Yesterday we heard about Craig Davis, VP of Urban Promotions for EMI, who came out and stated how he believes that the whole SOPA thing is the wrong way for entertainment business to try and protect their businesses. Granted he qualified his statement by saying that he was speaking for himself and not as an official representative of EMI and their position on the matter.

However refreshing it might have been to hear an industry insider come out on the side of the consumer in matter like this the fact is we have and entertainment industry that will do anything it can to protect itself from having to actually try and come to grips with a changing world; you know like Warner Bros.

Yes folks Warner Bros. is at it again and once more Netflix is the target for its anti-consumer behavior as we discover that not only are they making Netflix customers wait 56 between the release of a Warner Bros. movie on DVD and being able to rent it from Netflix but now that want to make you wait before you can even add it to your queue.

Warner Brothers is now imposing additional stipulations for its DVD movie new releases. Starting Feb. 1, the company has decided to restrict Netflix users from adding any new DVD releases to their queue until 28 days after the DVD goes on sale in retail stores, VentureBeat has learned.

While Netflix is unable to offer new DVD movies for rent during the 56-day delay window, the company currently allows subscribers to add the titles to their rental queue. This is particularly useful for Netflix subscribers because the new DVDs automatically ship out once the 56-day delay period ends.

via VentureBeat

The real problem here is that it won’t be Warner Bros. getting the heat when people suddenly find that they can’t add DVD to their queue but rather it will be Netflix that everyone starts yelling at. Of course this is all happening because Warner Bros. is under the mistaken belief that by screwing with their customers that this is going to magically increase the sale of DVD, which are hugely profitable for the entertainment companies.

Nice move Warner Bros, ya bunch of jerks.

Warner Bros. continues to show mind-numbing stupidity and anti-consumerism is a post from: The Inquisitr

Reports are circulating in which Amazon has reached a business agreement with Warner Bros. that will make the company the first major retailer to offer films in the upcoming UltraViolet digital format.

News of the deal surfaced at CNET just one day after Amazon VP Bill Carr had announced at a CES panel discussion that the company had reached a deal with a major Hollywood studio.

During his announcement Carr stood on the stage with members of the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) including Warner Bros., Fox., Universal and Sony.

The announcement still hasn’t been officially made by Warner Bros. or Amazon.

If you’re unfamiliar with the UltraViolet format it’s intended as a way to alleviate the jitters some users feel over Internet video while still keeping the sales of physical discs. During the programs early implementation restrictions were placed on how long they could hold onto a digital copy and some technical encounters were experienced.

According to the UV group they will adopt a common file format in late 2012 which should help solve technical issues that are associated with different digital rights management setups.

Do you think the move to the UltraViolet system was a smart decision for Amazon and the studios that support it? Would you be more inclined to use the program if a common file format was implemented by studios using UltraViolet technology?

Amazon and Warner Bros. Reach Agreement Over UltraViolet Digital Format is a post from: The Inquisitr

Warner Brothers has announced plans to delay the release of its movies for DVD rental and streaming purposes to 56 days, double the company’s current 28 day rule.

Rumors of an increase had been circulating for some time after the company revealed they were not happy with current agreements which offer customers very little incentive when it comes to actually purchasing a DVD or Blu-ray disc.

While the move sidesteps DVD and streaming release dates for services such as Netflix and Redbox who rely on cheaper costs to support their low rental pricing, other outlets such as Blockbuster and Family Video can still purchase the movies at full wholesale pricing and then rent them to customers.

It’s likely that streaming providers will attempt to pay more money to Warner Brothers as they attempt to close the added time on that window.

Warner Brothers is not officially commenting on the move at this time although they are expected to reveal their plans at CES next week.

In the meantime with the rise of BitTorrent access, streaming services such as MegaVideo and other means for finding and downloading movies it will be interesting to see what type of piracy occurs as the company attempts to keep wanted movies out of the renting hands of potential viewers.

Will you be heading out to buy movies now that you have to wait a longer period of time to rent or steam them? I will personally just watch non-Warner Brothers movies until their flicks finally reach Red Box.

