Dawn of the Dead (1978) - OUT OF PRINT

[milo bloom]

Originally Posted by ditcin

When Anchor Bay was bought out by STARZ the company was held back for doing what they did best. STARZ stood in their way and demanded creative control - which meant they actually stopped Anchor Bay.
Ancillary rights diminished. Bill Lustig left and their chief of mastering and started Blue Underground.
People left Anchor Bay. I moved over to A&E. The company basically went under. I remember how the budget for Anchor Bay just dried up and a once innovator in the home media format simply died. Why STARZ bought them is beyond them. People at STARZ kept interfering with the releases and what was hoped to be released.
It was sad to see the company fall apart.

I’ll never understand the business concept of buying another company that’s doing well, and then throwing sand in the gears and wondering what went wrong.

[El_Fez]

Originally Posted by ditcin

When Anchor Bay was bought out by STARZ the company was held back for doing what they did best. STARZ stood in their way and demanded creative control - which meant they actually stopped Anchor Bay.
Ancillary rights diminished. Bill Lustig left and their chief of mastering and started Blue Underground.
People left Anchor Bay. I moved over to A&E. The company basically went under. I remember how the budget for Anchor Bay just dried up and a once innovator in the home media format simply died. Why STARZ bought them is beyond them. People at STARZ kept interfering with the releases and what was hoped to be released.
It was sad to see the company fall apart.

That's a goddamned shame - I remember owning so many AB releases from back in the day, many of their discs were the jewel of my collection.

If I were a betting man, I would put serious money on the same thing happening to Rhino. They were the gold standard for CDs back in the late 90's/early aughts until WB came along and F'ed everything up. Now? They're fine enough and I do enjoy picking up their offerings on Record Store Day, but they're a faded ghost compared to how awesome they used to be.

[majr96]

Man, I would drop any sort of money for a definitive collection of Romero's entire zombie series. Has there been any news of that recently at all?

[RodChester]

Originally Posted by majr96

Man, I would drop any sort of money for a definitive collection of Romero's entire zombie series. Has there been any news of that recently at all?

I can’t imagine there ever being a box set of all the zombie films. After Second Sights releases their Dawn set, I think there will pretty much be “definitive” releases of all the films available. You just have to pick up each title on its own.

[AFFanAttic]

I like my Day of the Dead Scream Factory blu-ray but I think some had complaints about the transfer.

If Shout could put out a remastered steelbook or if there could be some otherwise slightly more definitive release, then I think we'd be set. (or I'd be set.)

[Worship.my.wreck]

Originally Posted by majr96

Man, I would drop any sort of money for a definitive collection of Romero's entire zombie series. Has there been any news of that recently at all?

Originally Posted by RodChester

I can’t imagine there ever being a box set of all the zombie films. After Second Sights releases their Dawn set, I think there will pretty much be “definitive” releases of all the films available. You just have to pick up each title on its own.

SF already has the rights to Day of the Dead, and Night of the Living Dead is public domain, so if they somehow manage to get Dawn of the Dead in the U.S, I can see a box set with all 3 included.

[AFFanAttic]

And if someone else releases Night of the Living Dead in another nice package, Criterion still owns some of the features that make their package great and they probably wouldn't license out the MoMA restoration.
So I really don't understand the point, just so they can all be in a cool box together.

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by HipsterTrash

If so then I wonder if there's a point where there's a year that the investors stop making their investment back and he still retain full rights and means of making money. I'm not to sure how all that works.
But he maybe should convince them that he has to sell the movie to other countries and get the film to both more physical media and streaming.

