The cinematic costs of the London riots

johnny_ultimate

Depressing explanation of the effect the destruction of the Sony production plant in the UK is going to have on a small, niche distribution company over yonder. Interesting insight into how smaller distributors work too. Like record labels, looks like there may be a serious knock on effect for DVD production in the coming months.

While you probably don't need to worry if you've been planning on picking up one of this Summer's plethora of blockbusters, you probably don't need to worry. But it might have unfortunate repercussions on smaller distributors for a while in an already fairly grim marketplace.

Sad Professor

Yeah, quite a number of small independent studios will be affected by this. Particularly sorry to hear about Third Window’s difficulties. I have several South Korean DVDs from them.

johnny_ultimate

Indeed, they frequently provide me with my fix of offbeat, quirky Japanese films.

Didn't realise they released Chang-dong Lees early films. Must check em out!

To be honest I'd be more concerned with the fact that its believed that there were a number of original music masters on site which have been list.

The DVD's and Blu Rays lost can easily be repressed and insurance will cover any losses though the remaining copies of a number of limited steel books, Shogun Assassin, Metropolis, etc have been list.

Skinfull

Well... to be honest I was more concerned with the loss of jobs. The company and stock will be insured. The upper echelon will be submerged into other standings within the company but not likely the cleaning staff, catering staff, shelf stockers etc.

johnny_ultimate

The loss of stock is certainly not the only problem, and the potential loss of jobs is certainly a worry. But reading over the Third Window link this is going to have deeper consequences than mere loss of stock. Smaller companies are going to have cash-flow difficulties over the next few months, and the DVD production process determines you need to make 1000 copies of any DVD - so that means they may have to make more replacement copies than their insurance covers. Of course, the hope is Sony will be responsible and lower minimum production quotas. But given that it's going to take a long time for smaller CD and DVD distributors to get back to producing stuff, it's most certainly going to be tough times for 'em. Hopefully digital distribution will keep 'em going for a while.

Sad Professor

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Indeed, they frequently provide me with my fix of offbeat, quirky Japanese films.

Speaking of which, I see they released a Blu-ray of Confessions. I must get it. Amazing film!

johnny_ultimate

Yeah Confessions is pretty awesome alright. I can't wait for them to release Sawako Decides on DVD, hoping it isn't delayed by all this stuff. They do have a film called Villain getting a cinema release this month, but it might miss a first run showing over here like Sawako did. I saw it on a plane months ago and it was pretty cool although hardly optimal viewing conditions for a subtitled film :P