Warner's U.K. releases...a foreshadowing of R1 items? (1 Viewer)

[David Lambert]

I'm not here to discuss R2 releases, per se. But I found a post at the discussion forum for DVDFile. The subject is "I have the (UK) Warner schedule for next year, and it looks mighty impressive...".
The poster felt that many of the items on that list would be a foreshadowing of R1 releases. I must agree to the possibility. While there are many things on that list which are already out in the USA (Firefox jumps out at you quickly), there are a boatload of, um, interesting titles on that list.
Here is a subset of what I consider to be the most fascinating mentions on that list (and skipping everything already hinted at in other HTF posts, like High Society):
I'm sure many of us can find a few things on that list to drool over!
• I would assume that listings like "Color Purple" and "Christmas Story" would be SE revisits. I would hope so, anyway!
• Looney Tunes would rock my world.
• Did someone mention a 2-disc version of The Right Stuff? Oh my God, that's what I've been waiting for!!!
Keep in mind that the original list has nothing backing it up as being factual. But what if it's true? If they can release these in R2, they can release these in R1. Right? Oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please...

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Hmm, the only things interesting to me there are Soylent Green, Omega Man and The Hunger, though who knows if domestic rights are the same for all of these.

 

[PatrickL]

Thanks for pointing this out! I looked at the full list and was also pleased to see This Boy's Life and three Scorsese titles - After Hours, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, and Who's That Knocking At My Door.

 

[Rob T]

Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves Special Edition (2 disc)
Babylon 5 Series 2
Babylon 5 series 3
Batman : Mystery Of The Batwoman

Next year is gonna be great!

 

[Gui A]

Next year is going to be expensive!

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I see Point Blank is in that list, if so, I hope it's the Boorman version.

 

[Sean Moon]

LOONEY TUNES!!!! In the immortal words of Daffy Duck:


WHOO! WHOO! WHOO-HOO! WHOO-HOO! HOO! WHOO!

Seperating the sets according to character is a great idea I think. There might be some overlapping over the sets, but I frankly do not care. I dont want to buy a speedy gonzales set just to get one daffy cartoon if you know what I mean.

Damn...just drooling thinking about Looney Tunes sets. The Bugs and Daffy ones are the things dreams could be made of. Some of the greatest and funniest shorts ever created.

"Little does he know I am wearing my disintegration-proof vest. You may fire when ready good sir!" (fires gun, Daffy is disintegrated with only the vest remaining. Porky "reintegrates"him. Then daffy gets his disintegrating pistol) "HA! Little did you know I brought my disintegrating pistol! And brother when it disintegrates, it disintegrates!" (Pulls trigger and the gun disintegrates) "Well...whadda ya know. It...disintegrated."

 

[Sean Moon]

Wait...isnt Deer Hunter a Universal title? Why is it on Warners list? Or am I missing something here?

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

The most interesting thing in that list to me is Babylon 5 S2 being listed for May, and S3 being listed for September. The preliminary U.S. schedule was S2 in April (probably late in the month) and S3 in November. Two releases a year, roughly six months apart, like The X-Files. But there's only four months between May and September. Pity the list doesn't go out to December. I have a feeling we might see S4 listed then. Because Warner Home Video didn't start work on S2 until they saw the initial sales figures for S1, there is probably no way they could release it any sooner than late April/early May on either side of the Atlantic. But if the sales of S1 have given them enough confidence to start work on S3 before S2 is even released, we could easily see an accelerate release and end up with the full series six months earlier than we expected - spring 2004 instead of winter.
I'm liking this a lot.
Regards,
Joe

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Wait...isnt Deer Hunter a Universal title? Why is it on Warners list? Or am I missing something here?

It's only a Universal title in North America. The international rights are split among several companies. Warner owns the UK and Australia rights.

