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Media
Information > Media DVD Coverage 
Archive
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| Updated August 27, 2008 DVD
NEWS DIGEST
1 -
Nim's Island 20th Century Fox
Crime syndicates including bike gangs have moved into DVD and internet piracy, with some channelling millions of dollars in illicit profits into drug dealing ventures. They are making their money off the back of movies like The Dark Knight, of which pirated DVDs have already been seized in Australia, and locally funded film The Bank Job, which was on DVD in Australia before its release on the big screen. Australia is now second only to China in the Asia-Pacific region for the number of pirated DVDs seized, according to the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft. More than $233 million a year was being stolen from the country's film industry - including video hire stores and suburban cinemas - and ending up in the pockets of criminals.
Far from the fears that the slashing of DVD and VCD rates will endanger the survival of the DVD rental business, the segment is experimenting with new concepts and is on an expansion spree with deep-pocketed business houses venturing into the space. Most of the online DVD rental houses are entering into talks with DVD manufacturing companies to provide them with a window for the latest Bollywood flicks, before the DVDs hit the market through the retailers. Rahul Mansharamani, CEO, MovieMart believes that such tie-ups will happen more frequently in future. Traditionally, the home video value chain operates like this - the movie producers or the content owners sell the DVD rights of the movie or content to companies like Moser Baer, Shemaroo, Excel which in turn dole out licences to DVD rental services at a negotiable price for a basket of movies. Although the players feel that it may take another 3 to 5 years for digital download of movies to catch up in the country, Bigflix has already launched its download to own (costing $1.49 to $19.99) and free streaming service.
This collection groups together most of Allen’s films from the ‘90s as well as 2006’s Scoop. Bullets over Broadway stars John Cusack as David Shayne, an idealistic young writer who will do anything to direct his first Broadway play. Celebrity is a string of cameos by some the biggest names in Hollywood, including Charlize Theron, Leonardo DiCaprio, Melanie Griffith, Winona Ryder and Hank Azaria. In Deconstructing Harry, Harry Block (Allen) has had three wives, six psychiatrists and dozens of girlfriends. Everybody Says I Love You is Allen’s first and only musical to-date. In this celebration of love, Joe (Allen) attempts to falsely win the heart of Von (Julia Roberts) while his youngest daughter (Natasha Lyonne) is constantly experiencing love at first sight. In Mighty Aphrodite, Lenny (Allen) and Amanda (Helena Bonham Carter) attempt to save their marriage by adopting a son, who turns out to be brilliant. Convinced his parents must also be smart, Lenny becomes obsessed with tracking them down. Scoop stars Allen’s new muse, Scarlett Johansson as an inquisitive journalist who is given a career-making scoop by the ghost of recently deceased reporter (Ian McShane) at a 1950’s style magic show by the third-rate illusionist Splendini (Allen).
Blockbuster Inc. and NCR Corp. did not say where the first kiosks would be located. Several smaller companies, including McDonald's Corp. subsidiary Redbox Automated Retail LLC, have deployed thousands of automated DVD rental kiosks in grocery stores, drug stores and McDonald's restaurants. The Blockbuster-branded kiosks will initially only provide rentals, but could in the future also sell DVDs and video games, or accept downloads of new content. Blockbuster showed off a downloading kiosk in May that could transfer movies to a portable media-playing device from Archos. The first two of those machines are expected to be installed in two Dallas stores this summer.
Six major Hollywood studios have agreed to place antismoking public-service announcements on all DVDs of new, youth-oriented films featuring tobacco use. The agreement runs through the end of 2009. It comes after years of lobbying by antismoking groups against the glamorization of tobacco use in Hollywood movies. end
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