Apple to Sell Movie DVDs

Apple, maker of the iPod media player, said yesterday that it would start selling movies through its iTunes online store the same day they are released on DVD.

New releases from studios, including Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., will cost $14.99, Apple said in a statement. Previously, customers had to wait several weeks after the DVDs debuted. The service will start with such movies as "American Gangster" and "Juno" this week.

Chief executive Steve Jobs is counting on movies to increase sales of iPods, Macintosh computers and Apple TV devices, which let users watch downloaded films on their widescreen televisions. In January, Jobs said customers had bought 7 million movies, which was below his expectations. Apple began selling movies and television shows on iTunes in October 2005.

"People want to watch a movie as soon as it comes out, and they don't want to have to wait," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Jupiter Research in New York. "What Apple is doing is knocking down one more barrier for why you wouldn't want to buy a movie from them."

New titles will also be available from News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox, Walt Disney Co., Universal Studios, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios.

The studios are betting that Apple will repeat its success in music with films, Gartenberg said. "They are feeling that iTunes is an important venue."

ITunes, with more than 6 million songs, is already the most popular site for legal music downloads, according to NPD Group in Port Washington, N.Y. Apple said last month that iTunes had surpassed Wal-Mart Stores as the biggest music retailer in the United States. Apple has sold more than 4 billion songs since opening the iTunes store in April 2003.

Apple offers more than 1,500 films, including 200 in high definition. Studios now sell older movies for $9.99 each and provide films for rental under a service Jobs introduced in January. Apple said yesterday that it has 1,000 movies for rent.

"The Internet is a growing channel and one that many believe is the ultimate future of entertainment distribution," said Ross Rubin, an analyst at NPD. "For Apple, it's another step in reaching parity with the retail DVD market."

With digital downloads and rentals, the studios still need to figure out how to make movies available without jeopardizing the more lucrative DVD sales, said Steve Diamond, an entertainment-law professor at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, Calif.

At the same time, the studios want to put films online to stem the demand for pirated copies, he said.

Free Movie Download Risks

Looking to download the newest Hollywood hit movie from the Internet free of charge? Everyone you know seems to be doing it and maybe you'd like get in on this too. Or you may have done this a few times and are itching to get even more. Whether or not you've already downloaded some pirated movies, you might want to think about it. A good deal of the 'free movies' on the Internet are violating copyright law. The consumers who download these movies are technically breaking the law and could be setting themselves up for a lawsuit.

The problem of on line theft is growing every year and organizations like the MPAA are stepping up their efforts to fight it. When someone illegally downloads copyrighted films and movies, they leave themselves vulnerable to legal prosecution. Although getting caught is still somewhat unlikely, this will change in the future.

Sometimes, the file that gets downloaded is infested with viruses, spy ware, or unwanted pornography. People have experienced unwanted withdrawals from their bank accounts because of the release of private information. File sharing networks such as peer-to-peer (p2p) are especially insidious in this regard.

If you do your downloading off p2p networks, you may get a file that is nothing more than advertisements. In order to get access to the actual movie, you might be required to jump through a 'few' hoops. Usually it involves submitting your email address to an endless array of advertising promotions.

Both the music and film industries are taking online piracy very seriously and are working on ways to fight it. In the future, penalties such as criminal prosecution and having your ISP cut off your Internet access (proposals for this are in the works in the UK) will become a matter of course. European laws which facilitate the prosecution of people illegally downloading with p2p networks have been proposed.

Online movie memberships do not deal in pirated movies and offer safety from worms, viruses, spy ware and mal ware. By comparison, downloading free movies is full of risk. The required movie player needed to view your free movie or the shared file you've downloaded may be infested with a virus.

Increasingly, the established online download memberships are collaborating with the major studios to provide a huge array of quality movies. You can get peace of mind by staying clear of the hazardous risks that come with illegal downloads. Keep your computer, your bank account and your privacy secure by joining a legal movie download membership such as Vizumi Movie Download or Apple Movies.

