John Wick next from Stern

[roar]

JW5 is confirmed and I think they're doing some spin offs as well.

The spinoff is Ballerina with Ana de Armas, latest update on Wikipedia is:

Initially scheduled to commence in summer 2022,[4] principal photography officially began on November 7, 2022, in Prague, Czech Republic.[23][11][24] Ballerina was in post-production in February 2023.[25] In February 2024, producer Chad Stahelski was working on additional action sequences for the film with director Len Wiseman.[26]

The latest I've read on John Wick 5 is it isn't even close, no release date, no director, no cast. The gold standard for John Wick movies for me was the first one, the rest have not held my interest anywhere near the same way with the first one did.

The more I look at these videos the more I think the Pro could be a real winner. Excited to see one in the wild for sure.

 

[Smokezz]

John Wick just became John Woke it seems.


...when taking into account the context of the films and characters it is based on, the complete absence of any gun imagery on the cabinet and playfield seems (purposefully?) bizarre.

Or... It's John We Didn't License The IP Wick. James Bond has plenty of guns on the cabinet and playfield but they look like generic guns at least to me. Lionsfield may have told them they had to stay true to the movies and Stern didn't want to chase down licensing for everything (or was told no).

So it wasn't paying for IP, George Gomez explains it here. I just pulled the images out since some may not use Facebook or be in the group where he explains John Wick, Bond and Deadpool which all had limitations placed on them by the brand. Not by their choice:

Someone asked about the Guns on Bond... which he explained the limitations they had + the ones they had on Deadpool.

 

[Jeff K.]

The guns debate on Pinside seems to have cooled with additional gameplay streaming. Assets look to be decently integrated, guns & all, though the mechs (like Jaws) look pedestrian IMO.
So is flow, code & a cool lighting show the substitute for subways & interactive mechs?
This will be another decent & fun effort by Stern, but the ridiculous pricing issue remains the same.
Dishing out Cdn $20k+ for a LE or $15k+ for a premium is exorbitant and makes little sense. Maybe I’m in the minority but I have zero incentive to take an immediate hit on a new Stern, JJP, etc. unless I plan on retaining the pin for the long-term.

IMO, the market can’t support these prices. Not to mention, there’s all sorts of new Canadian distributors who’ve entered the scene- I’m not sure the timing could be worse.

 

[Smokezz]

The guns debate on Pinside seems to have cooled with additional gameplay streaming. Assets look to be decently integrated, guns & all, though the mechs (like Jaws) look pedestrian IMO.
So is flow, code & a cool lighting show the substitute for subways & interactive mechs?
This will be another decent & fun effort by Stern, but the ridiculous pricing issue remains the same.
Dishing out Cdn $20k+ for a LE or $15k+ for a premium is exorbitant and makes little sense. Maybe I’m in the minority but I have zero incentive to take an immediate hit on a new Stern, JJP, etc. unless I plan on retaining the pin for the long-term.

IMO, the market can’t support these prices. Not to mention, there’s all sorts of new Canadian distributors who’ve entered the scene- I’m not sure the timing could be worse.

I personally keep a pin for a long time. It makes no sense at all to me to buy a pin NIB and play it 40 times and sell it 2 months later like some on here seem to do. I buy pinball machines to.. you know... play pinball. When I see a machine go up for sale on here with under 50 plays, I really wonder why it was bought in the first place. It's like buying a Corvette and it sits in the garage, only to be sold 15 years later with 3000kms on it. It makes no sense, to me at least.

As for the gun debate... that was one of the dumbest rage fests I've seen in a while.

 

[Jeff K.]

Yep, I’m not sure I’ve ever flipped nor sold a pin in short order.
I have entirely lost the urge to be temped to buy any new release unless it’s going to lodged for a long time in my home or cottage.

Most of these new Stern releases look fairly cookie-cutter with minimal mechanical innovation. Yes, theme integration, a cool light show and solid code are all necessary inclusions, but that’s not enough IMO.
For a fully ‘equipped’ (premium/LE) game costing CAD $15k-$21k, these things should be blowing us away.And yes, that gun rage on Pinside, including Cary Hardy’s childish outburst, was just nuts.

 

[Pinpickle]

I like the neon. If someone makes a kit that turns the neon plastic into actual lights… oh baby.

 

[ManaPinball.com]

The neon is neat. Kinda of reminds me of The Shadow with that noir vibe.

Eager to see it in person!

I'm *hoping* to bring one to the show on the 1st! but that all depends if it ships here in time

 

[kool1]

I think I could do a pro no problem but LE is tuff on something like this. It's a bit like Venom, not the strongest IP. 1000 LEs is probably too many.

