Evita Special Edition to tie in w/ Phantom? (1 Viewer)

[Stephen Brooks]

We popped this in at work the other day and I had forgotten how great it was. With the movie version of Phantom of the Opera coming out this Christmas, is there any chance of an Evita SE to cross-promote? The original release is bare bones and (I believe) non-anamorphic. As I understand there was quite a bit of behind-the-scenes drama on this film that could make for an interesting DVD, if it ever got the proper treatment.

On a related note, does anyone know who currently owns the rights to this film? The case said it's a Hollywood Pictures release but I don't know if they even exist anymore, or who would have bought out the library. Here's hoping it's Warner Bros, which is also distributing Phantom. A nice 2-disc SE of both of these films would be great.

 

[Brian Kidd]

Disney owns it. Hollywood Pictures was a Disney company. There was a Criterion LD that had a commentary and other extras. I would also love to own a decent version of this film. My wife and I were in WDW when the film was released and MGM Studios had all kinds of props and behind-the-scenes stuff being shown in the park. We enjoyed it quite a bit.

 

[CraigL]

I don't think Hollywood Pictures has ever re-released one of their non-anamorphic titles. They have a bunch available in other regions that ARE anamorphic (evita being one of them) so the transfer is available.

As far as the Criterion extras are concerned, the only thing produced specifically for Criterion was the commentary so the rest is fair game. The "making of" special is great but since it's a special produced overseas it's a PAL transfer so Madonna and everyone else sounds like they're on helium. There are also TV spots and the music video, all of which the company would have rights to.

 

[Michael Harris]

Considering that Criterion has produced SEs of other Disney owned properties for Disney but sold under the Criterion lable I would not see any real rights issues with a similar arrangement for a DVD of "Evita" since it was already released, with Disney's blessing, as a Criterion LD.

 

[Luis Esp]

Still waiting for this one on dvd. The ld is amazing, especially the bonus material, but I've heard the dts ld has better audio on it.

Hopefully Disney will go back and do a 2 disc version for this movie AS WELL AS Chicago.

 

[streeter]

What were the special features on the Criterion LD?

The recent Trainspotting and English Patient special edition DVDs from Miramax featured the Criterion commentary tracks.

 

[CraigL]

again...

Commentary
script w/photos
tv spots
trailers
making of special

and there was a bunch of documentary stuff on the real evita. But again...i think the only thing that was exclusie to that set was the commentary.

btw...Michael...are you the same guy who had a ton of old Indiana Jones and Star Wars videos?