Freeway (1996) starring Reese Witherspoon and Kiefer Sutherland

[CrimsonLavender]

I just watched Freeway for the first time recently and thought it was really great. It hasn't been released on blu-ray yet, and I couldn't find any news or information about it coming out any time soon. Because the movie got a lot of positive reviews and has plenty of well-known actors in it, I was surprised that there were no blu-ray listings for it on this site.

Apparently, the full uncut version of the film has never been released. All the DVD releases had a couple of scenes/dialogue edited out. So this is another reason why Freeway is definitely deserving of a blu-ray release.

[Todd Tomorrow]

Very underrated and fun movie. I seem to be among the few people who also like the sequel, Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby which is far more outrageous, so a double pack would be cool. Freeway was based on Little Red Riding Hood and the sequel was based on Hansel and Gretel.

[FlyBry]

Day 1!

"You're just a big ol' sh_t-bag, ain't you, Bob?!"

[Poya]

Reese was basically Alex Delarge in this.

[Prim]

Would love an uncut version on Blu-Ray, if an uncut version even exists (at this point, I'm not confident that it has ever been released without cuts, in any country. I have three DVD editions which are the same). It's a great film.

[lolwut]

Yes please!

[wonkavision]

Really would like to see this on blu-ray.

[mayorofsmpleton]

Originally Posted by Todd Tomorrow

Very underrated and fun movie. I seem to be among the few people who also like the sequel, Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby which is far more outrageous, so a double pack would be cool. Freeway was based on Little Red Riding Hood and the sequel was based on Hansel and Gretel.

I liked the sequel too. Both are great. I'd pick up both if they were ever released.

[MiracleandWonder]

I'd buy this day one, probably my fave Reese performance

[Kingofkod]

This is definitely a movie I'd be looking forward to as well. Reese never really did a better job than she did here imo.

[Poya]

Originally Posted by Kingofkod

This is definitely a movie I'd be looking forward to as well. Reese never really did a better job than she did here imo.

I thought she gave her career-best with Wild.

[CptHowdy87]

https://www.quora.com/Why-havent-the...ray-to-Freeway

In the case of Freeway, American theatrical distribution rights were apparently held by Republic Pictures, a brand with a tortured history and several incarnations, with home video rights being contested in litigation.

Viacom apparently owns the home video rights today, but it’s always murky when a property has passed through many hands. Little incentive to master to Blu-ray when the total domestic box office was less than $300k on a $3mm budget.

Interesting scenario and cast. Early Reese Witherspoon and Kiefer Sutherland may be worth the 110 minute investment on YouTube Red!

Studios usually only go to the effort of rescanning and striking a new master - which would almost certainly be necessary for a movie of that age - if they really think the audience is there. Given that I barely recalled having seen the movie, I’m guessing there’s not really a lot of demand for a Blu-ray version. Getting the original negatives or interpositives out of long term storage, digital scanning, encoding, authoring, and producing a glass master of a Blu-ray Disc can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars or more, whether the resulting material sells 10,000 copies or 10,000,000. It’s not a cheap undertaking.

Edit: Also, as a catalog title, and not a “new release”, its likelihood of selling millions of copies is… not great. This is normal, hence the studio needing to see strong demand and good, broad appeal before they’ll bother. A feel-good family film like “ET: The Extra-Terrestrial”? Sure. A dark comedy from the late 90s with an “R” rating? Eh, not as much.

Now that The Hitcher and Judgement Night have just gotten blu-ray releases that really only leaves one movie on my wishlist. Doesn't look promising though.

[Socko]

Never heard of this. According to DVDcompare.net the UK and German dvd versions are uncut.

[toxic-shock]

Originally Posted by CptHowdy87

https://www.quora.com/Why-havent-the...ray-to-Freeway





Now that The Hitcher and Judgement Night have just gotten blu-ray releases that really only leaves one movie on my wishlist. Doesn't look promising though.

Interesting fact: Republic Pictures video rights were transferred in the late 90s to Artisan video (another label which has quite a number of OOP titles and which I believe also had an affiliation with IVE). After they folded, Paramount gave the rights to Olive Films, which acts as a subsidiary. So I would love for Olive Films to tackle lots of the titles under Artisan and Republic Pictures.

[CptHowdy87]

Originally Posted by Socko

Never heard of this. According to DVDcompare.net the UK and German dvd versions are uncut.

There was a lot of debate and never a clear answer as to which is the uncut version or even if the supposedly uncut version is in fact the fully uncut version as well as discussion as to whether or not certain scenes in the script were even filmed or not. Several people swear they saw a version with much more explicit dialogue in the scene in the car with Bob and Vanessa. Some pretty graphic violence from when Vanessa shoots Bob, Bob on the operating table and what Bob did to Grandma at the end was also supposedly cut out.

Another interesting tidbit is in the scene where Vanessa has a nightmare while in jail there's a flash of an image of Kiefer Sutherland with far more grotesque looking make-up that was supposedly the original make-up they were going to use but they either thought it was too over the top or that it took too much effort to apply and didn't move right when Kiefer was talking.

There's so much potential here for a special edition featuring the fully uncut version (if it even exists/is recoverable), a director's commentary and interview with the director (maybe even something with Oliver Stone as well who produced the movie) and of course, hearing what Kiefer and Reese thought about the movie then and now.

[takeshi2010]

I discovered the movie fairly recently... I can't stop thinking about it. It is definitely one of Reese Witherspoon's best performances, I think even better than her turn in Election (that, up until now, I considered to be her best). The way she taunts that cop who just arrested her, in the car, outside the dinner... Priceless! And the courtroom scene had me laughing hysterically the whole time. You can really feel the actors, Reese and Kiefer especially, had a blast playing their parts. I hope Olive or Arrow or one of these cult labels give this film the Blu Ray release it so deserves. This is a Cult Film!

[fourfliesDVD]

Yep. This is definitely on my Blu Wishlist.

Bind bought the first, non-anamorphic, THX DVD (back in maybe 2002) from Blockbuster... in their store. And I've bought fewer than 5 DVD's from them in my life.

[Aunt Peg]

Would buy this in a heart beat and retire my DVD.

[OutOfBoose]

Watched it last year for the first time and really enjoyed it. I hope someone brings it to BD or UHD BD.

[ParamountChris]

Multi com Entertainment Group has some digital rights on Tubi and Kanopy, which doesn’t seem like a good sign. Paramount seems like they have some other rights