Midnite Movies

Old topic - new topic? I believe it has been a year since this was brought up but wonder what happened to the revised MGM Midnite Movies Series (2 disc sets) that Fox started to release after so much demand (or flack) was raised for them to bring it back? I have seen zero new entries?

Eric

Re: Midnite Movies

There's nothing left to release. And they're not going to re-release any of them as special editions, although a few of those Vincent Price titles merit their own stand-alone collector's editions

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Huh? There's a whole bunch of unreleased movies they have that are perfect for the line, including some they once put out on VHS under the MM banner, but never made it to DVD - such as BURN WITCH BURN and MELTING MAN amongst others.

That said, I think the line is dead as is all of MGM's catalog under Fox. Sony is now distributing more catalog titles than Fox/MGM.

Re: Midnite Movies

Taking a cue from a industry insider who responded to this same thread at CHFB, here is a list of titles that could have been released so there are plenty left to choose from! Possibly under a Cult banner series similar to the "Icons Of" series that has been released?

Anyone at MGM or Fox reading this???


THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT
TWINS OF EVIL
HANDS OF THE RIPPER
VAMPIRE CIRCUS
MASTER OF THE WORLD
BURN, WITCH, BURN
THE BLACK SLEEP
PHARAOH'S CURSE
CURSE OF THE FACELESS MAN
THE BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN
QUEEN OF BLOOD
BEYOND THE TIME BARRIER
THE TIME TRAVELLERS
THE CRIMSON CULT (FYI, MGM has a great new transfer of the uncut version)
DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE GIRL BOMBS
DIARY OF A MADMAN
THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN
OCTAMAN (Quick! Capitalize on the publicity over Octamom!)
SUGAR HILL
SPACE PROBE TAURUS (a.k.a. SPACE MONSTER)
THE FLIGHT THAT DISAPPEARED
RED PLANET MARS
CAULDRON OF BLOOD
THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN
INVASION
MAGNETIC MONSTER
NOTHING BUT THE NIGHT
HOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS

Someone else also mentioned including Empire Picture titles of:

TERRORVISION
ZONE TROOPERS
TRANCERS
THE DUNGEONMASTER
ELIMINATORS
THE ALCHEMIST
GHOST WARRIOR
THE CALLER
DEADLY WEAPON
TRANSFORMATIONS
SPELLCASTER
CATACOMBS
ENEMY TERRITORY
ARENA
GHOST TOWN
PRISON
CELLAR DWELLER
VICIOUS LIPS
INTRUDER

Eric

Re: Midnite Movies

I want the OSI trilogy from Ivan Tors:

Magnetic Monster
Gog
Riders to the Stars

Re: Midnite Movies

If Fox is reading this, I'd buy virtually everything on that first list. The second one of Empire titles, probably half of it.

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Still even plenty more they need to release, off hand I can think of:

BLOOD AND LACE
REVENGE OF THE ZOMBIES (Monogram)
THE NEANDERTHAL MAN
HOROR HOUSE (HAUNTED HOUSE OF HORROR)
OLD DRACULA (VAMPIRA)
DAUGHTERS OF SATAN
UNHOLY ROLLERS
THE EVICTORS
FUTUREWORLD
HOUSE OF A 1000 DOLLS
CANNIBAL GIRLS
RIOT ON SUNSET STRIP
THE SAVAGE SEVEN
MARYJANE
THE HARD RIDE
WITHOUT WARNING
ANGELS FROM HELL
DAGMAR'S HOT PANTS
THE GLORY STOMPERS
SERGEANT DEADHEAD
THE MILLION EYES OF SU-MARU
THE WILD RACERS
KILLERS THREE
ANGEL, ANGEL DOWN WE GO (CULT OF THE DAMNED)
THE DEVIL WITHIN HER (I DON'T WANT TO BE BORN)
A BULLET FOR PRETTY BOY
3 IN THE ATTIC (UP IN THE ATTIC)
UP IN THE CELLAR
THE DIRT GANG
BUNNY O'HARE
LITTLE CIGARS
PICKUP ON 101
SAVAGE SISTERS
SCHOOL FOR UNCLAIMED GIRLS
ACT OF VENGEANCE
DIRTY O'NEIL
GOLDEN NEEDLES
TRUCK STOP WOMEN
KILLER FORCE
SIX PACK ANNIE
CHATTER BOX
SCORCHY
ROLLING THUNDER
JENNIFER
SEVEN (1979)

Re: Midnite Movies

George, thing is that there may be plenty of "titles" the studio made but do they now have clear rights to them? Do they even still exist? Are they in any sort of condition to even release?

