Warner Bros. responds to ‘disc rot' issue with its movie DVDs
It turns out that hundreds of DVD titles manufactured by the entertainment giant between 2006 and 2008 have succumbed to a long-known phenomenon called 'disc rot,' a deterioration in a DVD's condition that results in freezing, glitches, or complete failure during playback.
DVDs that are properly stored and handled really shouldn't fall apart like this in such a short space of time, suggesting that a serious issue during the manufacturing stage has impacted these particular Warner Bros. discs.
The good news is that the company has acknowledged the problem and is offering replacements — though not refunds — for affected discs. But only if the movie is still in print, and so long as Warner Bros. still has the rights to the title.
In a statement shared by movie site JoBlo, Warner Bros. said it's 'aware of potential issues affecting select DVD titles manufactured between 2006 – 2008, and the company has been actively working with consumers to replace defective discs.'
The statement continued: 'Where possible, the defective discs have been replaced with the same title. However, as some of the affected titles are no longer in print or the rights have expired, consumers have been offered an exchange for a title of like-value. Consumers with affected products can contact the customer support team at whv@wbd.com.'
The issue appears to affect a wide range of titles, including classic Hollywood movies such as Stanley Kubrick: Director's Series edition of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Superman movies up to Superman Returns, and popular TV series like Looney Tunes Collections and Batman: The Animated Series.
While Warner Bros. is at least doing what it can to ease the irritation for customers, some folks' DVD libraries may be left with gaping holes through no fault of their own.
JoBlo's Chris Bumbray, who brought the Warner Bros. issue to greater prominence in a report over the weekend, said that after testing some of his DVDs, he's now left staring at a bunch of 'expensive coasters.'
Curious about how to convert your DVDs to a digital format? Here's everything you need to know.
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Forbes
12 hours ago
- Forbes
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The Wētā Superman Interview MARK HUGHES: Could you talk about how you compartmentalize those kind of the approaches to [the] different aesthetics and what's needed? You know, the one is in the middle of a big bright city and.. the other [is] this pocket dimension… GUY WILLIAMS: So, a lot of that's done by Henry Braham, the director of photography. He's the one that sort of sets the visual style for the entire movie. If you ask him, DPs, they'll tell you their job is, 'Anything that the camera sees, I am responsible for.' So, which is interesting because with these of visual effects, obviously, we create a challenge for him because the camera doesn't see our stuff. But it's a collaboration with him. He's working to set the vibe for the entire film. He's the one that creates that beautiful, crisp, saturated palette for the entire movie between him and James [Gunn]. They sort of figure out what they want the movie to look like. Metropolis for the Kaiju fight versus the pocket universe are two very different looks, but they're also two very different approaches to filmmaking. From Metropolis, we actually took the unit out to Cleveland and, you know, spent a few weeks shooting a lot of scenes in Cleveland on the streets. So the look of Metropolis, for the most part, is dictated by what the sun was doing that day. Visual effects, we did take over a lot of it. We had cloudy days while we're shooting, we had sunny days. So we turned all the visual effects shots to be more sunny, just to keep the vibe up the whole time. Now, when you get above the buildings, when we're in Cleveland, the buildings that you see are-- I think it's called Freedom Park. It's a square in the middle of Cleveland. There are not that many very tall buildings all around Cleveland. So to make it look more like Metropolis, which is sort of based off of a Chicago -New York [inspiration], we extend everything past the first building, and we get this nice beautiful cityscape everywhere. So you have this beautiful [view], all the way up to having a river with boats on it. And it just feels like a much more lived-in city. So, you know, visual effects can help a lot in that regard. When we get to the pocket universe, that's a much more more esoteric conceptual look. We shot those on stages in Atlanta, and for the most part, they were shot really dark because James was keen to have it be this very oppressive, moody, dark [place], you know? You're not supposed to want to go through the pocket universe, right? There's things other than a prison there, but it's an ideal prison. So for that, we shot on stages. We kept the lighting kind of dim, which was a challenge for us because we'd rather have too much light than take it down. But anyway, Henry shot some beautiful plate sports there. Then, that's much more of a conversation with the art department. Beth Mickle is the production designer for the film. She works with James to sort of set the incoming look for the pocket universe. And we got a lot of interesting artwork, it was very vibrant. We ended up working with James, and James had us make an even darker, even more monochromatic. So instead of being, you know, lavenders and golds and greens and purples, it ended up just being sort of a deep, dark purple with accents of gold everywhere. The lighting sort of dictates that, and sort of pushed the more oppressive, dark gloominess. We also, during the exploration phase of visual effects, we started with this beautiful world made out of this crystal call bismuth, which I think is-- it's