 

[kool1]

Looks like P1 has them in stock already

 

[hey you with the face]

Looks like P1 has them in stock alreadyView attachment 31516

Yepp, pump em out as fast as possible and soak up what little money most people have left! Haha. I think there will be lots of deals coming soon, too many games, not enough demand. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't want to be holding a huge collection of new games right now.
If you can hold on to the games for the long, your good. You don't have to worry about resales then, and can just focus on trades worst case.

Available NIB that you can get right now.

Abba
Alien
Avengers: Infinity Quest
Barry O’s BBQ Challenge
Black Knight Sword of Rage
Cactus Canyon
Deadpoool
Elton John
Elvira’s House of Horrors
Fathom
Final Resistance
Foo Fighters
Funhouse Remakes
Galactic Tank Force
Godzilla
Guardians of the Galax
Guns N Roses
Halloween
Hot Wheels
Houdini
Iron Maiden
James Bond
James Bond 60th
Jaws
John Wick
Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park Home Edition
Labyrinth
Led Zeppelin
Legends of Valhalla
Looney Tunes
Oktoberfest
Pulp Fiction
Queen
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Big Lebowski
The Godfather
The Mandalorian
The Princess Bride
Toy Story 4
Venom
Weird Al’s Museum of Natural Hilarity

 

[roar]

The list gets even longer I guess if you consider a lot of those titles have multiple trim's available, good time to be in pinball if you're looking for NIB!

 

[Wildcats50]

I can the crash coming as roar said way to many games out there so may see a price war between all the new suppliers

I know p1 gave topl members a special price at one time not sure if that still exists

I can’t see this suppliers wanting to hold on to there inventory for too long so a little price battle would be good for guys looking for nib

 

[Chris Bardon]

I know p1 gave topl members a special price at one time not sure if that still exists

Yes, there's still a discount for league members on NIB games at P1 (although I don't think it applies to LEs).

 

[kool1]

I can the crash coming as roar said way to many games out there so may see a price war between all the new suppliers

I know p1 gave topl members a special price at one time not sure if that still exists

I can’t see this suppliers wanting to hold on to there inventory for too long so a little price battle would be good for guys looking for nib

The wiggle room on NIB is $200-300. Not much of a battle likely.

This game might be a slow burn, a lot of cool ideas in the code if they turn out to be fun.

 

[hey you with the face]

The wiggle room on NIB is $200-300. Not much of a battle likely.

This game might be a slow burn, a lot of cool ideas in the code if they turn out to be fun.

I kind of remember when Circus Voltaire's retail was $3500 in the late 90's when it first came out and then they cleared em out at $1500 when the pinball market went bust. Now that's a big wiggle room, but I know that was then. Who knows what will happen now.

 

[roar]

I imagine Starburst was taking a bath on those CV they were blowing out at the time, can't imagine that was actual wiggle room... if the margin on a game for a distributor is truly $200 - $300 I don't know why anyone would sell pinball machines. How do you stay in business with all that capital tied up in games sitting in inventory to only make ~3% margin? Clearly that isn't what is keeping distributors in business, is it really the routes and the maintenance that makes them a viable business? Sounds like a tough grind to me.

 

[Jeff K.]

Although it seems like a good time to buy a NIB pinball with all the apparent inventory & new local Distributors, there will likely be no savings benefit to the buyer unless there is some kind of price advantage or possibly add ons like free delivery/set up.
This seems like possibly the worst time for new distributors to be offered for Stern/JJP, given the extremely high prices on NIB games.

Is there any advantage at all to going with ManaLounge or NitroEast over P1 despite just personal preferences?
Martin, the new Sales Mgr. at P1, seems like a very nice guy and he would be my first choice given I’ve always had an excellent experience with P1 in the past.
Competition should work in the customers favor, but in this case, I don’t yet see any distinct advantages with the new Stern/JJP distribution network in Ontario.

 

[ManaPinball.com]

I think the market will naturally sort itself out with supply and demand. I can see where you're coming from but if noone is buying the new ones, the used versions of the game you want won't pop up often and if they do, much more pricey which could lean more towards buying new. It will naturally have some ebbs and flows, I think, but should balance out over time unless the hobby has aggressive expansion or contraction throwing the production : consumer ratio out of whack.

In regards to advantage of one over the other, all retailers are bound by the same pricing policies and can't undercut each other, keeping it a level playing field. So, imo, the best thing to do is deal with who you like dealing with the best, with proximity being the next best consideration.

 

[Jeff K.]

Yes, that seems to make the most sense; and I wish you & any new distributors well.
I think the only advantage, given preferred pricing seems to be off the table, is free delivery & set up &/or additional warranty support. These might be valued inclusions for some buyers (like myself).

 

[ManaPinball.com]

Absolutely. We're currently offering free local delivery as a promotion (likely to keep though as I like going and delivering them myself and meeting people )