Lion's Gate to Continue to Release Republic Library (1 Viewer)

Garysb · Aug 14, 2006

Per DavisDVD Lion's Gate will continue to release the Republic films with the exception of "Its A Wonderful Life". TV properties and Wonderful Life will be released by Paramount.

http://davisdvd.com/news/news.html

Lord Dalek · Aug 14, 2006

So much for African Queen...

John Hodson · Aug 14, 2006

So much for a release of The Quiet Man that doesn't require the use of dark glasses, so much for, well, the list is quite long of films that were former Artisan properties, that we expected Paramount to do properly.

Anyone looking for what might have been can check out this review of the Dutch Paramount DVD of High Noon also released in France.

It's quite sad.

streeter · Aug 14, 2006

African Queen wasn't a Republic title, was it?

CameronMcC · Aug 14, 2006

no it was a paramount title through and through....all those John Wayne titles.....ughhh

ChristianB · Aug 14, 2006

I believe The African Queen is Fox?

streeter · Aug 14, 2006

Is Monster Squad a Republic title? Because that was with the Spelling co. I believe.

Patrick McCart · Aug 14, 2006

Hey, I wonder if Lionsgate will decide to finally put out decent versions of The Quiet Man and Rio Grande. You know... with John Wayne movies being the only classics that ever make money.

Some sort of thing between Carlton, CBS, and Paramount. Back when Fox distributed stuff for CBS, they put out videos. This year is the 55th anniversary and it was rumored for this year. I'm hoping that it's because of restoration issues (it's a 3-strip technicolor film). I'd like to hear someone from Paramount say a movie starring Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, and directed by John Huston would be a tough sell.

Jim Bur · Aug 14, 2006

I believe that your use of the words "Lions Gate" and "continue to release Republic Library" in the title of your thread is an oxymoron, since I don't recall having seen a new DVD release of a Republic film by Lions Gate in years. I suggest that a more accurate thread title would be "Republic Film Library to remain buried".

Jeff Swindoll · Aug 14, 2006

Maybe there's hope since It's a Wonderful Life remained at Paramount.

Quiet Man at Paramount=chance at a wonderful transfer
Quiet Man at Lionsgate=same turd transfer repolished for another DVD release :frowning:

I think that Paramount would really want to retain control over the Wayne titles.

WadeM · Aug 14, 2006

I agree... They put a lot of effort into High and the Mighty & Island in the Sky & Batjac's stuff, so surely they'd want to keep & release The Quiet Man and their other John Wayne titles... or at least hopefully.

Garysb · Aug 15, 2006

It would seem odd to me the Paramount would cherry pick the best Republic Pictures and give Lionsgate the rest. Much as we would like Paramount to release these films in hope of great transfers, I think this is wishful thinking.
I think Wonderful Life being released by Paramount is just an exception .
For all we know it could end up being cancelled like all the other Paramount
Republic films this year. Wonderful Life has been available for many years in fairly good DVD. I would be surprised if another release will sell many copies.

Sergio · Aug 15, 2006

Please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, Please!!!!!!!!! Lionsgate..... Release the following title on July 2007

The Quiet Man: 55th Anniversary Ultimate Edition. (2 Disc set)

It never hurts to dream.

Regards,

David_Blackwell · Aug 15, 2006

That sucks. Some of the Rebuplic stuff at Lionsgate (and Artisan) suffered. Well, I hope Paramount releases Kindred: The Embraced to DVD again with improved transfers.

Robert Crawford · Aug 16, 2006

Lionsgate releasing it is not a concern, but doing so with good PQ is a concern.

Jeff Swindoll · Aug 16, 2006

True enough Crawdaddy. I think that inclincation is to think that Paramount has the time, money, and want to remaster Quiet Man. Whereas Lionsgate seems to lack the want at least. There should've been something done to the last dip instead of just adding the Maureen O'Hara commmentary. I dont want to put words in his mouth, but I think that Mr. Harris said that the elements were there to produce what we want (please correct me if my faulty memory remembers wrongly).

The Last Emperor and Quiet Man are seeminly universally known as the worst looking DVDs (well I'm sure there are others) and both now live at Lionsgate (right?). They could impress us alot by releasing great versions of both of those.

ScottR · Aug 16, 2006

So, would Lion's Gate hold the rights to The Bells of St. Mary's?

jim_falconer · Aug 18, 2006

I'll say! Some titles off the top of my head that have awful transfers from Artisan are:

The Fighting Kentuckian
The Quiet Man (as we all know)
A Lady Takes A Chance
Westward Ho!

But to be fair, they also have released a number of decent transfers. It's a hit-or-miss affair with them, which is why I was so excited about Paramount taking them over. Looks like now, it'll be more of the same....

Brandon Conway · Aug 18, 2006

Question:

The last release of The Quiet Man and High Noon, etc., was before Lionsgate merged with Artisan, correct? If that's right then Lionsgate hasn't released these films before.

Darrell Bratz · Aug 18, 2006

I think the last bit is the general point - with the last releases of things like Quiet Man, High Noon, and a few others, Artisan had the rights but Paramount held the good elements. I suppose the same is true now with Lionsgate standing in for Paramount. Until Paramount negotiates over access to the good stuff, there may be little Lionsgate can do even if high quality is something they value. Speculation, of course. These titles may be perpetually in a rock/hard place midpoint, at least in R1.

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