Has Paramount quit releasing classic films to SD DVD?

Paul Borges · 06-26-2006, 08:51 PM

Great!

Is it me, or has it been a really quiet year from Paramount?

Thomas T · 06-26-2006, 08:59 PM

Outside of the Wayne/Batjac catalogue, it has been disturbingly quiet on the Paramount front.

Jeff Newcomb · 06-26-2006, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thomas T

Outside of the Wayne/Batjac catalogue, it has been disturbingly quiet on the Paramount front.

I think this is because all of the Republic releases they had scheduled have been cancelled for some reason. They made up a large portion of Paramount's catalog output for this year. I don't know what happened to them, but I'm sure that Paramount is taking a financial hit because of it.

Dick · 06-27-2006, 12:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Newcomb

I think this is because all of the Republic releases they had scheduled have been cancelled for some reason. They made up a large portion of Paramount's catalog output for this year. I don't know what happened to them, but I'm sure that Paramount is taking a financial hit because of it.

Perhaps they could offset their loss by releasing the many long-requested catalog titles from their own company we have been begging for for years. You know the ones. And so do they.

David © · 06-27-2006, 09:19 AM

I hope they stay with the (first) cover-art. For a film over 3 hours, why only a 2 Disc Set?

**HTF Ads**

Ken Koc · 06-27-2006, 04:56 PM

I recently met A Paramount Home Video executive recently on a flight from LA to Chicago. I asked her what happened to the great catalog classic titles and she said that they are more interested in TV and films and special editions of classic films like "Grease" and "Heaven Can Wait". She said that they have only 11 catalogs titles for 2007.
I asked about the Republic titles and she said that Paramount found out that they did not have the rights to their film library: only the Republic TV library.
She said that Lions Gate would eventually release the theatrical titles from Republic.
I asked about "Love With the Proper Stranger" Samson and Delilah" "Ace in the Hole", "Summer and Smoke" and she said that "used" to be on their release list. She did say she thought "The Conformist" might be coming soon.
She was very excited about REDS and it would be released in HD simultaneously. I mentiooned that DAYS OF HEAVEN would be a great HD title. her response was that they had more important flms to release in HD like AEON FLUX.
I suggested doing something like Warners DVD decision...and she thought that would be a great idea because they really don't know what the public wants.
It was a very disappointing conversation for me and was the last nail in the coffin for Paramount releasing older classic films. Very sad!

Paul Borges · 06-27-2006, 05:58 PM

I think I'm gonna cry that Paramount won't be releasing Republic film titles!

Bruce Morrison · 06-27-2006, 06:02 PM

That has to be one of the most depressing pieces of DVD news from a major studio I've ever heard. Paramount have really gone downhill in the past two years. For a long time, they were one of the best studios for releasing back catalogue titles - now they seem to be firmly at the bottom of the heap. Do they really believe that releasing movies such as 'Ace In The Hole' and 'Love With The Proper Stranger' would lose money for them?

We can only hope that an eventual change of management might turn things around again.

Bradley-E · 06-27-2006, 06:50 PM

That is upsetting. I used to defend them because they were releasing the catalogue titles with nice Anamorphic transfers at a good price. There are so many they still need to release and at this point will probably not. Are the studios losing interest in DVD and waiting to save titles for BluRay or HI DEF? It seems that other than Warner and Fox everyone else is doing re-issues only.

Thomas T · 06-27-2006, 07:14 PM

I don't think Paramount's disinterest in their film catalogue has anything to do with high definition formats. If they don't think Love With The Proper Stranger or Summer And Smoke will sell on standard DVD, why would they think it would sell on HD? Anyway, the money is in standard DVD where they would sell more units. HD is (and will continue to be) a niche market for years to come.

Warners and Fox are the only interesting studios out there now in the DVD world. Disney has pretty well exhausted its catalogue, Sony and Paramount seem to be ignoring theirs and Universal is spotty but still hanging in there.

Robert Crawford · 07-01-2006, 09:15 AM

This is very disturbing news. Paramount has become a big disappointment in not only SD DVD, but have not done a thing in HD DVD yet.

Crawdaddy