Warner Bros...If You Own THE CHANGELING (1979) Through HBO, Why Don't We Have It? (1 Viewer)

[WadeM]

Whoever owns it needs to release it. The DVD sucks, to be frank. The film is one of the best of its kind, yet no quality release.

 

[brap]

It has been up in full on YouTube for a year. That's a pretty good sign that no company cares about it. No one bothers to send a takedown notice.

 

[Dick]

It has been up in full on YouTube for a year. That's a pretty good sign that no company cares about it. No one bothers to send a takedown notice.

The company may not care about it, but we do. Ten years ago, Paramount's home video division didn't even seem to know they had the original elements for the public domain status ONE EYED JACKS until that information from this forum and others was practically forced on them. Now, salvaged from PD hell, we are about to get what I imagine will be a stellar release from Criterion.

As far as a "takedown" from YouTube, there are apparently myriad companies involved in the current ownership of THE CHANGELING, and no one of them probably pays much attention to this title. We need to 1. Find out who actually, currently owns the video rights (which is turning out to be a helluva lot more complicated than I'd thought) and 2. Write to them directly to urge a Blu-ray release. We need to let them know that they are sitting on a very popular cult film, which is languishing in video limbo. This is way-y too good a ghost story (a genre that traditionally does very well on video, especially if well done, as this one is) to be collecting dust somewhere.

 

[ahollis]

The company may not care about it, but we do. Ten years ago, Paramount's home video division didn't even seem to know they owned ONE EYED JACKS until that information from this forum and others was practically forced on them. Now, salvaged from public domain hell, we are about to get what I imagine will be a steller release from Criterion.

As far as a "takedown" from YouTube, there are apparently myriad companies involved in the current ownership of THE CHANGELING, and no one of them probably pays much attention to this title. We need to 1. Find out who actually, currently owns the video rights (which is turning out to be a helluva lot more complicated than I'd thought) and 2. Write to them directly to urge a Blu-ray release. We need to let them know that they are sitting on a very popular cult film, which is languishing in video limbo. This is way-y too good a ghost story (a genre that traditionally does very well on video, especially if well done, as this one is) to be collecting dust somewhere.

Paramount didn't own "One Eyed Jacks", Universal did through an asset transaction with Marlon Brando. Universal had the foresight to make sure it was saved from PD hell.

"The Changeling" rights has more than likely returned to one of the producers and will sit, for no one wants to do a deal for a one of title let alone pay for the work.

 

[Dick]

Paramount didn't own "One Eyed Jacks", Universal did through an asset transaction with Marlon Brando. Universal had the foresight to make sure it was saved from PD hell.

Yes, I was aware that Universal had this now. I was referring to a message over a decade ago from the then home video rep for Paramount (when they did own the film) Peter Staddon. who was surprised to hear that this title was PD. My message to him and his reply are somewhere in my backlog of posts, but I ain't gonna try findin' them!

 

[Dick]

Paramount didn't own "One Eyed Jacks", Universal did through an asset transaction with Marlon Brando.

What, at this point, would be the best way to find out who actually owns the video rights for THE CHANGELING? Absolutely no one on any forum seems to have the slightest idea. Calling Mr. Holmes...

 

[BRAD1963]

It is HBO's call on what is released. Warner acts only as a distributor.

 

[Dick]

It is HBO's call on what is released. Warner acts only as a distributor.

Just wrote to HBO.

 

[ahollis]

I don't think they control the rights to film anymore. I think I reverted back to the Canadian producers.

 

[Konstantinos]

It seems it's coming from Severin!
http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=297909

It's funny, just yesterday I said in a Halloween thread here that I'm looking forward to this film, and then a few hours later it got "announced".
Is that Severin label good?
I'm not familiar with their Blurays.

 

[TheSteig]

Severins titles generally speaking are good as I have a few of their horror titles. It might be that HBO lost the rights to The Changeling and Severin made a deal with the producer or person(s) that the rights reverted back to.
It's apparent Warner's rights to certain titles do expire such as HBO and Morgan Creek, but titles produced by them or New Line Cinema they will have for perpetuity

 

[Lord Dalek]

The rights to this film went from ITC (who distributed it) to Carolco (who made it) to HBO (which had nothing to do with it) to Canal (which owns Carolco's catalog) Not surprised to see hands have changed again.

 

[Richard V]

It seems it's coming from Severin!
http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=297909

It's funny, just yesterday I said in a Halloween thread here that I'm looking forward to this film, and then a few hours later it got "announced".
Is that Severin label good?
I'm not familiar with their Blurays.

They put out Zulu Dawn on Bluray, and I thought they did an outstanding job.

 

[bob kaplan]

Great movie, I hope this is not a false alarm. The DVD is pretty bad.

 

[Edwin-S]

I keep thinking this was a box office flop when it was released.

 

[ahollis]

I scared the hell out of me.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

From Severin's Website: https://severin-films.com/shop/the-changeling-bundle/

It's a 4K scan, so fingers crossed that it looks as good as that process can possibly make it.

 

[questrider]

Here's the The Changeling Official Severin Films Trailer so I'm going to assume this presents a good idea of what the transfer looks like.



It looks a lot better than the horrible transfer I've had on DVD for years, so it's welcome. It looks good to me for a low budget gothic horror film from 1980.

I'm curious though as to what the soundtrack CD included with the limited version entails.

https://severin-films.com/shop/the-changeling-le-bluray/

Because I already have the 2-CD deluxe edition of the soundtrack from ten years ago or so.

https://www.discogs.com/Rick-Wilkin...nal-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack/release/2479181

Can't wait to save this one until October.

 

[Dick]

I'm going with the UK release. I already have the CD and I don't need the other stuff...just want the movie. Too expensive, anyway.

 

[Thomas T]

I'm going with the UK release. I already have the CD and I don't need the other stuff...just want the movie. Too expensive, anyway.

Ditto! Although I will wait on reviews for both blu ray editions before buying. But all things being equal, I'd opt for the UK release too.