Sony Bunnies Take Manhattan

One day ahead of the official launch, CreativityOnline are streaming the new Sony bravia blockbuster ad, Play Doh. Only the final shot approaches the potential inherent in the pitch, and some of the earlier bunnyful shots are just plain bad. I'm not even going to talk about the awkward cuts between the pre-bunny shots.

Tomorrow is the day the ad goes live on Sony sites so I should be able to get a nice Quicktime direct download link from one of them. I'll stick it right here.

[EDIT: I've only found one fairly decent encode for download so far]

I'm Calling For A Grass Roots Effort To Support Blu-Ray

HD-DVD is lingering like a bad smell and it's hurting the next generation of home video. Blu-Ray's dominance is not only inevitable, it's preferable, but the struggle is being dragged out longer and longer and more and more people are investing in HD-DVD technology that is not only currently inferior, it's (relatively) shortly going to be obsolete.

I think we need to engineer a grass roots effort to spread the word about Blu-Ray and drive a nail or two into HD-DVD's coffin. Admittedly, it's going to take a lot more nails than we could provide, but I'm sure every little bit will help.

And please, think twice before investing in any HD-DVD discs. You will regret it.

I wish I could guarantee you that you won't regret shelling out for Blu-Ray, but I can't. The whole generation might be skipped over if this stupid 'war' can't be wrapped up soon.

I've posted an article below that lays the blame for this meaningless war at Microsoft's feet - click upon it to expand it.

For the record, I've got no time for either Microsoft or Sony and their willingness to sell consumers down the river for a quick buck, but it doesn't take too much research to see which of the disc formats trumps the other.

Play-Doh Bunnies

The third Bravia commercial in the Color Like No Other series is to be Play-Doh, directed by Frank Budgen. I told you a few weeks back that Gondry turned the gig down.

As I understand it, this commerical is the most ambitious stop-motion piece ever created with 4,500 Play-Doh rabbits scampering about the streets of New York. If only Anti-Pesto had a franchise in the Big Apple.

The ad is to take three weeks to shoot, and then of course, post will be required, so I don't know when we'll be seeing it... but it certainly sounds like it might be rather eye-catching.

Here are a number of stills, most of them teasingly turned black and white by the cheeky Sony folk.

The Sony And Aardman Slate

Variety have a list of the Aardman projects in development under the new deal with Sony, and they make for pretty exciting reading.

In escalating order of excitement then:

4) Peter Lord's Pirates, from Gideon Dafoe's books. Lord might be an Aardman pioneer, and a great director of animation, but he's not the best with camera, montage, story design. Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil are penning the script, which ensures a certain solidity to the end result, anyway.

3) The Cat Burglars from Steve Box. The screenwriters this time are Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharaoh. Yep - the Life on Mars guys. Might be an odd choice for a claymation film about rascally cats? Who knows. This is described as 'family friendly Tarantino' - whatever that might end up meaning.

2) Peter Baynham's Operation Rudolph. Santa's gift giving endeavours portrayed as a military operation. Baynham is very funny, and with the right director this will be incredible.

1) Nick Park's next. Details are non-existent, with only one piece of negative information: It is NOT a new Wallace and Gromit film. Sure - that's what its not, but what is it?

Park has apparently been developing more Wallace and Gromit and it seems odd that this isn't it. The most likely reason, I think, is that he's planning a short for them, not a feature. BBC involvement had been rumoured, so that might be just what is going on. Another Bank Holiday special?

I'm very disappointed to see no Richard Goleszowski project in the line up. Boo. I'm hoping he's teaming with Baynham on the Christmas film. That might knock Park off the top of the tree.

Movie Minesweeper - The I'm Half Watching The Tele Edition

- Soundtrack dot Net have some pictures from the scoring sessions for American Gangster. Looks like it's going to sound good.

- Yes, yes, there are pictures of Stallone as Rambo online, I know, I know.

- A clip from the Caveman pilot is now up for your viewing... pleasure? A thought provoking commentary on modern day race relations. Apparently.