The way I heard it explained, which could be outdated or just plain inaccurate, especially as filtered through my memory, was that he had a contractual obligation to a certain amount of payback before the rights could/would revert to him. The amount in question, whatever it was, was more in line with the payments somebody would expect from a successful theatrical run, because that was his intent; to get the film into 3-D and get a re-release an tap into that "Avatar" craze. On the other hand, while these investors were naive enough to believe that the success of "Avatar" would somehow translate to a successful theatrical re-release of "Dawn" being a huge hit, but they were smart enough to know that releasing it on home media would immediately destroy any chance of that theatrical run. So for a while, the official line was basically "Yes, you can license the film for blu-ray release, but you will have to pay a huge fee to cover the investors obligations". I don't know if this position softened or somebody finally paid the full amount or if possibly the obligations are reduced over time. Since it proved to be a terrible investment, it's possible he was able to buy some/all of them out cheaply. I don't know anything about the latest developments, I just remember the original explanation for why it took so long.

[Member-222782]

Originally Posted by milo bloom

I’ll never understand the business concept of buying another company that’s doing well, and then throwing sand in the gears and wondering what went wrong.

I blame Anchor Bay for allowing themselves to be bought out. They were a household name among collectors of cult/horror and exploitation cinema and could've been bigger than Arrow or even Shout Factory today if they hadn't sold out to Starz, who effectively destroyed then buried them. Maybe the former owners at AB simply grew tired of the day-to-day grind and cashed out

[thatguamguy]

That's an interesting thought. It makes me think that if Anchor Bay had stuck around and was still Anchor Bay, there probably wouldn't have been much room in the market for Arrow (at least Arrow US). And Shout probably wouldn't have been able to grab up as many of the top tier titles as they did, though I think they'd still be one of the bigger labels.

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by Worship.my.wreck

SF already has the rights to Day of the Dead, and Night of the Living Dead is public domain, so if they somehow manage to get Dawn of the Dead in the U.S, I can see a box set with all 3 included.

I think it's extremely unlikely that Shout would put out a public domain "Night".

- nobody wants to buy it, because fans already have the Criterion release, and likely bought it cheaper than a Shout release would be.
- they would have no access to quality materials to source an HD master from, so they'd have to choose a vastly inferior source
- Shout has a history of claiming ownership over public domain films that they have released, so they'd be motivated to support Criterion's claim that the HD-remaster of "Living Dead" that they released is copyrighted.
- they'd be essentially stealing money from the Romero estate, which would likely piss off most of the best directors in the exact genre that is their bread and butter

And don't forget that this wouldn't be the trilogy box you are hoping for, because Shout also has "Land of the Dead".

[BluProofie]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

I think it's extremely unlikely that Shout would put out a public domain "Night".

- nobody wants to buy it, because fans already have the Criterion release, and likely bought it cheaper than a Shout release would be.
- they would have no access to quality materials to source an HD master from, so they'd have to choose a vastly inferior source
- Shout has a history of claiming ownership over public domain films that they have released, so they'd be motivated to support Criterion's claim that the HD-remaster of "Living Dead" that they released is copyrighted.
- they'd be essentially stealing money from the Romero estate, which would likely piss off most of the best directors in the exact genre that is their bread and butter

And don't forget that this wouldn't be the trilogy box you are hoping for, because Shout also has "Land of the Dead".

They could license the Criterion disc like they did with The Graduate for the Anne Bancroft collection.

[Mister_Kidd]

I don't know what Shout could offer me that I'm not getting from Criterion and Second Sight for Night and Dawn. I wish they would redo Day, the current version is very soft to my eye.

[DrEricVornoff]

Originally Posted by HipsterTrash

Money and/or ego.

A certain producer/rights holder should get off his high horse and honour his friend... Hope Richard sees clear and does the right thing: forgo the money (or at least lower the large asking price) and get the film out there. Get this on a boutique label in Region A AND also get this on a streaming platform...

Originally Posted by Cinema84

This whole Rubinstein drama would make for a fascinating documentary. A play-by-play analysis of a Producer's head getting larger and larger with each passing year. Someone so obsessed with money that he withholds the art (in this case, the DoTD film) from fans in hopes of scoring the largest possible payday. Yet, he approves the release of the film in a single foreign territory for reasons only known to himself. I'd pay $20 for that doc.

