You are the man, thank you. This does not look good at all. What are you guys going to do?

What: Deadlands 2: Trapped HD DVD Edition
When: March 2010 (Hopefully)
Why: Because its been a total pain in the ass and the studio dropped the ball

What is it really?

Deadlands 2 is a $6,000 American produced low budget Zombie film released by WNWR Films and ANTHEM PICTURES. In Late summer 2009 a proposal was put out to HD DVD fans to get one last HD DVD made, and this film would be the movie for the last HD DVD. ironically a zombie film resurrecting a Dead format, albeit, for a small run, had some appeal to it and the program took off.

It really is a niche item to own, type a deal. Its low budget, shot mostly in SD, with some HD action sequences, and it uses an MPEG 2 encode for the HD DVD (best one to use at the time because VC-1 made the picture too blurry and AVC was causing artifacting)

During the production of the HD DVD their were snafus:

1. Replicator Issues – Over 10+ replicators took on the project and then backed out, which kept pushing back the release date. Originally slated for October 2009, the date was pushed out until Nov 24, then Dec 11th. When the November date approached there were errors in the authoring that required repairs, a check disc revealed some issue, these were fixed, but the most recent replicator to accept the project backed out.

2. Why is the disc size now 15gb as opposed to 30gb?

During the search for another replicator it became a capacity issue. Originally planned as a 30gb HD DVD, it had to be chopped to 15gb. Because of the lack of 30gb press-able resins

3. What was removed?

Special features being ported over from the DVD. However, all special features filmed exclusively for the HD DVD were kept and fit without further compromising the films quality. because of production delays involving the HDDVD Anthem pictures offered anyone who pre-order the HD DVD a free copy of the DVD to make up for the wait, and now the cut disc size. Having both gives you all the features that would have been ont he 30gb disc had it been possible to get made.

4. What do I get on the 15gb Disc?

Extended UNRATED Directors Cut – Basically its about 30 seconds longer than the DVD release and the new cuts removes all of the filtering and Edge Enhancement found on the DVD release (HD DVD Exclusive)

Work Print Edition – The first cut of the movie originally played at film festivals and a short theatrical run in MD and VA USA (HD DVD Excluisve – was supposed ot be a supplement on the DVD release but didn;t make the cut, so it became HD DVD exclusive)

No Money and a Camera – A 2 part BTS documentary about making films on little to no money. We interview 3 local MD and VA filmmakers for the project. Shot exclusive for the HD DVD (Combined runs 28 minutes)

A Discussion about Zombie Films – a Documentary originally intended for a separate release that never happened, I licensed the raw footage, which I shot most of anyway, and did a rough cut of the raw footage coupled from Interview with myself and VA filmmaker Lonnie martin and the impact Zombei film had on us. These segments were supposed to be part of larger project spread between indie and studio film directors (Runs about 22 minutes and change) – Exclusive to HD DVD

Directors Commentary UR Ext Cut (Exclusive re-recorded for the HD DVD and talks about the HD DVD project)
Fan Commentary – Work Print Cut (HD DVD exclusive)
5.1 DD Surround Mix (Both Cuts) – Exclusive to HD DVD
2.0 DD Mix (Both Cuts)

What is the New date and Why?

The new date is set for the first Tuesday in March 2010. As noted above, per the studio, over ten replicators walked off the project, during the last delay no one informed me we lost another replicator and due to un-answered voice mails and phone calls I had suggested everyone get a refund, this caused a bit of stir and people did just that, which made Anthem finally call, and inform me what was going on, including a phone call from the studio CEO and OWNER, who was not aware I wasn’t being kept in the loop.

Anyway, the reason for the delayed date is another replicator walked off and they had to search for another replicator, this took over 3-4 weeks. The new replicator, supposedly has other bigger jobs ahead and will not push up the product in their queue system since the amount of discs being pressed is limited to 500 discs. Because of this the earliest the disc can be pressed is second week of February 2010, and they can be shipped once received and QA’d by Anthem by first week of March.

If you choose to back out of the order because of numerous delays you can ask for a refund:

email: Alex Tabares at Alex@anthemdvd.com and provide them your order number/ receipt whatever. You can call as well 818-597-2346 ext 1

if you email also please CC: Jessica Adelman: jessica@anthemdvd.com and Chuck Adelman (CEO) chuck@anthemdvd.com

Subject line should be Deadlands 2 HDDVD project refund.

If the amount of refund request soar, the project will be scrapped by the studio, however, I have pledged I would get the discs pressed on my own, but this will only further delay the release, but I back whatever decision, you the customer chooses. i cannot force you to wait it out, nor will I beg or plead with you to do so. It is your money and I don’t feel i should have to try and convince you on what to do with your money.

IS THE DISC GOING TO COME IN MARCH?

I will skeptically answer maybe to this question, because I honestly don’t know. I am not happy with how Anthem handled it, their lack of communication, but I know even in my own search for replicators it was a BITCH to find one if Anthem dumped the project. After speaking with the CEO I can say I feel somewhat better about the project but not the warm fuzzy feeling I had when it was first announced, I won’t defend their poor business relationship on this subject, but I can see the problems they ran into with getting a replicator, it just should have been better communicated.

The end product you will get will have everything HD DVD exclusive I promised it would have, on my end all the COA’s were signed and shipped back in November of 2009, and I put in a request for a small modification for the artwork to reflect the words… LIMITED EDITION HD DVD COLLECTABLE. However issues with replication and how Anthem is going about it are out of my control. they asked me to ask you to bare with it, but I will not do that… I will leave that to your discretion.

Would it be nice to hang in there? Sure, but in the end… I can not decide for you and again I respect whatever decision you make.

Any question put them here and I will respond accordingly.

Gary Ugarek