Why Use Movie Download Membership Services?

With the advance of technology and the growth of the Internet, we are no longer forced to drive to the local video rental store to get our movies. We can make our movie selection on the Internet and wait for the video to arrive by mail. However our options don't end there since we can also select and view the movie immediately online.

There are two ways to go about this. We can pay for our movies via a movie download membership site such as Vizumi or we can try for the free route online. Here we discuss the benefits that an online membership has over the offline video rental store as well as the advantages of the paid membership over the free alternatives online.

A big advantage of joining a movie download site is the sheer size of movie title selection that you have access to. You can download as often and as much as you please from these extensive movie archives. Traditional brick and mortar DvD stores have a storage capacity that is limited by building space.

This means that they are forced to cater to popular tastes. Online download memberships don't suffer from this type of restriction and therefore can accommodate a broader variety of movie genres. If you're into the more obscure movies whether they are very old classics or cult films, you are more likely to find them online.

Searching online is often an easier task than browsing through endless shelves for a particular movie in a brick and mortar store. An online site will usually have a search box that can search by the title, actor, director or any particular keyword. Also, lists that group movies into different categories or genres are usually provided.

In addition to movie genre, their lists often group movies by popularity, latest additions, critic picks and alphabetically. Some even allow the members themselves to rate and write reviews for the movies. Movie reviews given by ordinary people can often be a better indicator of a movie's entertainment value than those of professional critics.

Online memberships have a large selection of movies in their archives. Free online movies that are actually legal are generally public domain movies with expired or un renewed copyrights. These tend to be very old 'classic' movies.

The major television networks will usually make recent episodes of popular TV series available for viewing on their web sites. However, only a select few of these series are available and only for a limited time.

Movie download memberships are safe from viruses, worms, spy ware and mal ware. However, downloading movies from 'free' sites can be a game of Russian roulette. For example, if you download using p2p, you are sharing files with a multitude of other users and are trusting that none of these strangers will infect the file with spy ware or viruses.

These are just some of the benefits that paid online movie download sites have over your local video store and over the so called free alternatives that exist online. The speed, convenience and economy of getting entertainment directly off the Internet is nothing short of amazing. However the shortcomings and risks of the 'free' downloads available online makes the choice of paid memberships a very intelligent and sensible decision.

Carrefour Plans Movie Downloads

French Supermarket Giant Carrefour are the latest supermarket to launch a movie download store.

The world’s second largest retail group after Wal-Mart is to offer download-to-own and download-to-rent films and TV shows in France, Spain, Belgium and Italy. President Christophe Geoffroy (via THR): “It’s very important for Carrefour to have more than one point of sale. We have to be in contact with the consumer in their homes as well as in-store. We know full well that the market forecast for VOD is low at the moment, but we are convinced that it will develop over the coming years and we want to provide a legal solution for customers to see the best possible content.”

In the UK, Tesco plans to begin offering movie downloads to complement its music download service in the UK according to an interview with the high street retailer and the BBC.

However, it’s not yet clear whether supermarkets can replicate their impulse in-store DVD purchases in to specific online sales.

Although there are no confirmed plans at the moment, the food retailer Tesco is looking into the possibility once broadband speeds and capacity rise further. Tesco currently holds a small but significant 10% share in the UK music download industry and feels that the movies are the next step.

Tesco isn't the first company to suggest a move to offer downloading films. Both Wippit and Napster announced earlier in the year that they are planning to to offer film downloads. Wippit going as far as suggesting a charge of around 99p per movie.

Wal-Mart canned its download store in December after making what was said to be only “peanuts” in relative terms. Carrefour runs the 5 minutes and 8 a HuiT convenience stores as well as its eponymous hypermarkets.

Australian Police Caught Pirating Movies

According to The Australian, during an audit of computer systems by the South Australian police force’s IT branch, police computers belonging to hundreds of police officers were found to contain movies.

The origin of these movies is not clear, but it is probable that they’ve been downloaded via p2p at some point, either on these systems, or on the personal systems of officers and transferred over.

