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Did Paramount quit the catalog releasing business? (1 Viewer)

FanboyZ

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Where's the rest of my "Friday the 13th's (4-8)" and um, "Chinatown" or something???
 

Bob Cashill

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No, it did have THE AFRICAN QUEEN last year, 48 HRS last month, and THE TEN COMMANDMENTS due at the end of this month. But, yes, that's not much to go on; they've farmed a few titles out through other distributors like Olive but nothing on Blu.
 

Mark B

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WHITE CHRISTMAS


It would be nice to see them release some classics on Blu, but they really gave up on their library titles back in the SDVD days, so...
 

John Hodson

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French BD news from another forum, which may be great news for the rest of us:


At last the title [Once Upon A Time In The West] has been announced by Paramount for June 2011 !!
You can find this information through an interview made by the French magazine "Les Années Laser" (March 2011, p.18) with the director of marketing from Paramount France.
The article also mentions the release of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" for September 2011.
 

Eric Peterson

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Please let this be stateside too!! If I could get "Once Upon A Time in the West" on Blu, I will be a happy man and never ever complain again!!! [/url]

French BD news from another forum, which may be great news for the rest of us:


At last the title [Once Upon A Time In The West] has been announced by Paramount for June 2011 !!
You can find this information through an interview made by the French magazine "Les Années Laser" (March 2011, p.18) with the director of marketing from Paramount France.
The article also mentions the release of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" for September 2011.


[/quote]
 

FanboyZ

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They should sell their entire library to Lionsgate, thats the cool thing to do.
 

dana martin

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Originally Posted by FanboyZ

They should sell their entire library to Lionsgate, thats the cool thing to do.


Because Loinsgate has done such a fine job of going in and releasing catalog titles, oh no wait where is Invasion of the Body Snatchers, or nay of the John Wayne Republic Westerns, Hum, maybe The Quiet Man, nope, not yet, i know maybe something from the Artisan catalog that isn't Rambo or Terminator, still waiting, you might want to rethink that statement.
 

ahollis

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Dana-no one could have said it better. I always cringe whenever I hear that Lionsgate or Paramount has acquired a library of films. Fox is the next one that hate to see get a hold of anything.
 

dana martin

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Allen,

thanks for the back-up on that, I don’t mean to say that someone is wrong, but the thing is that Paramount has an outstanding Restoration team, just look at African Queen, and they at one time had a great website, covering what was going on, it's been a few years so I don’t know if it still exist; but people also need to take into consideration that they are also releasing the DreamWorks titles as well.



Fox on the other hand does turn out quality product consistently, and I might say that they are doing it for TWO companies, themselves and MGM which last until September at that point Sony will be taking over the distribution of MGM titles, Sony has great releases but haven’t really gone deep into the classics yet, but the rumors of Navarone, has me hyped, that more is on the way.



The problem I have with Lionsgate is that they made the deal with Paramount for a large chunk of back catalog, (Republic Titles which by the way celebrated it’s 75th in 2010, any classics release in honor, well we are still waiting) and now they have deals with Miramax and Studio Canal, at this point I would be expecting them to start releasing catalog titles to at a minimum match WB.


High Noon, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, The Quiet Man held hostage !



My Avatar speaks volumes, i am an animation fan, big time and part of the deal the have had is Betty Boop, has there ever been an official studio release, George Pal's Puppet Toons, nope, i would be happy just to see that on DVD correctly, hopefully one day someone who actually knows and understands what they have instead, of a lawyer in the business of entertainment, looks at the history and prestige instead of just the bottom line. Then classic fans will have a day to be really happy.
 

GMpasqua

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when it comes to Blu-ray I prefer a studio to restore the film and put out a great blu-ray .....unlike some that slap a HD TV transfer on to blu to make a quicl buck (MGM/UA???)



But Paramount really needs to move their ass on catalog
 

Joel Fontenot

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Originally Posted by dana martin
...High Noon, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, The Quiet Man held hostage !...



The problem with The Quiet Man is that I don't think Paramount ever actually had that one for some strange reason. All the other Republic Pictures, yes, but The Quiet Man was left out of that group Paramount got several years back and stayed with Artisan. That was something that we didn't find out about until later.


