Raw Deal (1986) Arnold Schwarzenegger

[renegadeviking]

A former FBI agent turned small-town sheriff agrees to help the FBI chief infiltrate the Chicago mafia when the FBI chief's son is killed by them.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091828..._=tt_ov_3#cast

[Shane Rollins]

Out in the UK from Optimum on an older Blu-ray (2010), and also out on 4K and remastered Blu-ray from StudioCanal. No US release to date. It was originally released by De Laurentiis, so those rights could be anywhere. Also, in the US, Warner Bros. was attached to it theatrically, and home video was done by IVE/Live, Starz/Anchor Bay, and Fox. So I honestly have no clue who even owns this film, let alone who has the rights to it today.

[DMRI2006]

Plenty of good options to import Studio Canal's 4K UHD/BD remaster so that's your best bet there.

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

Out in the UK from Optimum on an older Blu-ray (2010), and also out on 4K and remastered Blu-ray from StudioCanal. No US release to date. It was originally released by De Laurentiis, so those rights could be anywhere. Also, in the US, Warner Bros. was attached to it theatrically, and home video was done by IVE/Live, Starz/Anchor Bay, and Fox. So I honestly have no clue who even owns this film, let alone who has the rights to it today.

I don't know who owns it in the US either, but there are a few inaccuracies that should be noted:

-Warner didn't have anything to do with RAW DEAL theatrically or otherwise, it was entirely distributed by DEG.

-The original VHS home video release was from HBO and HBO/Cannon (what used to be Thorn EMI), not IVE/Live (they never released it on home video AFAIK).

-Anchor Bay released the original DVD, then Trinity/Peace Arch and Fox all seem to have released either the same disc or their own separate releases

The rights to the DEG catalog seem to be with Studio Canal everywhere outside the US, though there is a Blu-Ray of TAI-PAN I have from Germany that was licensed by Lionsgate. So it's curious why this hasn't shown up here.

I can't imagine if it was easy to license that one of the U.S. boutique labels wouldn't have grabbed RAW DEAL simply because of Arnold's involvement years ago. That, and the 4K restoration is already finished and available everywhere but here. Kind of odd it hasn't happened.

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

Plenty of good options to import Studio Canal's 4K UHD/BD remaster so that's your best bet there.

I agree. The Blus (both of them) are B locked, but the 4K is region free.

And...that's about all I got right. I really ballsed up the rest of it.

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

I don't know who owns it in the US either, but there are a few inaccuracies that should be noted:

-Warner didn't have anything to do with RAW DEAL theatrically or otherwise, it was entirely distributed by DEG.

So my mistake was I didn't find a better picture of the poster. I saw the Saul Bass W at the bottom and thought it was somehow tied to Warners.

[Show spoiler]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

-The original VHS home video release was from HBO and HBO/Cannon (what used to be Thorn EMI), not IVE/Live (they never released it on home video AFAIK).

My dumb ass had it confused with Red Heat. I only realized my mistake after I spent about 20 minutes looking for my IVE Raw Deal tape (which doesn't exist) and found my IVE Red Heat VHS (which does exist) instead.

Add to that my dog and bird were both giving me that "What are you, an assh*le?" look the entire time, and suffice it to say I felt like an idiot after that one.

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

-Anchor Bay released the original DVD, then Trinity/Peace Arch and Fox all seem to have released either the same disc or their own separate releases

I didn't know about the Trinity/Peace Arch bit. While it seems that there were no releases of Raw Deal between the 198? HBO VHS and Beta, and the 90s tapes and LD by Anchor Bay, I wonder if there truly were enough copies to satisfy demand from the 80s, since even though the film was popular, I can't imagine people tearing the doors down to get a copy of Raw Deal like they did with his films that were even more popular.

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

The rights to the DEG catalog seem to be with Studio Canal everywhere outside the US, though there is a Blu-Ray of TAI-PAN I have from Germany that was licensed by Lionsgate. So it's curious why this hasn't shown up here.

I would assume, then, that SC has this worldwide, and that US rights are with Lionsgate. I know in the old days, SC had some connections with MGM, but I don't know what those connections were, or if they're still active.

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

I can't imagine if it was easy to license that one of the U.S. boutique labels wouldn't have grabbed RAW DEAL simply because of Arnold's involvement years ago. That, and the 4K restoration is already finished and available everywhere but here. Kind of odd it hasn't happened.

It could just be one of those movies that slipped through the cracks. That's the problem with the movies that have enough demand to warrant a release, but not enough demand to sell tons of copies. They either get shot down because they're not big enough, or whoever's job it is to decide sits on the fence for so long that the title gets forgotten again.

For the boutiques, I assume that whoever has a deal with SC would be a candidate, so that's Criterion, Kino, Shout, and Arrow for sure. Among the majors, it would only be Lionsgate, since I know of no other majors that have a contract with SC.

[renegadeviking]

Amazon says both Denmark and Spain bluray is region free, but bluray.com didn't confirm this.

[TheOneWithThePrize]

Originally Posted by renegadeviking

Amazon says both Denmark and Spain bluray is region free, but bluray.com didn't confirm this.

https://dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=16621