Jeff

 

[Sean Moon]

Thanks Jeff

 

[David Lambert]

Sean, Jeff gave you the right answer. In putting that list up, I tried to omit items that I knew Warner did not hold the R1 rights to. However, in my rush I missed that Deer Hunter should be omitted. Solyent Green probably should be omitted, too...isn't that Fox in R1? There might be others in the same situation; I'm not sure at this hour of the morning. Yawn.

 

[Travis Olson]

The Right Stuff Special Edition would be real nice. As to why they would give to R2 first is beyond me, since it is about the American space program. Maybe it's more popular over there, who knows?

 

[Douglas R]

In putting that list up, I tried to omit items that I knew Warner did not hold the R1 rights to. However, in my rush I missed that Deer Hunter should be omitted. Solyent Green probably should be omitted, too...isn't that Fox in R1?

Soylent Green was made by the former MGM, part of the Turner library, so that is now a Warner title but Name of the Rose is not a Warner title in R1. Adam's Rib and A Christmas Story have already been issued on R1. Good to see an Errol Flynn title Objective Burma not released anywhere yet, as well as two other WW2 films Battle Cry and Operation Pacific and also Red Badge of Courage. How the West Was Won is listed and as this has already been issued in R1 and R2 this looks likely to be the new remastered version.

 

[PhilipG]

What a thoroughly depressing list...for my wallet! There's more on that list that I want than I don't want. I'm going to be so poor at the end of 2k3!

 

[Mark_vdH]

The Right Stuff Special Edition would be real nice. As to why they would give to R2 first is beyond me, since it is about the American space program. Maybe it's more popular over there, who knows?

Maybe we like it because it's just a great movie.
The current R2 release is already superior to the R1 release BTW, given the fact that the R1 version is a flipper.
Quite a few 'must buys', but I do not understand why Warner hasn't released Fearless in Europe or Australia (Peter Weir's homeland) yet.

 

[James Alexis]

I see The Haunting is on that list - for late September next year.

Presumably this is the Robert Wise classic?

 

[DonaldB]

Some other notable releases not yet mentioned:
February
Jean-Luc Godard Double Feature: Alphaville & Une Femme Est Une Femme (Godard, France) Warner [R2-UK]
Jean Renoir Double Feature: La Bete Humaine & Le Crime de Monsieur Lange (Renoir, France) Warner/Canal Plus [R2-UK]
Luis Bunuel Double Feature: Diary Of A Chambermaid & The Milky Way (Bunuel, France) Warner [R2-UK]
May
Belle de Jour (Luis Bunuel, France) Warner/Canal Plus [R2-UK]
Un Homme Et Une Femme (Claude Lelouch, France) Warner [R2-UK]
Ran (Akira Kurosawa, Japan) Warner/Canal Plus [R2-UK]
It'll be interesting to see if Belle de Jour and Ran will be improvements over their R1 counterparts from Miramax and Wellspring, respectively. The Milky Way has long been one of my favorites from Bunuel and I'm especially grateful to see that's on the way.

 

[Craig S]

As to why they would give to R2 first is beyond me, since it is about the American space program.

That list goes way out in the future. They have The Right Stuff in July. An R1 version could be announced for the same (or even earlier) date in the next few months.
The list is great as a clue for things that may be coming from Warner next year, but I certainly would wait for official announcements before getting too excited about anything.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

I'll definately be buying the following...
Giant: 2 Disc SE
The Right Stuff: Special Edition
The Deer Hunter: Special Edition
The Omega Man
Soylent Green
Casablanca: Special Edition
Goodfellas: Special Edition
Ice Cold In Alex
The Dam Busters
Once Upon A Time In America: Special Edition (2 Disc)
Death In Venice
How The West Was Won
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
The Haunting
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
After Hours
Who's That Knocking At My Door
The Hill
The guy's post might be hoax, but I have a feeling it isn't. If I could have 100% definitive proof that the above DVDs are going to be released on region 1 or 2, then I'd be ecstatic. Time, as ever, will tell.
Gordy