Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Studios Fight Blockbuster for Millions in Unpaid Fees

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Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 02-23-2011, 11:44 PM:

Studios Fight Blockbuster for Millions in Unpaid Fees

Source: hollywoodreporter.com

quote:
Studios are lining up to get what they can from bankrupt Blockbuster.

On Wednesday, Universal Pictures joined 20th Century Fox and Summit Entertainment in submitting a claim for millions of dollars in unpaid fees.

In Universal's case, the DVD-rental chain owes the studio $6.4 million, according to a filing, and it is at risk for an additional $7 million due soon.

Universal seeks immediate payment or asks that Blockbuster return the DVDs it hasn't paid for.

Summit says Blockbuster owes it $9.5 million and Fox says it's owed $7 million, though not for another few months.

Blockbuster is struggling for its life as it tries to keep its doors open long enough to find a buyer for the company.

Blockbuster already has a $290 million bid from a group of investors, but it is hoping for something more. The existing bid calls for Blockbuster to shut down another 609 of its estimated 3,300 stores.

Posted by Tom Petrov (Member # 1534) on 02-24-2011, 02:41 AM:

Poor, poor blockbuster.

Its time to shut the doors.

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 02-26-2011, 09:33 AM:

If I bought stuff and didnt pay for it, I'd be under the jail.

Looks like the vultures are circling the dead Blockbuster carcass on the ground.

The Blockbuster near my theatre looks closed most of the time now. They had a good long run, but now....

Posted by John Lasher (Member # 968) on 02-26-2011, 11:26 PM:

Brick & mortar video rental stores are obsolete. Even when I started working at Hollywood, I remember thinking, "This is a job that could be done by a machine." guess what...

I was right.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 02-27-2011, 01:50 AM:

I'm curious how Redbox works. Obviously there is a guy who runs around and changes the stock for all the machines (one guy does all the machines in the USA, obviously). What happens when stupid people are trying to use it while he's there changing stock? There's always a line of stupid, slow and indecisive people hanging at pretty much any Redbox at almost any time. Some people simply run up to it on their way to work or something to return a movie and don't have time to wait around for the slow as molasses line AND Redbox guy. What if it mechanically breaks down and people can't return their movies and get charged up the corn hole?

Unless you are only a casual renter, then Redbox sucks compared to Netflix. The Redbox has a great price, though.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 02-27-2011, 03:59 AM:

quote:

Universal seeks immediate payment or asks that Blockbuster return the DVDs it hasn't paid for.

Yah, like they are going to be able to recoup 6.4 million dollars by getting back physical DVDs that no one would pay more than a couple of bucks for, if even that, if they are even saleable at all. Blockbuster should ship back a couple of dump truck loads of DVDs to Universal corporate offices and dump them on the front lawn.

quote:
Brick & mortar video rental stores are obsolete -- and I was right.

....as are mechanical metal boxes painted red, doleing out physical discs that have to be returned and which have to be changed on a weekly basis by a fleet of gas guzzling trucks and a horde of salaried laborors. Streaming is the future, not those stupid boxes....and guess what...I am right!

Posted by Bruce Hansen (Member # 281) on 02-27-2011, 01:57 PM:

Streaming quality sucks.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-27-2011, 03:43 PM:

True, Bruce, but remember: Nobody cares about quality anymore. If you can make out Justin Bieber's face on your iPhone, well that's good enough!

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 02-27-2011, 05:37 PM:

quote: John Lasher
Brick & mortar video rental stores are obsolete

Major chains are, yes...but there's a spot here for independent DVD stores to do rather well once the chains are gone. Maybe not forever, but long enough to see some real profits for their businesses.

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 02-27-2011, 10:48 PM:

quote:
....as are mechanical metal boxes painted red, doleing out physical discs that have to be returned and which have to be changed on a weekly basis by a fleet of gas guzzling trucks and a horde of salaried laborors. Streaming is the future, not those stupid boxes....and guess what...I am right!