a metal, but I think it's a periodic metal. But if you cool it in a certain ways, you can actually get it to form these cube-based crystals. So we sort of riffed on that and made the entire pocket universe out of a bismuth crystals. And at first, the formations look really cool because it's very shiny, colorful purple and gold. So, at first we just had crystals everywhere. We had this beautiful cubic environment, lots of interesting colors. But James had us pull all that back, because he wanted to, once again, really feel oppressive and bleak and sort of dark. So, you know, it's all an evolution. You come in with ideas, you refine the ideas through design and concept, and then you refine the ideas even further once you start doing it. MH: It's interesting that with Metropolis there was the pre-existing city, so your work there was built upon and had to take into account the existing physics and laws of gravity and things like that in not only expanding and building out metropolis, but also then everything that takes place with the monsters there. But for the pocket universe, you had the visual aesthetics that they wanted, but you still had to achieve the geometry and the physics of how that world operated. Did you get a whole lot of feedback from James Gunn about that or from the cinematographer? Or was that something that you had to take what they wanted… [and] find the balance? GW: So with the pocket universe, because it's so virtual, Henry dictates what the lighting is, but then it sort of goes over to the art department and visual effects and to James to figure out what the actual resulting look is going to be. Because so much is being added after, you know, live action finishes. So directors is in general-- James especially, but directors are over the top of everything, right? And a good director will tell you, you know, what color a shoelace on a shoe should be. I mean, the amount of input that you get from a good director is significant. And it's not just because of a power trip, directors don't sit there and just go, 'Well, I want it to be this way because I want it.' Their job is to create emotion. A really thoughtful director sees every single pixel, every single nuance is a block in the chain of creating all that emotion to the audience. So James is very involved in the look of it. He's very involved. And, you know, often you'll think you're onto an idea and James will take you in a different direction, and you're not sure where he's going with it. But then you get there, and you realize it's a better idea than where you were going. So it's, you know, that's what a good director does, they pull everything into a certain direction. But at the same time, a good director also understands their limitations, and understands the fact that there are 24 hours in a day. They can't do everything. So, their job is to stay high level enough, pulling you along, so that they can touch everything; but not get so bogged down in any one thing that other things suffer. We had lots of discussions with James, and lots of discussions with Stéphane Ceretti, who's the visual effects supervisor for DC. You know, we worked hand to hand with them a lot, just iterating and iterating, and deciding that we wanted even less stuff in the environment, deciding that we want it to be even darker. Which surprised us, because James usually has a very vibrant palette. You know, his visuals are usually very lush and bright. So to get into this world and have him just take us into a darker area was interesting. But then you get to the River Pi where, you know, once again you're allowed to have light and color and vibrance, so it gave us an opportunity to really lean into the palette that James liked. But, I mean, that's all very considered. At all levels of the process, from the director all the way down to the artist, everybody's thinking about what they're doing and trying to figure out the best way to put it together. MH: You've done three with James Gunn so far, right? You did The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, right? GW: It's the third DC project with him. It's the fifth project with him… It might actually be one more. There's two Peacemakers, we just finished season two. There's The Suicide Squad and this [Superman], and then we did two Guardians of the Galaxy films with him. So we've actually done six films with James. MH: I'm a very big James Gunn fan, his movies have always spoken to me a lot because I a lot of my background growing up and things that influenced me were similar, and I especially love the Guardian movies for that reason. And I know when he comes in… he said before, he sees the film, the entire thing in his head, and he does his own storyboards. And I watched and looked at those behind-the-scenes things for Guardians, and it was incredible how much his storyboards resemble the final product. So as you've said, the best directors and the best to collaborate with really take that focused interest. I'm interested in how-- you mentioned Gunn going to the dark, so that darkness in the pocket universe allowed Superman then to be the light in that darkness, both figuratively in an aesthetic way, but also literally when the light bursts and he comes out of the cage. And then from that moment on, even though it's dark [in the pocket universe], the way we explore it is letting more light in, and then there's the river that's very visual. Was that kind of baked into the collaboration [right off the bat]? Like letting you know, 'I want this dark, it's going to be this way, but there's going to be these points of light and it's going to lead in this direction, so the visuals and the VFX are all telling that story together." GW: We didn't specifically talk about that. I mean, you'd have to talk to James to understand his direct motivations, but I never really