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MGM -- quietly downgrading special editions - Page 4

post #91 of 141
8/24/04 at 10:33pm
Will, not unlike the new Dances With Wolves p & s, I think this is a new p & s offering that will be in addition (not in lieu) of the existing Hannibal.

-p
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post #92 of 141
8/24/04 at 11:36pm
Is the new MGM "Manhunter" disc truly the theatrical cut of the film, with the "blow the sick fuck out of his socks" dialogue intact? I'm hesitant to buy it because it's pan & scan but all three of my other "Manhunter" discs are compromised in some way so I can't really justify not actually getting some "new" footaage from "Manhunter" when I've accepted the shortcomings of the other releases. The longest cut has the poorest picture quality and is misframed, the one with the best picture quality is the shortest, and the best compromise between two is missing bonus features and switches back and forth between great and poor picture quality.
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post #93 of 141
8/25/04 at 7:04am
Quote:
Will, not unlike the new Dances With Wolves p & s, I think this is a new p & s offering that will be in addition (not in lieu) of the existing Hannibal.


I've thought about that, but it seems that in B&Ms the SE will be phased out in favor of this cheaper alternative.
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post #94 of 141
8/25/04 at 7:55am
Quote:
looks like BOWLING is comning back in print as a double feature with THE BIG ONE.

But will the original or the stripped-down version be in that set? If it's the original disc, I'll be getting that two-pack (I was short of money during the CC 2 for $15 sale, so I wasn't able to get the DVD at that time).
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post #95 of 141
8/25/04 at 7:56am
latest issue of video store has an ad for two box sets.
one is for barbershop 1 & 2.
the other is legally blond 1 & 2.

BS comes with limited ed embroidered headband,
hair-style postcards.
Beauty Shop sneak peak dvd and

BS 1 & 2 SPEC ED dvd's.

so they will either still be in print or only available in this set.

now for LB.

Elle's word magnets.
Collectible outer box.
fuzzy pen and pink notepad.
beaty shop sneak peak dvd.

legally blond (not the spec ed dvd)
legally blond 2 on spec ed dvd.
so i guess the LB 1 spec ed is definitley gone.
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post #96 of 141
8/25/04 at 9:37am
I've noticed that other studios have adopted this practice too. I was in Wal*Mart SuperCenter a few days ago and noticed they had Anchor Bay's "The Hills Have Eyes" DVD on the shelf. I picked it up, only to discover that it was a stripped-down 1 Disc Set. Previously, it was a 2 Disc set with an anamorphic widescreen transfer and commentary track on Disc 1 and a documentary, deleted scenes, etc. on Disc 2. This new 1 Disc Set still had the anamorphic widescreen transfer and the commentary, but Disc 2 (with all of the other extras) was deleted. I'm glad I bought the 2 Disc Set last fall when it was released.
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post #97 of 141
8/25/04 at 6:16pm
Anchor Bay is famous for releasing multiple versions of the same film, oftentimes it's a deluxe two-disc set and a cheaper single version released at the same time.
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post #98 of 141
8/27/04 at 10:43am
And another thing: are there any DVD Profiler users out there who can comment on how that app is handling one UPC being associated with two different versions of a title?

-p
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post #99 of 141
8/27/04 at 8:49pm
I like this idea.
SE should mean something special.
And, it's comforting to those of us whom paid full price when the SE title was released, not too find said title in the bargain bin later.
Of coarse it's even more fun too find an SE you passed on, in The Bin!
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post #100 of 141
8/28/04 at 12:52am
Quote:
And another thing: are there any DVD Profiler users out there who can comment on how that app is handling one UPC being associated with two different versions of a title?


Yeah, someone changes it, then someone else changes it back and so on.
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post #101 of 141
8/28/04 at 4:14am
Quote:
I like this idea.
SE should mean something special.
And, it's comforting to those of us whom paid full price when the SE title was released, not too find said title in the bargain bin later.

Perhaps, but the new stripped-down versions really should have a different UPC than the SEs.
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post #102 of 141
8/28/04 at 4:44am
I just picked up The Sure Thing and Kingpin at CC's 2 for $10 sale. I haven't researched it fully, but I'm pretty sure both of these have all the old extras on 'em.

Then again, I'm often wrong about everything.
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post #103 of 141
8/28/04 at 11:31am
Quote:
And another thing: are there any DVD Profiler users out there who can comment on how that app is handling one UPC being associated with two different versions of a title?



Yeah, someone changes it, then someone else changes it back and so on.


I know DVD profiler has the ability to store two different DVDs with the same UPC. Sometimes when I've typed in a UPC, I box will pop up asking me to select which DVD I wanted. (Usually when this happens, it's a choice between a Canandian and US version.) I haven't tried any of the titles being discussed here, however.
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post #104 of 141
8/28/04 at 11:42am
DVD Profiler tracks by UPC and country. It can have diffierent US and Canadian DVDs under a single UPC, but not two US ones.
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post #105 of 141
8/30/04 at 10:53am
Quote:
I just picked up The Sure Thing and Kingpin at CC's 2 for $10 sale.
Bully for you, Scott . . . I don't remember Sure Thing being on the list of titles you could get on the cheap at CC during that week-long sale . . .

