Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by townsend (A) on July 25, 2006 at 17:05:47

In Reply to: What's the process of movies making it to dvd? posted by NuWave on July 25, 2006 at 09:48:03:

I agree that both profit and licensing are the constraining factors. I, like many of you, am eagerly awaiting certain movies, and there appears to be no discernible rationale for why one movie is released on DVD and another isn't.

Consider Cabeza de Vaca, one of my favorite movies, both I and several others people in the world cherish this movie. It is out on DVD, but I can think of many other movies far more commercial that haven't seen the light of day, and I can't figure that licensing alone is the rate limiting step. While we are on the subject of Columbus movies, why hasn't 1492 been released as a region one DVD?

I assume we all have lists of movies that we are awaiting release. On my list are Son of the Morning Star (perhaps the best "Custer" movie, made for TV), and what about Centennial, that landmark made-for-TV miniseries? If Winds of War is out, why not Centennial?

And there are a number of excellent movies that are out in "less-than-stellar" DVD editions. It was only recently that Wild Bunch was finally released in a decent DVD version (previous one was split over two sides of one disc!). But what about Road Warrior, Cool Hand Luke, and Kubrick movies (supposedly to be redone and released on DVD along with HD-DVD version; Full Metal Jacket so far).

It is rumored that special editions of both Road Warrior and Cool Hand Luke are in the mill. But I wouldn't hold my breath, unless I liked hypoxia.

What will be interesting (or disheartening) to watch is to see if DVD releases start to trickle if/when high definition video catches on. That would be one way to "persuade" consumers to adopt a new high definition format. The software drives hardware sales approach.

townsend

P.S. Why not a special edition of Excalibur?