- Mischa Barton is in the new St. Trinian's. Confirmation also comes that Russell Brand is playing Flash Harry, and that some filming has taken place in Hawaii. For some reason.

- Almodovar's El Deseo have commenced production of a documentary about El Senor de Sipan, "the ruler of ancient Peru's ruins".

- John Turturro is remaking Theo van Gogh's 1-900.

- The Playstation 3 version of Stranglehold will come with John Woo's Hard Boiled also on the disc. Of course, buying a Wii and a Blu-Ray player, something like Eledees and then also a copy of Hard Boiled on its own would be more satisfying at the end of the day. In related news, Sony are losing money - lots of money - because of the PS3.

- Today's second Rob Schmidt story: ThinkFilm are selling his film Bad Meat at Cannes. I met Schmidt at the London Film Festival years and years ago - at the time, Daniel Waters was a close friend of his. Wonder if they're still chums?

- Grant Morrison gives a very good interview to Wired. It's all Area 51, no mention of We3 - shame.

- VH1 have previewed their top 10 blockbusters of 2008. Maybe I'll try and rustle up a list for 2009 at some point, go one step beyond.

Vudu Magic

The magic Vudu set-top box has been unveiled, and the NY Times' story does a good job of explaining why it could change the way we purchase home entertainment forever. Here are the key points:

No cable or satellite subscription required.
Internet not required. [EDIT: Connection points, yes, but subscription, no, not needed]
All major studios except Sony and 15 smaller outfits have signed to provide content.
Fast - the films start playing as soon as selected, no buffer time needed.
The user interface is really straightforward - designed by TiVo veterans.
Standalone unit - unlike, say, Apple TV.

Sounds to me like this one has a fighting chance. Sony obviously have designs on their own version of this, via the Playstation 3 or some future iteration of that overpriced old mule, but Vudu could go some way to rocking their boat really quite quickly.

If you want to sign up for the Vudu Beta program, registration is open now.

What's Actually On Those Spider-Man 3 Pirate DVDs?

Sony have officially denied that Spider-Man 3 has been pirated; the only evidence I can garner actually seems to back them up.

Two film ick readers purchased Spider-Man 3, or so they thought, from their local enslaved illegal immigrant traders. Both ended up with the same thing... a copy of Ghost Rider. Thanks to them both for letting me know.

Of course, there may be actual copies of Spider-Man 3 doing the rounds - Sony have every reason to pretned there isn't. If you happen across or see a copy actually playing, please let us know. For heavens sake, though, don't take this as an encouragement to buy pirated materials. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Are Wal-Mart About To Spoil The Future Of DVD For Everyone?

Blu-Ray is stomping on HD-DVD and, despite my numerous misgivings about Sony, that's the way I wanted it to go. As far as I can determine, Blu-Ray is the better format.

But now, it looks like the fate of our future movie collections rest entirely in the hands of Wal-Mart.

Rumours have spread over the weekend that Wal-Mart have engaged a technology manufacturer to make a next-gen disc player at a cost of only $50 per unit. That gives the thing a very low selling price - maybe even as low as $50, so attractive a loss-leader it would be. I'll stick my neck out and predict a $200 tag.

The question is, however - is this a HD-DVD player or a Blu-Ray player? Hi Def Digest have had a look at the evidence... and come up with nothing truly conclusive. The consensus across the web, however, is that HD is more likely than Blu.

And that should turn the tables on Blu-Ray quite conclusively.

Spider-Futures

Of course Sony want more Spider-Man. 4, 5 and 6, apparently. But it goes without saying that 6 depends on the success of 5, 5 on the success of 4... and I think we can rest assured that 3 will deliver more than enough the get gears moving on 4.

But not with Sam Raimi. He's not going to sign, I'm sure.

Superbad Bypass

Sony have an age check on their Superbad site that makes it rather difficult for you to access the clip. Why not use a direct download link instead?

Aardman Off To Sony

Variety say "Sony Pictures Entertainment has agreed a three-year, first-look deal with Aardman Features"

Apparently, Aardman have four fature scripts in advanced stages of development, one of which is the next Wallace and Gromit film that I'm sure Sony will be keen to net. I understand that BBC Films had been circling that one, and maybe a co-production deal will still come through.