Meanwhile, on DVD, it just keeps getting reissued with the same VHS transfer from the 40th Anniversary Edition done back in '92.
 

ahollis

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Originally Posted by Joel Fontenot




The problem with The Quiet Man is that I don't think Paramount ever actually had that one for some strange reason. All the other Republic Pictures, yes, but The Quiet Man was left out of that group Paramount got several years back and stayed with Artisan. That was something that we didn't find out about until later.


Meanwhile, on DVD, it just keeps getting reissued with the same VHS transfer from the 40th Anniversary Edition done back in '92.

Something does not make sense. Paramount obtained the Republic films when they purchased Spelling Entertainment in 2000, who had made a deal with Artisan to release the titles and that deal was set to expire in 2005. In 2003 Artisan was sold to Lionsgate so Artisan was not in business when their original agreement expired. Artisan/Lionsgate's agreement for the titles went back to Paramount in 2005, including The Quiet Man. Paramount actually announced this title along with many more including Johnny Guitar for release on DVD. But those releases never happened for Paramount entered into another agreement with Lionsgate to handle the Republic Catalog, of which they have done a great job of miss-handling. This agreement should expire in 2015 or early 2016.
 

dana martin

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not soon enough, if they dont release anything, there should be some kind of option clause in the contract, where they just cant shelve or sit on titles
 

Eric Peterson

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Originally Posted by dana martin

not soon enough, if they dont release anything, there should be some kind of option clause in the contract, where they just cant shelve or sit on titles

The part that doesn't make sense to me is this. Why would a company license a bunch of films from somebody and then not release them? A proper restored release of "The Quiet Man" could be a HUUUUUUGE release!!
 

ahollis

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Originally Posted by Eric Peterson




The part that doesn't make sense to me is this. Why would a company license a bunch of films from somebody and then not release them? A proper restored release of "The Quiet Man" could be a HUUUUUUGE release!!

At one time a film companies net worth was also based on what size library they had the rights too. Both companies were able to increase their net worth with this one library. Paramount's balance sheet was for the better since they got actual cash from the deal. Lionsgate, which was still a small struggling company was able to increase their balance sheet due to their control of the titles. It was a win-win for both studios. Paramount did not care about most of the classic titles and they really never have cared about their titles, unless there was an Audry Hepburn in them. Summer Redstone also need cash to make interest payments and this was a quick way.

The problem now is that the libraries have devalued so much over the last four years that there is no interest in any titles. The biggest example is MGM, they could not get a bid they wanted for the company for their library had devalued so much from when they were purchased. It had dropped about half billion dollars or more. In fact the new management has to use the new James Bond films to get a company to show any interest in their library. Who ever ends up with it, will more than likely treat it in the same way as Lionsgate does Republic.
 

dana martin

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Originally Posted by ahollis





At one time a film companies net worth was also based on what size library they had the rights too. Both companies were able to increase their net worth with this one library. Paramount's balance sheet was for the better since they got actual cash from the deal. Lionsgate, which was still a small struggling company was able to increase their balance sheet due to their control of the titles. It was a win-win for both studios. Paramount did not care about most of the classic titles and they really never have cared about their titles, unless there was an Audry Hepburn in them. Summer Redstone also need cash to make interest payments and this was a quick way.

The problem now is that the libraries have devalued so much over the last four years that there is no interest in any titles. The biggest example is MGM, they could not get a bid they wanted for the company for their library had devalued so much from when they were purchased. It had dropped about half billion dollars or more. In fact the new management has to use the new James Bond films to get a company to show any interest in their library. Who ever ends up with it, will more than likely treat it in the same way as Lionsgate does Republic.


I can fully understand, actually the value of something is really what someone is willing to pay for it, the thing that I don’t get is that I would think that the value asset of a film library would mean more to the studio systems now than say 30 years ago. And here is my reasoning, the studios count on the revenue from this to there operating budgets.



Home theater and the proper handling of film transfer gets harder for the studios, advances in technology, makes what was damn near impossible, now probable. But with large film vaults, the stock still need to be maintained. That is why sometimes what we would or should think should be released takes longer or doesn’t come at all. And others that you never would think of come out.



It’s based on release records, some films that tank at the box office have a better release on Home Video, and then turn a profit, and in this business it is about numbers, and the fact of cash.
 

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