it’s always been: to maximize profits from movies after they finish their run on the big screen. Streaming, much like its predecessor, physical movie rental, doesn’t really accomplish that, particularly under the subscription model — which is why Netflix, the king of the streamers, has so many old and little-known movies the studios don’t really care about.

The studios, of course, would like nothing more than to give up the hassles of manufacturing and distributing physical product — and, of course, dealing with returns — but the fact remains that selling discs to consumers continues to generate the most money, by far. EST promises incredible margins, but if we take off the rose-colored glasses I think we will realize that EST sales will never approach the magnitude of Blu-ray Disc, much less DVD. When DVD first came out consumers bought and collected movies and TV shows because they had never been able to do so before, at least not in an affordable, easy-to-store way; by the time Blu-ray Disc came around we collectively realized we don’t necessarily need to own every movie ever made, no matter how good the quality or how small the package. And buying a download just doesn’t have the same appeal as buying a physical product, particularly among the impulse shopper.

Which leaves us with streaming, of the subscription kind pioneered, and dominated, by Netflix. The studios, in their quest to sell movies to consumers, would like very much to put the streaming genie back into the proverbial bottle, but we all know that’s not going to happen.
This is not to say, however, that subscription streaming, and Netflix, will remain the dominant way consumers consume entertainment indefinitely. Just as MySpace was done in by Facebook, someone, somewhere, is going to eventually come up with an even more convenient way to bring entertainment into the home — and whether that someone is the studios or a savvy third-party player like Netflix is anyone’s guess.

If Amazon does, in fact, introduced a free video service, supported by advertising, as the New York Post reported last month, Netflix could be in store for serious challenge — or not. One reason home video took off in the first place is that we wanted to enjoy our favorite movies and TV shows without those incessant commercials. We didn’t mind paying for commercial-free programming then, and I don’t see that changing.

The only really big change I see in the not-too-distant future is the emergence of 4K Ultra-HD, which at last promises to bring a true theatrical movie-watching experience to the home. But, again, we don’t know how fast or how slow it will happen — or whether it will be a boom, like DVD, or a bust, like 3D (although I personally believe we may be on to something big, really big).

Changes, forever changes. That’s just how this business rolls.

Controversy a Roadblock to Release

The damaging cyber attack against Sony Pictures, which most speculate North Korean hackers launched as punishment for production of the film The Interview, may have put the comedy in the can permanently. Originally scheduled for theatrical release Christmas day, The Interview, about reporters attempting to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, may never officially see the light of day, even on home video. Sony pulled the theatrical launch after threats to movie theaters, and the home video release is up in the air.

While the situation is unprecedented, it will not be the first big studio title to never get an official release in the U.S. home entertainment market. Home entertainment fans have long clamored to see Disney’s Song of the South, based on the Uncle Remus stories and featuring the Academy Award-winning song “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah,” but it has never been released officially on home video in its entirety in the United States. The 1946 musical’s subject matter, which has not aged well in these enlightened times and which many find racist, has kept that film off cassette and disc (at least officially). Certain other countries and pirates have released the title, but U.S. fans may only see it in snippets on other home entertainment releases, such as the Brer Rabbit animated segments, which are the basis for Disneyland’s Splash Mountain attraction.

Other content with touchy subject matter, racist or otherwise, from the early days of film and cartoons is also stuck in the vault and has not been released on home video.

While The Interview is quite different from Song of the South, controversy haunts both. A terrible controversy such as the one facing Sony seems to be a very damaging wound that could kill a film’s video release. Studios are backers of the First Amendment — to a point. Studios are corporations, with responsibilities to stockholders, business partners and their own employees, whose private emails and other information have leaked for everyone to see. The legal heat may prove too searing for a studio that could be blamed for basically any attack associated with the film, cyber or otherwise.