Apparently the first part of my list above are titles ready and available to distribute but haven't been.

Eric

Re: Midnite Movies

dose seem that MGM is more concerned about recycling their lower profile titles through their THIS network - it's kinda like RTN except it shows more movies than old TV shows. we just got it in our area as a subchannel

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Many of the titles I mentioned have shown up on cable TV in new MGM transfers in recent years. Not sure if they would use the same transfers for the imaginary DVDs that will never come out, but they do have the elements on most I'm sure. HORROR HOUSE was just on TCM Underground.

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Boy was I wrong when I said there weren't any movies left that qualified as Midnite Movies, which is what I meant. Looking over these lists there's certainly plenty of obscure flicks that should indeed be considered for release although I gotta admit I never heard of most of them and this is from someone who thought he'd seen it all. Anyway, I think this stuff could see the light of day through a Warner-like program of online-only orders. Who knows, right?

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I wonder just how far the lines between MGM and Warner blend with the Warner Archives releases? I know some MGM titles are included or would they have to start one for the MGM vaults later on? I know Warner is wanting to eventually release "everything" they have for their Archives series. Maybe by then the price will come down?

Eric

Re: Midnite Movies

There's lots left to release. A large number of films could easily fall under the "Midnite Movie" category.

And, indeed, there are titles that were released on VHS under the "Midnite Movie" banner that never made it to DVD.

Sadly, the last lot of releases apparently had very poor sales - unsurprising given the large number of them and the somewhat dubious choices considering the titles that could have been put forward rather than. I say "dubious" in that most people wouldn;t have heard of a lot of them, they lacked a "big name" to sell them (although I personally was very happy with all of them!)

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MGM's library is completely a separate entity from Warners' library. Yes, Warners now owns a good portion of movies that were originally MGM, but the titles MGM still owns (UA library, AIP, etc.) are owned solely by MGM and Warners has no claim to any of them.

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At this rate, this is probably the only way we'll get any Midnite Movies this year!

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^ Haha Good One!

Does MGM/Fox own a little unknown film from 1977 called Prime Time or as its also known as American Raspberry?

Also do they own these also unknown turkeys, The Groove Tube and Tunnel Vision?

Re: Midnite Movies

American Raspberry (Prime Time) was released by Cannon Releasing which MGM owns most of that library, but the production companies on the film were Chartwell Films LTD and Warner Brothers. This leads me to think that WB may actually own it.

Tunnel Vision was released in by Worldwide Pictures, a small independent that operated from 1963 to 1987 with only a handful of releases. It is OOP on DVD at this time.

The Groove Tube was a Levitt-Pickman Release, again a small independent distributor that was in business from 1970 to 1980. Hen's Tooth Video has released a DVD that can be found on Amazon and other internet companies.

Re: Midnite Movies

Owned by MGM
•Nearly all of its own post-1986 library;

•Most of the post-1952 United Artists catalog (although it also includes a tiny fraction of pre-1952 UA material)

•The post-1981 Orion Pictures film and television library (which includes material from predecessors American International Pictures (excepting early AIP Films), Heatter-Quigley Productions, and Filmways.

oThe pre-1997 Samuel Goldwyn Company library.

oThe pre-1996 Motion Picture Corporation of America library (excluding co-productions with other studios).

•The theatrical rights to most of the ITV Global Entertainment catalog, including their inherited Granada International and ITC Entertainment libraries.

•The home video rights to the ABC Motion Pictures library, under license from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment,

•Most of the Cannon Films library (King Solomon's Mines, That Championship Season, etc., with a few exceptions, including certain films distributed by Warner Brothers.

•Most of the pre-1996 PolyGram Filmed Entertainment library.

oSelected Nelson Entertainment properties (including the pre-Turner-merger Castle Rock Entertainment library with the exception of co-productions with Columbia Pictures), and Embassy Pictures properties, under license from StudioCanal (with the exception of two films co-produced and co-distributed by Columbia).

•Those of other smaller defunct studios, including Atlantic Releasing Corporation, Scotti Bros. Pictures and Hemdale Film Corporation—itself incorporated into the Orion library.



