What happened at the Staddon chat? (1 Viewer)

[todd s]

Excellent news regarding Harsh Realm. By the way did anyone ask about the following shows and did he respond?
-Lone Gunmen
-Space: Above & Beyond
-Pretender

 

[PaulP]

Read the transcript, Todd. I don't believe either of those three were announced for release though.

 

[Alistair_M]

Good news on A tree grows in Brooklyn

I hope 'The Innocents' 1961 get a dvd release - it did get onto laserdisk

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055018/


Editted post (sorry I made a mistake)
originally said "My only real disappointment was that the classic The Innocents (1961) is not being worked on." Actually Mr Staddon said "I'll have to check out the innocents as I'm not that familiar
with it".

 

[oscar_merkx]

I am off reading it as we speak

 

[Derek_McL]

I've got to agree with all Europeans : the times of these chats are just hopeless for us over the pond ! I've looked at the transcript and as has been said not a lot of surprises or new announcements.

I would also liked to have a little more info on the Studio Classics line though a few titles I suppose were hinted at : the film noirs, Lifeboat etc.

The problem with Fox's silents I suppose is that so few have survived. Peter seemed to say Sunrise was an exceptional title among them (don't disagree with that) though didn't discount double features of the others hardly a ringing endorsement. At least in the UK we will soon be able to purchase Sunrise (26th Jan release) on its own merits !

Nothing much on 30s'Fox titles before Zanuck formed 20th Century Fox in 1935. Cavalcade (1933)I suppose is only getting considered for release because it won the Best Film Oscar. I'm baffled that it can be considered more saleable than the 1935 version of Les Miserables. Its not as if the title is unknown to people what with at least two 90s' versions and the musical. I found the dismissal of this title very disappointing indeed : I thought that would have been an obvious Fox classic even though Zanuck independently produced it before the merger that created 20th Century Fox as we know it today. Please its a true classic,license it to Criterion or something but please release it.

I was also disappointed and I know I've mentioned this before to see the Fox musicals of the late 30s, early 40s once again air-brushed from history. Does nobody want to see Alice Faye on DVD but me ? Almost all the other studios have examples of their vintage musicals from this period available or at least coming. Oh well I suppose I'll stay up to the wee-small hours and get those questions answered next time or maybe those musicals are all planned just not announced.

 

[Mark_vdH]

Todd, all three titles were mentioned. Peter Staddon didn't answer about Lone Gunmen, said he was "not sure" about The Pretender and said "Space: A&B might be out in the not too distant future".

Regarding the Studio Classics line he confirmed Heaven Can Wait and thought that Lifeboat would be a good Studio Classic title.

 

[David Von Pein]

Aw, darn. That is too bad. It's a great film, that aches to go Digital.

I read the transcript, and didn't see any remarks re. "The Innocents". (Must've read it too quickly I guess. :frowning

I also didn't see any mention of possible DVD releases of No Highway In The Sky, Leave Her To Heaven, or Call Northside 777. Was anything mentioned about these fine, old films? (Or am I blind, and just didn't see these posts?)

 

[oscar_merkx]

Great news indeed

 

[Jay E]

No mention of those titles David.

Disappointed that many of the titles I'm hoping would come out on DVD, aren't considered profitable enough to be released. I don't understand why Les Miserables or the Charlie Chan films would be money-losers on DVD.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

I interpreted Peter's response to HiDef DVD quite differently. Obviously a secure CP standard must be in place before any of the studios begin releasing HiDef DVDs. Also most studios will wait for a set standard for HiDef DVD such as to avoid another VHS vs Beta scenario. The good news is that in both cases, these issues are VERY close to being resolved.

As I recall Fox Home Entertainment made similar comments back in '97 explaining that they would wait for better CP of DVDs before they released any titles, and yet a few months later they started to release titles on DVD with the same CP standard from Macrovision as before.

I would not be surprised to see HiDef DVDs on store shelves by 2005, but I also suspect Fox will not be the first studio to embrace the format - which would also mean that any hope of George Lucas being able to release Star Wars as the first consumer HiDef DVD is very unlikely. :frowning:

 

[BrettB]

Most disappointing news (for me),

anamorphic Raising Arizona is nowhere in sight :frowning:

 

[John Hodson]

Bit of a damp squib really, I was hoping for the skinny on coming Fox Studio Classic, but really all we got were hints and the suprising admission from Peter that he's unaware of The Innocents

And no one asked about the Canadian FSC Box How Green Was My Valley debacle, or was that a banned issue? And what of Laura?

And Brett; I quite agree.

After the disappointing Anchor Bay chat (understandable in retrospect), I'm hoping for more encouraging stuff in the next Warners chat...

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So many films, so little time...

 

[Mike-McG]

Personally, I'm a bit upset that Fox has no plans to release the Charlie Chan films on DVD. With a new movie coming out soon, and all of the media Chan received last year, one would think now would be a good time.

 

[Jay E]

Whenever I hear a studio say it won't be profitable to put a title out on DVD, I want to know why they can't license unprofitable titles to another company. I'm sure there are companies out there (Image, VCI, Anchor Bay, Blue Underground, Kino) who would love a chance at releasing many of these catalog "money-losers". Wouldn't it be better to make some money on a title rather than letting it sit in a vault collecting dust and no income? Makes no sense to me.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I was unable to stay long for the chat and it's too bad nobody asked about a definitive release date for "Laura".



Crawdaddy

 

[Matt Butler]

Im upset that How to Steal a Million wasnt mentioned or an Anamorphic reissue of Strange Days. Also disappointing that Office Space Se is delayed indefinately.

But I did like hearing about a re-issue of the Abyss.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Peter did say that they were looking at that, and had already licensed 12 titles to Criterion for a start. He commented that Anchor Bay did a great job with niche titles, lavishing more attention on them than the big studios could/would. I don't think Fox isn't thinking about the idea.

I thought it was another good chat, and am thankful Peter makes the time to do these. There are reasons why he can't or won't answer some of the questions, and you can't expect him to be familiar with every film in the studio's library.

I would also add that when we first brought Zardoz to Peter's attention years ago, he wasn't aware of that film, but our input inspired Fox to do a special edition release. Don't be discouraged if there isn't an immediate answer, Peter takes the suggestions he gets seriously.

 

[John Hodson]

My comments earlier were possibly a little churlish; I'll second that.

However, I was referring to the number of times The Innocents has been mentioned, even in recent months, on this and similar fora. I do hope Peter looks into it.

---
So many films, so little time...

 

[MartinTeller]

 

[JonZ]

Very cool of Peter to take the time out to talk to us.

Im doing backflips about Millennium

Im finally getting a 16x9 TV this summer and will looking outside region 1 for Raising Arizona and Strange Days as theyre available in anamorphic in other regions.

That would be a interesting question. If Fox ownes the rights in the US and elsewhere why anamorphic for R2 and 4,but not 1? Shouldnt a 16x9 reissue be easy?

Also looking foward to Married... Season2 and In Living Color