Any New Paramount Catalog Titles for 2006? (1 Viewer)

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Oops, I forgot a crucial one on my list, which Paramount recently acquired:

MONTE WALSH (1970, AR 2.35:1 Panavision), starring Lee Marvin, Jack Palance & Jeanne Moreau, plus another fine John Barry score (and Mama Cass singing the opening credits tune).

I must have this on a 16x9 enhanced R1 DVD!

 

[Deepak Shenoy]

I forgot all about the Republic titles. I wasn't too happy with the multiple Artisan versions of High Noon - one of my all-time favorites. Hopefully Paramount will finally get it right.

-D

 

[Eric Peterson]

As long as Paramount holds

• Ace in the Hole[*]The Quiet Man[*]High Noon[*]Rio Grande[*]Invasion of the Body Snatchers[*]It's a Wonderful Life[*]The African Queen (Do they own this or not?)[*]Betty Boop Cartoon Library
• etc...

and can release quality releases of said titles, then they have one of the deepest libraries around. (IMHO)

 

[Kevin Martinez]

I sincerely doubt Betty Boop, or any other Fliescher cartoon for that matter, will show up on DVD. Every Non-Disney, Non-Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon series/studio has been ingnored on DVD, either because of braindead corporate apathy or a deliberate, sinister agenda to keep them off DVD. Even characters with considerable market appeal like Woody Woodpecker (Universal licensed Woody and pals to Columbia House, but the reulsting DVD's had DVNR and edits) and the aforementioned Betty are gathering dust. And if DVD is rendered obsolete by the next big format anytime soon, well...

With All that said, I'd pay $5000 for a DVD that contained Fleischer's Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy cartoon from 1941, as that's my favorite theatrical cartoon of all time

 

[Justin_S]

I'm still waiting for Paramount to release the following films:

Phase IV
Let's Scare Jessica to Death
Student Bodies
The Keep
White Dog
Four Flies on Grey Velvet (if they still own it)
The Sender
White of the Eye
Blood Beach

It'd be nice if they'd release these films some time this century, but I'm losing my patience, especially after getting nothing this October.

I'd also love special editions of Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, and The Tenant, but I don't expect such a thing to come to fruition.

 

[Jodee]

Where is Soderbergh's KAFKA ?

 

[Marko Berg]

I'd love to own this film on DVD, too.

I thought I read somewhere that High Noon is undergoing proper film restoration, if it hasn't already. Would a release from Paramount be based on better source material than the existing versions out there?

 

[John Hodson]

Paramount has access to the original neg., and if you look here you'll see that they've already created a 'new masterpositive from original negative made on Estar based stock' with 'additional work pending.'

 

[Marko Berg]

Thanks, John. I hope 'additional work pending' will translate to a beautiful DVD release in the future.

 

[seanOhara]

Well the Pink Panther's coming next year at least.

 

[Bruce Morrison]

Rosemary's Baby certainly needs a better transfer than the very poor version available now. It's one of the worst-looking Paramount DVDs in my collection.

The current Chinatown DVD is acceptable as far as I'm concerned, although a SE with a commentary and some other extras would always be welcome. But Rosemary's Baby should be the first priority for SE treatment.

 

[Kevin Martinez]

That's only because of the live Action Pink Panther Movie that's Coming Out (You don't see, say, The Ant and the Aardvark, or the Tiajuna Toads, which were made by the same people as the Pink Panther and are owned by the same DVD company, coming out).

The Rest get Screwed by apatheti/sinister DVD companies (And i'd still pay $5000 Dollars for a DVD with the Raggedy Ann Cartoon (Isn't it owned by the same company that owns the Betty Boop cartoons)

 

[Nick Eden]

If I can just widen this debate out to all the companies.
I would welcome people to post here that I am wrong in my belief that some (not all) the Hollywood companies appear to be slowing down on their classic (i.e pre 1970 say) films.
What classic films have Sony/MGM got lined up for 2006? Let's discount re-issues such as the Pink Panther which is a tie-in to a new release. We have heard whispers about Universal titles coming in 2006 from Ron Epstein, but nothing concrete to date. Fox has announced more noirs, musicals, family films (more Shirley Temple and Five Weeks in a Balloon) and some biblical epics. Warner has of course done us proud with many fantastic annoucements (Busby Berkeley, Tennessee Williams, more classic MGM musicals and others).
I really hope I am wrong and would welcome people proving me wrong. As I say it is just a feeling I have.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Alongside Mickey Mouse, Betty Boop is the most widely-marketed popular character and American cartoon icon EVER, to have carried over from the 1930's to present day. It kills me that little girs can go to Wal-Mart and buy Betty Boop pajamas, t-shirts, dolls, beach towels, sunglasses, posters, etc. but that you can still not drive down to your local video store and pick up her films on DVD. It's criminal. Paramount could quite possibly be sitting on one of the largest iconic character franchises of the past century, yet they chose to let everyone else profit from it. How many bootleg memoribilia items and Betty Boop knick knacks do you suppose are floating around Ebay right now? If the company devoted a proper marketing campaign to this, I'm certain Betty Boop could make an enormous return to popular culture and be as huge as ever. It's really a damn shame...

 

[JPCinema]

But Paramount is still very silent...except for the THIRD release of 10 COMMAMDMENTS.
And Sony, now they have a bigger library to NOT release films from!!!!

 

[FrancisP]

BREAKING NEWSaramount will release new titles

We can put some unreleased titles in the Paramount coium with the first two Peanuts movies and a Martin/Lewis boxset.

I also think that there is a bit of laziness on the part of the marketing departments of the major studios. Warner and some of the 3rd party companies understand how to do it.
For example, Image released a b-title called Beginning of the End with giant locusts. MPI has been releasing the original Dark Shadows series on dvd. If you had suggested that to most of the major's marketing departments, they
would laugh in your face. The only thing they understand is remake=release original.

I will say this about Warner, if they decided to put every title they own on dvd, they could double their output and not put a dent in their library.

 

[Kevin Martinez]

Well Said, Marco. You would think that such a popular, durable, and porfitable character as Betty Boop would have gotten adequate DVD tretment by now.

However, Paramount just recently regained DVD rights to the Republic Library (Which, IIRC included the Betty Boop Cartoons) from Artisan/Lion's Gate. So that oculd be a glimmer of hope

 

[Mark Edward Heuck]

Plus, in the case of Betty Boop, I think there might also be some licensing issues with the current copyright owners of the character (I think it's King Features Syndicate) that may be making a full-on release of the shorts an expensive proposition for Paramount. Remember, King Features control Popeye, and they have apparently demanded huge fees that have dissuaded Warner Bros. from releasing those cartoons on DVD, though they've done excellent restorations for Cartoon Network.
There are dozens of unlicensed PD compilations available, but to do one proper means that all parties have to be taken care of, and considering that even a generous-spending studio like WB won't shell out for Popeye, that makes a proper collection of the Boops seem unlikely.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

I don't think KFS have anything to do with the BB library. They have no hand in the films, the Popeye situation is a little more complicated but King Features should not be a factor in the potential for any upcoming Betty Boop DVD's.

 

[Jeff Rosen]

Paramount also owns the Terrytoon library (Mighty Mouse) via its acquisition of CBS and Viacom. CBS acquired all the Terrytoons around 1970, though I doubt if anybody at Paramount realizes they own it.....