Senior officials of the SA police force have been made aware of the findings, including its commissioner Mel Hyde. However, police sources have told press that there will not be any investigation into this, citing the large numbers of police officers involved.

The Australian Federation against Copyright Theft (AFACT) has said it will write to the commissioner to seek an explanation, presumably as to why the police officers are being let off with what it considers a heinous crime. Quite ironically, AFACT boasts of “working closely with police” - perhaps this closeness has shown the police officers involved just how unimportant and meaningless this so-called ‘crime’ is in the grand scheme of things.

If the officers do go unpunished, it could create a favorable precedent for filesharers in South Australia. If police officers, who are expected to be held to a greater level of accountability regarding the law, show this level of contempt for the current copyright laws, are unpunished, it will make it harder to convince a court that regular citizen should be punished for similar acts.

On the other hand, if the officers are punished under the law, which allows for upto AUS$60,500 (About US$55,700 or 35,500Euro) per infringement and up to 5 years imprisonment, the ability to effectively police the state will be severely diminished.

Either way, this case will bring to a head the vastly disproportionate penalties for an act that, as yet, has never been proven to be even financially damaging. One thing is certain, when even the police officers join large numbers of citizens in flouting such laws, the law’s place in society should be called into serious question.

The South Australian police force had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.

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Sony talks TV and movie downloads for PS3

Sony has confirmed that it will be bringing gamers video and TV show downloads in the near future.

Peter Dille, senior vice president, marketing and PlayStation Network in the US has said in a post on the company's blog that:

"Many of you have been hearing rumblings about a video service that will allow you to download full-length TV shows and movies via PLAYSTATION Network for North America."

He goes on to say: "While I don’t have any new announcements here for the PlayStation Nation, it's already been confirmed that we'll be offering a video service for PS3 in a way that separates the service from others you've seen or used."

"Ultimately the goal of the PLAYSTATION Network service will be to break through the overwhelming clutter of digital media to give you the TV, movies and gaming content you want."

Unfortunately, Dille doesn't expand on what he means by breaking through "the overwhelming clutter", but the BBC has recently confirmed they are planning to bring the video on demand iPlayer service to the PS3 in the UK.

Keep you posted here at Movie Download War

HD VOD could add $5 billion to home entertainment pie

Report: Consumers willing to pay more for High Definition VOD

Shutting the window between DVD and VOD (video-on-demand) and raising the price on high-definition VOD movies could boost consumer home video spending by $5 billion or more annually, according to a new study from international strategy consulting firm Oliver Wyman.

In a survey of 2,000 U.S. consumers for the report “At the Digital Crossroads: The Future of Home Video,” the firm found that consumers would be willing to pay $7 to $9 for an high-def movie on demand or a high-def rental download released in the DVD window. That’s roughly double the $4 they pay today for mostly standard-definition films that debut a month or more after their DVD release.

The higher price would not only optimize VOD revenue, but could also mean a 40% reduction in any cannibalization of DVD sales that come from offering VOD movies in the same window, researchers say.

Oliver Wyman predicts the increased VOD price paired with day-and-date offerings could entice consumers to watch three more movies a year on average, generating an additional $5 billion to $10 billion in consumer spending by 2010.

At the same time, researchers predict Blu-ray sales will increase, leading to a 6% rise in spending on packaged media. DVD retailers also could raise the price by $2 on releases that include an e-copy for transfer to a computer or portable device without consumer repercussions.
It’s worth noting that the company is more optimistic about DVD and packaged media spending than others, estimating 2007 spending of $28.7 billion. Video Business research pegged consumer spending at $22.9 billion.

“This research reveals a clear opportunity for the industry to introduce new offerings that tap unmet consumer demand, while fitting well with existing movie distribution channels,” said Mark Teitell, a partner in Oliver Wyman’s Media & Entertainment practice. “Ultimately, the consumer will benefit the most—and be willing to pay for those benefits—from the additional choice and consumption options.”

