WHV Announcement: Warner Bros. celebrates 90th Anniversary with "Best of Warner Bros." Collections ( (1 Viewer)

[JoHud]

.So is that a preliminary &/or definitive list?

I'd say preliminary. Probably those that Warner Bros. were allowed to confirm. With that Goldwyn deal, I doubt they are just going to release just one title for the whole of 2013 (Best Years of Our Lives) after releasing 2 back-to-back in Nov/Dec 2012. Also a Looney Tunes Platinum Collection vol. 3 is all but guaranteed.

The Big Parade!!!!!
Most exciting news (amongst a lot of exciting news) here, IMO.

Same here. That one took forever to be released. Hopefully it means a couple of their other high requested silents (The Wind, Greed) aren't too far behind.

 

[JohnMor]

I'd laugh if it weren't so sadly true.

 

[haineshisway]

Interesting set for a major Anniversary.
Can't help but note, however, that half the films...
Were not WB productions.
RAH

You beat me to it. It takes a certain amount of something-or-other to tout other studios' films as Warner Bros. films. Last I looked, MGM made North by Northwest and Mutiny on the Bounty - it doesn't matter who owns them NOW. I would posit that Warner Bros. has plenty of their own films to tout and package without using one from another studio.

 

[David Weicker]

You beat me to it. It takes a certain amount of something-or-other to tout other studios' films as Warner Bros. films. Last I looked, MGM made North by Northwest and Mutiny on the Bounty - it doesn't matter who owns them NOW. I would posit that Warner Bros. has plenty of their own films to tout and package without using one from another studio.

While I agree that Warner Brothers has plenty of their own films, I don't have a problem with their including the other studios they have the rights to.
The way I look at it, there is no classic MGM to celebrate an anniversary. There is no RKO to celebrate an anniversary. People today are not as aware of the studio's history, so if WB had an anniversary for just their films - great. However, if they then tried to have an RKO anniversary (85th in 2014), the public would be confused.
And because MGM still exists as an distributor, they may have an anniversary in 2014 (90th), but like Paramount, it won't really be a true anniversary because they won't be able to offer their most famous content.
So when Universal included Paramount titles in their anniversary, I was happy for what we got because it was probably the only way we would get the titles they included.
ANYTHING that will get classic titles out to the public is a good thing, and should never be criticized.
David

 

[haineshisway]

Sorry, it's being touted as a Warner Bros. anniversary set - to include films made by other studios seems very silly to me. They have plenty of their own, many of which have not been released on Blu-ray. Celebrate Warner Bros.

 

[Urvy1A]

I wonder if they will include New Line films like the rest of the Nightmare on Elm Street films on Blu-Ray (The 1984 original, Freddy's Revenge, Dream Warriors, Freddy vs. Jason, and the 2010 remake are already on Blu-Ray, with Freddy's Revenge and Dream Warriors released on a double feature Blu-Ray with extras from the UK Blu-Ray set), the Ninja Turtles films (if they get the ok from new TMNT owner Nickelodeon), The Hidden, and others to the collection.

 

[Matt Hough]

MGM's 90th anniversary would be in 2014. Maybe that would have been a better time to celebrate its legacy films.

But, I'm OK with anything that puts more classics out on Blu-ray.

 

[kingofthejungle]

If Warner's would swap The Petrified Forest with High Sierra, that Gangster box would be close to perfect.
Glad to WB is easing up on the no-licensing thing, I hope they'll consider going even further with it.
I have to agree with those questioning the wisdom of including MGM films in a celebration of WB's 90th Anniversary. It's kinda stupid and weirdly minimizes the studio. Shouldn't WB instead be celebrating the films that made it a great studio? The gangster films are obviously a good choice, but how about some more Flynn, Cagney, and Bogart titles? How about getting creative with the big-box set films, rather than the same 4 or 5 over and over, why not try a limited big-box for something like Captain Blood, I'd shell out for it in a heartbeat.
They could save the MGM stuff for it's 90th Anniversary in 2014 (which would also be a good time to put some RKO stuff on Blu, since it's 85th Anniversary will be in 2014 as well).

 

[Chuck Anstey]

I would be interested if the DVD 100 was the Blu-ray 100 and the price was still $600, maybe $800. There are far more films in the DVD 100 that I want than the Blu50 as a percentage of the whole set and $12 apiece for Blu-rays in a huge box set with a fair number of movies I likely already own or don't care about is too high for me. Interesting idea though.

 

[David Weicker]

They could save the MGM stuff for it's 90th Anniversary in 2014 (which would also be a good time to put some RKO stuff on Blu, since it's 85th Anniversary will be in 2014 as well).

I doubt WB would legally be able to do a MGM 90th, while there is a MGM company around (who may be doing their own). It's a similar situation to Universal and Paramount this year. Both had Anniversary labeling, but the majority of the true Paramount titles were neglected..
Frankly, the humongous Box Sets are ridiculous IMO, because the are too high-priced for the casual consumer, and most of the individual titles that would be wanted by interested consumers are probably already owned.
As for the non-box offerings, in the new-to-blu list, there are a higher proportion of WB produced titles than from the other studios
And remember, its only a marketing banner. If it bothers you, take a sharpie to you blu-ray case, and problem solved. You'll be watching the movie, not the marketing. I mean, if I had a Blu-Ray box of the ten Fred and Gingers with the WB Shield, I'd be ecstatic.
David

 

[Brandon Conway]

Originally Posted by JohnMor /t/324196/whv-announcement-warner-bros-celebrates-90th-anniversary-with-best-of-warner-bros-collections-and-more-in-2013/60#post_3984437

Is this a fact (not just speculation)? If so that is very welcome news!