Warner Brothers Doubles DVD and Streaming Rental Delay, Hopes To Sell More Discs is a post from: The Inquisitr

Fans of the Harry Potter film series will want to make sure they have all 8 films before December 29, that’s the date when Warner Bros. will pull all of the potter films from store shelves, sending the series into moratorium.

Disney fans have been familiar with moratorium rights for years as that company has limited the releases of their films to develop anticipation for their return, a move that Warner Bros. sees as beneficial for their Potter series.

The Harry Potter: The Complete 8-Film Collection will be released on both DVD and Blu-Ray on November 11 at which time fans of the movies will have just over one month to pick up the complete collection before it’s pulled from shelves.

Speaking about the film series’ success EW says:

“Since Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was released in 2001, the Harry Potter franchise has grossed more than $12.1 billion for Warner Bros. Entertainment — $5.1 billion of which came from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.”

With the holiday shopping season just around the corner it’s likely that the full Harry Potter collection will be gobbled up quickly by fans of the series who have been waiting for the full collection to make it’s debut.

Will you be running out to pick up the full Harry Potter collection when it debuts on November 11?

Harry Potter Films Will Go Away After December 29 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Matt Damon’s been talking about trying his hand at directing for the past several months, and now it looks like he’s going to get his shot at it – but not with the project that everyone thought he would make his debut in.

Variety learned that Damon penned a script for an untitled legal alongside The Office star John Krasinski, and the report states that Damon is set to produce, direct and star in the film.

The film, which sees Damon playing the role of a salesman whose life comes into question when he arrives at a small town, is reportedly the brainchild of Krasinski and author Dave Eggers, one of the writers behind Away We Go, which Krasinski starred in.

The movie is said to setting up at Warner Bros., but Variety notes that as of now Warner Bros. has yet to greenlight the project. The team is currently working on finishing up a script “within a month”, and preliminary plans are to shoot somewhere on the East Coast.

Damon, whose next on-screen appearance will be We Bought a Zoo, was originally expected to make his directorial debut with Father Daughter Time: A Tale of Armed Robbery and Eskimo Kisses which, as it happens, also stars Krasinski, but Variety was told that he’ll instead make his debut with the new, yet-to-be-named project.

Source: Variety

Matt Damon to make directorial debut with co-writer John Krasinski is a post from: The Inquisitr

This is the craziest (but coolest) thing I’ve read all week.

Have you ever read someone’s musings or writings online and think it’s better than a lot of the published or produced work you’ve seen in the realm of film or book markets? Reddit- known to be a relatively clever site with an oft peeked-in-upon user base- has probably been exposed to its fair share of good ideas. And one was so good it might very well end up as a full-length feature film.

About a month ago, Reddit user The_Quiet_Earth posed the question “Could I destroy the entire Roman Empire during the reign of Augustus if I traveled back in time with a modern U.S. Marine infantry battalion or MEU?” in r/AskReddit- a subreddit devoted to culling answers from the Reddit community. The Redditor described the question in the excerpt at the bottom of this post to other Reddit users.

As the thread wore on, people off the site took note. One of those people was an exec at Warner Bros., who’ve snapped up the rights to James Erwin’s idea. Erwin- who has won at Jeopardy twice- had this to say about the serendipitous turn of events:

“Here’s the thing. I was very, very lucky to post what I did at the moment I did. It wasn’t just the idea of coming up with just the right answer – if I’d posted the same text an hour later, everyone would already be bored with the question. They wouldn’t have seen it and it wouldn’t have blown up. So that was definitely a lightning-in-a-bottle situation.”

Below, a snippet of the description for Rome Sweet Rome. Would you go see it on the big screen?

We’d be up against nearly 330,000 men since each legion was comprised of 11,000 men. These men are typically equipped with limb and torso armor made of metal, and for weaponry they carry swords, spears, bows and other stabbing implements. We’d also encounter siege weapons like catapults and crude incendiary weapons.

We’d be made up of about 2000 members, of which about half would be participating in ground attack operations. We can use our four Abrams M1A1 tanks, our artillery and mechanized vehicles (60 Humvees, 16 armored vehicles, etc), but we cannot use our attack air support, only our transport aircraft.

