DAM and GvsMegalon from Media Blasters (v.2)

[Tim85]

I was hoping for Blu-ray but I'll get the DVD. For me: it's Megalon in Japanese w/ subtitles so I'm happy. If we get the extras later so be it.

Don't forget: Megalon wasn't orginally planned. It was only DAM they were going to release until they found out there was interest in Megalon as well.

[Goji]

Well, yeah, but they announced a deluxe version of MEGALON, as well as a BD release, which both aren't happening now. That's the issue I, and others, are having.

Rushing out MEGALON seems like a sign of bad things to come. Why wouldn't they just hold out, and wait for the extras to be approved? It just doesn't add up. It's like they know the company might still go under, and want to rush it out so they can make at least some $ off of the film, as opposed to none.

[kpa]

Why wouldn't they just hold out, and wait for the extras to be approved? It just doesn't add up. It's like they know the company might still go under, and want to rush it out so they can make at least some $ off of the film, as opposed to none.

It's pretty simple, and adds up pretty easily. Last May/June Media Blasters paid Toho for the rights to release MEGALON on home video. On top of whatever they paid for the license, MB also paid Toho thousands of dollars to strike a new print of the English dubbed version because that was the only option Toho gave them to get the complete English dub track. Then add in the money spent on extras, in-house work (cover design, solicitations, transfer materials, content build-up, etc). After that, because of Media Blasters' screw up over DAM they haven't made so much as a penny off MEGALON in the 10 months they've held the rights.

To release MEGALON as they'd intended, Media Blasters will need to have every single item approved by Toho. But the people handling this process at Toho most likely aren't filmmakers or executives, but rather lower level employees who do grunt work. Toho is known to be a very old school business-- even by Japanese standards-- where things move slowly because the staffers further down in the company don't want to make a mistake and risk getting in hot water with their bosses. So they're being extremely meticulous going over the materials Media Blasters wants to include. It's now 4-5 months since MEGALON was originally scheduled for release and there is no end in sight for the approval process.

Media Blasters has a multi-year license for MEGALON. But they'll be a year into that deal this June, and could be months or a year or more before the extras are all cleared by Toho. So they could wait, and lose 25-50% of their sales window. Or they can put out a barebones DVD now and recoup some of their expenses (and possibly even make a profit) and then do the SE DVD and Blu-ray whenever Toho gives the okay (which could be a long time from now). From what I know of their plans, what they're doing just makes more sense.

Released Megalon on DVD only would be like releasing The Avengers and TDKR on VHS. It's just stupid.

Wataru, that analogy makes no sense whatsoever. New VHS releases are currently 0% of home video sales. According to reports, DVD sales made up 72-79% of the market last year while Blu-ray's shares are around 25%. Blu-ray is growing, but if Media Blasters goes DVD-only on the barebones MEGALON that would because DVD sells more than three times as well. Considering the smaller market for Blu-ray, a MEGALON Blu-ray now would probably have a serious impact on doing an SE Blu-ray later.

[Goji]

So basically, it's the obvious answer: they want to make some money off of MEGALON before their rights expire. I just hope MB can stay a float long enough for a future release of an extras-laden BD..

Why Toho didn't check the DAM release before it went out is completely on them, as far as I'm concerned. If it weren't for that, MEGALON would have likely shipped on time, and we wouldn't even be having this discussion right now.

[Tohosaurus]

I would. ^

[o.supreme]

Except DVD being a dying market, means this movie will have to be cheap.

Correct. A Barebones standard DVD of this release should not cost more than $10

Would people here double dip if Megs was ever released on BRD?

I would not. I already have the Madman DVD, and my own DVD backup of my Goodtimes VHS, so a standard DVD release means nothing to me. I wish Sony had just obtained Megalon & G1985 back in 2004 when they were releasing all their other Godzilla titles. The poor quality unlicensed DVD's released prior would not have hindered sales.

I understand that MB wants to try to get something out of their G vs. M license, but I truly believe this is just a chance to get something out before they go under completely, I highly doubt the Blu-Ray with all the bonuses we were expecting will ever be released. I still will be watching closely the 5/22/12 release for the Gamera:The Brave on BluRay, not to purchase it (since I already own the DVD), but to see if it actually is released as projected.

[Goji]

Would people here double dip if Megs was ever released on BRD?

At this point, I'll just buy the barebones disk in the event that MB does go under, and it becomes super expensive. However, If the uncut English dub wasn't included, I wouldn't bother with it at all. I don't really expect MEGALON to look any better than the R2, which I already have a copy of.

I would not. I already have the Madman DVD, and my own DVD backup of my Goodtimes VHS, so a standard DVD release means nothing to me. I wish Sony had just obtained Megalon & G1985 back in 2004 when they were releasing all their other Godzilla titles. The poor quality unlicensed DVD's released prior would not have hindered sales.

