VSDA Report - Page 1

by Guido Henkel

This year’s visit to VSDA, the Video Software Dealers Association’s annual conference, took us back to the desert of Las Vegas after last year’s stint in Los Angeles. Taking place in the Convention Center adjacent to the brand-new Venetian Hotel and Casino, this year’s convention had a very different face than previous shows. While in last years huge booths were set up to show off the latest products and to announce the biggest upcoming titles of every studio, this year the show floor was practically devoid of such exalting displays. It was immediately noticeable that none of Hollywood’s major studios actually had booths at the show and had instead opted to relocate their business into private suites off the main show floor. The result was an exposition that was vastly reduced in size and content, but at the other hand gave some of the smaller, independent publishers a chance to bet recognized.

Universal Home Video

Absent from the main floor, Universal invited us to their suite and had a number of great announcements ready. Finally the long awaited release of Orson Welles’ masterpiece Touch Of Evil is coming to DVD on October 31. As a Collector’s Edition with a number of supplements, the release will feature the Director’s Cut of the film with additional footage. A 20^th Anniversary Edition of Somewhere In Time is also in production for release on October 31. The romantic classic starring Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour will feature the documentary “The Making Of Somewhere In Time” as well as a commentary track, interviews, production photos and notes, and much more.

For the whole family, Universal is also releasing Casper’s Haunted Christmas on DVD on October 31, in time with its video release. The DVD will feature an anamorphic widescreen and a full screen presentation of the movie as well as a featurette, outtakes and some other supplements.

USA Home Entertainment

USA Home Entertainment is bringing sports fans an absolutely amazing release. Get ready to experience the Super Bowl like you never did before. In an amazing production, the studio will release Greatest Moments In Super Bowl History, a DVD that makes full use of all of DVD’s technical capabilities. Using multiple angles you can see events from up to 16 (!!!) different cameras and listen two the commentary from the two different original broadcasts. Never-before-aired interviews with players, coaches owners and legends will also be on the disc, as well as commentary from the players. Using state-of-the-art technology, viewers will also have the chance to bring up player statistics at any time. A photo gallery with Super Bowl memorabilia such as tickets, pins, and merchandise, as well as pictures of all 34 Super Bowl rings, programs and patches are also on the disc. Together with the facts and trivia, biographies, stats and stories and full 5.1 audio tracks, this disc will have undoubtedly every Super Bowl fan salivating in anticipation. You will have to wait until October 10 however until you can buy this disc in stores for a meager $24.95!

To promote their incredible line of upcoming sports releases, USA Home Entertainment brought Professinal Sports Hall Of Famers to their booth where they signed autographs.
(From left to right) NFL Hall of Famer Gale Sayers, NHL Hall of Famer Gordie Howe, USA Home Entertainment Executive VP/General Manager Joe Amodei, NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton, MLB Hall of Famer Steve Carlton

Waking The Dead on September 26.

Paramount Home Video

Although Paramount Home Video did not announce any new titles at the show, we were able to pick up some rumors that seemed to substantiate over the show. It appears Paramount has big plans with the DVD release of Mission Impossible II and will create a full-blown special edition for this day and date release on November 15. Other titles on display included DVDs announced earlier, like Blue’s Big Musical Movie and the upcoming Peanuts DVD, It’s The Red Piper, Charlie Brown.

Warner Home Video

To support their upcoming releases of My Dog Skip, the folks at Warner Home Video brought in the movie’s main actor Frankie Munzie, as well as Skip the dog himself for an autograph session and photo opportunities. Given the long line of fans, I was actually surprised how enduring this little dog went through the procedure. The longest lines began to form at the Warner booth on Sunday however, first circling the booth itself and then trailing through half of the exhibit hall. Everyone was waiting for Hong Kong superstar Jet Li, star of Warner’s upcoming release Romeo Must Die, who signed T-Shirts, pictures and other memorabilia, always with a friendly smile, seemingly impressed with the number of people who turned out to see him.

Hong Kong superstar Jet Li meets his fans at Warner’s booth

No actual title announcements were made by the studio during the show other than the titles that we had listed in our regular releases listings in the past weeks, but we hear that finally actual work has begun on the DVD version of Superman, a release that will include a great number of special features as well a newly restored version of the film itself.

We also had the chance to catch a first glimpse of The Perfect Storm during the show, and we heard that the DVD production on this film has commenced a little while ago. The disc will contain no less than three commentary tracks as it currently stands and will also come with deleted scenes and a selection of featurettes. So put on the warm sweaters and raincoats - it is going to be a rough ride when this DVD hits the shelves in later October/early September.

Frankie Muncie and Skip the dog also came out to
Las Vegas for some fun

No wait was too long for many of the visitors to ge the chance to see their favorite stars and get an autograph

Artisan Entertainment / DTS

Artisan Entertainment teamed up with DTS at the show to give the press an early look at the Terminator 2: Judgement Day Ultimate Edition. In a 30-minute presentation that was hosted by the disc’s producer Van Ling and DTS’ own David Del Grosso, selected members of the press got the chance to see and hear the new version of the movie with the newly remixed DTS ES audio track. The result was very impressive to say the least, and together with the beautiful anamorphic image, the presentation was actually more reminiscent of a theater projection in its scope than a home video release. But after all, that’s what they tried to prove... with modern technology you can now beat the quality in your local Multiplex Cinema.