Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[Rory]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

The thing about him, I don't think he has anything to say. "The Prestige" and "Inception" are basically movies about making movies. But for entertainment/blockbuster movies, they are smarter than the competition.

To the extent that he's a writer, his writing is very thin and kind of lazy.

[RCRochester]

Guys, can we please not discuss Nolan here? This all started because a couple of us were talking about how discussions about him lead to negativity and now I can see that starting here on a thread where he's completely irrelevant.

[jayembee]

Pardon me if this has been mentioned, but I didn't notice it here.

From TT's Facebook page:

Just a heads-up that Oliver Stone's lovely HEAVEN & EARTH, the third in his Vietnam Trilogy following PLATOON and BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY, will be going OUT OF PRINT on Blu-ray very soon...we have specially priced it at $9.95 in our current sale, and the last 250 copies are only available at http://www.screenarchives.com - we'd rather give fans an opportunity to have the title inexpensively than to needlessly destroy the extant stock, so get it while you can!

[thatguamguy]

Interesting -- that sometimes means that there's going to be a new release, but would Warner waste a slot in the Archive on a movie that has already sold 2700 copies from Twilight Time?

[Rory]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

Guys, can we please not discuss Nolan here? This all started because a couple of us were talking about how discussions about him lead to negativity and now I can see that starting here on a thread where he's completely irrelevant.

I'm all for that since I basically consider him overrated.

Wait until I get DOCTOR DOLITTLE. I'm going to want to talk about that one.

In the meantime, how many here bought JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (1959), both TT editions, or just one? I never tire of talking about the movie.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

Interesting -- that sometimes means that there's going to be a new release, but would Warner waste a slot in the Archive on a movie that has already sold 2700 copies from Twilight Time?

I presume that it's because the title is coming up on the end of its 3-year licensing window. It went up for pre-order on 2014 11 19, and released on 2014 12 09. Apparently, Warner doesn't want to extend the rights until it's sold out.

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by jayembee

I presume that it's because the title is coming up on the end of its 3-year licensing window. It went up for pre-order on 2014 11 19, and released on 2014 12 09. Apparently, Warner doesn't want to extend the rights until it's sold out.

I was under the impression that Twilight Time's standard practice was to license the right to sell 3000 copies; I thought that the three years was the length of exclusivity, not the length of the license. But, then again, based on the situation with "American Buffalo", the "We are going to destroy these in the near future" thing is probably just a bluff.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

I was under the impression that Twilight Time's standard practice was to license the right to sell 3000 copies; I thought that the three years was the length of exclusivity, not the length of the license. But, then again, based on the situation with "American Buffalo", the "We are going to destroy these in the near future" thing is probably just a bluff.

Good point, but Brad1963 also brought up a good point.

On edit: Looks like Brad's post disappeared. Maybe it wasn't such a good point after all.

On the other hand, given that Warner seemed reluctant to license the title in the first place (being persuaded by Stone to do so), their contract might have specified that the rights to sell them ended at 3 years as well.

With American Buffalo, I've assumed that they managed to work out something with the new owners of the film.

Without knowing the details about what's in the contracts, it's all speculation.

[Brad1963]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

I was under the impression that Twilight Time's standard practice was to license the right to sell 3000 copies; I thought that the three years was the length of exclusivity, not the length of the license. But, then again, based on the situation with "American Buffalo", the "We are going to destroy these in the near future" thing is probably just a bluff.

MGM lost the rights to American Buffalo and Twilight Time was asked initially to destroy left over copies. They must have worked out an agreement. Heaven & Earth is a Regency title, maybe WB lost rights to it to Fox.

[Brad1963]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Good point, but Brad1963 also brought up a good point.

On edit: Looks like Brad's post disappeared. Maybe it wasn't such a good point after all.

On the other hand, given that Warner seemed reluctant to license the title in the first place (being persuaded by Stone to do so), their contract might have specified that the rights to sell them ended at 3 years as well.

With American Buffalo, I've assumed that they managed to work out something with the new owners of the film.

Without knowing the details about what's in the contracts, it's all speculation.

I reworded it and just replied again. Sorry about that.

[deltatauhobbit]

Originally Posted by Brad1963

MGM lost the rights to American Buffalo and Twilight Time was asked initially to destroy left over copies. They must have worked out an agreement. Heaven & Earth is a Regency title, maybe WB lost rights to it to Fox.

