New Warner 2-discs on the way ? (1 Viewer)

[Kevin M]

Actually I was thinking of Universal & Columbia titles but, out of curiosity, is there supposed to be some sort of precedent for WB German SE titles being a guarantee for forth coming WB R1 SE releases? As far as DVD's & their content go the two regions pretty much operate independently from each other don't they?

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Genreally speaking, if a studio decides to put money into remastering a film transfer and commissions documentary extras and commentary recordings, it would only make sense for them to take advatage of such by distributing it throughout. If WB decides that it would be a prosperous investment, than why wouldn't R1 see it as well? The elements are readily available and the money has already been spent. It's only logical that it would eventually hit our market, the only exception being when distribution rights are held by seperate studios overseas.

 

[Kevin M]

There are a few titles that haven't such as Flash Gordon (French SE) Starman - Prince of Darkness - They Live (all german and with original content not found in R1).

I'll ask again, is there some sort of precedent for WB German SE titles being a guarantee or mirror for forth coming WB R1 SE releases? Do these two different regions not operate independently from each other as far as DVD content (transfers, commentary, audio tracks etc. etc.) goes?

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

There's obviously no set precedent, some specific content might differ from a release either due to contracting rights over a particular extra or as a result of subsequent issuing dates, i.e. an international release recieves a title recently issued in North America prior and room for an extra documentary/feature is found. Otherwise, I've basically explained why logistically it would make sense to see the content mirrored from other regional releases.

 

[Jim Barg]

If those dates are close to the US releases, then I'm going to be very poor in May and June...



Supposedly, it's his next project after Superman - in recent interviews he mentioned being pretty heavily into pre-production on it.

As for the SE, I know the laserdisc SE had a couple vintage featurettes and trailers not on the DVD. I hope there's more than just that on the set.

 

[Anthony Neilson]

I've no reason to doubt THE BITS, but I wouldn't be surprised if LOGAN'S RUN and MAD MAX 2 were actually single-disc S.E's. It just doesn't seem likely - and even less so for LR if Singer's still going to do the remake. Why would they put it out now ? Of course, it is only Germany - if it's truly an S.E, I do think it'll get to the U.S, but the studios have been known to produce "pseudo" SEs in R2, like MGM did with RAGING BULL over here ( which looked nice but didn't amount to much). The LR S.E could be the film with a soundtrack CD, or with minimal German language extras. It's possible.

MAD MAX 2 is more likely, because they were going to make MM 4 and then Gibson bowed out. I think that project's dead in the water but maybe they'd started in on an S.E.

I'm pretty sure the others are legit because we've already had separate confirmation they were coming. Most S.Es get to the U.S sooner or later - they've started to release them earlier here to dissuade importation in Europe, where they can charge us a lot more.

Believe me, for every SE that doesn't get to America, there's about 20 that never get here.

 

[MichaelGH]

East Of eden is one of my very most awaited titles. I own the current releases of rebel and logan's run but would definitely upgrade those if SE's come out for them.

Michael

 

[PaulP]

Rebel Without a Cause 2-disc SE for me! That will be really cool. Hopefully it's true.

 

[Bruce Morrison]

Regarding other planned/possible Warner SE's, they mentioned 'Bonnie And Clyde', 'Body Heat' and 'Dog Day Afternoon' in their last forum chat session as being in the works. And I agree that 'Cool Hand Luke' and 'Network' should both have high priority for the SE treatment. I also hope they will get around to 'All The President's Men' and 'Cabaret' before too long. The present 'Cabaret' isn't even anamorphically enhanced.

 

[Anthony Thorne]

All those Warner 2-DVD sets usually turn up down here in Australia as well. Having said that, I have my doubts that Warner would be gung ho into producing exclusive 2-DVD sets of US movies for the German market, but shrug and decide not to release them in the biggest English-speaking DVD market in the world. Relax, Kevin M., I'm sure you'll see all those 2-DVD Warner titles in the US before too long.

THE DEER HUNTER 2-DVD Special Edition has been a UK exclusive up to know largely as (from what I understand) Blue Underground were the folks who put together the supplements for that title, and those extras were done as a UK exclusive. I haven't heard anything about BU being involved with any of those above new Warner discs - BU have been busy instead putting together extensive new docos and commentaries for the complete Russ Meyer series of uncut DVD's due out in the UK within a couple of months.

That Peckinpah box is going to rock, I think.

