[Bryan^H]

This year is the 40th anniversary of the original POTA. I remember hearing that Fox was working on something big for the original film for this year. Could a Blu-Ray release be near? IT would make perfect sense, and it would be a great seller. Will Fox drag their feet, and make POTA fans wait, and wait, or do they truly have something special planned, and release the king of pop culture movies in glorious HD? I guess time will tell.

[Eric F]

I doubt it would be a "great" seller. Sure, I'd love to have all 4 titles on Blu as well (especially the first 2), but unfortunately catalog titles just don't sell well. If catalog titles sold well, I'm sure FOX would have gone out of their way to put out a lot more of them.

[Bryan^H]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric F

I doubt it would be a "great" seller. Sure, I'd love to have all 4 titles on Blu as well (especially the first 2), but unfortunately catalog titles just don't sell well. If catalog titles sold well, I'm sure FOX would have gone out of their way to put out a lot more of them.

Yeah, but of their catalog titles Planet of the Apes has to be near the top of the list for a potential Blu-Ray release. It's already been released on dvd twice in different box sets, plus the ultimate ape head collection. I don't think Fox would warrant 3 different collector sets if it were simply a luke warm title.

[Craig Beam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric F

I doubt it would be a "great" seller. Sure, I'd love to have all 4 titles on Blu as well (especially the first 2), but unfortunately catalog titles just don't sell well. If catalog titles sold well, I'm sure FOX would have gone out of their way to put out a lot more of them.

Eric, there are actually 5:

Planet of the Apes
Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Escape from the Planet of the Apes
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
Battle for the Planet of the Apes

...if Fox can give us the craptastic 2001 remake on Blu-ray, then they can certainly give us the vastly superior original.

[Paul Arnette]

I would purchase the original Planet of the Apes in a heartbeat. Hell, I even purchased the remake in an attempt to give it another try. Alas, it still remains the only Tim Burton movie I've ever seen that I hated.

[PaulDA]

Hated? I guess I can see how that could be, though I did not hate it. My general take on remakes (though there have been exceptions--The Vanishing, for example, is a remake that was horrible in comparison with the original, IMO, of course) is the same I have on plays. I've seen something like 8 or 9 different versions of Hamlet (on stage as well as on screen) and while I don't like them all equally (and there were some I didn't like at all), I've tried to approach them as different interpretations that do not depend on previous ones (much the same applies for covers of songs). In that light, knowing Burton's style (and usually liking it), I found the movie to be better than average, though not great (there were some themes raised that I would have liked explored further at the expense of the "action finale"). But I can see where his version would not be universally acclaimed (even when I saw it on opening night at the cinema--something I don't do very often anymore).

As to the OP, I too would love to see the original on HDM (I'm format neutral, even if currently only "red" player-wise) and would scoop it up. Not sure about the sequels, though (at least not at current prices).

[Paul Arnette]

I'm starting to think that maybe it is a Paul Giamanti thing. I hated the PotA remake, and I couldn't stand Shoot 'Em Up, Lady in the Water, or Robots either. I have yet to see Sideways, and that may be that man's last hope for me. I think he is a great actor, but I question his choice of films.

I suppose I am naturally predisposed to disliking remakes just as a general rule, but your take, while interesting, doesn't necessarily line up with me because, in Burton's own parlance, it was a 're-imagining'. One that didn't have nearly the gravitas of the original's twist ending.

[PaulDA]

I guess I consider remakes, as a rule, as "re-imaginings" (otherwise they would serve no purpose at all--but now it's a matter of definitions and semantics). I respect that not everyone has my view on remakes (my field of research includes historical feature films and, in that genre, there are lots of "remakes/re-imaginings", so I guess I've gotten used to them).

As Paul Giamatti and his films, I actually like Shoot 'Em Up (a live action Looney Toons/Tarentino-like concoction that had me laughing almost all the way through--though, again, I can see where it is not for all tastes) and Lady in the Water (though that's probably more to do with "the lady" in question--I have a soft spot for redheads). I haven't seen Robots, though I believe Sideways and The Illusionist are much better examples of his work as well as films of much higher quality than the others we're talking about here.

[Cees Alons]

Quote:

The Vanishing, for example, is a remake that was horrible in comparison with the original, IMO, of course

IMO too. I finally saw the remake after a few years and I was shocked how they had stupified the whole plot.

The problem is: a remake is generally of a successful film. So if they change anything, anything at all, it could just be part of what made it so good a movie to you, or me, or him. And we hate it therefore.

Actually it makes much more sense to remake movies that were received badly: more reason to decide that they would have to be done anew. Do it right this time. But who would dare to, commercially?


Cees

[Douglas Monce]

I'd buy all 5 Apes films on blu-ray in a heart beat!

I wouldn't however buy the Tim Burton. It's not that I have anything against remakes, there have been some good ones. The Maltese Falcon comes to mind, but that falls in to Cee's point about remaking a failed film. But for every Maltese Falcon, there is a Psycho.

Doug

[PaulDA]

Then again, both versions of The Man Who Knew Too Much were pretty good.
And I liked Solaris in its original and remade forms. (just being a devil's advocate ).

Gotta go to work now (2 hour drive through freezing rain isn't helping my mood any--I'd rather watch even Burton's Planet of the Apes than do that

[DaViD Boulet]

I saw a restored 35mm print of this film a few years back and it was spectacular. A properly compressed/mastered Blu-ray Disc should look incredible.

[Eric F]

Yeah, I'll jump on the bandwagon by saying I think Tim Burton's remake is pretty bad.

As far as FOX and catalog titles go, the oldest one that comes to mind is Robocop. They haven't even put out the previous 2 X-Men films yet, which you would think would be their biggest sellers to date. Why they haven't put them out yet remains a mystery...