We also have medics with us, modern medical equipment and drugs, and engineers, but we no longer have a magical time-traveling supply line (we did have but the timelords frowned upon it, sadly!) that provides us with all the ammunition, equipment and sustenance we need to survive. We’ll have to succeed with the stuff we brought with us.

So, will we be victorious?

Wait, What? Movie Studio Options Thread on Reddit is a post from: The Inquisitr

Back in 2010, Kevin Tancharoen cooked up a pretty impressive short that reimagined the Mortal Kombat series. Tancharoen reportedly took on the effort to convince New Line Cinema that it was worth rebooting the Mortal Kombat film franchise, and the result was that pretty cool little web series, Mortal Kombat: Legacy, which ran on Machinima’s YouTube channel.

One short and a webseries later, it looks like New Line Cinema has signed off on a new Mortal Kombat film with Tancharoen as the director.

“The new game and the online shorts prompted us to consider a reboot of a brand we hadn’t been actively thinking about,” explained New Line Cinema boss Toby Emmerich.

Like the web series, the new Mortal Kombat film will reportedly take a comparatively realistic approach to Mortal Kombat‘s wild and whacky universe. Warn Bros. is working alongside New Line Cinema to have the movie out around the same time as the next Mortal Kombat title.

The Mortal Kombat film reboot is being penned by Oren Uziel, a longtime partner of Tancharoen’s. New Line expects to start production on the film next year, with a 2013 release likely.

Source: LA Times (via Destructoid)

New Mortal Kombat film in the works is a post from: The Inquisitr

After a legal battle spanning several months between Charlie Sheen and Warner Bros. Television, Two and a Half Men co-creator Chuck Lorre included, Sheen has reportedly settled the case through arbitration.

Back in March, Sheen filed a $100-million lawsuit against the studio and Two and a Half Men‘s creators after he was fired from the popular CBS sitcom due to a series of negative comments he made to the media about the studio and Two and a Half Men co-creator Chuck Lorre.

“Warner Bros. Television, Chuck Lorre and Charlie Sheen have resolved their dispute to the parties’ mutual satisfaction. The pending lawsuit and arbitration will be dismissed as to all parties. The parties have agreed to maintain confidentiality over the terms of the settlement,” Warner Bros said in a statement.

Neither party have come out and put a number on the settlement, but a report from LA Times last week suggested that Sheen would be receiving $25 million out of the settlement.

Sheen is reportedly working on a new television series based on the Adam Sandler movie Anger Management. According to a report by E!, Sheen will be taking on the role of Jack Nicholson’s character from the movie.

Two and a Half Men made its season debut last week, sans Sheen, to a record 28.7 million viewers.

via National Post

Charlie Sheen settles lawsuit against Warner Bros. is a post from: The Inquisitr

When Charlie Sheen filed a $100 million lawsuit against Warner Bros and CBS for firing him from the hit TV show Two and a Half Men we thought he was just a crazy and jilted former employee and now it turns out he had a case.

According to the Los Angeles Times Warner Bros. has agreed to a $25 million settlement with Sheen, a payment that will make the lawsuit disappear once and for all.

Sheen filed the lawsuit after he went on a drug and alcohol fueled binge in the middle of shooting last season. Sheen’s erratic behavior eventually led to his dismissal from the show.

While Sheen has called former co-star Jon Cryer a “troll” while publicly calling out show creator Chuck Lorre with names that have included “narcissist. coward. loser and spineless rat” he wished the entire crew “Nothing but the best for the upcoming season” while appearing on Sunday night at the Emmy Awards.

Sheen told Matt Lauer last week during a Today Show interview that he’s feeling “a lot more calm” now thanks to his new found sobriety.

Do you think Charlie Sheen deserved to receive a $25 million settlement from Warner Bros even though his firing was directly related to his own substance abuse and erratic behavior.

Warner Bros. To Pay Charlie Sheen $25 Million To Make $100 Million Lawsuit Go Away is a post from: The Inquisitr

There appears to be a new theme in Hollywood, remake Patrick Swayze films as much as possible. Okay maybe it’s not that drastic but Warner Bros. is taking a que from Dirty Dancing and remaking another one of the actor’s films, this time Point Break which also originally featured Keanu Reeves and Gary Busey.

