The Day After - Any Movement? (1 Viewer)

[Tim_Prasuhn]

A while back, Anchor Bay announced via their site that they were going to release this film on DVD. Then, after a period of no updates, it dropped off their site's coming soon section, and it was revealed that they were still working out the rights for it. Now, with the Anchor Bay buy-out, and still no updates that I am aware of, does anyone know anything about this being released? Anything at all?

I love this little telefilm, it scared me to death when I first watched it. It would be very nice to have a new widescreen presentation of it ( it was shot 1.7:1, and the framing is incrediably different than the fullscreen versions most people have seen).

 

[Dick]

I believe A.B. was never able to nail the rights down. It is apparently in Video Limbo Land for the time being.

 

[Jeff_HR]

It looks like I'm going to have to track down the WS Laserdisc then since this is in rights hell.

 

[Sam R. Aucoin]

I purchased this one on DVD from Brazil. It is a Region 0 DVD, so it can be played in all players, and it has English dialogue.

The picture quality leaves a lot to be desired, but it is at least equal to (if not better, simply because it is being played as a progressive signal) the LD release, as it appears to be a copy of that release.

 

[Tim_Prasuhn]

Is the DVD widescreen?

 

[Jeff Howard]

The Brazillian dvd is fullscreen.

 

[Andre Barros]

This forum neves ceases to amaze me.

I watched this movie as a kid and it shocked me at the time but I remember I loved it and have always wanted to watch it again, preferably on DVD. I looked in several places in the US like Amazon, Barnes and Nobles etc... a couple of years ago and could only find it in VHS so I decided to wait.

Now I have just learned from Sam that the movie is available on DVD here in Brazil, the last place I ever though about looking for it. Sam, do you remember exactly where you bought it? I'm guessing it is one one those DVD's that come with a magazine of some sort and can be bought at the news stand. I say this because thats the only situation where I have seen region "0" DVD's in Brazil. As a matter of fact I have some of those that I bought simply because they were so inexpensive. Obviously it was an oportunity buy and most of the films that are sold through that channel are not so good, mostly old or TV movies.

Out of all my news stand DVD's the only movie I can think of that is reasonable is "A Bronx Tale" which I bought basically because I enjoy most of De Niro's work.

A while back I rented "A Bronx Tale" just to see the difference in quality between the kind you buy on news stands and the one released by the studio for rental or sale purposes and the difference is HUGE. The PQ sucks, but I knew that even before I compared both of them.

Anyway, I would like to have more info on where that DVD was purchased because even with bad PQ it is still better than not watching it.

Regards,

André

 

[Sam R. Aucoin]

Andre:

I am sorry - it was quite a while back, and as I doubted that I would ever purchase another DVD from Brazil (nothing wrong with doing so - just thought the opportunity would not present itself again), I did not bother to bookmark the site.

I did a Google search, but the Brazil site I found it on (it does not appear to be the same one I used to purchase my copy) said it was no longer available and that it was OOP.

Note that there are several Brazilian copies on Ebay right now, and they are not too expensive (about $35).

Hope this helps.

P.S. I think this was SUPPOSED to be a "full screen" version, as this was a made-for-TV movie. Perhaps it was changed to widescreen later for its theatrical release, but I do not know for sure.

 

[Tim_Prasuhn]

i have a tape duped from the letterboxed laserdisc version, and compared to my fullscreen tape, there is a decent amount of additional information on the sides of the image. Also, some shots, when wide, are framed differently (The fullframe versions of the same shots are zoomed in, causing the reframing). It is obvious it was meant to be at its 1.7:1 ratio.

But like you said, it's a TV movie, so why there is such a difference between the widescreen and fullscreen versions, and why it was shot wide to begin with, is a mystery.

Maybe Nick Meyer doesn't like fullframe? or thought he could get away with it?

 

[Andre Barros]

Just rented it! Had to look around though, I could only find it in a kind of decadent VHS rental place that has two dozen DVDs.

Yep, PQ is bad, probably same as watching it on network TV with a very good reception. The soundtrack is 2 channel DD English with Portuguese, English or Spanish subtitles. The extras are filmografies, and some text about the director or something but nothing special.

I looked around the internet in Brazilian online stores and most of them have it listed but are all sold out.

I found a couple at online auctions and I even checked e-bay. I can tell you for sure that people are making money off this DVD. US$35.00!!!! The ones I found on Brazilian acution sites are selling for around US$5.00 + shipping, new in box!!

If anyone is interrested, I could get some and ship to you guys in the U.S.

Regards,

André

 

[Jo_C]

There is still hope. Buena Vista, which holds domestic rights to "The Day After" (since mother company Disney now owns ABC, the film's producer), recently licensed a package of ABC and Disney-owned films (which includes "Day") to MGM for a five-year term of license, which would now make MGM the video rights holder of "Day".

So the people you should talk to is MGM.

Incidentally, Artisan Entertainment (successor-in-interest to Producer's Sales Organization, the film's distributor overseas) holds overseas video and theatrical rights.

 

[Tim_Prasuhn]

Uh oh. MGM doesn't like little apocalypse movies that well. Look at their release of Miracle Mile, fullframe and no features of any kind.

I'll email them about it, and cross my fingers, but now i'm really worried.