considered the fact that when Superman's weak, the universe is dark and when Superman is strong, the universe, you know, for a variety of reasons, there's more light, whether it be Metamorpho creating the pocket sun or whether it be the River Pi. It is an interesting way to look at it. And then when Superman comes out of the pocket universe and he's really weak, once again you're in a dark tent and then in a dark area, and then once he wakes up, he's in a bright, sunny farm. So, look, you'd have to ask James, [but] it would not surprise me if all that was very choreographed. That's the kind of stuff that, you know, he and Henry would think through, but I can't speak to their motivations. MH: But it really does work well. How you all constructed that darkness, it allowed those moments to work and really kind of come out. So it just sort of feels very intuitive as you're watching it-- afterward you realize, 'Well naturally,' but as you're watching it, it's this organic progression of it all happening. Within that creative process, it fascinates me that some of it was mapped out and planned, but some of it probably was an outgrowth just naturally of that, without all of it having to be so particular and controlled and over over-processed, so to speak… like you said, [filmmakers] having that influence and they're really interested in the detail, but knowing to let you take that ball creatively, because you all do this. This is what you do, you build worlds. And it's especially in these kind of circumstances in his other films, the originality behind the math that went into looking at that pocket universe, and that progression in the story comparing the kaiju moments in the various films Wētā's done, because you worked with Sam Raimi on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as well, and I really like how… those same influences I think were inspiring both takes and both appeals. [It's] some of my favorite of the work that you do, actually. GW: I mean, to be totally transparent we're very much nerds. We love the emotion of the storytelling. We love the power of cinema. You know, cinema isn't just telling a story and putting some characters on the screen. The thing that's so amazing about people like James Gunn, Jim Cameron, Steven Spielberg, Sam Raimi -- all these amazing directors that we have an opportunity to work with – the thing that's so amazing about them is that they understand that sound, visual, acting, story, pacing, editing, lighting, everything is a part of the whole, right? And anything that's unconsidered detracts, and everything that's considered adds. It's one of my favorite parts about working in this industry is understanding, you know, often when we're talking to James he's not saying, 'I want that block to be gold, I want that block to be blue and make this purple.' He's not being that specific. He's being more emotional. You know, a good director doesn't talk about specifics. They talk about ideas. Oftentimes when we're getting into a situation where we're not quite hitting what he wants, we don't say, 'Tell us the block to fix.' We say, 'What feels wrong for you?' And it's because the end result is the emotions. So we often talk in terms of the emotion. Because then, you know, he's just like, 'It's too vibrant. This part of the movie, you know, I'm supposed to feel bad for Superman.' He'll say stuff like that, and then we'll all work together to drive down that path. Because, I mean, the thing that people don't understand when you're making anything, you often start from nothing. So it's not like we know what we're trying to get to. We're all working to craft the summation of the results so that when it's finished, it feels like it was always planned that way. And James's job is to be the guy sitting in front, dragging us all, you know, the composer bringing us all along. But we're all there to help and understand the emotion that you're talking about. Because if you don't, then the audience won't feel it. There's a small little sidebar here, which is, it's one thing to talk about making a scene feel a certain way. It's another thing-- one of the things we talk about all the time is readability. It's another thing to make sure that not only does it feel that way, but that everything you're adding emotionally doesn't detract from anything else. So as much as we might want to make it dark, we don't want it to be so dark that you can't see action. As much as we might want to keep the character moody, we don't want him to be so moody that you can't read his performance. It's always like, you want to push in a direction, but you've always got to be sympathetic to every other direction that you're trying to maintain. So a good result pushes all the walls as far out as they can go instead of pulling the walls towards the one point you're trying to get to. So it's an interesting game. It's an interesting process trying to figure out the best way through all that. MH: I imagine with somebody like James Gunn, when you talk about directing with emotion and what you're going for and the tone that you're trying to set there, he really directs from the heart more than most other filmmakersers, and especially in this genre. He wears his heart on his sleeve, and I think he's probably pound for pound probably one of the most self-aware filmmakakers and is willing to be earnest and honest about himself and what he wants and feels it. He's gotten so good at conveying that, and I think he very he's very intuitive about that. And I think he can sense when he's working with people that get it, and that it's why he likes to work with the same people a lot. So with your team – I'm not just trying to to blow rainbows and smoke up anyone's butt here, it's just that one of the reasons I really like doing this and talking with Wētā about this is because I love