Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[tyee]

@Blu-Velvet
I see you mentioned First Men in The Moon. Any word of it's release?

[chriszilla]

Originally Posted by tyee

@Blu-Velvet
I see you mentioned First Men in The Moon. Any word of it's release?

I remember TT mentioning earlier this year that FIRST MEN IN THE MOON was slated for a 2015 release. Some of us were surprised that TT was planning out its release schedule two years in advance!

Blu-Velvet may have further info, but the latest I heard was tentative for 2015. Hopefully THREE WORLDS OF GULLIVER will also be coming from them. You'd think that one would be even more desirable to them, given their fondness for isolated score tracks, due to the presence of Bernard Herrmann.

And I dearly hope someone releases the full uncut version of ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. A deluxe edition from Arrow would really be nice! But I'll gladly take a TT release, as well.

[jlk5844]

Originally Posted by Blu-Velvet

If you thought JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS was just okay, then you'll probably be underwhelmed by the two late Sinbad movies, which are not quite as good as either that film or the original SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD. The Harryhausen effects are the primary attraction of all of them, but JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS has the strongest story line. But both it and MYSTERIOUS ISLAND are a bit below FIRST MEN IN THE MOON, which remains my favorite Harryhausen.

As far as spending $60 plus shipping for two movies on Blu-ray (with a quality equivalent to a high-quality 16mm or decent 35mm film print), that is roughly the price of a well-used, fair-quality 16mm B&W dupe of one film, so it remains a bargain, whatever jaded Blu-ray buyers who are used to $5 bargain-bin discs complain about. People who don't like the films simply shouldn't bother to buy it at any price. People who like the films should be happy to get them at such an affordable price. A decent new 16mm print would be around $500 (maybe $200 for a used print) and a new 35mm print would be more like $2000 (though a used print might be more like $350-$1000, depending on condition). Shipping would also be substantially higher on any film print, especially 35mm.

If you like the film, then $30 is next to nothing to own it, along with a few bonus features. If you don't like it, then $5 is too much to spend. I, for example would not buy a 2-D Blu-ray copy of AVATAR for over $5 or a 3-D copy for over $15 (and wouldn't get a DVD unless somebody gave it to me for free), but I'll spend $30 easily for Blu-rays of CINERAMA HOLIDAY and most (but not all) of Twilight Times pre-1980 releases.

I'm not complaining about the price to begin with. If I loved both it would be no problem to spend $30 each, even though they should be $10 ea outside of TT to begin with. I get what you're saying, I'd buy Star Trek Into Darkness for $20 but I didn't even touch A Good Day to Die Hard at $6.96 during Black Friday deals. These are more movies that I didn't have a big interest in beforehand, but I like Harryhausen's effects work. At this point, and with their limited quantity going down, I'm forced to make a choice about ever owning these films in HD probably before the end of the year. And since they're $30 each, it's a little more to ask for in my case for a blind buy for movies that I probably wouldn't have gotten around to for awhile, but I don't want to miss my chance of ever owning them on Blu-ray. Because of the return on these once they go OOP, it lessens the perceived blow to my wallet if I don't care for them. Anyway, I'll watch GV and see what I think.

[Member-222782]

The Sinbad films are already shipping according to a poster on Horror Digital.

[PowellPressburger]

Originally Posted by cine74

The Sinbad films are already shipping according to a poster on Horror Digital.

I think you are right. Mine shows tracking as shipped on their website. No email yet. So they have started shipping :-)

[RalphoR]

My Sinbad movies say Status: Pending but it does have a tracking number assigned to it. Not sure what that means....maybe ready for shipping but not yet mailed?

[RalphoR]

Five minutes later I got an email saying my items have shipped. Guess that answers my question

[mhp68]

Got my shipping email for the 2 Sinbad titles, can't wait to watch these next week!

[baheidstu]

Originally Posted by cine74

The Sinbad films are already shipping according to a poster on Horror Digital.

Yep, just got my shipping notice. I'm out of town until the 15th so it won't matter to me anyway it's good though because the last time I preordered they didn't ship until about a week AFTER street date

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by jlk5844

And since they're $30 each, it's a little more to ask for in my case for a blind buy for movies that I probably wouldn't have gotten around to for awhile, but I don't want to miss my chance of ever owning them on Blu-ray. Because of the return on these once they go OOP, it lessens the perceived blow to my wallet if I don't care for them. Anyway, I'll watch GV and see what I think.

