With all the talk of the Egyptian, I thought I would check Foxclassics.com hoping for an update. Looks like that web site is now gone as it reroutes to fox store.
It really is the end of an era. It's as if the studios have completely given up on pre-2000 product and now with the focus shifting to re-releasing everything to Boo-ray, older films don't stand a chance. There hasn't been a single title announced in over 6 months worth getting excited about.
Fox has impressed me in the past, The Charlie Chans, Mr. Moto's, Ford at Fox, their horror collections, their Film Noir series Betty Grable, Carmem Miranda, Alice Faye, Tyrone Power sets.
Man Hunt looks like the end of the line. It was announced as a Film Noir, but the package mentions nothing of it being a Noir, which I do agree. I makes me believe that they only released it because of Valkyrie release. The Dairy of Ann Frank does not excite me and that is the end of the anouncements. If the closing of the Fox Classics website means what it means, then there is not A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, Stars and Strips, A Box of Ritz Crackers, the hope of Mr. Belvedere, more Betty Grable, more Sonja Henie or more of those great cinemascope films in the future. Someone mentioned a suggestion for Fox to do a box set of many of the unreleased Cinemascope films this holiday like their Ford At Fox. I thought that was a great idea and would support it. I guess it will never come to past.
I can not write of Fox at this time, for we do not know anything and all is just suspect. Please Fox do not abandon us as Paramount has.
Miles Krueger told me he did a commentary for STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER more than a year ago. You think FOX would go ahead and release this one. Hopefully this is not the end of the line for FOX classic films.
I guess they think they are catering to their audience (not us). I was on the AVS Blu-Ray Player Forum yesterday, and the subject of upconverting SD DVDs on Blu-ray came up. two memebers posted that they had sold of or given away their entire SD DVD Collections. "Nothing but HD for me, baby!" was their mantra. There is no freakin' way I'd dump my SD DVDs in favor for Blu-ray's limited selection.
Personally I think we are in a slow down from Warner and Fox that will last another year. In the second half of next year I think releases will go back to normal as the U.S. and world economy picks up.
For the next year, most classic releases from those two companies will be reissues of major titles on Blu-ray. Films like Ben Hur, North By Northwest, and the ones we already know about, The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind.
I have absolutely no idea what has happened at Sony, but I like it and I will be supporting them by buying the Film Noir and Sam Fuller boxes.
Simon I admire your optimism but I just can't see things going back to the way they were before. If it turns out I'm wrong and you're right I'll be very happy of course.
Sony have always had Grover Crisp who has knows how to make good releases, the green light for the flood of new releases coming this year must've come from above him.
I just hope the slow U.S. economy doesn't mean that these releases don't sell as well as predicted, which then kills off another flood of releases next year.
I'd rather have consistency rather than stop / start release schedules.
I understand that TCM and Sony signed a deal middle of last year for several 100 films to appear on the channel. The quality of the films that TCM requires may be the roots of Sony starting to release films from their vaults. It has been said before that Warner had economical reasons to refurbish their vault assets due to the TCM outlet for their product.
Mr. Crisp has always been a supporter of classic films and always has a project in the works. It is he that we can thank for the past dvd releases such as "A Walk On The Wild Side" and "Major Dundee" I am sure he and Mr. Schlesinger are the ones to thank now.
I hear the Paramount has just recently signed a deal. Hope this works the same way.
Yeah, but people keep saying the market just isn't there any more for DVDs in general, let alone classics. The bad economy doesn't help any but the fact is that many people (even film buffs) will tell you they've bought as many titles as they want. Personally, I'm nowhere near exhausting my wish list, but there you go.
While better economic conditions would likely encourage more releases from the studios, I'm not holding out too many hopes for a new golden age.
Wow, that reminds me how some people were unwisely dumping their entire Laserdisc collections before even knowing for sure all of it would actually come out on DVD. Some people never learn!