New Cover Art: DRAGONSLAYER! (1 Viewer)

[Dan Rudolph]

I agree. This is a great cover. Take a look at the crap cover that's being slapped on The Italian Job and marvel at the difference.

 

[Rob Gillespie]

European cover art looks like the cover of a fantasy book or old D&D module

Well, to be fair we are talking early-eighties poster art here. A lot of films had similarly-toned artwork. I like the US one too, and that DVD cover does look excellent. Thing is, when I see that picture, I kind-of always think that the two characters are thinking "Mmm... wonder why my arse is burning?!"

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

Sweet! Now if only the rumor about "The Keep" being released this October is true, I'll be a happy (if broke) man.

 

[Dan Hitchman]

Great cover. But who cares? What I really am interested in is whether Paramount went the extra mile and had this film completely restored, or did they go the cheap route yet again.

It would have been a great opportunity to also go back and digitally clean up the very, very nasty ILM optical composite effects that this film had (color correction too). That's the only special effects change I would do as everything else is very well done as is.

Superman got this kind of attention (kudos to WB), why not a huge fantasy classic like DragonSlayer due to the popularity of The Lord of the Rings?

Dan

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Paramount held the title back for a long time because work needed to be done

I don't expect a Superman level restoration, but I think they'll do us proud

 

[chrisMCG]

Man oh man - and the award for cover of the year goes to... holy smokes, that's a nice piece of bacon.

 

[Martin Blythe]

The Keep is moving out of this year.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

I have never seen this. Worth a blind-buy? I like hokey 'out-there' movies and the like!

Cheers.


Gordy

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

Martin,

I hope "The Keep" is still on the horizon ! Definitely looking forward to "Dragonslayer" (and "The Italian Job"). Keep up the good work.

 

[Gary->dee]

Great cover. But who cares?

Ooh ooh can I answer that? Obviously a lot of people care as you can see from the responses in this thread. :p) But more than that it goes towards giving Paramount ample credit for bringing out the old poster artwork to grace the cover of the DVD. In this day and age I don't think that's any small thing, especially for a movie that came out in 1981. I'm a Photoshop whore as much as anyone else(it flows through the veins) and I would have killed(almost) to have given the opportunity to create a new cover for the DVD and Paramount and I'm sure other graphic designers would have also jumped at the chance. But as such I'm perfectly content and give studios like Paramount respect for basically staying true to the film in maintaining the original artwork.

True it's just packaging, but I think it's a matter of design ethics. When something like that wonderful poster has been created, it betrays the purpose, its very existence to not expose it and let it stand to symbolize the movie it was initially made for. It's like a seemless line of thought, uninterrupted, that continues to its logical conclusion.

Ok perhaps that was a bit lofty but it was to get the point across that yes, a lot of people care and to pose a question such as "who cares?" is akin to saying "so what?" and that basically insults everyone that went to the trouble of voicing their appreciation of the cover.

I'd also like to see certain fixes in terms of the FX but I'm just glad to finally watch this movie in widescreen.

//gets off high horse

 

[Jeff_HR]

I'm really happy that Paramount is sticking with the original artwork. I'm so sick of noggin covers. I can hardly wait. It will be nice to retire my LD. And yes it is really worth a blind buy folks!

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Excellent post, Gary. Couldn't agree with your points more vehemently.

I know it's just an aesthetic thing, but I LOVE when studios opt to use original poster art for their DVD covers.

No, it's not as important as an OAR transfer and an impressive sound presentation...but it does have some importance to me.

 

[Gary->dee]

Thanks, Scott. Hey I'm the guy that stores DVDs in albums and stores the cases in a closet. But after purchasing it I let it sit on top of the large black table in front of my TV as sort of my 'featured purchase' of the moment, an offering to the DVD gods if you will. No doubt that cover will look sweet sitting there no matter how long I keep it on the table. And then eventually I'll store the disc in the album and stash the case safely away.

But regardless of what I do with the case, whether I frame it or throw it away, it's the principle that's involved here. Going that extra distance that Paramount did.

That's about all I'll say about the matter or else they'll have to pay me for PR.

 

[Dan Hitchman]

Compared to the film's proper presentation (that includes quality) the cover is only a small part. Yes, I am glad Paramount decided not to go Photoshop-happy.

My point was this: what good is the original artwork if the audio and visual part turns out to be not up to snuff?

It all depends on what value the brass at Paramount put on something like DragonSlayer. They didn't seem to have much faith in Grease, and look how that DVD turned out.

I also bring up Superman as Warner Brothers went the extra mile and was able to fix the effects (without going the Lucas route) that had been bugging the filmmakers for some time.

I hope Paramount is listening...

Dan

 

[Kevin M]

I also bring up Superman as Warner Brothers went the extra mile and was able to fix the effects (without going the Lucas route) that had been bugging the filmmakers for some time.

I hope Paramount is listening...

I hope not, the film is what it is and for me that is more than enough, the blood sweat & tears that the effects men & women laboriously poured into this film well before the point & click world of CGI is there for all the world to see and appreciate & I personally wouldn't change a single frame.
Plus with DVD's better black levels (stop me if you've heard me say this before) many of the more noticeable matte lines are transparent.


What major effects in Superman were "fixed" BTW?
As far as I know, apart from some color correction for the blue in his suit & a little print clean up, nothing else optically was really changed. In fact according to Donner no major CGI wire removal was done to the film because the original people who painstakingly hand painted them out back in 1978 did such a good job.

Also (and I've said this before too) as much as I love Dragonslayer it isn't the cultural phenomenon & flat out blockbuster that Superman was/is, in fact it was a total flop upon release so I don't see how it warrants the kind of monetary expense that a major CGI effects clean up would cost. Even for a cult favorite that is asking a lot.
All of this is pretty moot, the transfer is more than likely "in the can" so what will be will be.
I am optimistic that, this being a Paramount title, the transfer will be exemplary......or indeed "paramount".

 

[Dan Hitchman]

They made a big deal of the computer touch ups Warner Brothers did by digitally recompositing the optical shots so you wouldn't get that "force field" around objects. They also color corrected the opticals because they turned Superman's blue costume almost green. They also mentioned that visible wires were deleted as well.

If you do a side by side comparison of the laser disc and the new DVD. The DVD looks hugely better in most aspects when comparing optical composite effects shots and color timing.

The negatives were also restored.

Dan

 

[Kevin M]

They made a big deal of the computer touch ups Warner Brothers did by digitally recompositing the optical shots so you wouldn't get that "force field" around objects.

Really? Can you give me a link that says all of this because as I remember Donner was rather proud that the 1978 FX didn't need that much tinkering.
Is there an on-line diary that I can look at or perhaps an interview, I have searched & searched but the only things I have come up with in interviews with Donner and others is the color correction done to the suit (which I already knew about & mentioned in my other post) however I have not heard a thing about any digital re-compositing of any of the FX for this film.

 

[Tino]

I would also like to know who "they" were. I too heard nothing other than what Kevin has stated above.

 

[Anthony Neilson]

I know I shouldn't say this, but that case looks kind-of phoney to me . . . I'm not doubting the post-er, but is the source reliable ?

 

[Rhett_Y]

It is about time.....I love this movie, remember seeing it in the movie theater way back when.... Can't wait.

R~