The report comes as studios test day-and-date releases with leading cable companies Comcast and Time Warner. Last summer, Warner Bros. said that early results showed a 50% increase in VOD purchases in test markets where movies debuted simultaneously. DVD sales also saw a 10% uptick, according to Warner, but DVD rentals were off 2%.

Warner has begun releasing more films day and date nationally following those tests, with six movies in the first quarter getting a simultaneous release. Other studios have been more reluctant to shut the window.

The movie downloads business also would benefit from a closed window and higher pricing for high-definition rentals, researchers say. The study predicts that spending for Internet-downloaded rentals and sales will grow to $2.5 billion by 2009.

Consumers surveyed prefer renting a movie online to buying a digital download because they don’t believe owning a digital copy is the same as owning a DVD. However, if digital downloads worked on more devices and consumers could burn a copy to DVD and have a backup copy kept in an online storage locker, consumers said they’d be willing to pay $5 more to buy a digital download.

Currently, digital downloads are severely limited in playback by digital rights management technology. Film downloads bought through iTunes can be played on any computer with iTunes software, on iPods and the Apple TV. Film downloads bought through other Internet download companies that use Microsoft DRM can only be viewed on a PC or a Windows-compatible portable player.

Moviestar join Movie Download Bandwagon

Irish-based online DVD rental company Moviestar.ie is set to launch a digital video-on-demand download service in May. Moviestar Digital will allow customers to download movies and TV shows to their laptop, PC or portable media players with prices starting at EUR 0.99 initially.

The company behind the service claims to have secured the rights to content from a number of Irish producers and to have a comprehensive film library in place. Moviestar.ie also claims to be currently in negotiations with the History and Biography channels and with a number of major Hollywood studios.

Moviestar.ie, which was launched just over a year ago by Gavin and Iain McConnon, allows subscribers to rent unlimited DVDs for a set monthly fee starting at EUR 7.99 DVDs are posted to the user and can be sent back when they've finished watching the film or television series.

Moviestar.ie claims to have 28,000 customers and a EUR 1.2 million turnover. It said it intends to grow its subscriber base to over 40,000 by mid-2008 and its new download service is one of the ways in which it hopes to gain new customers.

"This is very much a rental service rather than a download-to-own one because we feel that ultimately that's where the market is going to go with these things, so the product will expire on your PC after one month with the current catalogue," Moviestar.ie's co-founder Gavin McConnon told ENN.

McConnon outlined the companies with which Moviestar has signed content deals with. "We've secured a deal with Network Television Ireland which has a lot of Irish content - mainly TV shows and admittedly, not the latest Hollywood stuff. We've also had discussions with people at Mipcom, which is the world's largest international audiovisual content trade show, and some of them require minimum guarantees so we've got to get a certain amount of volume going in terms of customers before we can get involved with them. We also have the History and Biography channels on board as well.

"We buy all our stock direct from the wholesalers who deal direct with all the big studios and they've no problems supplying us with content," he concluded.

The McConnon brothers have been around for a number of years and have somewhat of an interesting past. In 2006, a few months following the launch of Moviestar, the brothers were reported to film companies for breaching copyright by renting out retail DVDs, according to a report in the Sunday Business Post in 2006. The brothers are also directors of Promocom Ireland, which, following an investigation by the BBC's Inside Out programme in 2006, was accused by the Office of Fair Trading in Britain of running misleading prize promotions, while trading under a number of names.

The market for video-on-demand is expected to grow substantially in Ireland in the coming years. The McConnons predict the Irish online rental market will exceed 200,000 subscribers over the next five years resulting in a EUR 35 million per annum business here.

Movie Download vs Rental Shop

I like the guy who owns the movie rental shop in the village. He’s one of those blow-ins who probably never fell in love with the coast and countryside that incomers supposedly do, before exchanging their plush commuter belt lifestyle for an over priced damp ridden cow shed conversion. Or if he did fall in love with it, he’s got a funny way of showing it, because I’ve never seen him beyond the chair he seemingly forever sits in. Maybe I saw him in the chippy once, though it could have been his brother, or cousin.