I hear ya man. The uncut English dub is the only selling point for me now (which was not available on the Madman disk, which is why I never bothered with it). Regarding Sony, they actually passed on MEGALON because of the bootlegs that Alpha Video and Passion Productions had put out, so we have them to blame for not get a beautiful "Sonyfied" version of MEGALON. It's a damn shame.

I understand that MB wants to try to get something out of their G vs. M license, but I truly believe this is just a chance to get something out before they go under completely, I highly doubt the Blu-Ray with all the bonuses we were expecting will ever be released. I still will be watching closely the 5/22/12 release for the Gamera:The Brave on BluRay, not to purchase it (since I already own the DVD), but to see if it actually is released as projected.

Yeah, that's only two months from today, so it will be very interesting to see what happens. At this point, the GAMERA THE BRAVE release seems more likely than the special edition of MEGALON, considering not even the barebones version has a release date yet.

[o.supreme]

I hear ya man. The uncut English dub is the only selling point for me now (which was not available on the Madman disk, which is why I never bothered with it). Regarding Sony, they actually passed on MEGALON because of the bootlegs that Alpha Video and Passion Productions had put out, so we have them to blame for not get a beautiful "Sonyfied" version of MEGALON. It's a damn shame.

I keep reading about the "uncut" english dub. Is it really that significant? How much dialogue is really missing form the Cinema Shares theatrical release, or Madman DVD?

[Goji]

I keep reading about the "uncut" english dub. Is it really that significant? How much dialogue is really missing form the Cinema Shares theatrical release, or Madman DVD?

Don't worry, it's not much. You know how the "US version" of MEGALON on the Madman disk is missing a couple of brief scenes? Those scenes contain the lines that are missing. It's nothing too significant. Mostly the scenes involving the guys in truck being held up at gun point. Why Toho didn't supply Madman with the uncut dub is beyond me. They were forced to do a very poor recreation of the Cinema Shares version, and didn't even bother to include the English credits!

I'm a HUGE fan of the Axis dubs from the 70's, so for me, having it uncut is the deal breaker. The only uncut version I have is sourced from a PAL VHS, and the quality is pretty horrid. Lots of hissing when you try to turn it up. I simply want a high quality version of the dub, and since the dub was sourced from a 35mm print of the international version for MB's release, it's bound to sound pretty damn good.

[kpa]

EDIT: Media Blasters has officially revealed the new release info and complete cover art for GODZILLA VS MEGALON…

http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2012 ... s-megalon/

kpa,

No you missed the point of my comparison. When DVDs came out, there was also VHS. And like DVDs and BRDs now, VHS was outselling DVDs for awhile. But as it got cheaper to goto DVD, VHS slowly died. But shit was still released on it for a long time.

Now you have DVD and BRD. While DVD is still king, I highly doubt it'll be around in 5 years. BRDs are the price NOW that DVDs were at the height of the DVD/VHS period of media. BRD players are only $75 now, the next generation of games will use BRDs. So released a movie ONLY on DVD when the format is dying is just stupid. It's going to be standard def and compressed.

I understood your comparison, and even with the explanation it doesn't make business sense.

Sure DVD's share of the home video market is decreasing while Blu-ray is increasing. But Media Blasters is looking to release MEGALON in 2012, and in 2012 roughly 80% of sales are for DVDs. So if they a) only plan to go with one format at this time, and b) want to maximize profits, then DVD is the logical choice because right now it outsells Blu-ray 4-to-1.

Media Blasters hasn't officially announced what their current plans are for MEGALON, but with Blu-ray being only 20-25% of the market it makes sense not to release a barebones version of a niche film on Blu-ray if they're planning to do a SE down the line. With a much smaller customer base for Blu it would be easy to completely that market with the first release.

That's why your AVENGERS analogy made absolutely zero sense. And your explanation here doesn't work either, because back plenty of films were released VHS-only when DVD sales were ar current BD levels. As DVD sales increased more titles were released in that format, and previous VHS-only titles were reissued on DVD... basically the same pattern Media Blasters may be considering now. Your explanation just disproved your own point.

I keep reading about the "uncut" english dub. Is it really that significant? How much dialogue is really missing form the Cinema Shares theatrical release, or Madman DVD?

There's not a ton of dialogue missing, but Cinema Shares cut a lot of bits and pieces out of the film to guarantee a G rating. Therefore the English language version shown in the US (with the exception of a few airing on the Sci-Fi Channel many years ago) is incomplete. A complete version has existed all along but it's never been released on video in the US-- or on DVD or Blu-ray anywhere in the world-- so IMO its inclusion on the Media Blasters disc(s) would be very significant.