Owned by WB
In addition to a majority of its own post-1948 film and television library, WB owns (both through its own in-house unit and its Turner Entertainment subsidiary combined):
•Most of Lorimar's television and film holdings (including most of the Allied Artists/ Monogram library, as well as several films made by Lorimar themselves which were released originally by Paramount Pictures, among other studios);
•Most of the post-1974 Rankin/Bass library
•The National General Pictures library, except those produced with Cinema Center Films, which are owned by CBS (for all distribution other than theatrical) and Paramount Pictures (for theatrical only, with Hollywood Classics representing)
•Most ancillary rights to Castle Hill Productions' library (which includes early UA material)
•The 1956 version of Around the World in 80 Days (originally from United Artists).
•Most of the pre-1991 Morgan Creek Productions library (except Major League, which is still held by co-producer Paramount)
•Most of the pre-1990 Saul Zaentz film library
•The 1978-1982 Orion Pictures library
•Castle Rock Entertainment films made after Turner acquired Castle Rock (except the Region 1 rights to The Story of Us and The Last Days of Disco, as well as the international rights to The American President, all owned by Universal)
•Nearly all pre-1986 MGM titles and cartoons
•The US/Canadian and Region 4 rights to a majority of the RKO Radio Pictures library
•The 1933-1957 Popeye theatrical animated shorts produced by Paramount in co-license with King Features Syndicate.
•The Hanna-Barbera/Cartoon Network Studios cartoons
•Certain rights to Cannon Films made after 1987 (such as Little Dorrit and Masters of the Universe).
•The 1993 film Mr. Wonderful, produced by The Samuel Goldwyn Company (although WB has always held distribution and co-production duties).
•The 1931 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Seven Days in May (1964), and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), all originally released by Paramount.
•The 1931 version of Waterloo Bridge and the 1936 version of Show Boat, originally from Universal.
•The 1978 film Watership Down, originally released by Avco Embassy Pictures

Now the list of films owned by Lionsgate really gets confusing.

Re: Midnite Movies

That's an incredible list! I'd love to buy 90% of what's there if released. If asking will make a difference...... Please, release them MGM.

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It looks like we're going to have to ask really, really hard. I asked a reliable press contact today if we were going to get any Midnite Movies or classic horror on DVD for Halloween from MGM, and the reply was simply, "nothing on the horizon."

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That is bad news.

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Here goes another Midnite Movies campaign:

Midnite Movies Campaign: The Saga Continues

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WB did initially produce PRIME TIME, but they sold the movie outright to Cannon, so it is MGM's.

TUNNEL VISION was produced by concert promoter, "NIGHT FLIGHT" creator, and political activist Stuart Shapiro. There was a DVD released on his short-lived "Cult DVD" label, which also released J-MEN FOREVER, concerts by Andy Kaufman and Johnny Thunders, and other offbeat culture jams. All these DVDs are currently out of print, and when I last spoke to Shapiro, he was looking for a new distributor for his material, and considering a new expanded DVD of TUNNEL VISION.

Re: Midnite Movies

What I can't understand is why they chose obscure cheapies like THE EARTH DIES SCREAMING and PHANTOM FROM 10,000 LEAGUES for the last set of MMs. Surely they must've known that any movie with Cushing, Lee, or Price would've sold better than that stuff.

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Sad truth is, the company feels these things weren't selling well enough. I can't see that either, but there it is.

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They may have sold better if 1) made flippers that sold for $9.95 rather than 2-disc sets and charging $14.95 and 2) offered the MGM/Warner holdings that people were looking for rather than Fox holdings first that had little following. Then the figures would have been different.

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I just saw Quatermass Xperiment (listed as Creeping Unknown) on MGM HD.
It looked great!

What are the chances of these eventually being available as DVD on demand, like the Warner Archive?

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This just barely escapes the Midnite Movie treatment

could we have an anamorphically enhanced extended LIFEFORCE?
Fergawdsakes!?

forget about an SE...I guess...
I see that the BR of this title is in a TBA listing on Amazon

Re: Midnite Movies

There are also several MM titles in need of an anamorphic release - most notably, THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM.

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I can't believe for the second year in a row that we can expect nothing from MGM. How is this possible? Does this company read this forum and how about a chat with them, or are they that much in the crapper.

I wan't more midnite movies damnit!