I’m downloading a movie today on my Apple Mac, and it’s taking a little longer than anticipated, perhaps 5 minutes more. A slight annoyance maybe, but far less complicated than going to the rental shop. I still intend to though, if only for the pleasure and displeasure of having to engage with a man who spectacularly contradicts himself.

For the video shop man has taken it upon himself to give advice. Not just basic: ‘this is violent, this is romantic, this is comedy, type advice,’ but in-depth, complex and extremely critical advice.

Perhaps referring to what he does as advice is an understatement. It seems more like divine instruction. Yet his opinions and criticisms are frequently negative. He likes very little of what he sells, or at least what I choose!

Getting a video out from the village shop requires rather more sophistication than getting an HD movie download. On presentation of the video he will usually stare for a couple of seconds at the cover, shake his head and sigh. This activity usually prompts some kind of appeasement motion on my behalf.

‘So... it’s not any good then?’ I meekly ask. Silence follows, by a stare that says some or all of the following: ‘Do I really need to explain?; Are you stupid?; you know nothing, absolutely nothing; you are not worthy of watching movies; you are stupid.’

Still silence. So I ask: ‘Well what’s wrong with it then?’

Another stare. I look pleadingly. I suddenly realise that I am trying very hard to rent a movie and he’s trying very hard not to let me.

A large exhale. Then a volley of criticisms: script errors, poor direction, terrible photography, shaky plot, weak story, wooden acting. It goes on and on. He looks depressed. I run back to the shelf and point to another 'Super Troopers', he bows his head. I’m worried. I feel I’ve deeply offended this very kind man who I am destroying by choice of movie. I’m tempted to run out, go home, and just continue with my movie downloads in peace. But no, I could never go back, he’d curse me forever, and... I don’t know, it would just be awful.

Eventually I manage to choose a film that’s well, okay, if you must, I guess maybe. Not an endorsement, but he will let me rent it.

You know. One thing I’ve never asked him is: ‘So what do you recommend then?’ It’s my trump card. It’s better than movie downloads, it’s probably better than any movie I could rent, just to see what he says. He’d probably implode.

HD Movie Downloads Face Challenges

The high definition format war was never HD DVD vs. Blu-ray. This month a series of news stories seems to be bearing this out. Most recently, Reuters posted that Blockbuster let go rumors that it will be partnering with some "undisclosed" manufacturer to bring a set top box to homes of consumers in order to facilitate movie rentals.

Netflix isn't sitting on its laurels either. Despite that fact that rumors have been flying since 2006, it now appears that specific plans for a set top box are underway with LG Electronics and should be announced by the time CEDIA rolls around in September.

In this new era of high definition TV and high speed Internet, it's almost ludicrous to think that in the coming years people will be content to wait for a physical disc to show up in the mail.

Still, here are some challenges to the world of HD movie downloads and what is happening to meet those challenges:

• Getting Downloads to Your HDTV without the Need for a PC - This was the bane of the original Apple TV and largely the reason it never really took off. Apple's second go at the Apple TV made good on the direct-to-HDTV promise and is the model by which these types of products would really work. Microsoft's Xbox 360 is another good example of a box that allows HD downloads without the need for connection to your home PC. Cable and satellite boxes also, of course, model an adept solution to this problem. Should Blockbuster get into the game, they'll need an equally-compelling solution that allows user-friendly movie browsing and quick downloads. What will Playstation 3 be able to offer with Blu-Ray Movie Downloads?
  

• Quality Counts - If you think quality doesn't matter - just wait until all the systems are compared. In addition to cost and features, there are going to be lots of Internet threads comparing the quality of the various set top boxes. If Blockbuster is entering this market it had better pay attention to the quality and not deliver a sub-par HD image to consumers, lest they be almost instantly rendered inferior.
  