It really doesn't make sense that they would need to destroy any remaining copies after the license if up, even less reason when it's already limited to 3000 units. Their contract was for that amount, they made that amount. Plus, a studio can't tell a retailer to destroy copies of something they bought legally from a distributor, so Twilight Time would just needs to "sell" all remaining copies to SAE instead of SAE acting like a distributor of their product (or some other retailer if there's any interest). I'd understand though if Twilight Time couldn't sell those titles directly anymore but once it's out of their hands you can't tell 3rd parties what to do with that product anymore, if companies had that power eBay would be shut down instantly.

[Brad1963]

Originally Posted by deltatauhobbit

It really doesn't make sense that they would need to destroy any remaining copies after the license if up, even less reason when it's already limited to 3000 units. Their contract was for that amount, they made that amount. Plus, a studio can't tell a retailer to destroy copies of something they bought legally from a distributor, so Twilight Time would just needs to "sell" all remaining copies to SAE instead of SAE acting like a distributor of their product (or some other retailer if there's any interest). I'd understand though if Twilight Time couldn't sell those titles directly anymore but once it's out of their hands you can't tell 3rd parties what to do with that product anymore, if companies had that power eBay would be shut down instantly.

Perhaps the lawyers are saying differently. Fox and Regency may want it completely off the market because of near future plans. The TT contract was for a 3,000 unit window for three years. Maybe there was a clause in the agreement that stated what should be done with remaining copies after the window ends. Since is was 'one-off' title with WB it may have had different terms than they do with the other labels with work with.

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by Brad1963

MGM lost the rights to American Buffalo and Twilight Time was asked initially to destroy left over copies. They must have worked out an agreement. Heaven & Earth is a Regency title, maybe WB lost rights to it to Fox.

Great point. Unless a better explanation comes along, that is plausible enough for me.

[Reddington]

Was just about to place an order with SAE when I saw the low quantity alert for Heaven and Earth. On the whole I like Oliver Stone and have a couple of movies in my collection. And Robert Richardson is one of the best cinematographers working today. I've bought plenty of Criterion blind buys at over twice the $9.95 price...but I just can't seem to work up the enthusiasm for this one, for some reason that I can't quite articulate.

The review, while highlighting the cinematography, doesn't exactly praise the PQ. Or maybe it's the subject matter that doesn't appeal?

Anyone care to get me off the fence?

[RCRochester]

I think Warner Bros. are just playing hardball with Twilight Time over Heaven & Earth. They don't like to licence and were forced to in this instance by Oliver Stone. Hopefully all copies are snapped up because it would be unfortunate if unsold copies had to be destroyed just because they have a bug up their butt about independent labels releasing their properties. I like Warners, I think their Warner Archive releases are fantastic, but I really wish they were more liberal with licencing titles.

[deto]

Just ordered 9 to 5 and A Midsummers Night Sex Comedy

[Martin_31]

Today I watched Moby Dick because it was resting in my unwatched pile, and I finished reading the novel Wednesday. I liked the movie, somewhat. I’m not sure if the production of the film was tempered with, or the source was too difficult to adapt into a film but overall the movie was average. Either way the ending of the movie was amazing. Gregory Peck’s voice was what I’d picture Ahab sounding like, especially when he says ye, wrinkled brow, etc. I think Peck nailed Ahab’s speech. And the special effects are actually really, really well done. I actually like when all the crew sing; it’s wonderful but melancholy. Usually films I feel or I think are average, I end up thinking about them for a couple of days after, then I end up liking them more.

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

I think Warner Bros. are just playing hardball with Twilight Time over Heaven & Earth. They don't like to licence and were forced to in this instance by Oliver Stone. Hopefully all copies are snapped up because it would be unfortunate if unsold copies had to be destroyed just because they have a bug up their butt about independent labels releasing their properties. I like Warners, I think their Warner Archive releases are fantastic, but I really wish they were more liberal with licencing titles.

I think a big part of that attitude is the long-running bitterness over their pre-1949 library being sold to AAP for a song, who then sold to United Artists, and the years during which they didn't even completely own the Warner Bros. lot anymore (between 1971-83 it was known as the Burbank Studios and co-owned by Columbia). It's like one of those Sicilian families that lost their land and title a few generations ago and after years of killing everyone who stood in their way to get it back are desperate to keep everything in the family.

[dkelly26666]

One last note: thatguamguy, I agree with you completely about Nolan. If he hadn't done Batman movies, he wouldn't be this 'filmmaking God' that these guys consider him to be. Now, I'll leave it at that.

[LPMA]

Does anyone have noir/neo-noir recommendations for titles that are part of the sale?