Dawn of the Dead (1978) - OUT OF PRINT

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by BladeRunner2007

Seriously, what is wrong with Rubenstein?!

[BladeRunner2007]

Originally Posted by redxrebellion

Does the theatrical cut contain anything that the extended does not? Or does the extended contain the entire theatrical cut and then some?

Some different lines/voice over and music.

[monwobbbo]

greed may not be the proper term in this case. he made a bad investment and has others involved as well. they are looking to get paid what was promised to them. seems like Rubenstein overestimated what the film would bring profit wise from the 3-D conversion. rather than try to cut his loses he's still holding out which may well prove to be yet another bad business decision.

[Babu93]

Originally Posted by monwobbbo

greed may not be the proper term in this case. he made a bad investment and has others involved as well. they are looking to get paid what was promised to them. seems like Rubenstein overestimated what the film would bring profit wise from the 3-D conversion. rather than try to cut his loses he's still holding out which may well prove to be yet another bad business decision.

What do we think his motives were for an unnecessary 3D conversion?

[monwobbbo]

Originally Posted by Babu93

What do we think his motives were for an unnecessary 3D conversion?

to make money on his investment. unnecessary is of course a mater of opinion (though i agree). nothing wrong with wanting to make money on any given property after all Romero didn't make it out of the kindness of his heart either. despite the fanbase i would think that the opportunities to make any real money off the film at this point without something new were pretty limited. he just caught a bad break by deciding to do this at the tail end of a fad. i do think he should cut his loses and at least make something back at this point.

[CompleteCount]

Originally Posted by monwobbbo

i do think he should cut his loses and at least make something back at this point.

Unlikely. Rubenstein is as stubborn as a mule.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yX_1gJ_51M

[LucasGodzilla]

Originally Posted by redxrebellion

Does the theatrical cut contain anything that the extended does not? Or does the extended contain the entire theatrical cut and then some?

In a nutshell, yes. The extended version contains the Theatrical Cut and then some, but I personally wouldn't recommend it. It's a very sluggish cut due to its untrimmed nature. Although it has some pretty neat scenes, such as the inclusion of the Police Dock stand-off with young Joseph Pilato, it's not enough to redeem itself for me. Plus, there's a significant lack of Goblin music. You can see a more detailed comparison here.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by CompleteCount

Unlikely. Rubenstein is as stubborn as a mule.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yX_1gJ_51M

Wonder why he is so stubborn. You would think he would want to make some money from these labels. Nobody is going to pay his price, so why not simply budge a little.

[drush9999]

Originally Posted by LucasGodzilla

In a nutshell, yes. The extended version contains the Theatrical Cut and then some, but I personally wouldn't recommend it. It's a very sluggish cut due to its untrimmed nature. Although it has some pretty neat scenes, such as the inclusion of the Police Dock stand-off with young Joseph Pilato, it's not enough to redeem itself for me. Plus, there's a significant lack of Goblin music. You can see a more detailed comparison here.

There was that interesting cut accidentally released by Anchor Bay as the Theatrical Cut in the late 90s on DVD. It was a hybrid of the Theatrical Cut plus those extended Police Dock scenes. Was this one:

[LucasGodzilla]

Originally Posted by drush9999

There was that interesting cut accidentally released by Anchor Bay as the Theatrical Cut in the late 90s on DVD. It was a hybrid of the Theatrical Cut plus those extended Police Dock scenes. Was this one:

Yeah, I found a VHS rip of it on YouTube interestingly enough (Although it uses a misleading image of the "Original Director's Cut" for the thumbnail).

Dawn of the Dead 20th Anniversary Edition

I'd honestly like to see a weird hybrid cut that takes the music of the Argento Cut and mix it in with some of the scenes in the Extended & U.S. Theatrical cut. Like seriously, knowing how only the first quarter of Oblio was used in the Argento Cut, it'd be interesting to hear the latter half of it play in sync with that extended shopping segment in the Extended Cut (that's not to say Simon Park's "Sun High" track wasn't a great track for that sequence).

I made a quick test mashup. Y'all can decide on what you think about it.

[kevbones]

Diabolik just announced a new steelbook of the Zombie cut of Dawn if the Dead and they said it’s the same cut that was in the boxset a few years ago. I wonder what the transfer it is like. It only seems like the Anchor Bay transfer is the only good one out.

[Bobbyjoe766]

Never knew about the 1999 ANCHOR BAY hybrid release until now. Thanks! Now I have five different versions of this horror masterpiece.

[indravayu]

I'm grabbed that steelbook from Diabolik - will report back when it arrives (late next week, most likely). I believe this is the 156 min. cut.

[DenOfEarth]

Why can't Richard just release this movie in all theaters?

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by DenOfEarth

Why can't Richard just release this movie in all theaters?

Because precious few will be interested enough to go see it. He's already wasted enough money. Video and TV rights are the only way he's going to make anything back.

[sanjuro_61]

He's waiting til everybody turn into zombies.

[THUNDERSTRUCK]

Maybe RR wants to take DOTD to his grave, and not give the rights to anyone. That's ok though, because I have the blu ray version!!

[Monterey Jack]

Originally Posted by Markgway

Because precious few will be interested enough to go see it.

Exactly...no matter how beloved a classic movie is to fans, very few of them will schlep themselves to a theater to see it on the big screen when they own it on disc or can stream it for a nominal fee. The home video revolation in the 80s basically killed the concept of wide theatrical reissues of older films (although Disney kept the tradition going into the late 90s for their animated classics), so to throw Dawn Of The Dead onto 3,000 screens in a well-advertised reissue -- even for just a week or two -- would not make enough back to justify the cost.

[LucasGodzilla]

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

Exactly...no matter how beloved a classic movie is to fans, very few of them will schlep themselves to a theater to see it on the big screen when they own it on disc or can stream it for a nominal fee. The home video revolation in the 80s basically killed the concept of wide theatrical reissues of older films (although Disney kept the tradition going into the late 90s for their animated classics), so to throw Dawn Of The Dead onto 3,000 screens in a well-advertised reissue -- even for just a week or two -- would not make enough back to justify the cost.

I would agree, except for three things.

A: Dawn of the Dead is practically impossible to find a good Blu-Ray of in the U.S. for cheap.

B: Dawn of the Dead is not on any streaming service.

C: It's in 3D, which I guess, even though that trend ended a bit back, would still be a reason to check it out?

I do agree that it probably won't justify the cost, but I feel like Rubinstein would make a bigger profit from that than his current one-by-one theater agenda.

[Monterey Jack]

Last summer when Close Encounters was re-issued to theaters for a one-week run, I saw in in my local theater around 1:00 PM on a Sunday, and there were maybe fifteen people there. If a movie as iconic and influential as that couldn't draw a crowd, what chance does an unrated horror movies from the same period have? Maybe had it been reissued when The Walking Dead was at the height of its popularity, it might have gotten some attention, but now?