• Surround Sound and High Resolution Audio - One of the greatest assets to Blu-ray is the presence of Dolby TrueHD, dts-HD and even Dolby Digital Plus. For a set top box to not include the ability to play back these new lossless high resolution audio formats - especially when they are present on their disc-based cousins. Currently NOT ONE set top box supports these new HD audio formats. Blockbuster could really take control here if it incorporated a way to stream and decode this audio for consumers.
  

• Instant Start vs. Delayed Download - The decision many manufacturers need to make is whether to allow near-instant viewing of rental movies, similar to Netflix' Watch Now functionality, or utilize a download-then-view model similar to Xbox 360 and the new 2nd generation AppleTV. My preference would be a smart caching system that could begin viewing as soon as enough of the download was completed to allow seamless play. This ensures the highest download quality and also the ability to play the feature in a more expedient manner. All in all, however, waiting for a high speed download will take much less time than either driving to Blockbuster or waiting for a movie to arrive in the mail.
  

• Studio Support - For this concept to fully take off, movie studios need to embrace a singel (or multiple) technology solution. We'd just as soon see them all license the ability to stream movies to everyone - that way a competitive marketplace ensures a good value to consumers.
  

• Simple and Reasonable Pricing - This is perhaps my biggest pet peeve. Currently Xbox 360 and Apple TV are treating movie downloads like cableTV companies treat pay per view. With the advent of Netflix and Blockbuster Online, movie rentals have migrated to a subscription model. In addition, this model includes an almost limitless amount of rentals with a "X at a time" model for receiving DVDs. An online model should follow this as closely as possible, perhaps limiting the total number of rentals per month instead fo the "X at a time" model - since obviously there is no physical media to load up or ship back. So far, however, the set top box market for HD rentals seems to be pricing each movie - and the pricing seems to be very old-school. It's simply too high at $3.99 per library movie and $4.99 for new releases. Compare that the the $17.99/month model of Netflix which nets me over 10 Blu-ray or DVD rentals easy.
  

So what's next?
Well, we're watching closely to see what shakes out in the set top box market. It hasn't caught onto the mainstream just yet but we blame that solely on a combination of movie industry support and pricing structure. Should Blockbuster or Netflix allow for online downloads to your television and simply charge for the set top box - they are in for a windfall like you can't imagine. If they instead choose to nickel and dime - then consumers will simply wait.

Vizumi Movie Downloads are offering HD Film Downloads so will they expand upon this service - time will tell.

Blockbuster rumours of movie download set top box

CNET have sparked rumours about talks regarding Blockbuster Video considering creating their own set-top box for customers to watch their movie via direct download, instead of going to the video store. Trips to the video rental store may be a thing of the past sooner than thought.

Netflix and Blockbuster are already offering DVD rental service by mail along with main rivals Love Film.

Amazon.com, Microsoft's Xbox Live, and Netflix deliver movies directly to the PC. TiVo, Vudu, and Apple TV--not to mention cable and satellite companies--are doing the same for TV sets. Local independent stores notwithstanding, the only major brick-and-mortar options left for renting discs are Hollywood Video/Movie Gallery, which is close to bankruptcy, and Blockbuster.

But The Hollywood Reporter says Blockbuster may be giving customers more reasons not to visit its stores. The rental chain is said to be making a set-top box that will allow video content to be streamed directly to a television. The announcement should come sometime later this month, according to THR.

A Blockbuster spokeswoman said it is "talking to numerous companies" about ways it can provide "access to media content across multiple channels from our stores, by mail, through kiosks, through downloading, through portable content enabled devices so it's not surprising that there are rumors out there."

The service would take advantage of video-on-demand technology from Movielink (which Blockbuster bought last year) that allows movie downloads from Universal Studios, Paramount, Sony Pictures, MGM, and Warner Bros.

Read here for full Blockbuster Set Top Box story

30 Upcoming Movie Sequels coming soon

Here are 30 films in various states of production that are due to be released in the coming months...years..some we hope do, some we don't!

