[JamesSmith]

Dear Guys:
With "Iron Man, "Hulk," and other movie productions of comic books doing big business at the box office, have you ever noticed that there have been some missed opportunites for DVD releases of such television series.

For example, Iron Man just came out, but the 90's animated version of shellhead was not released on digital. When Alvin and the Chipmunks came out last November, I thought for sure a company would put out season 1 of their eighties series.

Nope.

With Indiana Jones 4 coming out, I thought Tales of the Gold Monkey or Bring Em Back Alive might come out. I know Young Indiana Jones did. . .and Paramount did re-release the three previous films, but other studios seemed to have been blind to the opportunity.

What other oppotunities did you think the studios missed?

James
carolyn@dia.net

[Joseph Bolus]

The *most obvious* is the lack of a Batman TV release.

Of, course, we all know that "Batman" is still caught up in a web of legal entanglements --- plus there's also the very real possibility that the current custodians of the character don't really want this campy iteration of the icon to surface right now.

Still ... If the series were being released at this time (probably it's last shot on DVD) it would be selling like gangbusters. It's really too bad that the Dozier's and all the various studios couldn't get together to make this happen!

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Though the BOURNE films were made by a rival studio (Universal), Paramount could've cashed-in on the popularity of that film series' "amnesiac-secret-agent-on-the-run" premise with the similar (and acclaimed) color series, CORONET BLUE (produced in 1965/aired in 1967), which has a total number of hour-long episodes equal to a typical Paramount half-season set.

[Mark Edward Heuck]

For that matter, as crude and limited as they were, I've always been surprised that none of the '70's-era SPIDER-MAN series produced by Charles Fries have not been exploited on DVD with the huge success of the films. But again, perhaps like BATMAN, maybe that's a deliberate decision on Marvel's part.

Sony has yet to tap into Jason Bateman's high visibility from "ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT," JUNO, and the upcoming HANCOCK by releasing his terrific '80's sitcom "IT'S YOUR MOVE." I'm sure it would sell as well as the "SQUARE PEGS" box will with the Sarah Jessica Parker/"SEX IN THE CITY" fanbase.

[David Deeb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Edward Heuck

For that matter, as crude and limited as they were, I've always been surprised that none of the '70's-era SPIDER-MAN series produced by Charles Fries have not been exploited on DVD with the huge success of the films. But again, perhaps like BATMAN, maybe that's a deliberate decision on Marvel's part.

BATMAN was popular & has lived on in reruns for decades. It features tons of well known actors & spawned 2 movies (one theatrical and one made for TV reunion).

The TV SPIDERMAN is just plain bad. While it might appeal to the "collector" crowd, it would definitely disappoint most buyers. Probably even make some of them mad.

BATMAN on the other hand would sell well, and most people will know what they are getting into.

I could understand Marvel wanting to keep SPIDERMAN out of the limelight, but I can't see Warner wanting to suppress BATMAN series especially since they have aggressively marketed the old Super Friends and the Filmation Batman cartoons.