Sony / Morgan Creek BDs going OOP?

[James Luckard]

Sony released a bunch of Morgan Creek titles on BD a couple of years ago, some seem to have dried up:




Others remain available, but perhaps they just haven't sold out their print run yet:




Anyone who has been on the fence, due to the relatively high price and use of older HD masters, might want to consider buying any of these now, in case they vanish too.

Obviously I don't know anything for certain, but the fact that so many are unavailable isn't promising.

Other Morgan Creek titles released on BD by Mill Creek and other distributors all seem to be readily available.

[SpacemanDoug]

it's just not with their Morgan Creek run, in general in the past few years Sony has been creating 4Ks in limited nature

almost all of the titles released on their Columbia Classics sets never got their own individual releases (at least in the US) and those sets are produced in limited nature

there've also been several 4K disks released exclusively in steelbooks like Fright Night and the new disk of Bram Stoker's Dracula (which was an improvement over the 2017 release) that were produced in limited nature and are OOP now so are in the scalper market currently

only a fraction of Sony's catalog 4K releases have actually been released in the mainstream market in an unlimited nature

I like how Sony is still releasing new 4K masters in the physical market, but I don't like how they've been in the limited nature territory cause it's very annoying

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by SpacemanDoug

it's just not with their Morgan Creek run, in general in the past few years Sony has been creating 4Ks in limited nature

almost all of the titles released on their Columbia Classics set never got their own individual releases (at least in the US) and those sets are produced in limited nature

there've also been several 4K disks released exclusively in steelbooks like Fright Night and the new disk of Bram Stoker's Dracula (which was an improvement over the 2017 release) that were produced in limited nature and are OOP now so are in the scalper market currently

only a fraction of Sony's catalog 4K releases have actually been released in the mainstream market in an unlimited nature

I like how Sony is still releasing new 4K masters in the physical market, but I don't like how they've been in the limited nature territory cause it's very annoying

Yes, but these aren't 4K discs, and they were never advertised as being limited issues. They were regular BD releases, and Sony hasn't been in the habit of putting those OOP after just a year or two, the way these seemed to vanish.

[MifuneFan]

I believe these are all MOD titles, so it's possible the ones at the top are just between pressings. All the ones that are still available, except Exorcist: The Beginning are in stock at MovieZyng, the retailer arm for Allied Vaughn, who makes these MOD releases. Might be best to contact them to find out about these specific titles, and whether they'll become available again.

edit: I sent an email, I'll see what they say

[Brad1963]

It may just be an issue of replenishing the supplies. All of the studios have had catalog titles in the past few years that appeared OOP, but showed up again. I can think of quite a few Sony, WB and Universal BD's that were not available and then they were.

[50strat54]

I'll keep an eye on this thread

The price is high but I'm willing to pay if a few of the titles I want are going OOP

[Brian81]

Sigh. I put off getting the Exorcist box even though I wanted Dominion (I already had solos of 1-3). It gets a solo and I put it off. Now THAT is out of print and expensive. I guess this is how it's got to be.

[HorrorBlu]

I've got Pacific Heights, Stay Tuned, and Wild America.

I would have gotten Freejack, but I have the DVD at least. I also passed on Sydney White in the past because I noticed the DVD extras weren't carried over.

Maybe I'll grab 3000 Miles To Graceland? Haven't seen it since it came out, but I remember enjoying it.

[James Luckard]

The only one I wanted was Pacific Heights, glad I grabbed it when it came out.

It's a dated HD transfer, but still better than the appalling DVD.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

I believe these are all MOD titles, so it's possible the ones at the top are just between pressings. All the ones that are still available, except Exorcist: The Beginning are in stock at MovieZyng, the retailer arm for Allied Vaughn, who makes these MOD releases. Might be best to contact them to find out about these specific titles, and whether they'll become available again.

edit: I sent an email, I'll see what they say

I'll be curious to find out. It seems weird for so many to be between pressings.

Perhaps demand for those became so low that they decided to just stop pressing them at all.

They could all reappear at some point, granted, but I figured it was worth letting people know of this worrying trend, since more than 1/3 of the Morgan Creek / Sony titles seem to have vanished.

