Doggoneit! I didn't get a chance to ask Anchor Bay about... (1 Viewer)

[Paul_Scott]

i didn't realize that AB has a 'good' relationship with Universal. If i had i would have asked about the Kolchack: The Night Stalker TV series. they did a helluva job w/ the tv movies (Stalker still has one of the most beautiful full frame transfers i've ever seen).
would also have loved to ask about some of the early films in the Universal catalog like the Ladd/Lake film noirs and DeMilles Cleopatra.
oh well.

anybody else...?

 

[Matt<>Broon]

The Night Stalker is one of my dream releases.
Esecially if they could do a half decent job.

 

[Jon Robertson]

I didn't ask about licencing loads of W.C. Fields movies from Universal, but there's a lot more chance of those turning up than The Orchard End Murder, so I had to prioritise.

It was an excellent chat, by the way!

 

[David Lambert]

Damn, damn, damn damn DAMN. I forgot that this chat was last night!

I'll look for the transcript later. Anyone ask any good TV-on-DVD questions?

 

[Tommy G]

I couldn't particpate in this chat and I would loved to have asked about Kolchak: The Night Stalker TV series as well. This was one of the chats I was really looking forward to participating in for this show alone. I so so so want this series on dvd.

 

[Paul Arnette]

Since Anchor Bay has a "good" relationship with Universal, I wonder if anyone thought to ask about a special edition of the 1980 Flash Gordon?

Easily my number one guilty pleasure.

 

[Paul_Scott]

Funny you should mention Flash.
great guilty pleasure stuff.
just a few days ago i ordered a R2 French special edtion .
its supposed to come with a second CD of the Queen soundtrack.
i think the total was under $30 w/ shipping.

i wouldn't be suprised if a domestic release was imminent (that usually happens when i get the more expensive forgien edition :frowning

 

[Paul_Scott]

i would have also asked about the possibility of more Peter Greenway films.
i'm vexed there doesn't seem to be a decent copy of Baby Of Macon to be had anywhere in the world.


__________
transcript is now up!

 

[Mark Lemmond]

I just read the transcript and he mentions that there is a widescreen version of My science project out there. I've looked and can't find it, was he mistaken, has anybody seen a widescreen version of this movie.

 

[Nick Graham]

There were quite a few TV-on-DVD questions, and Kolchak flashed through my mind and then disappeared (d'oh). I did ask about American Gothic.

 

[Matthew Kiernan]

I've got it, so it must be out there.

 

[Chris Farmer]

Anything come up in regards to the Wonder Years?

 

[Dave Molinarolo]

Damn, damn, damn damn DAMN. I forgot that this chat was last night!

I'll look for the transcript later. Anyone ask any good TV-on-DVD questions?

I asked about future releases of Highlander, Xena, and Hercules.

AB said that Highlander S2 wil be out on July 29th (it'll be a blue box this time, as opposed to the green one that was S1). Xena S2 will be out in September. Hercules S2 will be out around Thanksgiving.

He also said, expect releases to follow every 4-5 months.

 

[John Watson]

I just looked at the transcript. Wow, those guys are busy!!

I am disappointed to see so little reference to AB playing problems, on a large number of titles. It is simply stated "manufacturing difficulties" have been resolved.

Altho I may have to get a new DVD player eventually, I don't consider it plausible to be told that there is something wrong with my player because I have difficulty with many AB titles, when it copes very well with most other disks. :frowning:

 

[David Lambert]

Dave, since then I've read through the chat and had Gord post a news item about Hercules S2, that mentions your name and thanks you for asking the question.

I'd like to thank everyone who asked a TV-related question, esp. since I was too brain-dead to be there!

Sorry I didn't have time to post this earlier; I had to spend some time this evening with my son in an emergency room. He's okay; he was limping. Turns out there's no break or blood; just interior bruising. No need for expressions of sympathy; my little power ranger will be okay in a day or so.

 

[TerryW]

I asked about Tales from the Darkside, Darkroom, Freddie's Nightmares, Twilight Zone (1980's version) and Moonlighting. Michael said it was harder and harder to obtain rights since so many big studios were doing their own TV DVD Sets. He wasn't specific though. I can't believe anyone is chomping at the bit to release Darkroom! I hope someone does.

 

[David Lambert]

Well, Darkroom is a Universal property, isn't it? And, as I've said a lot, they are holding on to all their assets right now pending the sale of their studio. It's as simple as that.

And the concept of licensing things out to studios has changed a LOT in the past few years. DVD is the golden goose, so to speak. It's making the studios a LOT of money. Whereas in the early days it was "well, we don't support this newfangled DVD format yet, so we might as well profit from it a little bit by licensing stuff to companies like Anchor Bay, Criterion, Goodtimes, and Image."

Now that DVD's a proven money-maker, every property - no matter how obscure - is "mine mine mine mine mine all mine noone else's all MINE". EVERYTHING right now is potential profit in the eyes of the studio.

As time goes on and they have considered and discarded more properties, they will loosen back up with the pile of stuff they have rejected putting out personally, and start licensing that list of titles back out again. After all, if someone else wants to pay them to be allowed to try to hawk it, it's more money in their pockets than if the title languishes.

But first they want to be sure they won't be trying to release it themselves. With the long list of properties each studio must go through and make determinations on, it will be a while before they get to that point. And, along the way, there are roadbumps...like new management, and studios being sold, and whatnot.