Studio Round-Up

Now, nobody will argue that all companies have treated DVD equally. We've seen the quality of DVDs range from absolutely incredible (anything from Columbia/Tristar or Warner) to OK (Twentieth Century Fox - albeit this looks like it'll change very quickly), to Mediocre (Paramount, Disney) to absolutely terrible (those collections of Three Stooges, etc, with no extras, and the wrong Curly on the cover).

This week, I thought I'd do a round up of various studios releasing content on DVD and give you an idea of what to expect from them. I have no doubt that with the number of companies releasing DVDs these days, far from everyone is covered. I also am not familiar with every studio's work since I haven't had opportunity to peruse content from some smaller organizations.

These are in no particular order.

Twentieth Century Fox

Fox was originally supposed to be one of the first supporters of DVD, but backed out at the last second. As we are all far too familiar, it took them forever (and a day) to step back in. When they did come back, they released solid, but not spectacular DVDs (Predator, Home Alone 3). Picture quality was good, but not anamorphically enhanced. Sound was excellent. Features were pretty much nil (maybe a trailer if you got really lucky). They did release one or two special editions (i.e. Young Frankenstein), and the supplementary content there is excellent. With the release of news regarding the Alien DVDs coming in April, it appears that Fox has indeed turned their policies around. It looks like anamorphically enhanced transfers will be the norm, as will supplementary content. It looks like the Die Hard DVDs presented the first step in the turnaround, and it isn't taking long for Fox to come to grips with how to make great DVDs. Given their friggin' huge film library, this is great news.

Disney/Buena Vista

Disney has supported DVD since very early on, but only in a minimalist way. They release non-anamorphic DVDs, with little or no supplementary material. Picture quality has ranged from fair to very good (for non-anamorphic), while sound has generally been excellent.

Paramount

If you thought bonus features on Disney's discs were sparse, check out some of Paramount's! These guys took forever to come to DVD, and now that they're here they've been releasing film-only DVDs. Their first batch of DVDs were anamorphically enhanced, but for some reason only known to those with big foreheads in high places, change their tune with subsequent DVDs. How many others out there are disappointed that The Truman Show wasn't a special edition? Especially considering that for each take we saw on screen, Peter Weir allowed Jim Carrey to do an "improv" take. You can't tell me there isn't some great supplements available!

Dreamworks

The house that Stephen, David and Jeffrey built took a long time to come to DVD, but once they arrived they did it in a big way. They released excellent DVDs with unsurpassed picture quality, brilliant sound, great supplements and some of the best menu screens I've seen to date. If these guys can keep this up, they'll have DVD owners wrapped around their little fingers. One strike against them, the DVD replicating facility they're using seems to have a quality control problem. Every single copy of Small Soldiers I've seen has suffered from severe laser rot, and as a result there are several players out there that simply won't play this fun movie.

MGM/UA

MGM has consistently released some of the best DVDs on the market. Picture quality is typically excellent, sound is good and supplemental content is usually quite extensive. A few small strikes; releasing two editions of Tomorrow Never Dies in one year was not cool (although the special edition is amazing!), and having the supplemental content on Ronin only (easily) available to DVD-ROM drive owners is not a great idea either. The on-line "event" didn't really do anything that hasn't already been done in regular supplements.

Universal

These guys just can't get a break. They've had a rough couple of years, with major flop after flop (Babe: Pig In The City, Meet Joe Black, Psycho 98) and only a few hits which could hardly be considered "classics" (Patch Adams). Still, Universal's back catalog is one of the most sought after in the world (Back to the Future, Jurassic Park), and they've been releasing excellent editions of their movies both new and old to DVD. I look forward to Back to the Future: Special Edition, and I can hardly wait for a bunch of their other titles to come to DVD. Avoid the earliest of their releases, though, as they were released in a CD-style jewel case. They've since corrected this, going to the plastic keepcases we've all become accustomed to.

Warner Brothers

I'm absolutely convinced that Warner Brothers is the reason DVD has taken off in such a big way. Right from day one they released big movies day and date with their VHS counterparts, and have always strived for not only excellent picture and sound, but supplemental content as well. Bravo, guys! And keep up the good work! Now if only the film division would release more movies people actually want to see (what the hell was the deal with Lethal Weapon 4???)

Columbia/Tristar

Another early and big supporter of DVD (not a big surprise considering their parent company is one of DVD's creators, Sony). These guys have consistently released DVDs with absolutely great picture and sound, and have had some editions with beautiful supplements as well.

Polygram Filmed Entertainment

I know, I know, they're library has been bought up and they don't really exist anymore. Still, they supported DVD early on and had supplements on even the earliest of their discs (The Usual Supsects, etc.) I'm a little disappointed that The Game didn't have any supplements, but at least the menus were cool! I'll miss these guys, they had some of the quirkiest stuff out there (look for What Dreams May Come soon!)

Alliance

Alliance is the Canadian distributor responsible for releasing the majority of the Miramax content here in Canada (which is handled by Disney south of the border). They've done a bang-up job of showing how bad a job Disney is doing. Most of the Miramax flicks are still not anamorphic (owing to the fact that the transfer is supplied by Disney), but they almost always add some supplemental content to the American releases. See the Trainspotting and Pulp Fiction discs for prime examples of how much better their releases are than the US ones. Also, apparently the editions of The Sweet Hereafter and Good Will Hunting released Stateside are not anamorphic. I can't believe some companies get away with this stuff...

Madacy

I have only one DVD from these guys, and it's the aforementioned Three Stooges disc. This disc sucks. The cover is deceptive, and the quality of the content is marginal at best. It looks like it was taken from a bad VHS dub. The only good things are the pathetic trivia game supplement, and the fact that it won't wear out like a VHS tape (although maybe that's NOT a good thing...)

Rhino

The only DVDs I have from these guys are the South Park discs, but I have to say that they're excellent. They understand that DVDs are cheap to produce, and so they put four episodes on one disc instead of two like on the VHS tapes. Plus they added the intros by Trey and Matt, and the Comedy Central commercial is kind of fun as well (at least for those of us in Canada who don't actually get Comedy Central).

Well, that pretty much wraps up the Studio round-up for the moment. Maybe in a year's time I'll give them all a new report card and we'll see if any of the lacking studios have improved. And to the guys like WB and Columbia, keep up the great work! There are people out here who appreciate it!

Until next time, go watch a movie! (on DVD of course...)