OUTLANDER 6/1/09 – NEW INFO ON THE BLUE RAY RELEASE
Well for those of you out there who got their hands on the Canadian Blue Ray release only to find out it was a piece of crap, your voices have been. For those of you who don’t know, there was another fantastic screwup, and the wrong files were delivered/sent/who knows? to create the blue ray, so instead of the letterbox presentation everyone was expecting, well, let me quote Dave Dodson, the editor,
“What we have is a full 16×9 presentation. Not letterboxed. Not 2.35. And not even properly pan&scanned for 16×9. Most shots simply use the entire Super35 3-perf image area, thereby allowing all the extra headroom and lower space that was never intended to be seen. Careful widescreen compositions are thrown out the window. Shots that were composed for intensity or any other particular, professional use of the 2.35 frame are now just ordinary.
But it gets worse. Since many of the CGI shots were only finished out to 2.35 and not to the full 1.78 frame, many VFX shots are cropped on the sides in order to accommodate the 16×9 frame. For example, the Moorwen’s first rampage out of the trap truly needs the full 2.35 frame to be legible. But instead all we have is a 16×9 center-cut. As a result, the sequence feels cramped and hard to read.
Said it much better than I could. Anyway, the upshot of this is that TWC was evidently furious at the screwup and intends to fix the problem. Now this is not official – I just heard it today – but I gather the plan is to offer a rebate to anyone who bought the crappy blue ray and an opportunity to purchase a new one with the correct format.
I also gather that they are quite pleased with its rental and sales performance. Who knows? Maybe there’s a sequel to be had someday.
Outlanderthemovie's Weblog 
June 2, 2009 at 1:46 am
I’ll have to compare but I’m pretty certain the sides are cut off on pretty much every scene on the DVD. But a scene for scene comparison will be needed to be sure. David probably knows more about what he’s talking about than I do.
I did get my DVD today though, and I’m happy to report there’s no aspect ratio issues with the DVD despite the cover actually stating that it’s 1.78:1.
You’ll have to let us know as soon as it’s clear, how to get a rebate/trade-in on the Canadian Blu-rays.
June 3, 2009 at 4:21 am
Oh wow… check out this link. : http://www.thewesternstar.com/index.cfm?pid=116&cpcat=entertainment&stry=25664231
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TORONTO – The most popular DVDs according to Blockbuster Video Canada for the period ending May 31.
DVD RENTALS
1 Paul Blart: Mall Cop
2 Valkyrie
3 Taken
4 New in Town
5 Killshot
6 What Doesn’t Kill You
7 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
8 Outlander
9 The Devil’s Tomb
10 Bride Wars
DVD SALES
1 Outlander
2 Killshot
3 Paul Blart: Mall Cop
4 My Bloody Valentine 3D
5 New in Town
6 Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
7 Valkyrie
8 Twilight
9 Taken
10 Death Race
BLU-RAY DISC SALES
1 Outlander
2 My Bloody Valentine 3D
3 Killshot
4 Paul Blart: Mall Cop
5 Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
6 Taken
7 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
8 Valkyrie
9 Terminator 2: Judgement Day
10 The Incredible Hulk
June 3, 2009 at 4:32 am
Check out this list!
http://www.thewesternstar.com/index.cfm?pid=116&cpcat=entertainment&stry=25664231
The most popular DVDs according to Blockbuster Video Canada for the period ending May 31.
DVD SALES
1 Outlander
2 Killshot
3 Paul Blart: Mall Cop
4 My Bloody Valentine 3D
5 New in Town
6 Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
7 Valkyrie
8 Twilight
9 Taken
10 Death Race
BLU-RAY DISC SALES
1 Outlander
2 My Bloody Valentine 3D
3 Killshot
4 Paul Blart: Mall Cop
5 Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
6 Taken
7 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
8 Valkyrie
9 Terminator 2: Judgement Day
10 The Incredible Hulk
June 2, 2009 at 1:56 am
Oh, yeah. I checked out the local walmart again. Even though they got a ton of copies of outlander, Only a week later I couldn’t find a single copy in the store!
Personally I would rather see Howard’s difinitive cut before a sequel. But I do have a few ideas for continuing th saga. What would be your choice Dirk?
I think the worst option is to actually continue Kainan’s story from where we left off. The only way this could work is that if it incorporates the sea monster idea from Beowulf.
The next option, would be to do a story about Kainan’s people encountering the Moorwen’s or trying to wipe out a different planet with sentient life forms… This is more sci-fi than the period epic that Outlander is, and in some ways is therefore a less attractive idea for a sequel.
And the last option is to continue the ideo of “sci-mythic”. Take another legend, or historical mythos and create another incident where Kainan’s people – earlier in history – had a run in with monsters on earth… or were the monsters. But then we’re getting into stargate territory.
Can anyone suggest another option that i’m missing?
June 2, 2009 at 1:53 pm
I dunno, AD, the Sci-Fi sequel has a precedent. Pitch Black was a man vs monster horror/actioner. The sequel CoR was an epic Science Fantasy using the same character. And it worked. I personally loved both of those movies, and mainly because they were so different.