Still, that doesn’t mean viewers will never see The Interview. Like Song of the South, The Interview will likely be bootlegged. Already, pirated scenes are leaking out on the Web, and, likely, hackers will beat Sony’s attackers at their own game and disseminate a copy online. But, officially, a home entertainment release may have hit a permanent roadblock, meaning Sony will take another hit and so will free speech.

The Importance of a Next Step

If there are two things I’ve learned during all the years I have written about home entertainment, they are 1) no trend or cycle lasts forever and 2) having a calculated, well-thought-out next step is critical.

Back when video rental ruled, Blockbuster was the proverbial king of the hill. But there was no viable next step in Blockbuster’s strategy, just a series of misguided half steps, like the foray into satellite and Bill Fields’ confusing “One World, One Word: Blockbuster” strategy of a little bit rental, a little bit sellthrough, a little bit candy and popcorn, a little bit books and magazines. The proper next step, in hindsight, would have been to take a cue from the studios — who, with DVD and the transformation of the business from rental to sellthrough, did have a cohesive, sensible next step — and go sellthrough all the way, instead of effectively ceding it to the big discount chains.

Netflix, in contrast, shrewdly crafted a next step even when disc-rental-by-mail was still the big rage. The company jumped into streaming before most people even knew what the term meant, and through a content-centric approach (albeit one that is based more on quantity than on quality) and extensive in-your-face marketing became wildly successful in the brave new world of digital distribution.

Turning to the supply side, perhaps the most brilliant next step was the one the studios collectively took with the development of DVD. Sensing the novelty of renting movies was wearing off, the brightest minds of Hollywood were eager to rekindle that spark, and with DVD they presented to consumers not just a superior product, but also the first-ever opportunity to buy movies as soon as they were released for home consumption at an affordable price (remember, rental cassettes were priced high, in the $100 range, because the intended buyers were rental dealers, not consumers).

Emboldened by their success, and driven by fears that DVDs would not hold up in the new high-definition universe, the studios took the next step too soon, resulting in a bruising format war and the realization that slightly better quality would not prompt people to rebuy their movie libraries. In retrospect the studios should have taken a cue from the music industry, and the migration from CDs to compressed, low-quality digital music files. Given their choice, quality or convenience, consumers will always choose the latter.

Hollywood’s next step appears to be EST, even as consumers continue to stampede toward subscription streaming. The studio’s No. 1 goal is to turn the business back from subscription and make it transactional again, but there are serious doubts as to whether this can be done — although, in all fairness, it could be argued that the subscription model, too, is a trend that won’t last forever.

Meanwhile, Amazon, in my book, has come up with the smartest next step in our business: a free video service, supported by advertising. Granted, this has not been officially announced; it was reported by the New York Post, citing unnamed sources. But if true, this truly is a brilliant next step: a way to both undercut Netflix and lure customers to Prime. Netflix is cheap, but you can’t beat free; Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter told the Post an ad-supported service could be a “Netflix killer.”

The only question now is, what’s Netflix’s next step?

Women and Wisdom

Dec. 3 I attended a wonderful and informative holiday event sponsored by the Canon Club, held by DEG: the Digital Entertainment Group and hosted by Deloitte at The Peninsula Beverly Hills. 

The DEG created the forum, "Canon Club: Where Women in Home Entertainment Meet," for women in home entertainment to come together to learn, share and engage, and the holiday event certainly delivered on that promise.

The event’s featured speaker, Madeline Di Nonno, CEO of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, offered some compelling statistics on the state of female representation in the media, both domestically and internationally ().

Di Nonno told the assembly progress has been very slow. As the study says of the United States, “Research reveals that the percentage of female speaking characters in top-grossing movies has not meaningfully changed in roughly a half of a century.”

The focus on women in media seems to be on their physical attributes.

“Female characters just can’t escape an emphasis on appearance,” she said, adding that females 13-39 are “equally sexualized.”