Your not right Frank, the Blockbuster and Redbox machines will be around for awhile still. The poor family with 5 kids can't afford your Streaming content nor do they probably have a device that can do it. They go to the Redbox and Blockbuster machines because they can all see a movie for under 5 bucks.

As far as how they are loaded, the company that my mother works for does the loading and unloading of the Phoenix area Blockbuster machines. There arn't fleets of gas guzzling trucks and not a horde of salaried laborors. For all the machines in the Valley. Which there are over a 100, there are about 6 people that service them each week, making sure that there are plenty of movies for the people that "Arn't" using them to select from.

Joe - Any movie rented from either Redbox or Blockbuster machines can be returned to any machine in the country. It doesn't have to be at the same one you rented it from. Considering there is a machine at every gas station and grocery store I don't think its a problem to make sure its returned.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 02-27-2011, 11:42 PM:

quote: Kurt Zupin
The poor family with 5 kids can't afford your Streaming content nor do they probably have a device that can do it.

Although netflix doesn't advertise focus on it anymore, the devices they support include a computer (assuming it's running either OSX or windows). And around here, even fairly poor people have computers that would be able to do netflix streaming.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 02-28-2011, 12:30 AM:

And at their entry level subscription, Netflix allows as many streaming films as you can watch and without the hatchet hanging over one's head to return it next day or the price goes up.

Streaming suck, but depending on who you are. I have a household where a room full of teens play Netflix films streaming thru a little Roku box to an old 27in CRT TV and they love it just fine....they don't seem to mind the big blocks of unresolved color shading that dance around in dark scenes or the occasional pixilation or even the occasional stuttering, not to mention the other common video artifax -- stuff that drives me out of the room. Thing is, they are perfectly fine with it. In fact, they have to have a curfew and a per week limit put on them or they would be watching day and night.

But sucky, for sure, but it's cheap, and it's getting better and it's the way movies will be reaching a huge growing market. Netflix has a campaign to move people toward it and being happy with it. If it doesn't kill the brick and mortar (and mechanical red vending machines), it certainly will give them stiff competition.

Posted by Tom Petrov (Member # 1534) on 02-28-2011, 01:49 AM:

quote: John Wilson
Major chains are, yes...but there's a spot here for independent DVD stores to do rather well once the chains are gone

I kind of agree but I don't think rental is the way to go. There will always be people who want to see hard to find titles. We have a store in the GTA called "The Beat Goes On" which sells second hand titles.

I just picked up Burn After Reading, LA Confidential, 9.5 Weeks, and Fast and the Furious for $2.99 each. They are in perfect quality. I also got the Criterion 400 blows for $8.

There is no point in renting older stuff at prices this cheap.

For new releases, there will always be Redbox and the machines.

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 02-28-2011, 04:16 AM:

I agree with both of you about Netflix. I have it, have had it for almost ten years now. I don't need a lesson in how to use Netflix what Netflix is. I'm sorry Chris but the family that has a home computer isn't going to crowd around their computer monitor with a bowl of popcorn to watch a movie. I don't disagree that streaming is the way of the future. I love Netflix streaming, but to say that the Rental Boxes are going to be dead in a year or two is just plain uninformed.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 02-28-2011, 09:13 AM:

More and more devices allow Netflix streaming to be "enjoyed" on the TV. My PS3 has it. The Wii has it. I think the Xbox 360 has it. Most new Blu-ray players have it built-in. Hell, I think even some TVs have it. I have streamed a bunch of movies from Netflix, but I have never streamed it to my computer. I think you need a lesson on how to use Netflix. [Wink]

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 02-28-2011, 08:04 PM:

And now FIOS (at least I think it's them, if I remember the commercial correctly) is making a huge deal that their claim to fame which they keep hawking ad nausium is that their service is "portable," i.e., you can watch it ANYWHERE that you happen to have any kind of "device." They boast, "You can start a movie here (picture of a flat panel TV in a living room with family sitting around it)....or you can continue to watch it here (picture splits to reveals someone at a computer), you can finish watching it here, (picture splits and reveals someone watching what looks like a damn cell phone or iPhone and they are on a boat or on the beach or some such). What a great way to watch a movie, moving from one device to device and winding up on a crappy lilliputian phone display.