The Brazilian Job: the follow up to Paramount’s US remake of The Italian Job is still on the cards, and it’s got a 2009 release date marked. Jason Statham, Mos Def, Mark Wahlberg and Charlize Theron are attached, as is director F Gary Gray.

I, Robot 2: All we know on this one is that it’s in the scripting stages still, with a potential 2010 release date planned in. No news on Mr Smith's involvement.

I Am Legend 2: Warner’s huge Christmas 2007 hit could also have a follow up, although it’d be interesting to see if Will Smith returned to it. A 2010 release date is also being mooted for this one.

Beverly Hills Cop 4: If Die Hard can still do it at the box office, why can’t Axel Foley? Er, because the third BHC movie was crap, and a flop. Still, it’s not stopped development work going ahead on number four. No further news than that, though.

National Treasure 3: Not a huge surprise, but as the Nic Cage Indiana Jones knock off franchise has proved to be quite a juggernaut, you’ll only have to wait until 2011 for the third film in the series.

Cars 2: We spotted this on AintItCool – is Pixar really looking to make a sequel to its weakest film? Apparently so…

Toy Story 3: This one, after lots of umming and ahhing, appears to be a goer. It won’t, as was speculated, be a straight-to-DVD affair, and Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are both expected back on voicing duties. It’ll be out in 2010.

Jeepers Creepers 3: MGM is running the rule over a potential third instalment in the horror franchise, with director Victor Salva still attached. Hmmm.

Shrek 5: The fourth film was a no-brainer after the tepid third outing made so much cash. But a fifth instalment has also been confirmed. No wonder Shrek is the same colour as an American dollar…

Night at the Museum 2: Ben Stiller is returning for his most commercially successful role outside of the Meet the Parents franchise. We can wait. No news on the proposed Meet The Little Focker, though.

Crank 2: High Voltage: This is more like it. Crank is a guilty pleasure right up there with Snakes on a Plane, and it’s coming back for more. Shooting starts next month, for a 2009 release, and Jason Statham returns as Chev Chelios. As he should.

Transporter 3: Statham again. He’s making this too, and it’s in pre-production. Presumably, he’ll go from Crank 2 straight onto this.

Super Troopers 2: A sequel nobody asked for! Hurray! Expect it in 2010, as it’s in the early writing stages still, we believe.

Silent Hill 2: Sony is looking at a follow up to the crap-but-popular video game adaptation. 2010 is the current slated release date.

The Descent 2: We understand that Neil Marshall won’t be directed this one, which has the, er, working title of The De2cent. He’s attached as Executive Producer, with Jon Harris stepping behind the camera (he edited the first film, as well as the more recent Stardust).

The Grudge 3: Yup, it’s in pre-production now, for release next year. That’ll likely be the scariest thing about it.

Ice Age 3: 1st July 2009. That’s the date you’ll need to avoid if you want to miss the next Ice Age movie. Hopefully it’ll be better than the second one…

Ghost Rider 2: A surprise hit last year, Marvel is developing a follow-up to the Nic Cage comic book flick, and tentatively has 2009 marked for release. No director is thus far attached.

The Untouchables: Capone Rising: A prequel to Brian De Palma’s cracking prohibition thriller of, er, twenty years ago. De Palma is back behind the camera, and the project is in the pre-production stages now.

The Thomas Crown Affair 2: Weird, this. It’s taken them ages to do a sequel, and then they draft in Paul Verhoeven to direct a follow-up to someone else’s film. Pierce Brosnan returns, and filming starts shortly.

The People Under The Stairs 2: No sign of any Wes Craven involvement, though, and release may even be this year. Hmmm. We'd wager DVD will be its home.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor: Er, that’s what they’ve called The Mummy 3, which is out on 1st August. Brendan Fraser and Jet Li star.

Punisher: War Zone: Ray Stevenson becomes the third person to play The Punisher on screen. You’ll be able to find out how he did on 12th September this year.

Starship Troopers 3: Marauder: Casper Van Diem is back, but it’s still going straight to DVD, as the piss-awful second film did. It’s due out later this year.