In the original movie Keanu Reeves plays FBI agent Johnny Utah who works with his partner Angelo Pappas (Busey) to take down a team of bank robbers who dress as the “Ex-Presidents” of the United States. Utah is sent undercover to spy on the gang of surf loving robbers when he befriends gang leader Bodhi (Swayze) and eventually takes to the surfing lifestyle.

Warner Bros. was planning a remake until Swayze died of pancreatic cancer in 2009 and now the project, being helmed by Alcon Entertainment is moving forward.

According to the studio:

“The new version is set in the world of international extreme sports, and like the original involves an undercover FBI agent infiltrating a criminal ring.”

Sorry Alcon and Warner Bros. it’s not a remake of Point Break without the “break” and you can’t have that without the surfing.

We’ll probably have a while to wait before the movie actually reaches theaters, in the meantime here’s the trailer for 1991′s Point Break:

Does this movie sound like Point Break to you or just a lame attempt to rip off the following of the movie to draw people into something different?

Point Break Remake On The Way, Really Has Nothing To Do With The Original is a post from: The Inquisitr

Not only is Ellen DeGeneres one of the biggest talk show hosts on the planet, perhaps even the biggest since Oprah left her heralded show, she’s also a music executive (she recently launched her own record label), a spokesperson (American Express anyone?) and now a studio executive, starting her own production company (Very Good Production) which has worked with Warner Bros to sell their first project to NBC.

Not only has the show been sold, it’s set to feature Degeneres’ wife Portia de Rossi in a leading role.

The not-yet-titled project had received interest from all four big networks and was eventually picked up by NBC.

According to Deadline:

The project will feature de Rossi as one of two dueling sisters, and will be written by Samantha Who? writer Donald Todd. Since producers Todd and DeGeneres have major comedy backgrounds and de Rossi worked with humor in acclaimed shows Arrested Development and Ally McBeal, the multi-camera project looks to have great potential.

As a fan of Ellen when the showed aired I personally can’t wait to see what a veteran team of show runners and comedians can do, especially in a space that of recently has been lacking in the female comedy setup with unimaginative shows that border on lazy and uninspired (apart from in my opinion Hot In Cleveland).

Do you think Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossi will be able to pull off comedy gold? If Ellen’s past and present successes say anything about her choice in business I think NBC might have a hit on their hands.

Ellen Degeneres’ Production Company Sells Comedy Series To NBC is a post from: The Inquisitr

After hearing that Mel Gibson is working on a movie about Judah Maccabee, a famous Jewish hero whose victories brought about Hanukkah, it was easy to assume that Gibson was doing it as some form of reconciliation for his anti-Semitic remarks.

If sources close to TMZ are to believed, however, that’s not true. The sources claim that Gibson is not doing it as a form of reconciliation because he doesn’t hate Jewish people to begin with. The sources point to the fact that Gibson’s publicist is Jewish, his lawyers are Jewish, and he has “many” Jewish friends.

So why, then, is Gibson working on the movie? According to the sources, Gibson has been wanting to work on the film for “decades”. He believes that telling the story of Maccabee will bring to light corruption in the modern church and, as a result, force change.

Many still remain critical over Gibson being tied to the movie, however. Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles is one such critic. He told CNN:

“I think it’s, quite frankly, preposterous,” he said. “Judah Maccabee is one of the greatest heroes in Jewish history. Mel Gibson is an anti-Semite. He has made anti-Semitic remarks in the past. I don’t know what Warner Bros. was thinking.”

Representative of Gibson responded to the comments, pointing out that there are no plans for Gibson to be starring in the film in any capacity – only directing.

Why Mel Gibson is making a Judah Maccabee movie is a post from: The Inquisitr

Oscar winner Mel Gibson appears to be over his anti-Semitism, the actor is said to be working with Warner Bros. to create a jewish hero epic about the life of Judah Maccabee. Judah’s ancient victory is celebrated by Hanukkah. You may recall that in 2006 the actor was arrested on DUI charges and was caught on film screaming anti-Jewish remarks.