hearing what it's like working with these filmmakers, especially when they have such a powerful vision. And you're all so good at it. So it feels like Gunn knows he can hand that off to you. A lot of filmmakers don't necessarily know what they can and can't handle or hand off and that you're going to understand what his vibe is with that. And it's, as you said, it's because it's a filmmaker who knows what he wants, has that vision, and then he knows who he needs to work with that he can hand it off to… He knows when you do that pocket universe at the end, you're all doing your part and it comes out organically. It goes from that light to the darkness to that light and brings you out of it and it all evolves that way. And he knows he can trust you to get it without having to have all that, right? I'm sorry I'm so long-winded about it-- GW: No, no, look, genuinely, we loved it too. And like, that's. Being a professional, your job is to do 100% for everything that you do. I always talk to people that I'm working with and say, 'Treat every movie as if it's the one that wins you your Oscar.' So that even if you're working on just the most throwaway popcorn kind of 'people are going to forget it a year later' kind of movie, you still put your 100% into it. So as a professional, that's what you're supposed to do. I'm very fortunate that I've had a chance to work for some really good people. It gets easier when you feel that way from the start, right? You know, like, uh, it's one thing to be professional in a movie just because you're supposed to be professional. And with James, I mean, he's not just a director, right? He's a writer. He's, you know, he's a a visual storyteller. So he writes the entire script. He storyboards the entire movie. He has it all in his head. And one of the first things he'd do is, he'll share it with us. He'll share the script with us. He'll let us see the storyboards so we can start to get into that. And working with James is so amazing because it doesn't take very long -- especially with the way he writes – it doesn't take very long to tell what kind of, to use your word again because it's a really good word for this, what kind of vibe he's going for. It's not just the story or the look, it's the vibe. And it's so fascinating to work with these kinds of directors, and especially James James, that you know on day one where you're going with it. You know, the way I kind of often describe it is, you drink the punch on day one. You're hooked... Look, it's childishly fun to get to do some of these projects we do. James is very fun to work with because he has, you know he's going to go somewhere interesting with it. One of the things we tell the crew is, well, everybody else did their job. Now it's up to us not to f*** it up, because Henry shot some beautiful plates and the actors all showed up on the day, ready to give it their best. And James directed the s*** out of it. You know, all the pieces have come in at 100%, and we're one of the last cogs to sort of bring things together, us and editorial. So it's up to us not to diminish the result. It's up to us to only add as much as we can. It's that kind of thing that we have to be very cognizant of. It's hard to explain, but if everybody's doing so good, it puts a lot of pressure on you to live up to their promise… When I'm working on something, I try to figure out how to elevate it as much as I can… Our job isn't just to say, well, giant monster in a city, check. Here's your giant monster in a city. It's to try to figure out what the emotion of that scene is. The whole point of the kaiji fight isn't just from a storytelling point, it's to distract Superman so that Lex Luther can go break into the Fortress of Solitude. But from an emotional point, it's to show that Superman cares about everybody. Superman is such a noble being that even a squirrel is worthy of saving. …I'm just saying that's kind of our job is to do more. It's to not just show up and check the boxes and build a house to have four bedrooms because you ask for four bedrooms, but to style it in such a way that it just feels special. You know, one of the things we talk about often is special sauce. What's the special sauce we're going to add to this to really get it to lay in? And it's not just about adding complexity, it's about figuring out how to elevate the emotion just a little bit around the story, so that you obviously can read the story, but you're being very subconsciously told how to feel as you're reading it, you know, and that's a large part of what we do. MH: The kaiju is a perfect example of what you're saying, because that kaiju was so cute and adorable at first and likable-looking. And when it was doing destruction, it wasn't some big evil dragon that's drooling and was going to smash a kid on purpose. It was all framed in a way that allowed us to feel a different way toward it than we do toward other giant monsters, so that kind of feeds into what I said at the start about my sense that this movie is much more kid-friendly, like it seemed that at all times you were kind of thinking about either consciously or subtextually, 'Kids are going to see this.' All of those things, I think, worked and appeal not just to adults, but as you said, to the emotions of children and of the child within us as adults. And once again, if anyone knows exactly how to tap into that and knows how to hit that button in our heart, James Gunn probably better than anyone in super working in superhero cinema knows how to do that. s there any final takeaway from this film that you kind of think about, as far as for the future of DC in genera? Do you have any thoughts about, 'We're going to be doing more DC movies' and what that means? GW: I can't tell you exactly what DC is playing, or what James is playing at, because I'm not DC or James. I could