Which is why we have things like this.
Warner Brothers Insults LOTR and Hobbit Fans With ME: UCE
- Thread starter JWPlatt
- Start date
If anyone should be feeling insulted here, it's Peter Jackson.
Bill Hunt explains, better than I can, in a long follow-up post today why it is insulting:
Bill Hunt said:
Then:
Bill then mentions Elon Musk as a possible customer of the $800 set, and goes on to demonstrate how to get more for less money:
And Mr. Hunt finishes with:
http://www.digitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/081816_1445
Wow.
Well, there are no words to express in this matter. It all feels very overblown. I have no doubt that sales will be bad, complaints will be made and WB will deal with it in some way that will be complained about forever.
Well, it's entertaining, I'll say that much.
Well, it's entertaining, I'll say that much.
I agree that it's overpriced but I see no reason to be "insulted" by it. I haven't bought special sets of films or TV shows that I like because box sets are often prohibitively expensive, at least for my budget.
Also, I already have these films.
Also, I already have these films.
Right. Why bother. What we don't have is everything the "ultimate" collection should have been.
Look, I think "ultimate" is just a sell word to make it sound great. And if you wanted it and its out of your price range, sorry to hear that. Besides, there will never be an "ultimate" version. Years from now, they'll be still releasing new editions, with different bells and whistles.
More to my point is, who was the target audience for this release? Probably the hardcore collectors, not the general fans. I just don't get what the big deal is. It's just the latest frakking movie release that happens to have a lot of physical extras. There are plenty of previous releases that have a lot of additional materials, if that's what you want.
I've read it, I've understood it and I don't agree with the conclusions that fans should be "insulted."
Are you just mad because a couple of people online are mad? These aren't the be all end all of LOTR movies. We're going to see anniversary editions and 4K and whatever else.
Mad? Disappointed. I think it's questionable now that any future editions of significance with the promised newly produced content will be released.
To be honest, I think Peter Jackson did a very disappointing job with The Hobbit and that might actually have something to do with the lack of studio enthusiasm. That's not something I've heard anywhere else - just a perception. Or it could instead be endemic to a lack of Warner Brothers studio integrity itself which caused the problems with The Hobbit, and this matter is just more of the same. New Line treated The Lord of the Rings far better.
To be honest, I think Peter Jackson did a very disappointing job with The Hobbit and that might actually have something to do with the lack of studio enthusiasm. That's not something I've heard anywhere else - just a perception. Or it could instead be endemic to a lack of Warner Brothers studio integrity itself which caused the problems with The Hobbit, and this matter is just more of the same. New Line treated The Lord of the Rings far better.
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Hey, man. I did read the thread and sorry if I misunderstood the point you're making, but I don't think the release you wanted even exists. And if you're point is that the director wanted to make one with more bonus features and that didn't happen, that's the industry. Peter Jackson isn't in charge of those decisions. (And, for what it's worth, while I wouldn't buy this set myself, it is a nice collection.)
Seriously? These movies are insanely popular. LOTR, at least, is considered a modern classic. This is not the end of new editions of the movie. They will make more.
Okay, to be honest, I think that Jackson did a darn good job with the Hobbit movies, esp. considering that the success of the first movie raised unfair expectations for it. But that's all subjective.
So, Warner Bros. is morally in the wrong for releasing the edition they did rather than another one? That doesn't make any sense.
OK this one actually does kind of piss me off. Pretty much every other collector's/ultimate edition of a game like I've seen has included a Season Pass. To expect people to pay $270s for the collector's edition, and then $25 dollars on top of that for the SP is ridiculous. Oh, and before someone tries to say this is a similar situation, no it's not, if that were the case WB would be expecting people to pay again for the new extras.
I still don't see what's so bad about this, it's not like people are being forced to buy this. If you are such a hardcore fan you must have every version of the movies released, then that's your problem, not Warner's.
I'll agree with the point that WB seems utterly uninterested in marketing the Hobbit beyond the bare minimum. My wife is part of theonering.net and the general discussion points of WB mishandling the marketing of the Hobbit films is one that I tend to agree with and might match your perception of studio being disappointed.
I think that the Hobbit was overstretched (nod to Bilbo on that one) in terms of story. It should have been two films and been done with it. Or never made at all.
@WebLurker: Again, your points fail to comprehend the issues raised.
Duh...
Duh...
No kidding.
No shit. Repackaging for over-priced swag is the problem.
Okay. We disagree. Along with a lot of people who didn't like the video game CGI, lack of physics, juvenile humor, and speculation about what's down dwarf pants. But the topic is not the movies. It's the cynical WB money grab with nothing new.
Not to you.
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True. But they are given no option to obtain the content that was promised. They are instead offered an $800 re-buy of what they already have and some swag.
The point is the collectors do have every version. This is a collector's edition. So who is WB trying to sell this to at $800 with no new content when there is tons of unreleased content that Peter Jackson is interested in producing? And is the casual fan who doesn't have everything yet going to spend $800 to get it with a bookshelf? And even then no 3D, no 4K, no HDR, no theatrical? And when anyone can build their own ultimate collection separately on Amazon for $200 less?
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People with money who only have the DVDs and want to upgrade, or people who haven't bought them at all, but for some reason have now decided to since they can get all six EEs at one time.
I don't deny it's a could be argued that it's a stupid decision on Warner's part, but I still don't see where it's so horrible or an insult to fans. It's just another overpriced collector's edition.
I'm not the kind of person who has to have every version of a movie released, so I don't really feel a lot of sympathy for people who do. Like I said before, the only way I would buy something I already own is if it's a format upgrade of has some kind of extra I'm absolutely dying for, but if it doesn't have one or both of them I'm not going to spend money on something I already own.
I don't deny it's a could be argued that it's a stupid decision on Warner's part, but I still don't see where it's so horrible or an insult to fans. It's just another overpriced collector's edition.
I'm not the kind of person who has to have every version of a movie released, so I don't really feel a lot of sympathy for people who do. Like I said before, the only way I would buy something I already own is if it's a format upgrade of has some kind of extra I'm absolutely dying for, but if it doesn't have one or both of them I'm not going to spend money on something I already own.
An aside: TheOneRing.net is a mutual admiration forum that makes dissenting opinions most unwelcome. Love it or leave it (please!), basically. But it's good to hear they have acknowledged the WB situation to some extent.
The running gag of LOTR dvd's having special edition 24 hours of content releases always gets me.
Seriously. What is on the DVD's beside the movie?
-6 hour vlog of one of the hobbit actors sitting in a chair getting makeup applied?
-Peter Jackson's entire flight to New Zealand? Bonus material when he gets something from duty free selection.
Seriously. What is on the DVD's beside the movie?
-6 hour vlog of one of the hobbit actors sitting in a chair getting makeup applied?
-Peter Jackson's entire flight to New Zealand? Bonus material when he gets something from duty free selection.