-p
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post #106 of 141
8/30/04 at 6:30pm
is the HOWLING spec ed still in print?

the one with the slip cover like thelma and louise?
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post #107 of 141
9/6/04 at 12:06am
Anchor Bay: ALL the extras from the "Book of the Dead" edition of Evil Dead are on the regular edition that came out shortly after. They just deleted the menu options for them. (Verified with my own disk.)
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post #108 of 141
9/6/04 at 8:29pm
Quote:
Anchor Bay: ALL the extras from the "Book of the Dead" edition of Evil Dead are on the regular edition that came out shortly after. They just deleted the menu options for them. (Verified with my own disk.)


this is true but has been corrected on more recent pressings. so be careful when buying the cheaper version for these features that arent supposed to be on there. chances are those features will still be there but occassionally they arent.
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post #109 of 141
9/6/04 at 9:42pm
Sweet! I didn't know they fixed that. Makes mine even rarer

Was ecstatic when I was informed about that. Figured it was a hoax. After watching "Fanalysis" I was glad it wasn't
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post #110 of 141
9/9/04 at 3:07pm
Can anyone offer some informed speculation as to whether titles listed as "currently available" in Marko's post #49 might soon be 'stripped'?

In other words, how worried should we be about the SEs of titles such as Terminator, Rain Man, Platoon, The Princess Bride and The Usual Suspects?

There seems to be little catalog logic to what MGM is stripping: if it was only titles such as Jeepers and Valley Girl, one could surmise that only non-evergreen, 'smaller' titles are getting pinched. But with popular/multiple Oscar-nominated/-winning titles such as Fargo and Thelma & Louise getting stripped, I wonder if even impressive SEs such as Escape From New York and the very recent Good, the Bad . . . and Great Escape might be next.

-p
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post #111 of 141
9/9/04 at 3:24pm
I would not say anything is safe. Terminator has already fallen victim. The SEs of "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Hannibal" are victims and even worse, they are in Pan and Scan (although someone suggested that those SEs may not actually be going out of print.) I'm not sure that SEs released recently will be stripped so soon, but maybe eventually when the price decrease comes through. Hopefully this will become a moot point if WB gets the MGM catalog. But, I would say, rule of thumb, if an MGM SE is slated for a price decrease, make sure you pick it up if you think you want it.

Sadly it's actually a deviously brilliant (though disgusting) practice. I know I snatched up a few SE that I may have not normally bought in a hurry.
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post #112 of 141
9/9/04 at 3:38pm
Quote:
Terminator has already fallen victim.
If this is true, Marko do you mind updating your list? I presume, Will, that the "Other Voices" docu has been stripped?

Quote:
The SEs of "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Hannibal" are victims and even worse, they are not in Pan and Scan (although someone suggested that those SEs may not actually be going out of print.)
I think you mean that the newer releases are p & s. And, not unlike Dances, the release of these p & s versions while the widescreen SEs are still available with different SKUs is a different issue. I think those (p & s) releases are in addition to, not replacing, the existing (widescreen) versions.

-p
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post #113 of 141
9/9/04 at 3:56pm
Quote:
Will, that the "Other Voices" docu has been stripped?


Yep, all "Terminator" has now is the trailer, but at least it is still in anamorphic widescreen. If you don't already have the SE, it's probably still not too late to find one at a store, but I would hurry. I was thinking of buying a extra copy just in case.


Quote:
And, not unlike Dances, the release of these p & s versions while the widescreen SEs are still available with different SKUs is a different issue. I think those (p &s) releases are in addition to, not replacing, the existing (widescreen) versions.


Perhaps, and if someone could confirm this, it would be useful, but it seems like these stripped P&S versions are what the stores a being stocked with now.

Quote:
I think you mean that the newer releases are p & s.


My mistake, I have corrected my above post
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post #114 of 141
9/10/04 at 12:43am
Post #49 has been updated (changed the status of The Terminator from "currently available" to "discontinued").

Quote:
Sadly it's actually a deviously brilliant (though disgusting) practice.


It would make more sense if MGM advertised that certain titles were going out of print soon and this was the last chance to pick them up. I doubt this secrecy is really boosting sales.
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post #115 of 141
9/13/04 at 9:41am
Quote:
It would make more sense if MGM advertised that certain titles were going out of print soon and this was the last chance to pick them up. I doubt this secrecy is really boosting sales.
Amen.

-p
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post #116 of 141
9/13/04 at 12:36pm
Sony is likely to aquire MGM.

Great, now even more MGM titles will be downgraded to pan & scan only.
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post #117 of 141
9/13/04 at 2:25pm
This whole downgrading thing slipped my mind when I was out the other day.

Let me guess, the copy of "Ronin" I picked up is probably the castrated version. It has Frankenheimer's commentary and the alternate ending. That's it. (Not seen the movie yet.)
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post #118 of 141
9/13/04 at 2:33pm
Eric: I think you got the only R1 version of Ronin there is. Mine isn't that new, isn't called an SE, and it sounds just like yours.
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post #119 of 141
9/18/04 at 7:06am
Not sure if anyone's interested, but I just picked a mint used copy of the increasingly rare Producers: Special Edition for $19.99.

PM me if you want it.

Thanks.
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post #120 of 141
9/18/04 at 7:33am
I believe you can still pick up the special edition of The Producers at North American DVD for only $15.99, and there seems to still be quite a few available at many other retailers.
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