MGM's Distribution Deal with Fox has expired with Warner taking over! See Post#74 (1 Viewer)

[darkrock17]

Wow! Where did that come from? Warners is doing a fabulous job with their library and taking the time to do things right (The Sea Hawk, Jezebel, Mystery Of The Wax Museum, 7 Brides For 7 Brothers, Out Of The Past, The Thing From Another World, The Thin Man, Gaslight, Village Of The Damned, Harper, Bad Day At Black Rock, The Bad And The Beautiful, Suspicion, Auntie Mame, Footlight Parade, Brigadoon, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, Victor Victoria, My Favorite Year, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof etc. etc. etc.). I look forward to their announcements from the Archives each month. But I do agree they have their plate full and need another library like a hole in the head. I don't expect much from this "deal", it appears similar to their previous deal with Paramount. Put out what's made available to them.

WB doesn't need to the get their greedy mits on Rocky, The Pink Panther, and James Bond and the rest of UA and post 1986 MGM library. They already proven they care little about their own library let alone the pre 1986 MGM library. If weren't for Warner Archive most of their library would rot away in the vaults.

 

[Thomas T]

Yes, I got the Warner Archive reference but the Warner Archives ARE the outlet for their catalog product (outside of their biggies like Gone With The Wind, Wizard Of Oz, Casablanca etc.). What are you asking for? That Warners start delivering catalog product outside the Archives?

 

[darkrock17]

Yes, I got the Warner Archive reference but the Warner Archives ARE the outlet for their catalog product (outside of their biggies like Gone With The Wind, Wizard Of Oz, Casablanca etc.). What are you asking for? That Warners start delivering catalog product outside the Archives?

Yes, as WB dumps everything on them just a bout.

 

[Thomas T]

Yes, as WB dumps everything on them just a bout.

Well, good luck with that. With physical media dwindling, the Warners empire has bigger fish to fry and I'm grateful for their in house "boutique" label that caters to we die hard physical media film buffs.

 

[Mark-P]

“Yes, as WB dumps (bestows, entrusts, lavishes) everything on them just a bout.”

 

[darkrock17]

“Yes, as WB dumps (bestows, entrusts, lavishes) everything on them just a bout.”

No it's dumps. If it isn't a cash cow title or new film release WB has zero interest.

 

[Thomas T]

No it's dumps. If it isn't a cash cow title or new film release WB has zero interest.

And who is doing a better job than Warners in physical media? Paramount? Disney? Sony? Universal? Fox? (oh, scratch that).

Yes, cash cow titles like Pride And Prejudice (because there's a huge market for B&W Greer Garson period movies in 2020), Dark Of The Sun (because there's a huge market for Rod Taylor action movies), Brewster McCloud (because Robert Altman is such a household name that even his flops are in demand), Beyond A Reasonable Doubt (because it was such a huge critical and financial box office smash), etc. It's amusing how so many whine that the Archives aren't releasing their beloved classics and instead are releasing obscure genre films that flopped at the box office and here you're complaining that they're only releasing cash cow titles. Ah, Warners. You can't win, you can't please everybody but I love you guys anyway.

 

[darkrock17]

Yes, cash cow titles like Pride And Prejudice (because there's a huge market for B&W Greer Garson period movies in 2020), Dark Of The Sun (because there's a huge market for Rod Taylor action movies), Brewster McCloud (because Robert Altman is such a household name that even his flops are in demand), Beyond A Reasonable Doubt (because it was such a huge critical and financial box office smash), etc. It's amusing how so many whine that the Archives aren't releasing their beloved classics and instead are releasing obscure genre films that flopped at the box office and here you're complaining that they're only releasing cash cow titles. Ah, Warners. You can't win, you can't please everybody but I love you guys anyway.

No, WB only releases cash cow titles, everything else is left for WA to either release or not.

 

[Thomas T]

No, WB only releases cash cow titles, everything else is left for WA to either release or not.

Yes, Warners should be more like Paramount who is doing an exemplary job of releasing catalog titles or Disney, who bought Fox so it could sit on their catalog. If only Paramount or Disney/Fox would set up a boutique label like the Archives to channel their product. Okay, my work here is done. Anything more would be going in circles.

 

[classicscaper]

So if Warner Bros is not doing a good enough job releasing their own catalog titles, who exactly is? The best of Sony/Columbia titles have been licensed to others (Twilight Time, Criterion, etc.) and I can’t even remember the last time Universal put out a solid classic blu-ray on their own. And then there’s Paramount’s latest effort, which has gotten mixed reviews on most titles. WB is the best of the studios at this point when it comes to home video, that seems beyond debate.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

So if Warner Bros is not doing a good enough job releasing their own catalog titles, who exactly is? The best of Sony/Columbia titles have been licensed to others (Twilight Time, Criterion, etc.) and I can’t even remember the last time Universal put out a solid classic blu-ray on their own. And then there’s Paramount’s latest effort, which has gotten mixed reviews on most titles. WB is the best of the studios at this point when it comes to home video, that seems beyond debate.

