Disney in talks to buy Fox studio assets..

SethS said:

I said it would never happen... but man...

I don't know that I like fewer and fewer megacorps-- but a unified Marvel Universe is insane to realize as a possibility.

Added plus, I don't give a crap about sports and I've always been conflcited over my hate of Fox's News Division, and supporting their entertainment side. Fox can be dead to me now!

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The sport channels are the most expensive portion, they are valued at $20B just for those pieces.

SethS said:

I said it would never happen... but man...

I don't know that I like fewer and fewer megacorps-- but a unified Marvel Universe is insane to realize as a possibility.

Added plus, I don't give a crap about sports and I've always been conflcited over my hate of Fox's News Division, and supporting their entertainment side. Fox can be dead to me now!

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That's supposed to be what anti-trust laws are for, but we don't seem to use those anymore.

Down to 4-5 major oil companies (makes collusion super easy)
what? 3-4 major studios now?

Between Comcast, Disney, CBS/Viacom, and FOX, i don't that anyone else has any major stake in TV. And it's only going to get worse.

cboath said:

That's supposed to be what anti-trust laws are for, but we don't seem to use those anymore.

Down to 4-5 major oil companies (makes collusion super easy)
what? 3-4 major studios now?

Between Comcast, Disney, CBS/Viacom, and FOX, i don't that anyone else has any major stake in TV. And it's only going to get worse.

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Well, truth is both the oil industry and the film studio industry have been in a major multi year decline. In the case of oil consolidation is driven by US oil and natural gas suddenly flooding the market and the studios have suffered from a decline in box office revenue to newer home based content providers.

In the last few years maybe...but that hasn't driven consolidation. There were 30ish major oil companies 30-40 years ago and they've been canablized over the years to handful. Had nothing to do with the flooding of anything. Moreso corporate greed to drive up prices.

We've got like 4 major phone carriers, too. T-Mobile and Spring ever merge it's 3. Bell was split up for nearly that, yet the topic never even comes up.

In all three cases, more competition is better for everyone.

With Disney buying everything, the world of Bladerunner will have Disney ads.....EVERYWHERE!!!!

Pretty soon every restaurant will be Taco Bell.

Its official now.

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Someone tell Hugh he better be ready to rock the yellow suit

Mr Mold Maker said:

Looking like I may have put my foot in my mouth on this one. I don't know.. I still have trouble seeing this actually happening. Seems for some reason just outside the realm of possibility but this is Disney we are talking about.

I am curious how this will affect other films and franchises like Deadpool, and the Alien series. I hope they don't put the kid gloves for the bloody stuff..

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Looks like a done deal

Reel


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Does anyone know if Fox still retained rights to the original SW A New Hope, or has Disney at last acquired rights to that?

jusdrewit said:

Does anyone know if Fox still retained rights to the original SW A New Hope, or has Disney at last acquired rights to that?

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Fox did have the those rights but it’s academic now, Disney will own distribution rights for all the OT.

And with that Disney would be STUPID to not go about releasing a remastered Original Unaltered Trilogy on Blu-Ray.

Gary Weaver II said:

And with that Disney would be STUPID to not go about releasing a remastered Original Unaltered Trilogy on Blu-Ray.

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It depends heavily on how they do it and on the technological and financial issues involved.

Of all the opportunities this deal will afford Disney, I doubt re-releasing the Star Wars OOT is high up on that list. I'd love to see it, but it doesn't seem that critical in the bigger picture.

Not sure why you all ask for "Blue Ray" quality of the OT? I personally am super happy with

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yLsvexWBVM8IYSGopKuSfsGk5YIgCwQWd23bqb5ryD4/pub#h.8llhj6kqua82

Got all three movies in their latest version and love them! I do have the BR box of 1-6 but 4-6 I did not even watch yet.

cheers
Uwe

JoeG said:

Of all the opportunities this deal will afford Disney, I doubt re-releasing the Star Wars OOT is high up on that list. I'd love to see it, but it doesn't seem that critical in the bigger picture.

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IF it's going to happen -- and I'm not saying it will -- it'll probably happen in the next 5-10 years. Closer to 5, I'd think. At whatever point 4K panels become the "standard" in homes, that's when it would make sense to release a new version remastered in 4K.

But that, again, depends heavily on how Disney goes about handling the scan.

This is all just speculation, but the special edition stuff is all done in 1080p native format (as is the PT). Now, you can upscale things, but you can't wring more data out of an image than what's in there originally. Basically, any upscaling of 1080p will be the software "guessing" at what's between the pixels, and filling it in. It might still look fine, but it won't be information that originates in the image.