[James Luckard]

It took me about half an hour to go through the Wikipedia list of Morgan Creek titles and search them all here to see which ones came out through Sony, but I figured it'd be useful to have a list, since it's not something we can search, like "Studio," in the database here.

[HorrorBlu]

I think there are a few others. Sony did re-issues of the Ace Ventura movies after the original Warner blus. Also Young Guns II and both Major League II & Back To The Minors.

[DawnShadow]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

I believe these are all MOD titles, so it's possible the ones at the top are just between pressings. All the ones that are still available, except Exorcist: The Beginning are in stock at MovieZyng, the retailer arm for Allied Vaughn, who makes these MOD releases. Might be best to contact them to find out about these specific titles, and whether they'll become available again.

edit: I sent an email, I'll see what they say

Speaking from experience, just because it’s on MovieZyng doesn’t mean it’s in stock. They are very slack at removing out of print titles. They’ll just let your order hang until you contact them about it, then they’ll say sorry don’t have it and take the item off the website. That’s what happened when I tried to order Freejack.

[SpaceBlackKnight]

It's possible Sony's rights to the Morgan Creek stuff are expiring as they technically don't own them outright. Noticed most of them on digital/streaming are now listed under Shout Factory if that's any indication.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by HorrorBlu

I think there are a few others. Sony did re-issues of the Ace Ventura movies after the original Warner blus. Also Young Guns II and both Major League II & Back To The Minors.

Yep, I saw the Ace Ventura movies, but wasn't sure if I should include them, since they weren't BD premieres like the other titles.

Actually, I see now that Young Guns II and and Major League 2 and 3 were BD premieres, so I'll add those. I just assumed they'd been released before, since they were franchise movies.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by SpaceBlackKnight

It's possible Sony's rights to the Morgan Creek stuff are expiring as they technically don't own them outright. Noticed most of them on digital/streaming are now listed under Shout Factory if that's any indication.

You're right, Pacific Heights is streaming at Amazon, and credited to Shout Factory.

(Well, to be honest, it's a bit wonky. There's a banner above the price options saying "Included with Shout! Factory TV on Amazon for $2.99/month after trial," but the actual credit block down below credits the film to Warners, which had the film two video deals ago.

Pacific Heights has had a convoluted release history:

Theatrical - Twentieth Century Fox
VHS/laserdisc - CBS/Fox
DVD - Warner Bros
BD - Sony
Streaming - Shout?

Shout released a bunch of Morgan Creek titles on BD too, and those are all still in print.

I'll bet Sony's deal ended and Shout is taking them over.

I wonder if Shout will do new BDs of these titles.

[SpaceBlackKnight]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

You're right, Pacific Heights is streaming at Amazon, and credited to Shout Factory.

(Well, to be honest, it's a bit wonky. There's a banner above the price options saying "Included with Shout! Factory TV on Amazon for $2.99/month after trial," but the actual credit block down below credits the film to Warners, which had the film two video deals ago.

Pacific Heights has had a convoluted release history:

Theatrical - Twentieth Century Fox
VHS/laserdisc - CBS/Fox
DVD - Warner Bros
BD - Sony
Streaming - Shout?

Shout released a bunch of Morgan Creek titles on BD too, and those are all still in print.

I'll bet Sony's deal ended and Shout is taking them over.

I wonder if Shout will do new BDs of these titles.

Pacific Heights was previously under Sony, but that seemed to have changed a few months ago after Shout put out Two for the Money.

Also, I believe the iTunes listing recently changed the provider from Sony Pictures to Shout Factory.

[DawnShadow]

I did notice Shout started streaming Freejack pretty much as soon as it went OOP. You’d think some of these would’ve started to show up by now however. Will be disappointing if they keep them streaming only, maybe they’re doing new transfers to encourage double dipping.

[meremortal]

Reminds me I have hardly any of them. $25 or so each is just a bit much per title. I realize these generally aren't the most in-demand catalog movies out there. There isn't even really a gimmick like a slipcover, digital, new extras, etc.

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by meremortal

Reminds me I have hardly any of them. $25 or so each is just a bit much per title. I realize these generally aren't the most in-demand catalog movies out there. There isn't even really a gimmick like a slipcover, digital, new extras, etc.

There are several I would have/would purchase at that price. Most of the Morgan Creek Sony titles I don't own I have only a passive interest in and so cost is even more of a factor than it is in general.