Is There Any Reason Why DRAGONSLAYER Couldn't Get A Great 4K Release? (1 Viewer)

DRAGONSLAYER remains one of the most-requested catalog Paramount title on the m.i.a. list. It's not on 4K, it's not even on Blu-ray. Paramount Plus / Paramount proper have not announced it. Current licensees such as Kino and Shout! haven't announced it. I am wondering if anyone knows whether or not the extant elements (OCN) currently exist for a really excellent 4K release, or even a Blu-ray. I don't believe this is a movie with rights issues, as Paramount holds the rights for North American distribution, as it does with its other (currently available on Blu-ray) Disney co-production, POPEYE. So, considering its continued cult popularity, what is the endless damn delay getting it out to us? Some of the cast/crew are still alive to contribute to it. A documentary about the Go-Motion process would be cool, with Dennis Muren participation and commentary would be most welcome!

I'd like this. The current HD master isn't bad, but a 4K rescan couldn't hurt either. Re: Go-Motion, you don't talk about Go-Motion without talking to Phil Tippett as well; the new Disney+ series Light and Magic does cover Go-Motion to some extent, but a dedicated featurette would be really nice.

Stephen_J_H said:

I'd like this. The current HD master isn't bad, but a 4K rescan couldn't hurt either. Re: Go-Motion, you don't talk about Go-Motion without talking to Phil Tippett as well; the new Disney+ series Light and Magic does cover Go-Motion to some extent, but a dedicated featurette would be really nice.

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This is a fun title, I'd love to see this and also a 4K of Excalber would be nice as well. It seems that most, not all, of the 4K releases are current rather that vintage. There are exceptions, still...it's a question about time. Time to accomplish all the current projects and setting up for the next projects, and the wheel keeps on turning....we need more devoted people like Mr F @ WAC to better orchestrate the titles from the various studios.

Not just Dragonslayer, but also Legend as well.

Alex.C said:

Not just Dragonslayer, but also Legend as well.

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Arrows remastered Bluray of Legend Isn't bad...but I get you!!

Stephen_J_H said:

I'd like this. The current HD master isn't bad, but a 4K rescan couldn't hurt either. Re: Go-Motion, you don't talk about Go-Motion without talking to Phil Tippett as well; the new Disney+ series Light and Magic does cover Go-Motion to some extent, but a dedicated featurette would be really nice.

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Yes, of course, Phil Tippett. Another special effects wizard and hero.

Alex.C said:

Not just Dragonslayer, but also Legend as well.

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LEGEND is a Universal production. Arrow has done a nice edition of it also.

Dick said:

LEGEND is a Universal production. Arrow has done a nice edition of it also.

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True, the Arrow edition of Legend is very nice. But because the rights to the film are split between Universal and Fox/Disney, they were unable to include the International version with Goldsmith’s score (my personal preference of the two scores), which is slightly longer than the American Theatrical cut, but shorter than the Director’s Cut.

Dick said:

Yes, of course, Phil Tippett. Another special effects wizard and hero.

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He also has 7 directing credits ...

Dragonslayer is at the top of my "why no blu/4k" list too. I still have the laserdisc!!

Also on my list are 7 Faces of Dr Lao (hell, a few George Pal flicks), Sleuth (the original of course), Bogdanovich's The Cat's Meow, Tracy and Hepburn in Adam's Rib, Shadow of the Vampire and God knows it will never happen but the John Korty/George Lucas flick Twice Upon a Time...

white vader said:

Dragonslayer is at the top of my "why no blu/4k" list too. I still have the laserdisc!!

John Korty/George Lucas flick Twice Upon a Time...

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Yes, even the first Ewoks t.v. movie might be good...also Lucas/Korty, and isn't half bad if you somehow imagine the Ewoks themselves have been painted over with invisible ink. But, surely, Paramount knows about the fan base for DRAGONSLAYER...?

richardburton84 said:

True, the Arrow edition of Legend is very nice. But because the rights to the film are split between Universal and Fox/Disney, they were unable to include the International version with Goldsmith’s score (my personal preference of the two scores), which is slightly longer than the American Theatrical cut, but shorter than the Director’s Cut.