With the stuff actually shot on film, that leaves Disney with a choice: redo the entire scan from the 1080p material they already have -- which could lead to unnatural looking sequences between the native-1080p content -- or rescan the original material and upscale only the SE material.

IF they go about doing this by rescanning the OT material, then they MIGHT use the OOT as a source, and plug in the upscaled SE material later.

IF they do that, then they MIGHT decide to take the scanned OOT material and just release it cleaned up on its own. I would expect this would be part of some much more expensive "mega-set" featuring all 6 (maybe 9, by that point?) of the films, including a "limited edition" version of the OOT films. IF those sold well enough, they MIGHT then release them separately, but they might just leave it as a one-time thing (kinda like the 2006 "limited edition" that included the laserdisc rips).

There is also a short window within which they can really do this. The OT as a property is aging. There's a whole generation of kids -- now in their 20s -- who view the OT as an afterthought. they grew up on the PT and the Clone Wars cartoon. That's what they dig the most. They're pissed that the new films are ignoring that stuff (just like some of us were pissed that the OT was being ignored when the PT came out). But a rerelease of the OT/OOT won't really move the needle with them. Meanwhile, the Gen-X/older Millennials are sliding more into an "Eh, I don't care. Whatever my kids like" attitude. Not all of them, but possibly not enough to care. And they've already bought the series twice now (on DVD and Blu-Ray) to say nothing of the old VHS copies they might've had. Many have grown accustomed to the SEs and just don't care a ton anymore about whatever flaws they have.

Plus, there's the unlicensed versions out there like Harmy and Adywan that may have satiated people's appetites for this stuff. For now, anyway.

Then there's the separate factor of how content will be delivered. If Disney moves increasingly towards digital streaming, then (1) it has no incentive to remaster the films, since most streaming isn't even taking advantage of full 1080p streams right now, and (2) it doesn't make a ton of sense to have two streaming versions of the same film (even as "Director's Cut" and "normal" versions).

Lastly, there are the personalities involved. Kathleen Kennedy was -- and probably remains -- close to George Lucas. They were colleagues for years, and likely friends as well. It would be really, really tough to go tell your friend "Hey, you know that thing you hoped I'd never do just for a buck? Well....I did it. Sorry!" Especially when she knows his passion for "artists' rights." Lucas may have no legal right to say boo about Star Wars anymore, but would you tear up your buddy's magnum opus for cash? Even after he'd sold it?

Um, Lucas did that to his damn self. Selling out for cash? He has been doing that since the OT. And lets not forget, he got a cool 4 billion for that purchase. Screw George Lucas, he screwed the fans by not doing it himself, Disney would be heroes in the eyes of fans if they released the OT on blu ray. My disdain for George Lucas knows no bounds. Just for a buck. I cant roll my eyes any harder. The reason it IS a magnum opus was BECAUSE of the OT! Not that SE crap! Or the **** prequels!

If it happens, ultimately, it might not be her decision. The home office could say they want it done. Not that I think they would necessarily, but they could.

What would sell better? A 4k version of George's last update? or a 4k original? Quite honestly - i think the original. It hasn't been available in 20+ years. If you own a set, it's either the SE or the SEv2. Therefore, if you're going to buy a 2nd or 3rd set - being different would be a plus.

As for the SE stuff being 1080...well, most of the assets still exist. Install the old software, pull up the files and re-render at 4k. Anything shot digitally at 1080 is kinda stuck that way though, but that shouldn't be an obstacle in any way to the OOT as it was all film.

The takeover also means:

ALIEN and PREDATOR are now DISNEY movies!!!

:ninja:ninja:ninja:ninja:ninja:ninja:ninja:ninja:ninja:ninja:ninja:ninja:ninja:ninja:ninja:ninja:ninja:ninja:ninja:ninja:ninja:ninja:ninja:ninja

anj4de said:

Not sure why you all ask for "Blue Ray" quality of the OT? I personally am super happy with

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yLsvexWBVM8IYSGopKuSfsGk5YIgCwQWd23bqb5ryD4/pub#h.8llhj6kqua82

Got all three movies in their latest version and love them! I do have the BR box of 1-6 but 4-6 I did not even watch yet.

cheers
Uwe

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While I applaud Harmy's efforts the result is sub par, the digital erasing/pasting, upconverted LD rips and animated still frames are painfully obvious. The color and contrast is also terrible in some parts.

The Team Negative 1 project is better in my opinion, but they are hampered by the use of vintage 35mm release prints.

The best method is to reassemble the edited source films and make a new hi res scan, which may or may not have already happened depending on which account is correct.