Monster Squad - who owns it, and could they please release it Special Edition Style!! (1 Viewer)

[Scott Burke]

I love this movie and would love to have it in Anamorphic widescreen DD&DTS.

Does anybody know who owns this?

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Looks like an HBO production released by TriStar (now part of Sony's conglomerate) in the theaters. Probably HBO retains the homevideo rights, but there's no gurarantee that the licencee for the DVD rights will be the same as for the videotape version.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Vestron put out the VHS way back when, so I'd guess Artisan owns this now. This was one of the first movies that made me notice pan and scan, since the opening credits were letterboxed but it zoomed in to pan and scan when they were done, then when the end credits started it zoomed back out to letterbox. I couldn't enjoy the movie knowing how much picture I was missing!

 

[Nate Anderson]

I actually taped this off cable not too long ago, but I would gladly replace it with a widescreen DVD if it should come out!

 

[Mark Edward Heuck]

Believe it or not, but the chain of ownership on this title goes to Paramount. I'll explain: THE MONSTER SQUAD was one of three films made by Taft Broadcasting in the '80's (The other two were LIGHT OF DAY and THE RUNNING MAN). They were released to theatres by TriStar, but they did not own other rights. At that time, Vestron made a deal for the video rights; those have expired.

Taft, who at one time owned Hanna-Barbera and was the parent company of the infamous Sunn Classics Pictures, was also a unit of Worldvision. Worldvision, of course, was bought along with Republic by Blockbuster. And so on, and so on.

The current tapes and DVD's of THE RUNNING MAN, while sporting Artisan logos (which would lead one to think it's in sync with the old Vestron release), are actually part of the current licensing deal Republic has with Artisan.

So, I must apologize in advance to our beleagured friend Mr. Blythe, but it looks like this football is in your yard. And like all the other Republic titles, it'll take a while to iron the situation out.

 

[Walt Riarson]

WOW. Talk about a major plot twist...

 

[Donald W]

Didn't Anchor Bay try to get the rights to this film???

I know at last they got the rights to Near Dark!

 

[Scott Burke]

If Anchor Bay got this title, I would be extremely happy. They have always done a really good job on those horror flicks that I like.

 

[Dave Anderson]

Great flick. I loved this movie as a kid. I bought the P&S domestic LD, which was released back in the 80s. After one viewing my own son now loves it too. It's one of the few horror movies I own that he's actually allowed to watch.
What made watching the P&S LD particularly painful was that the movie was shot in 2.35:1. I'm lucky - I just snagged a copy of the rare Japanese LD of Monster Squad, which is the only widescreen home video version available. Still, add me to the "wants it on DVD" list.