DRAGONSLAYER on Blu-ray: any hope? (1 Viewer)

[Mark-W]

Maybe it is nolstalgia, but this movie just seems to get better with time.
Stands up against more modern dragon films very well.

I can imagine a properly done Blu-ray would be spectacular, particularly with all those dark
scenes in caverns and castles.

I can imagine a Twilight Time release would be wonderful with that
isolated mustic score as an all but guarantted extra from TT.But this is a Paramount title.

Any hope?

 

[Johnny Angell]

I'd love to have this on blu-ray. It's a wonderful film. But please, not twilight time. BTW, I just watched Reign of Fire. That's a great dragon film too.

 

[Dick]

This could be a two-fer along with another fantasy film from Warner Bros. I have never, and I mean NEVER, seen this film looking as it should. I saw it three times in cinemas, and each time there was an issue with projection or missing footage. The laser disc and DVD were simply not stellar. I can't wait for a decent Blu-ray.

 

[Ejanss]

There's been a broadcast HD master playing on all the usual suspects, but again, being an 80's Paramount movie means it's a dice-roll about whether we'll ever see it. At least they still consider it "core catalog" every time they have to dig out anything under "Sci/Fantasy".

With any luck, maybe Warner got it in Paramount's back-catalog crossover deal.
(And yes, it IS one of the best-looking 80's-Summer-of-Love fantasy films, which is saying something, considering a decade that included Krull, Neverending Story and Excalibur.)

 

[dana martin]

With the second part of the Hobbit due out this “Holiday” season this is almost a no-brainer for a release, to this day I don’t think that the Dragon has been topped, in terms of look and style, Reign of Fire comes a close second. But Disney / Paramount should release this.

The question is who currently has the controling rights to this is it Disney or Paramount/WB, that would be part pf the deciding factor. giving credit where it is due, there are some Disney 70's and 80's titles that just have a soft place this and the Black Hole.

 

[Dick]

Vermithrax Pejorative. Best damn dragon ever -- and really, truly scary, which I guess is why we had to have Peter MacNicol's rather obnoxious, all-too-contemporary character -- a little juvenile hijinks to keep the kiddies from running screaming from the theater, Aside from him, though, this is a dark, disturbing movie and has about a half-dozen mesmerizing set-pieces. ILM's effects were peerless then and stand up very well today. Ralph Richardson is dotty and delightful, Peter Eyre a really three-dimensional King with unique line-readings, John Hallam is a powerful foe, Chloe Salaman as a princess who makes a truly touching sacrifice. The Alex North score is in print again and on sale at Screen Archives. Wish a Blu-ray was, also!

 

[Ejanss]

With the second part of the Hobbit due out this “Holiday” season this is almost a no-brainer for a release, to this day I don’t think that the Dragon has been topped, in terms of look and style, Reign of Fire comes a close second. But Disney / Paramount should release this.

Disney never owned the distribution for the film or video (just picked up some of the production tab), so it's always been Paramount.
Whether it's in the "unwanted" 80's catalog that Warner picked up, someone more informed than I would have to check, but if Warner got the package that included Clue, that would probably be the one that has Dragonslayer in it.

 

[Greg_D_R]

Dragonslayer for me, hails from a time when Disney was taking chances with their live action films, like they did with The Black Hole. Visually it was always a bit dark and dirty, especially in the composited shots. I would absolutely love to see it on blu-ray.

 

[Ruz-El]

Shout Factory does some Paramount titles I think, it would be a perfect fit for them.

 

[lukejosephchung]

Another distribution possibility would be Olive Films...

 

[Stephen_J_H]

This seems to be a better fit for Shout! or WB. Either could do it as a double feature with Popeye; in spite of how bizarre it may sound, both films were part of a joint venture between WDP and Paramount, where Paramount distributed domestically and WDP had international rights.

 

[JoHud]

It looks like Shout's rep Cliff Mac said that they only licensed the Walking Tall films and The Duelists and aren't going to license anything else from Paramount for the time being. Maybe more in the future, but they seem to have gone on the record saying they have nothing else Paramount-related in the works. Well, except the Viacom TV properties, but those seem to be a separate licensing deal.

It's looking like the most likely prospects for Dragonslayer will either be from Warner Bros or Olive.

 

[Ruz-El]

It's looking like the most likely prospects for Dragonslayer will either be from Warner Bros or Olive.

That's a shame. Neither Warner nor Olive seem interested in doing feature packed discs at a retail price. I can't see Warners touching this as a bluray period, retail or archives. Olive would be a barebone discs of whatever master is available.

 

[RolandL]

I remember when Sony Beta VCR's came out with stereo sound, VHS only had mono, and they included a demo tape with a Dragonslayer scene on it. Pretty cool at the time.

 

[Mark_TB]

Add my name to the list of those who'd like to see this on Blu. Bad contrast issues, particularly with the composited FX shots, have marred the previous video incarnations. I would love to see this get the treatment it deserves.

 

[Dave Miller]

Count me in too. Really have fond memories of this movie. Would love for my son to see it remastered for blu-ray.

Peace,

DM

 

[cb1]

I would buy it day one, Dragonslayer was always a favorite, even my wife enjoys it.

"stir the tiles!"

 

[Ray H]

If Warner releases this, they can pair it with Ladyhawke or something.

 

[John Stockton]

I remember when Sony Beta VCR's came out with stereo sound, VHS only had mono, and they included a demo tape with a Dragonslayer scene on it. Pretty cool at the time.

Actually, VHS was the one which came out with stereo first, but it was Linear, and not very dynamic. In 1983 Sony came out with Stereo Beta-HiFi which had a dynamic range of 80 db. Pretty impressive for its time. In fact it would even blow the pants out of the DVD Dolby 2.0 soundtracks. A year or so later VHS came out with their version of VHS-HiFi. You can watch that Demo tape right here

.

 

[Dick]

(Sound of fingers drumming) Still waitin'.