Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[AgentOrange]

Originally Posted by GOMEZFAN69

Looks like we'll also be getting ;

May 8

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (1959)
THE BIG HEAT (1953)

June 12

JOHN STEINBECK'S "THE WAYWARD BUS" (1957)
AS GOOD AS IT GETS (1997)

Now unless blu-ray format is TOTALLY dead, this is an even dumber "limited edition" release than Fright Night.

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by GOMEZFAN69

Looks like we'll also be getting ;

May 8
JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (1959)
THE BIG HEAT (1953)

June 12
JOHN STEINBECK'S "THE WAYWARD BUS" (1957)
AS GOOD AS IT GETS (1997)

Oh...my...gawd. That's fantastic news GOMEZFAN69.

With the twin sucker-punch of Journey to the Center of the Earth and The Big Heat, I think both TT and SAE are going to see a lot of newbie action in May. Both movies are legendary titles from their respective studios, with a passionate global following surely in the thousands. Like Fright Night, certainly way more than just 3000!

In June though, it gets plain weird. As Good as It Gets really stood out (I had to re-read it twice and check the IMDb, just in case an earlier movie had the same name, and someone got the date wrong). But no, that's the one. So I guess this means that SPHE has drawn a much closer line in the sand over how much of their catalogue they're willing to take to Blu. I mean, if such a recent, award-winning, commercially successful movie as this is now off their radar for SPHE Blu-ray release, then all bets are on for the rest of their catalogue...

At the other extreme, what a delightfully left-of-field surprise with The Wayward Bus! Haven't seen this thing since the 60s, and never in widescreen, but I recall it being a pretty decent movie blending Steinbeck drama with screen siren allure. Kinda funky choice actually.

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by Yankees0222

If that's the case why not release it now and just rerelease it for the 20th anniversary? 5 years down the road is pretty far away. I don't think you'd be angering too many customers with a rerelease that far down the road. It's not like studios are adverse to rereleases

It just seems like a really big title to license to such a small distributor.

"They are big, it's the Majors that got small."

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by arcadeforest

Not to take this thread off of Twilight Time ROclockCK but finaly found time to watch Quo Vadis last night and I liked it. It just blows my mind when watching this (and other films of this type) the number of people it took to film some of those scenes. Need to check out the special features now.

I thought they did a great job on them...especially putting this movie into some historical perspective.

Glad you enjoyed it arcadeforest. Like I said, a true bargoon.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by ROclockCK

"They are big, it's the Majors that got small."

I see what you did there

[Strevlac]

I always thought of As Good As It Gets (and other James L Brooks movies) as glorified TV. It's not anything I'd ever consider owning, even if it were in a $6 Walmart bargain bin. I can't see it being a huge seller so maybe Sony is right by farming it out at $35 or $40 for the few people who like it enough to pay that much. Maybe I'm wrong and there is a huge audience for it on BD. I dunno.

I'll definitely pick up Journey and The Big Heat.

[CinemaScope]

So Fox won't even be releasing Journey To The Centre Of The Earth! They must have totally given up on catalogue releases, with Cleopatra being their last hurrah.

[benbess]

I somehow missed As Good as It Gets back in the late 90s, but it sounds like my kind of movie.

But like others, I'm amazed that Sony/Columbia would give this one up. According to box office mojo, it did over 300m of business! My guess is that they figure that if they sell it out with TT they can always release their own version at some point...

As Good as It Gets

Domestic Total Gross: $148,478,011
Distributor: Sony / Columbia Release Date: December 23, 1997
Genre: Romantic Comedy Runtime: 2 hrs. 19 min.
MPAA Rating: PG-13 Production Budget: $50 million

Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $148,478,011 47.3%
+ Foreign: $165,700,000 52.7%
= Worldwide: $314,178,011

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by CinemaScope

So Fox won't even be releasing Journey To The Centre Of The Earth! They must have totally given up on catalogue releases, with Cleopatra being their last hurrah.

Fox had Fotokem do high rez scans of most of their 70mm roadshow musicals like Doctor Dolittle, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and even the flop Star!. They might still be planning to do something with those...although just as likely, they undertook that work for VOD, Cable, and Streaming, leaving any Blu-ray releases of those titles to licensees.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by ROclockCK

Fox had Fotokem do high rez scans of most of their 70mm roadshow musicals like Doctor Dolittle, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and even the flop Star!. They might still be planning to do something with those...although just as likely, they undertook that work for VOD, Cable, and Streaming, leaving any Blu-ray releases of those titles to licensees.

I know these are considered bad movies but I really enjoy both Doctor Dolittle and Thoroughly Modern Millie, I would get both on Blu-ray in a second.

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

I see what you did there

[Yankees0222]

Originally Posted by Strevlac

I always thought of As Good As It Gets (and other James L Brooks movies) as glorified TV. It's not anything I'd ever consider owning, even if it were in a $6 Walmart bargain bin. I can't see it being a huge seller so maybe Sony is right by farming it out at $35 or $40 for the few people who like it enough to pay that much. Maybe I'm wrong and there is a huge audience for it on BD. I dunno.