tell you what we're looking at. I mean, I'm seeing what I've seen so far of their universe through Superman. So I'm eager to see what he does. I think one of the things that James does so brilliantly well is, he tells a story that we care about, right? You know, he has this ability to make you empathize with character characters. He's brilliant that black isn't always black and white isn't always white, and Superman makes mistakes. The kaiju's not an evil monster trying to step on a kid. It's all about the shades of gray and really getting into the storytelling of that. And, you know, that's what he's always done with his movies. And I'm really looking forward to him. One of the things I love about the whole DC experiment that's going on right now is that they put James in charge of it and uncaged him. Because one of the things that often constricts these kind of moments is when the studios get so involved in the storytelling that they sort of box in the director. But James being allowed to just be James. Look, once again, I'm not in charge of the studio, I can't tell you if he has total freedom or what. But, you know, on this film, he got to make the movie he wanted to make. And it shows. It's a fantastic movie. So I'm hopeful for the rest of the DC universe that that mentality will go into it. We'll see a lot lot of films that feel like they were made 20 or 30 years ago, back when directors had a lot more control over their process. So it'd be interesting to see how this all plays out… It's important to understand that filmmaking is not— it might be carried on the shoulders of something like James Gunn, but it all comes down to even the lowest-paid artist or the production coordinator, or a production assistant even, you know. Everybody plays such a valuable role in getting what you see on film… It is interesting to see so many talented, beautiful people come together and try to give the best of themselves to see a good result. And they're not doing it for cynicism, they're not doing it just to get a paycheck. They're doing it because they actually give a s*** about what they see in theaters. And we're talking thousands of people. It's also one of the most fun things about working in film, to be able to watch people do good. Yeah, it's almost like Superman. It's watching people do the best they can, to try to be the best people they can and doing selfless acts. We're all getting paid and we're all getting taken care of, but at the same time, we're doing it because we want to see good cinema. And we're doing it because we care about the person sitting next to us. And, you know, it's a good community to be a part of, and it's a good community to work with. And when everybody strikes the board just right, great cinema is made. Thanks to Guy Williams and the crew at Wētā for once again taking time to speak with me at length about their tremendous work. Read more of my interviews with Wētā about their work on Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and A Minecraft Movie.
Forbes
13 hours ago
- Forbes
James Gunn's ‘Superman' Cracks $300 Million At Domestic Box Office
Superman — James Gunn's Man of Steel tale starring David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan — just reached a big box office milestone as it heads into its fourth weekend in theaters. Written and directed by Gunn, Superman opened on July 11 and earned $125 million at the domestic box office in its first three-day frame from 4,135 theaters. The film marks the first DC Studios release from Gunn and his fellow co-CEO Peter Safran after they took over the division at Warner Bros. Forgoing the origin story route, Gunn's version of Superman picks up with Superman already a well-established force for good in Metropolis, along with Clark Kent a fixture at the Daily Planet and boyfriend of Brosnahan's Lois Lane. Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) sends Superman's life into a tailspin, however, when the tech billionaire finds a way to turn the public against the Krypton-born superhero. Superman crossed the $300 million mark at the domestic box office on Thursday with $2.6 million in ticket sales, boosting its 21-day tally to $302.3 million. Combined with its international gross of $225.6 million through Thursday, Superman has earned $527.6 million worldwide to date. Superman had a production budget of $225 million and a marketing budget of $125 million, according to Variety. 'Superman' And 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' Are In A Tight Race For The Top Superhero Movie Of The Summer While Superman still has momentum three weeks in release, it's still uncertain whether it will be the superhero film that flies the highest at this summer's box office. Superman easily soared by Disney and Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts* a week into domestic theater run. Thunderbolts* (aka The New Avengers) is looking like it will wrap up its domestic run this weekend in a mere 20 venues (via The Numbers). The film has a running North American box office tally of $190.1 million. Disney/Marvel's The Fantastic Four: First Steps, however, has a shot at catching up with Superman, thanks to a solid domestic opening of $117.6 million from 4,125 North American screens. The Fantastic Four: First Steps heads into its second weekend with $158.4 million in domestic ticket sales and $99 million in international receipts for a worldwide box office tally of $257.4 million to date. Superman's theater count is dropping from 3,930 venues last week to 3,537 heading into its fourth weekend, per The Numbers. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is projected to easily win its second weekend at the domestic box office over three newcomers — the animated family comedy The Bad Guys 2, the action comedy The Naked Gun and the body horror thriller Together.