Still, some progress has been made. The Institute has been able to get more female characters included, if only in the background on various animated films. But it’s hard to get Hollywood to change the mindset that men won’t go to female-driven films, while women will go to male-centered films. With regard to that, I think Di Nonno made a great point, saying that if female characters are written compellingly, both men and women will flock to content. Case in point: Disney’s Frozen.

“Boys loved Frozen,” she said.

And girls loved it, too, for its strong female characters. “I want the sparkle, but I want the Jedi thing,” Di Nonno said of the Institute’s research on the attitude of today’s young girls.

Perhaps it’s not so much that consumers don’t flock to see female-oriented films as it is that they want to see well-written female characters, characters as well-written as the male ones. And that will probably require more female involvement in the writing, producing and directing of content.

I commend Di Nonno and the Geena Davis Institute for tackling this problem, and I think the Institute’s research and outreach is important to Hollywood as it looks to attract consumers with stories that are new and effectively target more than half the population. I think progress will be both rewarding for women and profitable for the industry.

HIIT It

One of the most popular forms of exercise right now — and probably my favorite — is high-intensity interval training, also known as HIIT. To get in on that trend, Gaiam is distributing a new DVD series from SPRI, just in time for the upcoming fitness season.

The “Ignite” series from SPRI, which makes exercise products, is the first DVD series from the company. Ignite launched its new line of home-gym exercise products earlier this year at Target.

And now the series has just released the first two DVDs: Hi-Intensity: The Ultimate Body-Weight Training Workout and 900 Calorie Burn: The Ultimate High Intensity Training Workout.

Hi-Intensity features Brett Hoebel, a trainer on season 11 of “The Biggest Loser.” The DVD contains four workouts: HIIT Intense, HIIT It With Weights, HIIT 30/30 and Abs & Booty Burn. Along with the high-intensity exercises that get the entire body moving, Hoebel sprinkles in some capoeira and boxing moves, which is nice departure from some of the usual exercises like burpees and lunges.

In 900 Calorie Burn workouts are led by Ashley Borden, who has worked with professional athletes and such Hollywood celebrities as Ryan Gosling and Christina Aguilera. The DVD features four workouts: Upper Body HIIT, Lower Body HIIT, Hard Core HIIT and Head-to-Toe HIIT.

Each workout is short — 25 minutes each — but they’re intended to push you to your limit, so you can maximize on burning calories and fat, and tone your body. And each workout is different enough that you could also combine a couple, if you're up for a full hour of exercise. Though the workout might be more for those at intermediate level, Hoebel and Borden offer modifications for beginners.

These aren’t easy DVDs, but it’s workouts like these that will get you results. Be prepared to get out of breath and sweat. And during this season of holiday parties and sugary treats, I know I could use a boost like this to keep me on track.  

The DVDs are priced at $14.98 each and available on Amazon.com and iTunes as a digital download. 900 Calorie Burn is also available at Target.
 

Honoring Women

I am so delighted every year to publish this issue honoring the top women in home entertainment. I have two young girls, and I am always encouraged by the accomplishments of the women in our industry, as they are blazing the trail.

These women are forging the path to a new entertainment ecosystem, in which digital delivery is an ever-growing branch. Kelley Avery has been key to DreamWorks Animation’s moves on the Netflix platform. Disney’s Janice Marinelli has spearheaded the cloud-based Disney Movies Anywhere platform. Mary Daily is using her marketing expertise to tap social media. And Lexine Wong is expanding movie extras into the digital realm with Walmart’s Vudu Extras+ for UltraViolet titles.

These women, along with their distinguished teams, are at the forefront of devising a strategy to deliver digital entertainment in the home, while managing a still important physical disc business that continues to bring in revenue for their respective studios. Meanwhile, women at independent content operations are helping to develop delivery of documentaries, independent films and quality television product. On the retail and digital distribution front, women play key roles at Walmart, Redbox, Netflix and Comcast, getting content to the consumer in many different ways.

