Universal focus on back catalog in 2003 (1 Viewer)

Jeff Adkins · Sep 17, 2002

I was able to attend a 2 hour presentation by Universal to retailers the other night. Most of the time was spent talking about upcoming new releases. However, they did spend about 5 minutes talking about their plans to focus heavily on catalog product next year on DVD.
They showed some pie charts and spoke about how catalog is such a large share of the DVD market, unlike VHS. They mentioned reissues of Scarface, Sixteen Candles, Midnight Run, Monty Python's Meaning Of Life, and Animal House all for the first half of next year. Anyway, the news of most importance to me was that between January and June of 2003, they will release 115 titles on DVD from their back catalog. This should come close to MGM's output of 2000 if I remember correctly.
Jeff

Todd Phillips · Sep 17, 2002

catalog is such a large share of the DVD market, unlike VHS

That's interesting. I glad they are discovering this. I suppose people are more willing to buy old movies when they get the quality of a good DVD transfer, plus extras that can give insight into the movie's place in history.

Plus I think the lower cost of DVD has exposed a larger segment of movie buffs to the market than LD did. People who were unwilling to pay the costs of LD and shunned the quality of VHS.

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MikeEckman · Sep 17, 2002

Its about time they realized this, however Universal is still very low on my "Favorite Movie Studio" list. Hopefully they will release some quality OAR releases and maybe get some of their 1st gen titles (i.e. Breakfast Club, Dazed and Confused, Timecop, Happy Gilmore, etc) re-released in proper 16x9 OAR glory.

Rain · Sep 17, 2002

Good news.
Perhaps they will revisit Babe with an OAR transfer...or maybe I'm just being overly optimistic.

Quint van der Vaart · Sep 17, 2002

I hope they are finaly going to release Schindler's List to dvd.
This one is long overdue

Andy Sheets · Sep 17, 2002

I really want anamorphic versions of The Thing and Dazed and Confused. And Babe would definitely be cool too. Vertigo's a Universal title, isn't it? That's another one I'd like. So here's another person hoping that they do some smart reissues of their earlier titles.

David Illingworth II · Sep 17, 2002

It's great to hear that Universal is going to focus on many of their great catalog movies, though I hope they do them right, unlike the disturbing DVDs from Paramount, Fox, and MOST OF ALL Columbia. Please OAR and for God's sake! something on it, a trailer, production notes, something.
What they need to re-release is the Frighteners and Waterworld in extended versions. I know I don't have a lot of support for the vastly superior Waterworld cut, but Frighteners is a no-brainer. All they got to do is release it between November-February of 2002 or 2003 and that puppy would sell.

Thomas T · Sep 17, 2002

Nice news but I hope Universal isn't just re-doing past releases but putting out titles that have never seen the light of day on DVD. Catalogue to me means 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's, not 70's and 80's.

todd s · Sep 17, 2002

Jeff,
Did they mention anything about the crapload of tv shows they plan on releasing? Like when we will see them?

Thanks!

Brook K · Sep 17, 2002

That's right Thomas, give me Hail The Conquering Hero and The Palm Beach Story and the Von Sternberg/Marlene Dietrich films. That will impress me a lot more than reissuing a bunch of 80's-90's stuff.

Dennis Nicholls · Sep 17, 2002

They really could revisit their first DVD (IIRC), The Seven Percent Solution. Grainy and non OAR, this film deserves better.

Craig_T · Sep 17, 2002

Let's get Double Indemnity! And for the love of God, stop wasting your time doing pointless Ultimate Editions of recent movies that already got A+ treatment.

Jeff Adkins · Sep 17, 2002

Nice news but I hope Universal isn't just re-doing past releases but putting out titles that have never seen the light of day on DVD. Catalogue to me means 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's, not 70's and 80's.

No, he mentioned several times that they would be bringing out catalog titles that have never been on DVD before. I agree though that it would be nice to have them bring out a lot of the Paramount titles from the 30's.
As for TV, they said TV would be another big focus. They gave us a list and asked us to vote on what we thought would be the biggest sellers. I handed my survey in but I can remember that Miami Vice, The Munsters, The Incredible Hulk, The Bionic Woman, and Kojak were all on the list. There were others but I can't remember what they were. If there's something in particular you were wondering about, ask me and I can tell you if it was on the list or not. Two that were noticeably absent from the list were Northern Exposure and Quantum Leap.
Jeff

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Jesse Skeen · Sep 17, 2002

Did they explain why they messed up "Big Fat Liar"?

Jay E · Sep 17, 2002

Maybe they will wake up and decide not to screw us anymore and release the episodes of Alfred Hitchkock Presents on their own.

And it's time they started to release more of their Monster Collection.

I'll wait and see what they actually decide to release before I get excited.

Craig S · Sep 17, 2002

I just have two words:
The Sting
C'mon, Universal, give us an anamorphic SE of this Oscar-winning classic.

Jim_K · Sep 17, 2002

Add me to the pessimists. I'll hold off on my excitement until I see what catalog titles they plan to release.
I'll be happy if some of these make it out in next years batch.
The Anthony Mann Westerns - Winchester '73, Bend of the River, The Far Country, The Furies & other Classic Westerns - Lonely are the Brave, Coogan's Bluff, Great Northfield Minnesota Raid
Hammer Horror - Brides of Dracula, Curse of the Werewolf, Hands of the Ripper, Phantom of the Opera '62, Twins of Evil & other vintage Horror films - The Black Cat, Island of Lost Souls, The Raven, Tarantula, The Incredible Shrinking Man, The Creature Sequels. A reissue of the Image release of The Old Dark House would be nice.
Crime/Gangster films - Scarface '32, The Killers '46, The Killers '64, Charley Varrick
Spielberg's Duel, Schindlers List, Sugarland Express
& of course the Preston Sturges comedies.

David Brent · Sep 17, 2002

Jeff,

Any chance you can remember if TV series Quincy or Ironside were on the list?

Many thanks,

David

Larry Sutliff · Sep 17, 2002

I hope this means that some of the unreleased Horror Classics(THE BLACK CAT, THE RAVEN etc.) and other classics like the early Paramount library that Universal owns are going to be released.

Jim Peavy · Sep 17, 2002

Catalogue to me means 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's, not 70's and 80's.

Amen!

And it's time they started to release more of their Monster Collection.

Absolutely. Never have heard a satisfactory reason they put the ones they had released on moratorium. This past weekend I managed to find a copy of Dracula at my local Borders, and they still had 2 copies of Frankenstein (prolly the best U. classic monster DVD), so there are a few left around.

...vintage Horror films - The Black Cat, Island of Lost Souls, The Raven, Tarantula, The Incredible Shrinking Man, The Creature Sequels.

A Black Cat and Raven double feature would seem to be a natural. And don't forget The Invisible Ray, which would make a great double feature with one of my favorites, Man Made Monster!

A restoration along the lines of the Frankenstein disc is definitley in order for Bride of F.stein as well. What the hell, give it the Citizen Kane treatment! Though it's not in the AFI 100 greatest, it's the pinnacle of U.'s classic horror flicks and deserves the royal treatment.

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