Aardman's COO, Stephen Moore, has commented on how Sony have less of a desire to control than Dreamworks. Here's hoping it's much less, because a little less would still be much too much.

The plan is now for Aardman to produce a film every 18 months, both in stop-motion and CG. The Sony deal is only for three years, and is simply on a first look basis, so it is still possible - if unlikely - that Aardman could produce films elsewhere, even in that timeframe.

I'm hoping Richard Goleszowski now gets another crack at a feature.

Sesame Workshop Sign With Genius

Longtime readers will know how much respect I have for the good folks at the Sesame Workshop. Not only do their programmes offer well considered and demonstrably effective educational content, are very entertaining and generally beautiful to look at, they are also incredibly smart, well-made and witty. If only one in a hundred films was pushed to meet the exacting standards required of Sesame Street, we'd be living in a golden age of cinema.

Until recently, Sony Wonder were taking care of distribution for the Workshop's DVD releases, but they have now slashed their operations and pulled out of the kids home entertainment business entirely. As a resuly, the Sesame Workshop have signed a deal with the Weinsteins' distribution company Genius Products. The first release is expected in April.

Future titles - far future - will likely include The Adventures of Bert and Ernie, about which I was excitedly yammering last week. In the meantime, I've been supplied a couple of hi-res preview images from the show, courtesy of Sesame Workshop, which you can see/click-enlarge below. They are, of course, TM and (c) 2007 Sesame Workshop. All rights reserved - so don't go nicking them. Show some respect for those who truly deserve it.

Ghostbusters Game Off Of X-Box 360, Headed To PS3

Due to Sony holding the game rights to the the film, the infamous in-development Ghostbusters game from Zootfly is now headed to the PS3 and not the X-Box 360. This is (a perhaps insubstantiated rumour) now popping up on messageboards, so my feelers have been sent out for confirmation just now. I thought I'd pass it on in the meantime however, as a frighteningly large lot of you seemed to be very interested in the game clips.

How foolish of Zootfly to get so far into the game's gestation without sorting rights issues out. Seems that, this time, they've been very lucky.

Adult Content Headed To Blu-Ray After All

Kudos to The Inquirer for finding out the true story behind the Sony-Porn wars.

Porn Producer About Face Strikes Blu-Ray Hard

Last year, various adult DVD publishers pledged their support of the Blu-Ray format over HD-DVD. I said, at the time, that this would be enough to win the war for Blu-Ray, to kill their rival dead.

Now, of course, a surprising twist has come along and the porn industry could be just about to deal a death blow to Blu-Ray instead.

Digital Playground, I am told, produce and release a very, very large proportion of America's pornography. They had announced that their titles would be available exclusively on Blu-Ray, but today, they've pulled a u-turn and declared that their titles will be released exclusively on HD-DVD. Apparently, they haven't been able to get any Blu-Ray pressing plants to accept their material, these plants citing Sony licensing policy as their reason for refusal.

If this is true, and Sony is cesnoring the content of Blu-Ray disc, it's a very bad thing indeed - and not necessarily regarding adult titles only, of course.

Sony appear to have made a grave error as porn wins tech wars. While people are still buying the stuff on disc (despite the abundance of porn on the web) then any home entertainment format or disc producer needs to embrace this not-so-niche market or handicap themselves severely.

Financial Times Announces Sony's Movie Download Plans

The Sony PSP is something of a turkey - the games are rarely up to the standards of many, if not most, for the Nintendo DS; the battery life is criminal and cruel; the UMD format for watching movies on the device has died a quick, painful death.

Now, according to The Financial Times, Sony are to launch a download service for PSP owners. A 4GB memory stick is being issued which, at the levels of compression offered, should hold ten films. That sounds like fairly serious compression - how are these films going to look? Only one copy can be kept for the download price - DRM haters, start your hating.

I'm betting on this being another facet of the all round PSP failure.