Point is, they are moviing to what seems like a goal of having everying integrated....the ubiquitous melding of all entertainment, such as it is. As bandwidth gets faster and cheaper (I am now paying less for my internet connection via 4G at 3 times the speed I was getting via telephone line DSL, plus, no wire at all -- now it's coming via the cell towers. This pretty huge.

Posted by Scott Jentsch (Member # 1681) on 03-01-2011, 11:01 AM:

But you have to admit, "Hall Pass" is not going to be any less of an experience on a phone than it would be on a TV.

There are movies that deserve the full experience and reward the viewer for the effort, but how many movies from last year fit into that category?

I've never watched a movie on my iPhone, but for your typical barely-worth-free schlock, I don't think the experience would be all that bad. But then, I don't watch those movies, which is why I haven't watched a movie on my iPhone... [Smile]

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 03-01-2011, 12:50 PM:

quote: Kurt Zupin
I'm sorry Chris but the family that has a home computer isn't going to crowd around their computer monitor with a bowl of popcorn to watch a movie.

So these dirt-poor people you refer to have a big screen? I doubt it.

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 03-01-2011, 08:42 PM:

quote: Chris Slycord
So these dirt-poor people you refer to have a big screen? I doubt it.

I'm sorry Chris, but when did I say dirt-poor? Please quote where I said that. Your average American family is not living the high life like everyone on here thinks. Just because half the posters on here have systems to rival those in the theatre they work at does not mean your average American family does. And where did I even say they have to watch it on a big screen? I didn't come on here to argue with you or anyone else, but that seems to be your MO.

Like every topic you post in, your right. Everyone else who sports an opinion on a subject is wrong. I bow down to you. [Roll Eyes]

I really don't think you guys see the people that are using these machines on a regular basis. Maybe you do, but I doubt it. The families that rent from them are doing it because its cheap for them and convenient. I myself love Netflix, I use it on my Xbox 360 and my PS3 as well as my personal computer, I think I've rented 3 movies from redbox in the past 3 years. Its not for me, but there is a huge market for it. With Blockbuster charging north of 6 bucks a rental, its the way to go for the consumer without Netflix.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 03-02-2011, 12:05 PM:

quote: Kurt Zupin
I'm sorry Chris, but when did I say dirt-poor?

When you said they couldn't afford the streaming content? I live around a lot of quite poor people who can afford $8.99 per month.

quote: Kurt Zupin
And where did I even say they have to watch it on a big screen?

I thought it was implied that you saying they wouldn't watch on a computer screen that they would only watch on something significantly larger.

But whatever. If I disagree with you and voice this opinion I'm telling you to bow to me.

Posted by John Lasher (Member # 968) on 03-05-2011, 01:22 PM:

Just my $.02, but I have seen families on welfare who have nicer (or at least bigger) TVs than I do.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-05-2011, 11:02 PM:

Exactly. When did "can't afford it" ever stop anybody from getting a big TV set?

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 03-05-2011, 11:36 PM:

No kidding, in fact they're more likely to have one because they think "I'll just put it on my credit card".

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 03-12-2011, 06:12 AM:

Hey, that's the American way. That's the way the governement does it. Where would we be if everyone stopped using credit cards? Oh, yah, not in debt. Evidently the government thinks that's a bad thing.

Besides, watching TV is just as much a staple of life as running water or electricity. It would be just as unthinkable to expect someone to do without watching TV as it would be to think they could do without food on the table...maybe even more-so.