Joe Eszterhas will pen the screenplay while Gibson may choose to direct the film or possibly act in the movie after he has approved the screenplay. Gibson, 55, would likely play the part of priest Mattathias, the father of Maccabee.

According to the Gibson camp he has been fascinated with the project for years and at one point he was looking at the movie as a follow-up project for The Passion of the Christ. The follow-up idea would make sense since Passion earned $612 million in worldwide box office, making it the highest grossing R-rated films of all time.

After last summers constant spats with former girlfriend and baby mama Oskana Grigorieva it will be interesting to see if Gibson’s religion based movie will still garner an audience, especially from the Jewish community.

Gibson’s reps say the movie would attempt to resonate with audiences in the same way Braveheart  did by focusing on a strong lead hero who helps his forces develop the courage and skill they needed to rise up against tyranny and defend their lands.

Are you willing to watch Mel Gibson direct a Jewish hero epic or are you over his craziness?

Mel Gibson Working With Warner Bros. To Create Jewish Hero Epic is a post from: The Inquisitr

Charlie Sheen isn’t happy that he’s being replaced on Two and a Half Men and to vent his frustration the actor sent a letter to TMZ that called show creator Chuck Lorre a “nut-less sociopath.”

In Sheen’s letter he said that the entire shows success was based on his performance and warns CBS and Warner Bros. that he is going to win his $100 million lawsuit.

Here’s the full letter:

Good Luck Chuck

MY fans may tune in for a minute, but at the end of the day, no one cares about your feeble show without me. Shame on you. Not even a phone call to the man that put you on the map. The man that put 500 million dollars in your pockets. You were on your way out of Warner Bros. with a buy out and a cup of cold coffee in your shaky and clammy hands. And then I walked into your office. And you created a show BASED ON MY AWESOME LIFE. I busted my ass for 8 years to support your vision. Your dream. In turn, it is my nightmare. You sad silly fool. A-hole p*ssy loser. Put on the gloves you low rent, nut-less sociopath; I’ll beat your chicken shit soul in a court room into a state of gratitude. A state of surrender. Something you left at the door every time you blundered into the pathetic AA loser lounge. Newsflash; they are planning on voting you off the AA island. Even those clowns have no room for you anymore. Wow, I’m sure your children are SO PROUD of you. You can teach’em how to be a stupid b*tch.

A narcissist. A coward. A loser. A spineless rat.

I’m out here with my fans every night. The message is crystal clear;

NO CHARLIE SHEEN. NO SHOW.

And that’s exactly what it will be for you and your desperate vanity cards, every Monday night, a no-show. The ratings right now are not a fluke. It’s a big fat mess. A 2.0 demo? That sucks. Almost as bad as you. You’ve been warned. Reap the whirl-wind you cockroach, reap it.

- Charlie Sheen

And the circus that is Charlie continues onward.

Charlie Sheen Directs Profanity Laced Letter At Chuck Lorre is a post from: The Inquisitr

Batman: Arkham City has a release date, and now it has a gameplay trailer. The video below shows Bats legging and swooping it around a broken Arkham City populated by Joker’s goons.

And how he swoops! It’s not a total revamp, but developer Rocksteady has refined and tightened the flight controls, thus managing what I thought was impossible: making Arkham City Batman move even more awesomely than Arkham Asylum Batman.

[Via IGN]

[VIDEO] First in-game Batman: Arkham City trailer is a beaut is a post from: The Inquisitr

Batman: Arkham City, possibly this year’s most awaited sequel outside of Gears of War 3 and Modern Warfare Whatever, just got a release date for all territories:

♦ North America: October 18th
♦ Australia: October 19th
♦ Europe, other global territories: Beginning October 21st

And, er, that’s about all the news fit to print for this, so please enjoy these new screens while I gratuitously pad out this post with links to other Batman posts:

♦ 13 Fantastic Visions of The Joker
♦ Caution, Batman
♦ Exit for The Batman
♦ 16 Awesome The Dark Knight Wallpapers

[Via press release]

THWACK! POW!: Batman: Arkham City gets October release date is a post from: The Inquisitr

If you ever wanted proof of just how moronically stupid the movie industry is just take a gander at this statement from Jeff Bewkes, Chief Executive Officer of Time Warner.