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Fortunately, the longer (and, I agree, better) cut is still available from Universal on Blu.

Dick said:

Fortunately, the longer (and, I agree, better) cut is still available from Universal on Blu.

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It’s on the Arrow as well, but is the same old transfer.

It depends on which studio, Paramount or Disney, has the final say on the home video front. If it ends up being the rare dual studio sign-off to allow Paramount to release it in N.A. then don't expect a 4k Blu-ray anytime soon. Disney is a real stinker when it comes to physical catalog releases, especially under the new management.

DanH1972 said:

It depends on which studio, Paramount or Disney, has the final say on the home video front. If it ends up being the rare dual studio sign-off to allow Paramount to release it in N.A. then don't expect a 4k Blu-ray anytime soon. Disney is a real stinker when it comes to physical catalog releases, especially under the new management.

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Paramount alone has the North American licensing rights to DRAGONSLAYER, and can do whatever it wishes when it comes to providing new OCN scans or whatever in order to provide a 4K and/or Blu-ray release. If anyone can contradict that, please post here.

First off, the film was a box-office bomb. Second, I'm sure Paramount knows exactly how many units the DVD sold. And I'm sure they have a pretty good idea what a Blu-ray would sell vs. the cost of spending a lot of dough on a new scan. Your only hope is Imprint licensing the DVD scan, and since they have no problem doing that, perhaps they will. I do understand that any 80s film is beloved by those who saw it at a young age or who were into that sort of thing back then. Frankly, I've never made it through more than an hour and believe me, I've tried. I do like the score by Alex North.

haineshisway said:

Frankly, I've never made it through more than an hour and believe me, I've tried.

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The last hour is when the film really kicks in and is pretty awesome.

Ymmv

It was a big hit with my movie-watching group and my family when we streamed it a month ago. I wish I’d seen it in a theater back then.

haineshisway said:

First off, the film was a box-office bomb. Second, I'm sure Paramount knows exactly how many units the DVD sold. And I'm sure they have a pretty good idea what a Blu-ray would sell vs. the cost of spending a lot of dough on a new scan. Your only hope is Imprint licensing the DVD scan, and since they have no problem doing that, perhaps they will. I do understand that any 80s film is beloved by those who saw it at a young age or who were into that sort of thing back then. Frankly, I've never made it through more than an hour and believe me, I've tried. I do like the score by Alex North.

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If you never bothered with the second half of the film, Bruce, you missed all of the best of the dragon material, including an absolutely awesome encounter within the dragon's lair. Yes, the film lost money upon its release (nearly $4 million, I have heard), but it has been a continuous hot-seller on the video market, and is considered a modern-day "cult classic." Between video and foreign B.O. I am sure it has easily made back its cost.

The film has some awesome casting. Sir Ralph Richardson, John Hallam, Peter Eyre...these are memorable performances, rich with nuance. To be fair, I find the character of Galen, played by a young Peter MacNicol with a clearly contemporary hairdo, to be often insufferable, played like a modern-day teenager. It is a jarring character and performance within the otherwise medieval setting, which itself is so beautifully realized. I can feel the muck and the dust and the isolation. The sets, the costumes, the cinematography and, yes, the atmospheric music score, send me vicariously into a land I find totally immersive but in which I wouldn't wish to actually spend one single moment.

Similarly, the effects work is, even today, stunning -- I find the animation of the dragon from 1981 preferable to nearly any CGI I've seen recently (Vermathrax Pejorative remains the best-rendered dragon of any movie before or since, in my opinion) -- and the movie, considering Disney co-produced it, is sometimes simply scary as hell. Try watching it through, sir...might change your mind!