Will AMERICAN HOT WAX ever be released to home video of any kind? (1 Viewer)

[Louis Letizia]

Just picked up a book in a continuing series from the National Society of Film critics and listed in here is 1978's seemingly lost AMERICAN HOT WAX. I know there have been numerous bootleg vhs and dvd's of this (all atrocious) , but this totally escaped home video all together . It's missed oppurtunities were in 2003 or this year (it's 25th or 30th anni) as well as any tie ins to the (fleeting) fame of Fran Drescher or continued one of Jay Leno-both of whom gave stellar supporting performances in supporting roles.( Do we whine about its not being released or take it on the chin?).
With Paramount finally opening its vaults and filtering its back catolog through its own division, Legend and Criterion-the time seems ripe. (i'd prefer a deluxe Criterion treatment over a barebones Legend one). Heck, I'd even settle for them licensing it to Rhino as they recently did with another lost film -the equally sought after LADIES AND GENTLEMAN THE FABULOUS STAINS. Or fr TCM to run it in it's continuing agreement with Paramount.
I do have great hope AMERICAN HOT WAX will soon see the light of day in the wake of the Legend collection of never released to video films and criterion unleashing ACE IN THE HOLE and the forthcoming WHITE DOG , 2 others that never made it to video.
As always my excitement of licensing deals that majors make with dvd companies quickly die down when the likes of Anchor Bay with Fox failed to produce the never on vhs curios FIRE SALE, ALEX AND THE GYPSY and the infamous ALL THIS AND WW2 and Universal never letting Image release W,C, FIELDS AND ME, MOMENT BY MOMENT nor countless others in their vault(never understood how GABLE AND LOMBARD got out and not its 1976 counterpart FIELDS) .
As Alan freed said "This is not goodbye-only Good Night"....lets hope.

 

[Mark Edward Heuck]

I think that some polite letters to Paramount, thanking them for allowing Rhino to do STAINS and nudging them to allow a similar sublicense for HOT WAX would be the most effective strategy toward making this happen. I don't think the film has enough artistic significance for, say, Criterion to take it on (though I do like it very much and find Floyd Mutrux an underrated director), and Rhino is in a better position to clear the voluminous music licenses involved. But at the end of the day, the decision is Paramount's, so some positive feedback to them encouraging them to continue sublicensing is in order.

 

[Bob Graham]

Saying that AHW was never released to video in any format is not accurate. In the early days of Home Video, Paramount licensed the title to Fotomat who released it on VHS and Beta. Paramount also licensed the title to RCA who released it on CED VideoDisc.

True, this was over 25 years ago and in the infancy of Home Video, but it has, in fact been legitimately released.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Rights issues are difficult for us consumers to make sense of sometimes. The question is whether Paramount has the right to release it on dvd?






Crawdaddy

 

[Jon Hertzberg]

Since this was a full-fledged Paramount production (not a negative pick up), it's safe to assume that Paramount retains rights to the film. The main issue is most certainly the re-use fees for the soundtrack full of golden oldies. A&M released the double LP back in the day. Existing pop songs have been integral to most of director Mutrux's films--DUSTY AND SWEETS MCGEE remains unreleased on home video (mostly likely due to a combination of its soundtrack and unseemly subject matter) and THE HOLLYWOOD KNIGHTS was m.i.a. on home video because of music rights until the late 1990s DVD release.