Out of any studio, Warner does the best job overall. The remaining MGM catalog would prosper in their hands, I think.

 

[ahollis]

So the new Warner Bros. re-releases (or reprints) of the MGM titles on Blu-ray and DVD are in stock on Amazon now, but there's still no official announcement on the deal yet. I wonder if they might just be repackaged re-releases of the titles, and the back of each cover now has a white notice box in the corner saying the text "Distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment" with the company's address underneath it and the WB Shield next to it, just like what some of the WB reprints of the Paramount titles back in 2013-2015 used to have, but that's a good start.

It should be just like the Paramount deal for the catalog titles they don’t lease to others. Except Warner’s will handle their current release films and their golden titles. There is really nothing to be excited about this.

 

[Filmfanatic10]

It should be just like the Paramount deal for the catalog titles they don’t lease to others. Except Warner’s will handle their current release films and their golden titles. There is really nothing to be excited about this.

Actually, this might be a test for the WB/MGM deal until an official announcement is made if the re-released titles sell very well and MGM and Warner begin releasing new DVD/Blu-ray/etc. versions of these and other titles.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Related thought:

Annapurna Pictures also has a distribution deal with Fox signed prior to the Disney merger. This has resulted in Fox/Disney issuing discs for titles like Sorry to Bother You, The Sisters Brothers, If Beale Street Could Talk, Missing Link and Booksmart, among others. Fox issued the first three I mentioned on their own; Missing Link and Booksmart came out after the merger was complete, although I don't know how much work Disney's people had on those discs.. Actually, Beale Street came out a few days after the merger closed, but Fox had already completed work on the disc.

I assume Annapurna will probably seek other distribution as well once the deal expires, because they didn't originally intend to get into bed with Disney and I doubt Disney particularly cares about keeping them around. But Annapurna is already having financial difficulties of their own, so whether they will stick around as a studio is unclear.

So...MGM is up now, but when does Annapurna's deal expire?

(I thought this was better to post here, simply because we are on the topic of a distribution deal with Fox/Disney expiring, rather than giving this related issue its own thread, even though it's not strictly about MGM.). MGM and Annapurna are now releasing films through a joint distribution venture in the US, so it's possible that Annapurna will just go to Warner as well for disc distribution. That would make sense since they already share that link with MGM.

 

[Filmfanatic10]

Related thought:

Annapurna Pictures also has a distribution deal with Fox signed prior to the Disney merger. This has resulted in Fox/Disney issuing discs for titles like Sorry to Bother You, The Sisters Brothers, If Beale Street Could Talk, Missing Link and Booksmart, among others. Fox issued the first three I mentioned on their own; Missing Link and Booksmart came out after the merger was complete, although I don't know how much work Disney's people had on those discs.. Actually, Beale Street came out a few days after the merger closed, but Fox had already completed work on the disc.

I assume Annapurna will probably seek other distribution as well once the deal expires, because they didn't originally intend to get into bed with Disney and I doubt Disney particularly cares about keeping them around. But Annapurna is already having financial difficulties of their own, so whether they will stick around as a studio is unclear.

So...MGM is up now, but when does Annapurna's deal expire?

(I thought this was better to post here, simply because we are on the topic of a distribution deal with Fox/Disney expiring, rather than giving this related issue its own thread, even though it's not strictly about MGM.)

I don't know if that deal expires since it was announced as a multi-year pact, but if Annapurna and Disney were to end the deal, I guess either Sony or Universal might be perfect to distribute Annapurna releases on home media.

 

[Camper]

A quick question if you don't mind... .

.... does this mean that MGM titles might be released in 4k UHD?

 

[Robert Crawford]

A quick question if you don't mind... .

.... does this mean that MGM titles might be released in 4k UHD?

We don't know yet as details to this new deal still hasn't been released.

 

[Worth]

A quick question if you don't mind... .

.... does this mean that MGM titles might be released in 4k UHD?

MGM has been releasing films in 4K, including the Craig Bond films, Creed and Creed II, the Tomb Raider and Death Wish remakes, and Hannibal via Kino.

 

[Camper]

My mistake I should have indicated that I was referring to older catalog titles. Things like West Side Story and so on

 

[Worth]

My mistake I should have indicated that I was referring to older catalog titles. Things like West Side Story and so on

If they don't release the older Bond films, there's little hope for anything else.