 

[oscar_merkx]

The German R2 of She Wore a Yellow Ribbon features an hour long 1968 BBC interview with John Ford that I have not seen anywhere else.

Fantastic

 

[Kevin M]

You see my question is, does WB produce content for the entire world or are the different regions in charge of their own regional DVD's as with most other studios? I think my point is perfectly valid, just because Germany is producing 2 disc SE's of these films doesn't necessarily guarantee that they will come out here or does WB operate differently than the other studios?

Put it this way....why would they come out in Germany first, has that happened before?
That's the thing that doesn't sound right to me, if they were in the pipeline from the main studios here in R1 then why would German R2 get them first? Maybe that's what I don't understand.

 

[Anthony Neilson]

Admittedly, Kevin, that's a bit inexplicable but it's not without precedent. Anyway, as the first title announced is for April and the last three for June, who says they WILL come out in Germany before the U.S ? There's still time for them to be announced for R1. I should imagine that the BATMAN movies will be released to tie in with BATMAN BEGINS, and the US will get that before Germany, that's for certain.

There are no guarantees, of course, but the announcement of a 2-disc set (if that's accurate) IMPLIES that bonus material has been specially created for these discs, rather than just bought in. These specially made retrospectives cost money to make, and it's highly unlikely that they'd be made with no intention of release in the US, the world's most lucrative DVD marketplace.
On occasion, a studio will buy in a documentary made by a television channel (such as appeared on the German MEAN STREETS) but it's hard to imagine that such material could fill double-discs of all these films.
Thirdly, all these releases are from Warner Bros. not some smaller company that's managed to procure the rights. There is frequently variation in those extras from region to region, but I don't think I've ever heard of that working out badly for the US. Usually, you get the full slate - it's us Europeans who miss out.
Lastly, once again, many of these titles we've had some wind of already. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY's already been announced, even. And whilst all the major studios have bases in the major territories, I'd imagine that only marketing and release dates are within their jurisdiction, not the content of the DVDs themselves.

That's my case, and I'm resting it !

 

[Derek Estes]

Warners hasn't officially released any info on their release schedule for R1 after March. It is possible that a rumor spread in Europe and has not been announced here yet. Also, this was announced in THE RUMOR MILL, it wasn't an official announcement. But, I think that the titles sound about right, the Batman films will be released this year to coincide with the new film, and East of Eden (if the rights have finally been cleared up) and Rebel have been planned for 50th anniversary SEs, for a while now. And, Logan's Run has a large cult following, that would not make it unrealistic to give the SE treatment, though I would have thought they would have waited for '06 to release it on its 30th anniversary, possibly teamed up with the Forbidden Planet SE and other Sci-Fi films in a set.

 

[Kevin M]

Bear in mind that I want these SE's, I just find the circumstances a bit too odd for me to get my hopes too high up for now.


Now that I know isn't true, quite a few major studio DVD's released in non-R1 regions have separate extras produced in the respective countries themselves, as far as transfers go I imagine they request elements to do so themselves or have the transfer specially made stateside (PAL or NTSC to PAL) for said region.....I'm sure someone with better knowledge regarding this will chime in with the full dope.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

This happened last year, if I am not mistaken. 2-disc SEs from Warner were announced before the R1 editions, but lo and behold, the R1 editions came out first.

I obviously can't be 100% certain, but I'm pretty sure that the U.S. will see those 2-disc SEs at least 1 week before Europe does.

 

[Kevin M]

Well that's good to hear Gordon, March is awful close though for set's this size to just suddenly pop up out of nowhere......it would be nice!

 

[Sean Richardson]

Those Carpenter movies aren't limited to Germany, it's all of R2. But, seeing as that's not WB, and those aren't two-discs, that's not really the comprable precedent he was asking for. Carpenter has, apparently, a much stronger following in Europe, so they pay for his commentaries. [Incidentally, the 'Vampires' SE is, I believe, limited to France, so that could be added too.]

There definitely are movies that only get good releases in specific countires or regions, but I don't see anything about any of these movies which would make me suspect that were the case here.

One question - would you rather have 'The Road Warrior' or 'Mad Max 2'? I'm thinking of "Zombie 2" ... it just looks weird on the shelf that way, I'm too used to the other way.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Has anyone heard anything about an edition of "Oh Lucky Man" yet? I thought I saw it mentioned somewhere as a possiblity this year.

 

[Joe:C]

I've always seen it as The Road Warrior, so it would look weird as Mad Max 2.