“So far the 28-day window has clearly been a success versus no delay,” Time Warner Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bewkes said today on a conference call. “The question of whether we ought to go longer is very much under scrutiny. It may well be a good idea.”

via Business Week

Let’s just let that sink in for a second.

Yup, he did say that.

Not just happy with making people who want to hand over money to watch a movie wait 28 days under the assumption that this will increase DVD sales it seems they now want to extend beyond that to even longer wait times.

I’m willing to bet that it will have the opposite effect and could end up driving people to actually trying to find alternative ways to watch the movies they want to but without paying anything.

Yup ..smart move Jeff.

Time Warner loves Netflix’s 28 day delay so much it wants longer delays is a post from: The Inquisitr

I was wondering how long it would be before this tactic would succeed but according to Kit Eaton at Fast Company two Hollywood giants have scored a major win against Triton Media and set a huge precedent in the courts in the process.

The tactic in question is what is referred to as contributory infringement and inducement to infringe and it was the argument used by lawyers for Disney and Warner Bros. in their lawsuit against Triton Media, a web advertiser. The basis of the argument is that by providing ads to sites that primarily exist to stream video without paying any licencing  fees Triton Media was contributing to copyright abuse, or at least that is how the argument goes.

The damages are levied against Triton Media, which the courts have thus found guilty of “contributory copyright infringement” and “inducement to infringe.” Triton’s crime is an odd one: Providing a web ads facility to websites including free-tv-video-online.info and watch-movies.net. These sites, part of a longer list, are accused of illegally providing streaming access to content that they haven’t licensed from the content owners–the latest bane in the life of Hollywood studios and TV companies the world over. Their business model is simple: At low cost to themselves they provide a point of access to someone else’s popular TV show or movie, their viewers are attracted by the big-name shows available and the fact they don’t have to pay. In-page ads return a small revenue stream to the site owners, much as they do for pretty much every other web site out there.

So the big unanswered question in the room now is – given that the vast majority of pirate type sites run Google AdSense will Big Media have enough of a precedent, and backbone, with this win against Triton Media to go after Google?

Loss to Disney and Warner costs Triton $400k. Is Google next? is a post from: The Inquisitr

No Catwoman in these new Batman: Arkham City screens, but goshdarn they look good all the same. If they don’t make you want to dress up in tights and sweatily roll around with other men, then I don’t know what will.

Game hits PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in Fall 2011. LONGEST WAIT EVAR. :O(

See also: 13 fantastic visions of The Joker

[Via press release]

New Batman: Arkham City screens swoop in is a post from: The Inquisitr

TorrentFreak has blogged about a vacancy originally posted by Warner Bros. UK, seeking an “anti-piracy intern” on that side of the pond.

If you like stealing content but have a secret narc side, you can apply up until March 31st for the position, which pays around $26,200 USD- or £17,000 in England money. Tasks include spying on your friends and returning information on the illegal exchange of copyrighted material. The job description is as follows:

During the 12 month internship, duties will include: monitoring local Internet forums and IRC for pirated WB and NBCU content and in order to gather information on pirate sites, pirate groups and other pirate activities; finding new and maintaining existing accounts on private sites; scanning for links to hosted pirated WB and NBCU content and using tools to issue takedown requests; maintaining and developing bots for Internet link scanning system (training provided); preparing sending of infringement notices and logging feedback; performing trap purchases of pirated product and logging results; inputting pirate hard goods data and other intelligence into the forensics database; selecting local keywords and submitting local filenames for monitoring and countermeasure campaigns and periodically producing research documents on piracy related technological developments. Various training will be provided.

In addition to gathering intelligence on sites that offer downloads of copyrighted WB and NBC material, duties include sending “takedown requests and infringement notices” to sites and people you might befriend in your anti-piracy travels. Amusingly, TorrentFreak supported the WB’s efforts:

We encourage all eligible TorrentFreak readers to apply for this exciting internship and provide us with regular updates on Warner Bros’ anti-piracy efforts.

Rumors of a stipend of unlimited cheese available to anti-piracy interns were not immediately confirmed.

Warner Bros. now hiring professional snitches is a post from: The Inquisitr