June 2, 2009 at 11:24 pm
I likes parts of The Chronicles of Riddick, but I don’t think the movie gelled as well as it could have. Riddick is a great character, and some parts of it were a lot of fun, like the prison planet. whereas I found myself somewhat uninsterested in… was it Helion? Something like that anyway.
That said, everyone knows that the real star of Outlander is the Moorwen.., I have an idea that might work as a direct sequel with that in mind.
June 7, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Is Alliance planning on fixing their screw up? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
June 10, 2009 at 2:11 am
The last thing I heard was that they were going to offer a trade for the proper blue ray release. There was evidently a screwup with the transfer of elements and no one bothered to QC the release.
June 10, 2009 at 5:07 am
I might have to hold on to one of my gibbled copies for posterity (and since about half of it actually is opened up whereas the effects shots are cropped)… But I do agree that it complety messes up the feel of the editing and the composition of the shots.
June 11, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Thanks for the info! I’ll hold on to the Blu-ray and keep my ears peeled on trading it in. I love the movie, lots of fun (Ron Pearlman was so badass!). I’m so bummed that the Blu Ray (of all things) didn’t get QC’d. This is one of those movies that deserves to be seen in HD.
June 8, 2009 at 8:01 pm
I love this movie and have been blabbing about it. I hope it beccomes a cult classic and I hope there is a prequel or sequel. As cool as Kainan is, I kind of think his story is over. So is the Viking part. I might set a battle that happens NOW on Earth or a battle on Kainan’s world. That is the cool thing here. A lot can happen. I hope you get to make another film. I hope a comic book company picks this up…it will help keep the franchise in front of people.
June 10, 2009 at 2:12 am
Thanks Matthew for the good words. Perhaps if the movie continues to do well on DVD we will get a chance to expand the worlds and do another one. That’d be a lot of fun. Take it easy!
June 13, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Hey I know this has nothing to do with outlander but just letting you know dont bother buying robin hood prince of thieves on bluray if you have a PS3….IT AINT GONNA WORK ! I went through 2 copies and nothing.( i was able to exchange for a completly different movie ) They say it should work on most blu ray players. There are no updates according to Sonys phone help line which we all know is couple with fedex and ups and some hottalk line in the same freaking building on the other side of the world so that could be a load of crap. Just dont bother wasting your time……
June 21, 2009 at 3:22 am
Veri Good Blog. Compliments 🙂
June 22, 2009 at 9:42 pm
I want an outlander sequel as well. I liked it better than Terminator Salvation!
June 27, 2009 at 6:06 am
Hi Guys. Any idea if Outlander will be available on DVD in Australia (PAL Format and Region 4) anytime in the near future? I cant seem to find out very much in that regard scrounging around on the internet. As far as I know we never even had a theatrical release for the movie. I think Outlander is a very good movie all round.
July 13, 2009 at 7:23 am
I just finished watching Outlander on DVD rental, and I’m really pissed off.
This is one movie that I would have walked out of the theater pleased with the ticket purchase, but it wasn’t even available in my city (The state capital).
After reading your blog, I’m not entirely surprised. I guess this isn’t the only move that TWC has f@#%ed over.
Oh well. I would like to say thank you for releasing such an incredibly entertaining movie even under the ridiculous level of adversity you faced.
I will definitely be purchasing the DVD, and will be recommending this movie to all of my friends.
July 25, 2009 at 5:07 am
Any more news on this? I haven’t heard from anyone who has ordered the film since the 22nd yet whether this has been fixed or not and am still not sure how to go about exchanging my current disks for the fixed ones?
August 14, 2009 at 11:31 pm
Hey – check my new post – it has the info you want.
August 27, 2009 at 6:26 am
Thanks Dirk! I’ll be sending mine out in the next day or so. I haven’t decided if I should keep one of the originals for posterity or not… From a behind the scenes perspective, the fact that it is actually “opened up” on the half without effects is kind of interesting. But it definitely isn’t the prefered way to watch the movie.
August 3, 2009 at 11:59 am
This movie is great to watch.
December 25, 2009 at 10:56 pm
In the end I actually did end up keeping one of the messed up disks. So I have two of the blu-rays (one correct AR and one botched.. and the UK making of featurette on the fixed disk is a lovely bonus), the DVD, and the soundtrack CD. Maybe someday I’ll be able to add an extended cut Blu-ray to that pile. I actually toyed with it a bit in a video editor to put in some of the deleted scenes. I think the results were actually quite nice.
November 4, 2010 at 2:00 pm
i think that the fight scene of Rise Of The Lycans is not very great, it is just plain action .
December 20, 2010 at 9:12 am
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January 10, 2011 at 4:49 pm
Hello idiot – thanks very much for the kind words. They’re appreciated. I haven’t kept up as much as I should with the blog but I may expand it in a little while, depending on what happens with a couple of projects.
btw – where are you ‘abroad’?