Betty Boop - will Warner release? (1 Viewer)

[Eric Huffstutler]

I know that the Popeye series of early cartoons that Warner has released was licensed through King Features and includes the Paramount logos.

Since Betty Boop is also a King Feature holding, would Warner release these cartoons as well and if so, when?

Eric

 

[Eric Peterson]

I understand that these are still held by Paramount, but are currently licensed to Lion's Gate. Why they both continue to sit on them is beyond my comprehension. There are zillions of products out there with the Betty Boop name and image imblazened on them, yet the actual cartoons are next to impossible to obtain.

These are near the very top of my most wanted list.

 

[Eric Huffstutler]

Yuk... I would hope that Warner could get the rights to release like King gave rights to release the Paramount Popeye cartoons. If Paramount or Lionsgate releases them I am sure they won't be the same quality as the Warner releases - fully restored from negatives and tons of extras.

Why didn't Paramount hold the rights to Popeye then since he was more popular and had a longer running than Betty?

Eric

 

[Garysb]

In the 1950's TV was considered competition to the movie industry. Paramount also needed money. They sold Popeye films to a company called Associated Artist Productions (AAP) to syndicate the films to TV stations. AAP was sold to United Artists which was sold to MGM, then Turner and finally Warners. Part of the agreement was that they remove the Paramount logo from the films. Other Paramount cartoons were sold to other companies such as the Harvey company which produced comic books based on Casper and others. Betty Boop was sold to a company called NTA which became a part of Republic which was bought by Spelling Productions which was bought by Paramount. That is why Paramount owns the Betty Boop films. However Paramount does not release most of the Republic library ( Its A Wonderful Life is an exception to this) They lease the films to Lion's Gate for home video.

Popeye is a bit unique in that the character started as part of a comic strip which is owned by King Feature instead of being created as a cartoon. That is why Warner Bros owns the cartoons but King Features owns the characters.

Here is a link with more complete information.
http://www.cartoonresearch.com/paramount.html

 

[Eric Huffstutler]

Didn't I read somewhere in the past that Lionsgate had no interest in releasing Betty Boop?

 

[Ruz-El]

Probably. :frowning: I have bad copies of the last VHS release, which I think were complete. They were all grouped by genre though, instead of in my preferred chronological order. A real shame that this icon isn't properly represented.

 

[Eric Huffstutler]

Maybe we should petition Lionsgate to release them!

Eric

 

[ahollis]

Yeah, petition and then let's hold our breath. Thank goodness I still have the two volume laserdisc collections. They are extremely inventive and outright funny.

 

[WadeM]

As the respected Ray Pointer pointed out here: So, Lions Gate is the new Fleischer villain? - Animation Show Forums
"Perhaps the solution is for you to contact Lion's Gate directly and see what sort of reactions you get. Maybe you might have a means of persuation [sic] that Jerry [Beck], Leonard Maltin, or I have been unable to affect. "

Now, if Jerry Beck, Leonard Maltin & Ray Pointer can't convince them.... good luck.

Of course, be polite, nice & respectful. I was able to find an e-mail address here:

[email protected]

 

[Tory]

If your in the mood for campaining, try pushing for it at criterion:

[email protected]

 

[Tim Tucker]

Didn't UCLA restore all the Betty Boop cartoons?

 

[Patrick McCart]

Yes, UCLA restored or preserved the cartoons, as well as much of the rest of Fleischer shorts. I contacted Criterion and they're not planning on getting the rights for DVD. If cartoon gurus like Jerry Beck can't convince them, we just have to wait until they revert back to Paramount so they can license them to Criterion or someone who cares.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

If this were to ever happen (and I've sent many emails suggesting to the company in the past) it would be without question my all-time most treasured DVD release from any studio ever!

 

[AbbyNormal]

There was an R2 (from France) release of the complete Betty Boop series. The company is Films Sans Frontieres and it supposedly is still available from them but because of the weak dollar it is over $100 + postage.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

It's also a direct port of the laserdisc series I believe, which was riddled with DVNR so it's far from optimal viewing of these films.

 

[Tory]

Wow, I got this for around 40 dollars some many years ago. I like seeing the shorts and all but you have to turn the subtitles off for each short. Standards are most certainly not up to Looney Tunes Golden Golden Collection and I believe a few shorts are missing, thought to be lost when the compilation was made but now found but if you are looking for a seemingly legit release of this series of films, this is the best out there.

 

[Ethan Riley]

Here's some good news: it was announced today that there's going to be a major Betty Boop musical going to Broadway. The show is not slated to open for a couple of years, but if it winds up being a big hit, then the country may be swept up in BettyMania. And of course there'll be a lot of tie-ins; I wouldn't doubt for a minute that the studio will suddenly say "omg--we have the rights to the Betty cartoons! We'd better release them on dvd to cash in on this fabulous BettyMania sweeping the country!"