Pink Panther 2: Oh dear. And I’m a Steve Martin fan. It’s out on 13th February 2009.

Ace Ventura 3: No Jim Carrey though, and no chance of it seeing the inside of a cinema. Head to Blockbuster later in the year if you want to catch it.

War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave: Another straight to DVD sequel, but this one’s of note because it’s directed by Soul Man/Hitcher star C Thomas Howell. Blimey.

Jurassic Park 4: It’s taken them ages to sort this out, but the latest is that Laura Dern is still attached, and that it’ll be released in 2009. Don’t hold your breath though, as shooting would need to start really very soon...

Scary Movie 5/Saw 5: You could have guessed at these if you didn’t know about them already. Both should see the light before the end of the year. Sadly.

Downloads do not worry Lovefilm

In the words of the chief executive of Lovefilm Simon Calver the high street film rentals market has "completely imploded" with 50 per cent less stores trading today than a mere two years ago as consumers continue to flock online to hire their movies.

Speaking at the First Tuesday 'Retail Revolution' event in London this week Calver said there are simply more attractive options online for film fans, with the internet now accounting for 45 per cent of the total rentals market, as it provides a platform for more choice, greater convenience and better value-for-money.

But he added that people often forget that the online model also has a number of other desirable attributes that make it particularly attractive to merchants - it has an impressive cash conversion cycle, the subscription model “is a thing of beauty” when done correctly, and the management of inventory can be handled so much more efficiently than within a store estate.

Although questions about the longevity of the business model of companies such as Lovefilm (that mail-out physical DVDs to people's homes) have been raised, as result of downloads now starting to gain traction and garnering much media coverage, Calver remains unworried.

He takes the view that there is still much mileage to be had from the physical DVD market because before downloading becomes a mainstream activity there has to be a shift in what is actually available online to download and for the development of successful business models. And Calver reckons that consumers are likely to be in need of help during the transition - especially as the industry is awash with acronyms for various download services including DTO, DTR, DTB and SVoD.

But he acknowledges that downloading is inevitable: “Most things people watch online are short, viral and free. We are going to overcome these barriers in the next three to 10 years so downloads will happen.”

This is why he suggests it is essential that any company in the “physical space” must future-proof their businesses for when downloading is the prevalent method for acquiring film content. To this end Lovefilm has been dipping its toe in the download pool.

Calver has also been gradually moving the business away from what he describes as a logistics company to more of a media business. This has included not only reinforcing the wide choice of titles available (it stocks 65,000 films compared with an average 1,500 in a rental store and even less in retail outlets) but also crucially complementing this with much more of a “community” aspect to the Lovefilm site. This means film reviews and recommendations from other customers.

Calver suggests this helps consumers make choices and enables Lovefilm to avoid its massive selection putting people off through too much choice. And it appears to be working because 90 per cent of its business is related to films that are more than three years old, which disproves the original argument that Lovefilm would fail because demand was chiefly for only the most recently released films. “The reason that many people join us is for our film recommendations,” he says.

The company's shift to being a media organisation has included the re-launch of its website, which now incorporates a shop, cinema ticket sales, and full UK cinema listings. In addition Calver says: “There is also a big opportunity as a media company to get a greater share of studio marketing spend that can be a hybrid of online and offline marketing such as branded envelopes and inserts promoting new films.” Although he admits that this aspect of the business is still small he expects it to grow significantly.

One of the major challenges for Lovefilm and other merchants in the media space is the downward pressure on pricing. “UK retail prices have fallen like a stone...and price is 62 per cent of the reason why people buy a DVD. And as younger people are so much more price-sensitive there will be increased price pressure.”

To address this issue Calver says the company has also shifted its focus away from its earlier proposition of just offering all-you-can-eat subscriptions to now providing much greater flexibility in how people are able to consume films. Having found that two-thirds of the population rent less than two films per month, a lot more lower-priced entry-points such as 'capped' packages and pay-as-you-go options have been introduced.

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