Skip to Content

WoW Insider is getting ready for BlizzCon!
AOL Tech

bubble posts

MovieBeam gets a boost from Magnolia Pictures

by Richard Lawler posted Jun 14th 2006 at 6:52AM

Magnolia Pictures, friendly day-and-date releasers of such HD flicks as Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Bubble, have announced support for the MovieBeam platform. According to VideoBusiness, despite already having support from the major studios, MovieBeam thinks they can find a niche delivering HD flicks to film buffs who want to avoid the messiness of finding an arthouse actually showing limited release movies. Combined with Magnolia's unorthodox release strategies, they seem to make a good match.

Also of note, if you want to check out the service without laying down $199 for the box up front, our friend Dave Zatz mentioned a coupon code (PR49B) that drops the price to $49, although we don't know if that is still valid. Ben wasn't very impressed with the quality of the HD when he reviewed MovieBeam, while Dave had a better impression of its SD capabilities. If you get your HDTV OTA, this may be the VOD service for you.

HD-DVD titles on the way from Magnolia

by Richard Lawler posted Apr 28th 2006 at 7:44PM

Now on HD-DVDMagnolia Home Entertainment, the distribution side of our good friend Mark Cuban's 2929 Entertainment, has announced they will be releasing five HD-DVDs in May. Bubble, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, The War Within and the TV series Bikini Destinations and HDNet World Report Special: Shuttle Discovery’s Historic Mission.

Reuters pegs the prices for the three movies at $29.98 and the two TV sets at $26.98. No specific release dates yet although it is good to see more content announced. If my math is correct, that should give us 25 movies on the shelves by the end of May, hopefully enough to keep early adopters busy as the Blu-ray launch approaches.

HDTV Listings for January 27, 2006

by Kevin C. Tofel posted Jan 27th 2006 at 2:01PM

BubbleWhat we're watching: This is an historic no-brainer for us, but you'll have to stay up late. How would you like to watch a high-def movie in the comfort of your own home on the day the pic debuts? We told you about this before and today is the day that "Bubble" makes its appearance on HDNet Movies at 11 p.m. in 1080i. It's also in theaters today is and supposed to be available on DVD,although Amazon is currently showing a ship date of January 31st. This is the Steven Soderbergh pic that circles around the murder of a single mother who was killed at an Ohio toy factory. Late nights, scary circumstances and 1080i: we'll take it!

After the jump is our traditional listing of HD programs throughout the night.

Continue reading HDTV Listings for January 27, 2006

Watch Bubble in the theater, on DVD and on cable, but not if you live in New Jersey

by Richard Lawler posted Jan 19th 2006 at 2:45PM


Steven SoderberghOr any of the other dozen states where movie theaters have refused to show the movie, fighting like the Luddites they are to protect their antiquated way of doing business. Director Steven Soderbergh, in partnership with our friend Mark Cuban and others is releasing his new movie "Bubble" ("the weirdest goddamn movie ever released by a major American filmmaker.") in theater, on cable and on DVD on the same day, giving viewers the choice of how they want to experience it from the beginning, instead of artificial time delays between each step.

Immediate (or close to it) digital distribution is the future, and these theaters are silly to fight it.  If they had any sense, they'd sell copies o the DVD on the way out. if they had offered me a copy of The Island as I exited the theater, I would have gladly dropped $20 more on top of what I had just spent on a ticket and popcorn.

Any HDBeat readers live in states that won't be getting a choice of how they want to see their movies?




    AOL News

    Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in:

    Joystiq
    Download Squad
    The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
    BloggingStocks
    Joystiq Xbox
    Autoblog
    Big Download
    Fanhouse NFL Blog