Captivating Connections.

introducing: sonic solutions.

"Best Buy Co., the world’s largest electronics retailer, will start an online store for movies and television shows that will compete with Apple Inc.’s iTunes.

The service will use technology licensed from Sonic Solutions Inc., according to a statement today from both companies. Sonic’s Roxio CinemaNow system will be installed on televisions, computers, Blu-ray players, set-top boxes and mobile phones sold by Richfield, Minnesota-based Best Buy. T

he digital video store expands Best Buy’s foray into services, helping the company increase customer loyalty, Chief Executive Officer Brian Dunn said in the statement. The content will be stored on servers so people can watch on any device, similar to how Web-based e-mail can be viewed on different computers, said Sonic Chief Executive Officer Dave Habiger.

'What we’re creating is movies in the cloud that play back anywhere,' Habiger said in an interview."

what does the future hold for a post-dvd world?

"While DVD and Blu-ray will remain a huge profit center for years to come, studio executives are finally confronting an uncomfortable reality: little silver discs — for reasons of convenience, price and consumer burnout — may never recover their sales power. To grow, studios need to figure out digital distribution."

So, what are some companies doing?

"Disney announced last week that it had developed a system to track digital ownership, so people won’t have to buy the same movie or television show multiple times for different devices. But that’s just the latest, most likely not the last, approach.

'I expect these guys to try many different ways to figure out an endgame to digital entertainment,' said Doug Creutz, a media analyst at Cowen and Company. 'In the meantime, you will find a lot of false starts.'"

The problem is, "everyone is trying to solve one problem: consumers, the industry believes, will be reluctant to open their wallets for digital movies and TV shows until they get more portability and can watch the same content on several devices. Studios want to make consumers collect digital entertainment the way they would DVDs or books."

However, "standing in the way are technology hurdles — how to let consumers play a video on various devices without letting them share it with 10,000 close friends on a pirate site — and the reluctance of studios to cooperate too closely with rivals for reasons of antitrust scrutiny and sheer competitiveness."

It'll be interesting to see where the market goes over the next few years (or even few months!)

bryant park film fest.

Check out the Summer 2009 schedule here.

Thanks again, Todd(y).

doing it for the kidlets.

Movie studios are quickly learning that, these days, they need to bank on kidlets to fill seats, not grown ups...

"Pricey, star-driven thrillers and dramas will struggle for profitability as the recession intensifies a trend toward youth-dominated movies that can open big...Older demographics may be resisting the recent enthusiasm for moviegoing. Certainly it's been months since anything has caught fire at the art houses.

But it's the ill-fated outings of studios' highest-profile adult fare that has stirred the most concern.

'Not as many adults are going to the movies because of the recession,' a highly placed studio executive lamented. 'More and more, it's the kids who come out and support the pictures over opening weekend, and not as much the older adults.'"

It's interesting, because there was recently an article about how movie ticket sales are up but DVD sales are down. We've also seen plenty of talk about the 'cost per entertainment hour' and how people are staying in and entertaining more at home. Tweens and teens, though, by nature, while they may be more comfortable staying in, still have the 'go out' itch. Movies may be expensive (I seriously spent $34 last weekend for my friend and I all in!), but, in comparison to eating out or going shopping with money they dont have/want to spend, maybe this makes more sense than we initially thought.

merger magic?

Interesting: "Two of Hollywood’s biggest talent agencies, Endeavor and William Morris, have quietly been talking merger" in an attempt to take down Creative Artists Agency, who's had a lock on the industry for years.

Why would two competitors come together? As the entertainment landscape changes, they may be able to actually help each other.

"By many accounts, Endeavor is the No. 1 television agency, packaging shows like '30 Rock' and 'Gossip Girl,' and it has a stable of marquee young movie stars that includes Shia LaBeouf and Amy Adams. William Morris, meanwhile, has a slumping TV department (with the exception of reality programming). And despite some hot names like Josh Brolin, some of William Morris’s best-known movie stars, like Mel Gibson and Richard Gere, are past their prime. Yet William Morris has a blockbuster music unit — Britney Spears and Kanye West are clients — and lucrative corporate clients like Coca-Cola and Hasbro."

Can't wait to see how this develops.

confessions of poor timing.

Talk about bad timing...

"Amid weekly stock-market paroxysms, rising bankruptcies, the continuing mortgage crisis and a surge in irrecoverable credit-card debt, Disney's Touchstone Pictures is readying what's looking to be an ill-timed release of 'Confessions of a Shopaholic.'"

Maybe it will end up being a 'fantasy' movie people 'escape' to to forget how bad the economy is. However, there's a chance people will just plain be turned off, especially by scenes like when "one character secures a massive credit line he doesn't need just to show off how powerful he is."

an indie biz model for indie flicks.

This is a really cool concept (and a great example of bypassing mainstream in order to go mainstream):

John Sloss, "one of the top sales agents for independent films," is looking to find a new way to get indie films out to the public. His new company, Cinetic Rights Management, "will act as sales agents for filmmakers who have been left on the sidelines. And here is the twist: The goal is not exhibition in theaters but rather distribution via the Internet and other growing delivery routes like cable on-demand services."

His goal is to get those films that usually would be over looked (which is actually a pretty high percentage of them) out in the public. How will he do this, you ask?

"'We’re going to make it our business to go to every portal, every mobile provider, every video-on-demand service and make the most aggressive deals we can,' Mr. Sloss said."

real(er) reality.

I've told you about Justin before, but check out this article on lifecasting. Could it be the new reality TV? It seems like it may be a whole lot more realistic!

the medias are achangin.

Forget I'm a HUGE fan. This a great viral marketing scheme. Check out the site for the new Bob Dylan movie and CD, and check out the viral card you can make.

Based off of one of the most memorable scenes from the 1967 D.A. Pennebaker film Dont Look Back, when a young Bob Dylan looks at the camera holding a stack of cue cards. If you remember, as his song “Subterranean Homesick Blues” plays, Dylan drops the cards, each with handwritten lyrics scrawled across them.

Now you get to make your own message for Dylan to show off.

hey! a new site!

Another day, another site...

Nielsen has launched a pop culture site that let's you vote for your faves.