On this occasion, I would also like to honor another woman in this industry who, after 23 years at Warner Bros., is retiring — Ronnee Sass. Ronnee is one of those rare publicists in the entertainment business who is unfailingly kind and generous, while also being effective at her job. Warner Home Video executive Jeff Baker couldn’t have said it better: “This individual is — and I can speak from first hand knowledge because I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside Ronne Sass for 12 years that I’ve been here — this individual is the best publicist in the history of the home entertainment business. She had a remarkable career here, and she is going to be missed.”

Yes, she will.

Welcome to Black November

It used to be you had to scrounge the Web for an advance peak at Walmart’s Black Friday circular, to get an eyeful of what the huge discount chain had in store for those post-Thanksgiving bargain hunters.

This year I didn’t have to look far at all — a copy was emailed to me by Walmart itself, and it came in my email on Thursday, Nov. 14 — two full weeks and a day before The Big Event.

I should say, events. Black Friday is no longer limited to one day. A few years ago, it crept into Saturday, then it expanded the other way, into Thanksgiving Day.

This year’s Walmart circular is the biggest yet, which explains, perhaps, why it was emailed out, as a PDF — and its 40 pages of rock-bottom prices are broken up into three separate Black Friday “events.” The first is 6-8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, the second starts at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving, and the third and final “event” is Friday, Black Friday proper, beginning at 6 a.m.

The best deal is a 32-inch LED TV for $98, about half what my boxy 14-inch Toshiba ran me a decade ago. Consumers can pick one up during Event No. 2, Thanksgiving Day, beginning at 8 p.m. — while supplies last, of course.

I am hesitant to marvel at the wide assortment of DVDs and Blu-ray Discs available this year for the price of a super-size candy bar. The race to the bottom? We’re there, baby … I think it was 2011, maybe 2012, when DVDs first broached the dollar mark. And yet from the looks of the circular, the novelty of ultra-cheap discs has yet to wear off for Walmart, which I suppose is a good vote of confidence in the continued viability of the packaged-media business.

Bargain-priced discs go on sale at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving, during Event No. 1 — which suggests Walmart has plenty of inventory and hopes to blow it out in a fast and furious manner.

All told, Walmart is offering 214 different DVDs at $1.96 and another 165 at $3.96. Among the former are Sherlock Holmes, Magic Mike, Titanic and Meet the Fockers; the latter group include more recent hits such as Fast & Furious 6, Grown-Ups 2, The Expendables 2, Bad Grandpa, Man of Steel and World War Z.

Blu-ray Discs start at $3.96, with “over 113 titles available at this price!” according to the Walmart circular. Among them are Men in Black 3, Horrible Bosses, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Flight, 300 and Robocop. Another 104 Blu-ray Discs will be on sale for $6.96, including Man of Steel, Lone Survivor, The Mummy, Despicable Me, Scarface: Limited Edition and The Wolverine.

Another 42 DVD and 34 Blu-ray Disc titles are priced at $7.96, with the Blu-ray Disc crew including such recent hits such as Godzilla and Transformers: The Age of Extinction. Another 34 Blu-ray Discs top out at $9.96 — the cream of the crop, including Frozen, Divergent, Heaven Is for Real and Hercules. And then there’s 89 “complete-season” sets of popular TV shows, from The Walking Dead: The Complete Fourth Season to American Horror Story: Asylum.

We may have hit a new low for fresh product — some of these $9.96 Blu-ray Discs are less than a month old — but hey, moving huge quantities has always been Walmart’s modus operandi. And if the world’s biggest discount chain continues to use DVDs and Blu-ray Discs to lure people into its stores, who am I to complain?

Clearly, there’s still plenty of consumer demand. And for that, the staff of Home Media Magazine — and, if I can speak for them, the studios that pay our bills — truly have something for which to be thankful.
 

'Frozen' Sing-Along Spotlights Cool Songs

If you have daughters (I have two) or noticed a particularly popular Disney princess costume this Halloween (Elsa), you probably know Frozen is one of the hottest properties for girls.