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

It's not his decision. He raised millions to do the full-3D restoration from investors, so he doesn't have full control over accepting deals. (Not sure about Martin, I assume Martin is only lumped in for a small boost in leverage that it gives him.)

I have been chomping at the bit for YEARS for a proper deluxe release of this movie (just like the Second Sight UK one coming this fall) but in REGION A.

I'm sorry - you all can call me a newbie - but I am not dropping coin to get a pricey, region free Bluray set-up and then paying exorbitant international shipping charges to get this movie in my library (especially when I DO still have both the original Anchor Bay Blu and Ultimate Edition DVD sets.)

But the fact remains that my favorite cut of this film is the extended "director's" cut (which is actually Rubenstein's cut) which has yet to see a proper US blu ray release. So, I would LOVE to get that cut on Blu-ray in an "Ultimate" edition of some sort - maybe by someone like Arrow.

I just really wish those U.S. rights would get squared away.

[AFFanAttic]

Was anyone aware / is anyone excited about this novel The Living Dead coming out next week? It was being written by Romero, then finished after his death by Daniel Kraus with support from Romero's estate.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the...=9781250305121

I only learned about it yesterday and I'm intrigued. But not sure I need to spend about $30 for it during its initial release.

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by AFFanAttic

Was anyone aware / is anyone excited about this novel The Living Dead coming out next week? It was being written by Romero, then finished after his death by Daniel Kraus with support from Romero's estate.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the...=9781250305121

I only learned about it yesterday and I'm intrigued. But not sure I need to spend about $30 for it during its initial release.

Didn’t know about it, thanks for the heads up!

[dickdarlington]

Originally Posted by DrEricVornoff

I'm sorry - you all can call me a newbie - but I am not dropping coin to get a pricey, region free Bluray set-up and then paying exorbitant international shipping charges to get this movie in my library (especially when I DO still have both the original Anchor Bay Blu and Ultimate Edition DVD sets.)

If you have a UHD player, the UHD set is region free sans the bonus features disc.

[HipsterTrash]

Originally Posted by DrEricVornoff

I have been chomping at the bit for YEARS for a proper deluxe release of this movie (just like the Second Sight UK one coming this fall) but in REGION A.

I'm sorry - you all can call me a newbie - but I am not dropping coin to get a pricey, region free Bluray set-up and then paying exorbitant international shipping charges to get this movie in my library (especially when I DO still have both the original Anchor Bay Blu and Ultimate Edition DVD sets.)

But the fact remains that my favorite cut of this film is the extended "director's" cut (which is actually Rubenstein's cut) which has yet to see a proper US blu ray release. So, I would LOVE to get that cut on Blu-ray in an "Ultimate" edition of some sort - maybe by someone like Arrow.

I just really wish those U.S. rights would get squared away.

Agreed. I know people are saying that you should just get a region free player but it all adds up.
And a lot of people don't do the collecting of blus/4k. They stream. This just gives Dawn of the Dead (and Martin) a chance for more people to talk and adore. It would be great if Netflix could get it but if not Shudder.

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by DrEricVornoff

I'm sorry - you all can call me a newbie - but I am not dropping coin to get a pricey, region free Bluray set-up and then paying exorbitant international shipping charges to get this movie in my library (especially when I DO still have both the original Anchor Bay Blu and Ultimate Edition DVD sets.)

I think your overall point is a fair one, but you should know that a region-free Bluray setup can be had for less than the "Dawn" disc, it's not pricey unless you go high-end. Depending on what you are a fan of, it can pay for itself in all sorts of ways -- way cheaper Arrow discs, I think "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was the one that they were practically giving away for a while on Amazon UK... putting "Dawn" aside for a second, if the reason you don't have a region-free set-up is that you're worried about cost, then I will definitely call you a newbie on that point.

[jstxanothrxstory]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

I think your overall point is a fair one, but you should know that a region-free Bluray setup can be had for less than the "Dawn" disc, it's not pricey unless you go high-end.

Yep. My region free model was basically $40 USD.