Image In Manufacturing, Distribution Deal With Sony
Continuing its restructuring of operations, Image Entertainment enters a multi-year manufacturing and distribution agreement with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, encompassing both Blu-ray and DVD discs. Home Media Magazine reports a separate deal between the two companies for Image to market an undisclosed number of Sony-owned titles, ranging from Sydney Pollack’s “Absence of Malice” to the Spike Jonze-directed “Adaptation.”
Warner’s Sanders Remains DEG President; Disney’s Chapek Steps Down
The Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) named its new board of directors for the coming fiscal year (Aug. 1 – July 31), while announcing that its chairman, Bob Chapek, was stepping down.
Chapek, who was the group’s president before being elected as its chairman in 2007, advanced at Disney late last year to become the studio’s distribution president. Lori MacPherson, EVP and GM of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, joins the DEG as Disney’s board representative.
TWICE notes that four of the DEG’s five-member executive committee were re-elected, with David Bishop of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment joining the committee as VP. Remaining on the executive committee are: Ron Sanders of Warner Home Video, president; Craig Kornblau of Universal Studios Home Entertainment, VP; Mike Dunn of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, secretary; and Eisuke Tsuyuzaki of Panasonic, CFO.
Companies joining the trade group include A&E Television Networks, Amazon.com, IMAX Corp., RealD, Samsung Electronics, SRS Labs, Testronics, and Verance.
Studios Deal For First Lien On Blockbuster Canada Assets
Continuing its efforts to avoid bankruptcy, Blockbuster has secured new payment terms from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, and Warner Home Video. In exchange, the studios receive a first lien on assets of the chain’s Canada subsidiary. As with Blockbuster’s previously announced rental deal with Warner, Fox and Sony also provide new-release movies for rental via the chain’s stores and by-mail channel day-and-date with the movies’ availability for purchase. Via PR Newswire
Sony’s Bishop Looks Ahead To ‘Modest Growth’ In Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures says it weathered last year’s packaged media downturn better than the industry overall, with the studio’s DVD and Blu-ray sales down by only 7% in 2009 (versus an industry-wide 13%). However, the studio recently announced plans to eliminate some 550 positions, mainly within its home entertainment unit.
Nevertheless, David Bishop, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment president, says that the industry has turned a corner. “We see Blu-ray and digital starting to fill the hole from the decline in DVD,” Bishop tells the Los Angeles Times. “We’re confident that over the next couple of years, it will get us back to previous levels and some modest growth.” By the Los Angeles Times
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Restructures, Eyeing Digital Development
Among the executive changes:
– The Advanced Technologies group headed by Don Eklund will be moved out of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and into the Sony Pictures Technologies unit led by Chris Cookson. Eklund will remain with the company in some other capacity.
– Executive VP Bob Rubin will be leaving the company, while Sean Carey, senior VP of digital sales, will be transitioning to a new post of some kind outside SPHE. Meanwhile, Sony corporate development operative John Calkins will be moved into the home entertainment division as executive VP of global digital and commercial innovation. By TheWrap
Multimillion-Dollar Marketing Behind ‘Cloudy’ DVD, Blu-ray
As part of its multi-million dollar marketing campaign for “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” (in stores Jan. 5), Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has signed on an “unprecedented” number of partners, including Chuck E. Cheese, Carl’s Jr., Hardees and Buca di Beppo restaurants. “Each promotional partner will offer a different way to engage consumers to enhance their shopping experience, whether it’s a collectible toy for kids or added awareness for parents at restaurants and on packaged goods,” says Marc Rashba, the studio’s VP of marketing. By Home Media Magazine
Sony Ties ‘This Is It’ DVD Release To Grammys
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment says the DVD and Blu-ray of Michael Jackson’s posthumous performance will offer a fuller experience than the theatrical cut, which has already been crowned the No. 1 music movie with more than $70 million in U.S. box office. The standard DVD ($28.96) will contain an hour of extra footage, and the Blu-ray version ($39.95) will hold an additional hour and a half of material. Both are set for a Jan. 26 release date, ahead of the Grammy Awards show Jan. 31. By Video Business
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