[kpa]

kpa,

My analogy is spot on. Im looking at this as a fan.

And that's where you go off the rails. There's a tremendous difference between how someone may think things should be and the reality of how things actually work.

There are NO new movies today released on DVD only.

I get sent monthly film catalogs from distributors all over the world, and many of the smaller labels release titles in one format. Sentai Filmworks just released GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES-- a highly regarded film made by the world renowned Studio Ghibli crew-- DVD-only. And that's just the first example that springs to mind.

If you're talking strictly new movies, MEGALON is 39 years old. So either way, your statement is wrong.

Do you think Marvel is going to release The Avengers on DVD only because the % is higher on DVD sales? Hell no. It'll be BRD/DVD/Digital, BRD/DVD, DVD and later probably a 3D BRD.

If you think a barebones release of a 39 year old niche film from a small label would ever follow the same business model as an upcoming, $200 million dollar + budget Hollywood (potential) blockbuster from a major US studio, you are literally insane.

As hilariously wrong as watsy is

Too true!

[Tohosaurus]

The DVD is going with my long built DVD collection. The Blu (pending release) is going next to my copies of Criterion's Godzilla and the DAM Blu.

Of course, that's just because I don't feel like being a crybaby about it. I was going to buy both DVD and Blu anyway.

I'm a bit of a completist in that sense, so I too would buy the DVD solely to complete my Godzilla DVD collection (as ridiculous as that sounds) and the BRD is what I'd actually watch and use to continue building up my Godzilla BRD collection.

[Blackout286]

Hmm...A barebones copy? I'm actually fine with that, so long as I get the actual movie in high quality then I'm fine.

[Jacob Kaiju X]

As I mentioned before, I usually don't watch the extra features on DVD's, so this doesn't effect me at all.

[bananaoil]

There's only so much restoration an older film print can undergo, and I almost always can't tell the difference between a DVD and Blu-Ray when it comes to older films, unless there's been so much DNR that it feels like I'm watching a live soap opera on video tape instead of a theatrical film. So being exclusively on DVD doesn't matter to me.

[Goji]

Hmm...A barebones copy? I'm actually fine with that, so long as I get the actual movie in high quality then I'm fine.

Depends on what your definition of "high quality" is.

[Goji]

Sounds to me like banana hasn't seen many old films on the format. Stuff like ALIEN and THE SHINING (no smeary DNR to see here), are absolutely stunning. Then again, I'm watching this stuff on a 30 inch 1080p HD TV. If you were to watch those specific releases on a smaller TV that only goes to 720p, then the results wouldn't be nearly as eye popping.

[bananaoil]

The oldest film I own on Blu Ray is King Kong. I also own Forbidden Planet, Evil Dead, The Thing, and Big Trouble in Little China. King Kong looks fantastic, but so did the complementary DVD release. Forbidden Planet looks even more washed out than the DVD. The Thing looks decent; I can detect more detail than I could on my DVD. The Evil Dead is absolutely gorgeous, but I haven't compared it to its complementary DVD release. Big Trouble in Little China almost looks like the DVD release, with a few moments of the aforementioned "filmed in live action soap opera" video look.

Seriously, DNR on Blu Ray frequently ruins older films for me. Sure, there's more detail, but it's at the cost of the film being too smooth and looking like it was shot with a VHS camcorder.

DERP. Forgot to mention that I have a 47" 1080 LED television that's maybe two years old.

[goji1986]

Oh, I agree with you 100% on overdone DNR, bananaoil. That's the worst trend to happen to home media since the days of the default pan-and-scan standard.

Why go through all the trouble of giving us a huge increase in res, and then blurring the living shit out of it!? Is the average consumer actually so stupid that they find watching a film that looks to have been smeared with Vaseline preferable to seeing some natural film grain? If they are, it's probably due more to naivete than anything else. They just don't understand what they're trading for that "uniform" look.

Also, I'm pretty pissed to hear about the Forbidden Planet blu-ray. It's one of my favorite films, and I was planning to pick it up in the near future. If it really looks more washed out than the DVD, I guess I'll just keep watching that. God, if ever a film deserved to have every possible detail preserved onscreen, it's that one.

A great transfer that doesn't have DNR is the recent Monty Python and the Holy Grail Blu. It looks surprisingly stunning!

[Emperor5353]

A great transfer that doesn't have DNR is the recent Monty Python and the Holy Grail Blu. It looks surprisingly stunning!

Thanks for that update...I have been on the fence regarding that particular bd....I shouldn't be surprised because Life of Brian looks amazing as well

Without totally derailing this thread, you all need to see the bd of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang...that should be required viewing....easily the best looking blu I own