I'll definitely pick up Journey and The Big Heat.

It's an academy award winning, critically acclaimed movie. Now, you might say that critics are out of touch with the general population and that doesn't mean much.... Blah blah blah....

But as Benbess has pointed out it was a HUGE box-office smash making nearly $150 million domestic alone. That's nearly what bridesmaids maid (with much higher ticket prices) and that movie was concidered a finacial success. $148m is a lot of money for a comedy that was released in 1997 with lower ticket prices. It also made more than that overseas..... I mean, this film clearly has a lot of fans. So to say that a 3000 copy run will be enough to satisfy the people who want this movie, I think, is a gross underestimation of the film.

Just my $0.02

[CinemaScope]

Originally Posted by ROclockCK

Fox had Fotokem do high rez scans of most of their 70mm roadshow musicals like Doctor Dolittle, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and even the flop Star!. They might still be planning to do something with those...although just as likely, they undertook that work for VOD, Cable, and Streaming, leaving any Blu-ray releases of those titles to licensees.

I think you're right. Fox are doing all these HD remasters with various TV showings in mind (it must be getting harder to sell the SD stuff), & if someone wants to license a title out for Blu-ray, then fine, but I don't think Fox are interested in catalogue Blu's. In the UK, Channel4 show a lot of Fox 50's films in HD, & they look great.

Oh well, carry on Warner!

[Yami]

Well the good news (or bad, depending on if you're a fan of the TT limited model) is that considering As Good as It Gets made $314m dollars and won Best Actor and Best Actress at the Oscars, it looks like no film is too big for Sony to licence out.

Roll on The Lady From Shanghai. I think that Sony will probably keep On the Waterfront and Oliver! for themselves though. Hopefully TT will try and pick up The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, it's not a big title but it's one of the best children's films of all time.

I'll probably pick up The Big Heat. I much prefer Lang's German works but this is the best of what he did in Hollywood.

[REPLAY]

Originally Posted by ROclockCK

Fox had Fotokem do high rez scans of most of their 70mm roadshow musicals like Doctor Dolittle, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and even the flop Star!. They might still be planning to do something with those...although just as likely, they undertook that work for VOD, Cable, and Streaming, leaving any Blu-ray releases of those titles to licensees.

Millie is a Universal release.

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by Yami

Hopefully TT will try and pick up The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, it's not a big title but it's one of the best children's films of all time.

That movie is sooo bent...like David Lynch for 7 year olds, or Dr. Seuss on acid. Take your pick.

Would love to see it again. Great Technicolor.

[Yami]

Originally Posted by ROclockCK

That movie is sooo bent...like David Lynch for 7 year olds, or Dr. Seuss on acid. Take your pick.

Would love to see it again. Great Technicolor.

Yeah, it would look stunning. Let's hope that Twilight Time have it on their radar. Or put it there when I alert them to it.

[The Duke]

Originally Posted by Strevlac

I always thought of As Good As It Gets (and other James L Brooks movies) as glorified TV. It's not anything I'd ever consider owning, even if it were in a $6 Walmart bargain bin. I can't see it being a huge seller so maybe Sony is right by farming it out at $35 or $40 for the few people who like it enough to pay that much. Maybe I'm wrong and there is a huge audience for it on BD. I dunno.

I'll definitely pick up Journey and The Big Heat.

PUleeze! I can appreciate that different folks have different tastes in movies, but calling "As Good as it Gets" 'glorified TV' makes zero sense. As others have pointed out, it was a huge box office success and won Oscars for Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt, was nominated for 5 more Oscars, and just about all the cast is pitch perfect. How can you not love a movie with a line like: "Where do they teach you to talk like this? In some Panama City "Sailor wanna hump-hump" bar, or is it getaway day and your last shot at his whiskey? Sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here"?

Surprising - and disappointing - that Sony is licensing this out instead of releasing it, it doesn't bode well for BD catalog releases. I have a 720p HDTV recording that is very good, so I'll have to wait & see how good the TT BD release is.

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by REPLAY

Millie is a Universal release.

Good catch REPLAY. I had it confused with Oklahoma, a Fox title that Fotokem did do.

[Strevlac]

Originally Posted by The Duke

PUleeze! I can appreciate that different folks have different tastes in movies, but calling "As Good as it Gets" 'glorified TV' makes zero sense. As others have pointed out, it was a huge box office success and won Oscars for Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt, was nominated for 5 more Oscars, and just about all the cast is pitch perfect. How can you not love a movie with a line like: "Where do they teach you to talk like this? In some Panama City "Sailor wanna hump-hump" bar, or is it getaway day and your last shot at his whiskey? Sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here"?

Surprising - and disappointing - that Sony is licensing this out instead of releasing it, it doesn't bode well for BD catalog releases. I have a 720p HDTV recording that is very good, so I'll have to wait & see how good the TT BD release is.

Hey man, I said I could be wrong. It has some pretty good dialogue but it doesn't really fit my perception of "cinema." It could very well have been a TV show...that's not a knock on TV but that's how I see it. If you like it that's great.