Paramount Compared To Newline: Friday The 13th Series and Other Product (1 Viewer)

[Walt Riarson]

From DVDFile...

"Speaking of things that go bump in the night, how many Friday the 13th fans out there are tired of waiting for Paramount to release some gosh darn golly special editions of the horror classics? Well, 2003 may prove to be the year fans finally get what they've been waiting for... sort of. In addition to the upcoming Freddy Vs. Jason due in theaters this summer and a new book on the making of the entire series hitting bookstores this fall, Warner will release a new special edition of the one that started it all in 2003... but only overseas (Paramount retains the domestic home video distribution rights). The disc will feature the international cut of the film (already available via Warner in some foreign territories), plus the new documentary "Return to Crystal Lake," featuring all-new interviews with Cunningham, stars Adrienne King and Betsy Palmer, screenwriter Victor Miller, and more. Alas, a Paramount spokesperson told us there are still no plans for any special edition releases of any of the Friday flicks here in the States, despite the Warner effort. Stay tuned for more, and in the meantime, guess you Friday fans will have to check into those multi-region players until Paramount changes their minds..."

A brand new Jason movie comes out in the Summer, one that will be much bigger than Jason X. Paramount has 'no plans' for anything, not even to tie in a DVD re-release with FvsJ.

Call doctors what you want, but people in my profession at least know how to make money. Paramount is clueless.

And, I will be buying the R2 disc. Who needs Paramount?

 

[StevenJ]

It would be totally awesome if they could release SE of the 8 installments they own. But what are the chances of that happening?

 

[Thomas Hart]

Let me get this straight:
An American studio makes an American horror movie for (initially) American audiences, yet every other country gets a special edition of said movie in an unrated (director's cut?) version, but the Americans don't? What the...?!
You know, I can (almost) accept it when we in the states get a less than special edition DVD of foreign films than other countries (i.e. "Brotherhood of the Wolf" or "Amelie"), but when American movies like "Predator" and "Starman" get great DVD version overseas and not/never here, well to that!
I can imagine this will be a major hot topic for the chat with Paramount later this month.

 

[JonZ]

Im not a fan of the Friday The 13th franchise, so I havent seen the DVDs your talking about. However, I've been saying this for years
Newline puts out the best DVDs.
Paramount is on the bottom of my list and first and formost must drop their prices on barebones DVDs.

 

[Chuck L]

Post by Thomas:
Let me get this straight:

An American studio makes an American horror movie for (initially) American audiences, yet every other country gets a special edition of said movie in an unrated (director's cut?) version, but the Americans don't? What the...?!

You know, I can (almost) accept it when we in the states get a less than special edition DVD of foreign films than other countries (i.e. "Brotherhood of the Wolf" or "Amelie"), but when American movies like "Predator" and "Starman" get great DVD version overseas and not/never here, well to that!

I can imagine this will be a major hot topic for the chat with Paramount later this month.
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Can't believe that I am actually sticking up for Paramount on this topic...well kinda I am...

The movie was produced independantly and then was picked up by Paramount for it's release, so it wasn't MADE by them, just released by them. In the same light though...it made them a shit load of money not only in the theater, even when the box office was less then stellar toward the end of their Paramount run, but video as well.

That is what is sickening about all this. It is very easy for them for them to make money off this venture...BUT...unless they are keeping silent on possible special editions statement, it amazes me that they want to lose money to Warner.

If the posters that state that we don't know for sure that people would buy the Special Editions stateside...just refer that to the core audiance of these films. Many of the Friday fans have held off buying the current editions of the films because they don't want to be double dipped on.

Personally, though I am biased because of my love for the films, I bought all eight current bare-bone editions simply out of support. I know many others that have as well.

As far as I can, without the Friday series, Paramount will be very few and far as far as horror titles for the future. To not revisit the series as the fans have requested is very negative, not only towards us, but toward their future revenue as well.

As far as what Blythe will say in the chat in regards to the series, I predict that it will be the standard response of "at this time, we have no plans and don't know what will happen with the series." It is a fairly safe response and a blanket response that they have made over and over.

 

[Lafe F]

We still haven't been given an answer why Paramount changed the covers of 5-8 or omitted the trailers on the last two.

 

[James Reader]

The ommision of the trailers on the last two has been answered by implication from this general response to missing trailers:

Martin Blythe -
I think this issue has been answered many times on this forum. If trailers aren't on a DVD then it's because they weren't cleared for such use. It does happen from time to time, usually because the music wasn't cleared.

