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Fox’s Zupan: UHD Blu-ray’s Off to ‘Promising’ Start

Ultra High-Def (UHD) Blu-ray had a “promising launch at retail” and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment remains committed to strongly supporting the format with titles, Brian Zupan, the company’s VP of retail strategy and retail marketing, said at the CE Week conference in New York on June 23.

“We’re very committed to this new format,” he said, pointing out that Fox released 10 titles in February in the U.S. to coincide with the launch of the first UHD Blu-ray player from Samsung. Those releases included “The Martian,” “Kingsman: The Secret Service” and “Wild.” Since then, the studio released another five UHD Blu-ray titles day-and-date with their releases on DVD and Blu-ray, he said. Those titles included “Deadpool” and the Oscar-winning film “The Revenant.”

“We’re very pleased with the initial performance – the sales of these titles” on UHD Blu-ray, “especially” with the performance of “Deadpool,” “The Martian” and “The Revenant,” he said. He didn’t provide sales numbers.

Fox will release another eight UHD Blu-ray titles by the end of 2016, he said. The studio is “committed” to releasing “all new release titles in the back half of this year and beyond” in 4K UHD with high dynamic range (HDR), he said. “It’s very important to us because we know it’s very important to the consumers as well as our manufacturer and retail partners,” he said.

Despite the continued “significant growth” of e-commerce, it’s “still only about 10 and a half percent” of total U.S. retail sales, he also said. Therefore, the “vast majority” of retail sales are happening at traditional brick-and-mortar stores, he said. That’s why retail stores still play a hugely important role in demonstrating UHD Blu-ray to consumers, he said, adding that, for customers, “seeing is believing.”

Many consumer purchases are made on “impulse” and aren’t planned, he said. But new release home video titles across all Hollywood studios are “often destinationally planned purchases” and Fox likes to work with retailers to create events at retail stores to create excitement about those new releases, he said, adding that helps drive traffic to retail stores. “That’s really important to us” and the retailers, he said.

LG Electronics, meanwhile, is rolling out an LG Experience wall at retail stores that spotlights the new video technologies, including 4K TV, OLED, HDR and Dolby Vision, David VanderWaal, VP of marketing at LG Electronics USA, said at the conference. The walls are rolling out now to Best Buy stores and will soon roll out to regional U.S. dealers also, he said, pointing out that the walls are “intended to engage, excite and educate” consumers.