Multi-format-mayhem @ Nov 22nd 2008 8:45AM

Cross generational movies are fine, to a point.....but only to a point.

My biggest beef with American Hollywood films is how in their pursuit of the biggest possible audience they've almost entirely stopped making films squarely aimed at adults in the 18+ market.

I think Sin City or Kill Bill were the last 18+'s I've seen and that's a fair while back.

Anyhoo.

$20 million this week might have been more impressive if it wasn't for the fact it's clearly a week that brought out the buyers (as the DVD number shows).
It's also undeniable that we are seeing all numbers firm up due to the approach of the holidays & X-Mas.

There will be 2 more big spikes (Batman TDK & Wanted) this year - but I suspect that overall the year will continue to underwhelm massively.
3 hooks to hang the format from this year simply isn't enough (the other being Iron Man).

We've just seen Warner publicly state that
“We think this is a do-or-die time for Blu-ray,” said Ron Sanders, president of Warner Home Video. “We must get it established as a favorite holiday item.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/business/21dvd.html?_r=2&hp

How bad must things be for them to talk like that publicly
(and very recently, note the article is dated 20th Nov)?
It's not exactly a vote of confidence to be talking publicly like that to the media.

Where's the evidence Blu-ray is "“established as a favorite holiday item”, anywhere?
Even the PS3 gang refuse to buy unless the movie is targeted precisely at them
(and even then, even with Nielsen's dodgy stats, those sales remain a short-lived blip compared to DVD - and the BDA are so obviously terrified of letting anyone know what 'legs' any title has as they refuse to allow 6mth or 12mth sales numbers to see the light of - public- day).

As for Warner? Anyone getting a sense of deja vu,?

Once we have this year end I don't hold much hope for the numbers doing much but taking a dive.
There are a couple of movies I can imagine selling well slated to appear (the new Terminator and new Star Trek, if they release them) but besides that?

The coming economic freeze is undoubtedly going to have it's way for some time starting straight after X-Mas.
Count on it.