“I saw about six Elsas,” noted my 16-year-old, who “volunteered” (with a little push) to escort the younger kids around the neighborhood Oct. 31.
Even before Frozen won Oscars for Best Animated Feature and for Best Original Song for “Let It Go,” the tide of praise from the pint-sized set had been building — and they had been singing the songs. In addition to award-winning music and lyrics, what also makes Frozen’s songs so hot is that they are easy to sing. In addition to “Let It Go,” the film includes such hits as “Do You Want to Build a Snowman,” “Love Is an Open Door” and “For the First Time in Forever.”

My girls know the tunes by heart, but often stumble over the lyrics. That’s why Walt Disney Studios’ all-new, full-length Frozen Sing-Along Edition, coming Nov. 18 on DVD and Digital HD and Disney Movies Anywhere, will satisfy many a budding singer. They’ll be able to follow the lyrics with a bouncing snowflake to sing along with Elsa (Idina Menzel), Anna (Kristen Bell), the goofy snowman Olaf and the other characters. In addition to sing-along and original theatrical versions of the film, the release also includes an all-new extra “Breaking the Ice” and the Mickey Mouse short “Get a Horse!” The Frozen sing-along will likely light up the holidays for many families, as adults patiently, but happily, listen to their kids’ rendition of “Let It Go” for the umpteenth time.

As a parent of two girls who really like to sing, I appreciate the fact that the tunes in Frozen offer an empowering message. It’s also what attracted my daughters to the film, about two sisters who must overcome a dangerous gift and plotting prince to save their kingdom and themselves. As much as they identified with the sisters’ tendency to annoy each other, my daughters also liked the loving relationship between the siblings that drives the plot.

Predictably, my youngest said, “A lot of younger siblings can relate to it, because the older sibling is shutting you out.”

The older one saw common ground in  “the idea of everyone expecting something from you.”

Of the climax of the film, “I liked how instead of a kiss from a boy, it was a hug from a sister,” said my youngest (and sweetest) — and the older one admitted she liked the whole sisterly love thing, too.

Aah … it warms a mother’s heart.
 

Taylor Swift in Tune With the Studios

The music business has long mirrored the video industry, facing many of the same challenges. Singer Taylor Swift, fresh off the launch of her latest blockbuster album, 1989, recently pulled her catalog from subscription streaming service Spotify, saying artists and their labels aren’t paid enough for the many times listeners stream their songs.

“Valuable things should be paid for. It’s my opinion that music should not be free, and my prediction is that individual artists and their labels will someday decide what an album’s price point is,” she wrote in a column in The Wall Street Journal.

Ah, it’s sounds so familiar to those of us in the home video business. The studios have been making the same accusation against subscription service Netflix and kiosk vendor Redbox — that they devalue entertainment. And several studios, too, have limited access to top entertainment on those services.

Unfortunately, consumers also help determine the value of entertainment, and since the advent of the great recession, they have flocked to the cheapest venues, some of them, such as YouTube or pirate sites, offering free entertainment. Low price has driven the rise of Netflix and Redbox, as much as innovative distribution models. For consumers squeezed by lower wages, the value of entertainment is heading downward. After Netflix raised prices to new subscribers, their growth slowed domestically in the last quarter. Redbox’s attempt to do the same could end badly, analysts have opined. Both are treading carefully, testing the waters.

Artists such as Swift may have the popular muscle to get fans to pay more by buying her album instead of streaming it through Spotify. But U2, one of the biggest bands in the world, recently took a different tack, offering their album at no charge on iTunes.

Here’s hoping that Swift has some effect on raising the value of entertainment. If there were a large supply of free diamonds or diamonds at little cost, no matter how beautiful they were, they too would lose their value. It’s high time we value the talent that produces our music, films and other artistic content. They work hard on their art, and not to pay them for it seems, well, out of tune with the idea of the American work ethic.