Michael Allred
Screenwriter
Hey gang, I have just created a web page devoted to getting Carpenter's 1979 TV film "Elvis: The Movie" released on DVD. Here's the link;
http://members.tripod.com/~evilbaby/Elvis.html
As any devoted fan knows, "Elvis" was the first time Carpenter teamed up with Kurt Russell.
Anyway, I just heard from Dick Clark Productions today (they produced the film) about this very issue and here's what I was told;
"Elvis" is a priority for the company to release on DVD, however there are some legal issues they need to deal with before anything can happen, specifically song clearances. There are several songs in the film, such as "Blue Moon Over Kentucky" whose master tapes belong to someone else. The songs will have to be dealt with before anything can be done. These issues deal with about 8 songs in total.
They said they have 2 options, either work out a deal to keep the songs or simply re-score the movie with new songs to take the place of the ones they cannot clear.
They said they'd also be interested in getting John Carpenter to do a audio commentary track but that's somewhat down-the-line as they have to clear up the legal issues before even thinking about anything else.
However, since I'm semi-regularly communicating with Carpenter's assistant Gina, they'd get back to me about getting him involved when everything's settled.
They again said that "Elvis" is on the "front burner" for them and that they really want to release it on DVD as soon as they can.
As for a specific company distributing the DVD, none of that has been discussed yet for obvious reasons.
Check out my web page for future updates!
http://members.tripod.com/~evilbaby/Elvis.html
As any devoted fan knows, "Elvis" was the first time Carpenter teamed up with Kurt Russell.
Anyway, I just heard from Dick Clark Productions today (they produced the film) about this very issue and here's what I was told;
"Elvis" is a priority for the company to release on DVD, however there are some legal issues they need to deal with before anything can happen, specifically song clearances. There are several songs in the film, such as "Blue Moon Over Kentucky" whose master tapes belong to someone else. The songs will have to be dealt with before anything can be done. These issues deal with about 8 songs in total.
They said they have 2 options, either work out a deal to keep the songs or simply re-score the movie with new songs to take the place of the ones they cannot clear.
They said they'd also be interested in getting John Carpenter to do a audio commentary track but that's somewhat down-the-line as they have to clear up the legal issues before even thinking about anything else.
However, since I'm semi-regularly communicating with Carpenter's assistant Gina, they'd get back to me about getting him involved when everything's settled.
They again said that "Elvis" is on the "front burner" for them and that they really want to release it on DVD as soon as they can.
As for a specific company distributing the DVD, none of that has been discussed yet for obvious reasons.
Check out my web page for future updates!