Criterion licensing Badlands is a fact. The other possible licensed titles is rumor/speculation.

 

[JohnMor]

Originally Posted by Brandon Conway /t/324196/whv-announcement-warner-bros-celebrates-90th-anniversary-with-best-of-warner-bros-collections-and-more-in-2013/90#post_3984649

Criterion licensing Badlands is a fact. The other possible licensed titles is rumor/speculation.

That is awesome news! Thanks Brandon! You just made my day.

 

[John Doe]

Has anyone heard anything about following titles being released to BD next year?
Captan Blood
Sea Hawk
Arsenic and Old Lace
Key Largo
The Big Sleep
Mildred Pierce
The Crimson Pirate
Baby Doll
A Face in the Crowd
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
The Great Race
Wait Until Dark
McCabe & Mrs.Miller
The Devils
The Time Machine original
O Lucky Man!
After Hourse
Before Sunset/Before Sunrise
Klute
Straight Time
Time After Time
Prince of the City
Out of the Past
Over the Edge
The Big Red One
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
A Night at the Opera
Ryan's Daughter
Bad Day at Black Rock
The Philadelphia Story
Gaslight
The Naked Spur
The Asphalt Jungle
The Bad and the Beautiful
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Ride the High Country
Point Blank
Village of the Damned (1960)
The Haunting (1963)
The Fearless Vampire Killers
Diner
Thx in advance

 

[Ruz-El]

Nope. There were rumours of a Criterion "Fearless Vampire Killers" due to Polanskis relationship with Criterion, but I doubt it's based on anything but rumour.

The Devils has been such a rumoured shit show for so long I doubt we'll see any release outside of the iTunes download that had a 12 hour window....

 

[darkrock17]

Has anyone heard anything about following titles being released to BD next year?
Wait Until Dark
The Philadelphia Story
Thx in advance

WB blew the 45th Anniversary for Wait Until Dark, which will be this Oct. 25, so I doubt it will be released with this so called 90th Anniversary collection.
As for The Philadelphia Story, which is MGM and not WB, it is included in this up coming collection along with Bringing Up Baby.

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

I heard rumors of RYAN'S DAUGHTER about a year ago, but nothing's come to light.

 

[JoHud]

I doubt WB would legally be able to do a MGM 90th, while there is a MGM company around (who may be doing their own).

I'm pretty sure that is a primary reason. I've noticed that WB has never released an MGM collection that advertised itself as such on the front packaging. Usually, they are called "Classic Hollywood" or "Dream Factory." Especially since the current MGM company still makes a few "MGM" collections of its own, even though they are almost always U/A films, like the "MGM Classic Musical" set, which is 100% U/A.
However, I agree in this case that the sets should have had a stronger WB slant because they've released enough of actual WB films to easily fit into a 100 title WB set. I'm not sure about blu-ray titles though. I guess they'd have about 50 appropriate titles on hand including new releases, but much of their "Golden Era" is still largely unrepresented on blu-ray.
But really, I don't think its a real issue considering the people who will likely be getting this set, which is probably designed for entire families with different tastes. I doubt hardly anyone plunking down the cash for these sets are doing it out of Warner Brothers purism, but because there are a lot of movies he/she thinks would be a good buy or are interested in.

As for The Philadelphia Story, which is MGM and not WB, it is included in this up coming collection along with Bringing Up Baby.

That just seems to be part of the DVD collection.

 

[MattPeriolat]

Originally Posted by Brandon Conway /t/324196/whv-announcement-warner-bros-celebrates-90th-anniversary-with-best-of-warner-bros-collections-and-more-in-2013/30#post_3984107
The Big Parade!!!!!

Most exciting news (amongst a lot of exciting news) here, IMO.

Indeed! This was a highlight among many for me as well. But (and of course, a but) what about Greed? Frankly, given WB will be putting out the MGMs, as is their ownership right, I really want Greed to come out as a DVD or blu-ray as well.

 

[Garysb]

Its been mentioned in this thread that the 100 film set is a way to get rid of inventory. However as the set contains only 54 discs it is likely all the films will be on the dreaded flippers with one film on each side. These would have to be manufactured for this set and not old existing stock. The transfers will be the same but they will not be old discs from storage. The big Humphrey Bogart set released last year was like that. All flippers of previously released films using existing masters.

 

[Ratko Mladic]

It's funny -- I can tell how old my WB/NL DVD collection is by the number of snapper cases I still own. LOCAL HERO, THE IN-LAWS, HOUSE PARTY, GET CARTER, THE TIME MACHINE, TIME AFTER TIME, ONE CRAZY SUMMER, SINGLES, THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, WAIT UNTIL DARK, LONE STAR, THE HIDDEN (and the aforementioned KEY LARGO)-- all snappers.

All these movies should be on Blu.Just saying.