 

[Robert Ringwald]

I can't think of what songs might be playing on those trailers... And I think it's just laziness. Trailers were missing on my bloody valentine and april fool's day, and I don't recall those two having music on the trailers either... Not to mention they just don't seem like the type of movies.

 

[Will K]

I have to agree with Robert. I might have bought the whole clearance reasoning two years ago, but Paramount left off trailers for the majority of its catalog releases in 2002. I just think they didn't want to bother. But let's not forget we still get scene selection and interactive menus as special features!

 

[James Reader]

I doubt that there is a conspiracy against the Friday films at Paramount. They may be guilty of undervaluing their properties, but many other studios are guilty of this (Warners with their slow Batman and repetitive Scooby Doo cartoon releases for example). It's a common fault and will remain so for a long time while Studio's rely on their ill-advised focus groups and limited questionnaires.
But I doubt that Paramount actually decided to omit the trailers from their last two releases. I'm sure that there was a reason (even if it was Paramount being unnecessarily cheap). And the cover art changed. Sad I'll agree, but the cover art changes on 80% of DVD releases. You have to give marketing something to do after all
Paramount are in the process of releasing their Friday films in Europe now. And all are exactly the same as their R1 copies.
I wouldn't rule out re-releases in the future (say a couple of years or so) - especially if the New Line titles did sell considerably more than their own releases. After all, money talks.

 

[Walt Riarson]

The only thing I can think of that would've prevented a trailer being used was the one for Part 8. It used Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York", if I remember correctly. However, Part 7 should've had a trailer because I remember no famous music being associated with it. I'm hoping Paramount held off on getting the music rights secured so that they could include the trailers on future Special Editions of the films, but who knows.

 

[Eric Emma]

Look Paramount, sucks I mean they didn't even give Top Gun anything, it more bare-bones then some of the Friday DVDs, a movie that made them over a 100 million dollers, still gets a BareBones... Paramount obviously doesn't know how to make money, cuz there so incredibly stupid... THey can't argue that Top Gun isn't worth getting a SE... The fact of the matter is companies like New Line will always make more money because there kind to the fans, while greedy companies like Paramount won't make as much but still get some money(It doesn't pay to be greedy)...

 

[Eugene Esterly]

I don't think that Paramount sucks. What really sucks is that the prices for Paramounts DVD's which are pretty much bare bones are high. What is great about Paramount is that Paramount releases movies in their OAR.

Also it sucks that Paramount releases very few special editions. Pretty much, only the Star Trek movies get special editions.

 

[Randy A Salas]

The only thing I can think of that would've prevented a trailer being used was the one for Part 8. It used Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York", if I remember correctly. However, Part 7 should've had a trailer because I remember no famous music being associated with it.

You and another poster are assuming that only songs pose a problem on trailers. Actually, most trailers use orchestral music, often music lifted from another film. And, whether people recognize the music or not, it's still copyrighted; being famous or not doesn't matter. While that orchestral or instrumental music might be cleared for use in theaters and on TV, it might not be cleared for future use on video--especially on a format like DVD, which might not have been addressed in original agreements since it didn't exist at the time.

This might or might not be the case with Paramount and Friday the 13th, but I just wanted to clear up the misconception that the music rights issue for trailers might pertain solely to famous songs.

 

[Scott D S]

I think the one problem people seem to have is that this inflicts many Paramount titles, when compared to other studios. If Anchor Bay can get the trailer to some obscure German horror film from 50 years ago, why can't Paramount obtain the trailer for some of their day and date titles?

I myself understand it. It's just hard to imagine sometimes, that's all.

 

[CameronS]

If Anchor Bay can get the trailer to some obscure German horror film from 50 years ago, why can't Paramount obtain the trailer for some of their day and date titles?

That may be the problem. I think it's easier to get the rights for the obscure German film from 50 years ago.

 

[Eric Emma]

That my main beef, I mean MGM releases quality DVDS, that have a couple of features or even Bill and Ted which is bare-bones is only 9 bux... Why can't Paramount do the same, sell there dvds for 9 bux... I mean that what there worth...

 

[Richard Smith]

That my main beef, I mean MGM releases quality DVDS, that have a couple of features or even Bill and Ted which is bare-bones is only 9 bux...

Aside from price, MGM are very inconsistent in their treatment of catalogue titles regarding aspect ratios and picture quality. At least Paramount always provides us with OAR, across all releases, and they're nearly always damn good looking. To me thats worth the extra money.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

If only MGM could treat all catalogue releases like UHF.

 

[Eric Emma]

Even so how can you justify 20-30 bux for a bare-bones disc?