It's really to soon to say whether you'll never have a chance of owning them on Blu-ray. As I understand it, TT gets exclusive (North American) rights for three years, which means that in 2017 they'll be up for grabs again. Now, TT might renew their license (if Sony lets them) for another three years, but that would require them to abandon their 3000-copy limit.

All this is no guarantee that Sony will ever want to put them out on BD themselves. But they might license them to Shout! Factory or Olive or who knows who else. Hell, there's no guarantee that BDs will even be around in 2017. The studios might push for a digital-download-based system. Not likely, but it does seem like that's the way they want to go, especially for back-catalog titles.

[MTRodaba2468]

Originally Posted by jayembee

All this is no guarantee that Sony will ever want to put them out on BD themselves. But they might license them to Shout! Factory or Olive or who knows who else. Hell, there's no guarantee that BDs will even be around in 2017. The studios might push for a digital-download-based system. Not likely, but it does seem like that's the way they want to go, especially for back-catalog titles.

If they do license them out, it won't be to Shout. Shout has gone on record saying that Sony wouldn't let them create their own extras, so that's why they're not doing any of their titles.

[EManT2200]

I also got an email today stating that both Sinbads have shipped.

[jlk5844]

Originally Posted by jayembee

It's really to soon to say whether you'll never have a chance of owning them on Blu-ray. As I understand it, TT gets exclusive (North American) rights for three years, which means that in 2017 they'll be up for grabs again. Now, TT might renew their license (if Sony lets them) for another three years, but that would require them to abandon their 3000-copy limit.

All this is no guarantee that Sony will ever want to put them out on BD themselves. But they might license them to Shout! Factory or Olive or who knows who else. Hell, there's no guarantee that BDs will even be around in 2017. The studios might push for a digital-download-based system. Not likely, but it does seem like that's the way they want to go, especially for back-catalog titles.

It took this long. I see this being their only home video release for quite awhile. Even if they are eventually licensed out and rereleased, I wouldn't want to wait 3 years, which sadly is the case with me for Fright Night right now. Honestly, why doesn't Sony license their films out to other companies, why bother with Twilight Time? Does no other studio want them? I can't imagine no studio wouldn't want to get their hands on Body Double or Christine or Fright Night, or even these Sinbad films. So Sony doesn't care about these titles but they still want a little something out of 'em? That's really cruddy on their part.

[baheidstu]

Originally Posted by jlk5844

It took this long. I see this being their only home video release for quite awhile. Even if they are eventually licensed out and rereleased, I wouldn't want to wait 3 years, which sadly is the case with me for Fright Night right now. Honestly, why doesn't Sony license their films out to other companies, why bother with Twilight Time? Does no other studio want them? I can't imagine no studio wouldn't want to get their hands on Body Double or Christine or Fright Night, or even these Sinbad films. So Sony doesn't care about these titles but they still want a little something out of 'em? That's really cruddy on their part.

Gawd, I know I've said more than my share about this topic in the past but it's getting really tiresome reading complaints over and over again about TTs business model etc. Maybe this thread should be bifurcated with a new forum designed specifically for b*tching about TT and another for everything else.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by jlk5844

Honestly, why doesn't Sony license their films out to other companies, why bother with Twilight Time? Does no other studio want them? I can't imagine no studio wouldn't want to get their hands on Body Double or Christine or Fright Night, or even these Sinbad films. So Sony doesn't care about these titles but they still want a little something out of 'em? That's really cruddy on their part.

It's business. To corporate bean-counters films aren't art, they're product. And, unfortunately, as long as they own the films, they can do whatever they want with them, including doing nothing.

With respect to Sony themselves, I doubt that they don't care about the films. The problem comes down to whether they think their profit margin on a given title will be large enough to justify the expense of prepping it for release. That's why I'm convinced that the studios would prefer to go to a digital-download-based system. It's easier and cheaper for them: no having to author discs, create all the extras that consumers have come to expect, have the discs pressed and distributed. Already, several of the studios have implemented a half-way measure: the Manufacture On Demand DVD-R.

On the positive side, Sony is certainly now willing to license to Criterion. On the Waterfront and 3:10 to Yuma are two examples of Columbia titles that have already come out from Criterion, and more are on the way. The downside is that Criterion has a lot of irons in the fire, and can only do so much. And a lot of the niche genre films aren't likely to get released by them. Sure, they've done some -- Robinson Crusoe on Mars and The Blob (the original) to name two -- but not that many. They did release Jason and the Argonauts back in their laserdisc days, so it wouldn't be beyond belief that they could do so on BD (they would already have a bunch of extras to use).

[Blu-Velvet]

Originally Posted by EManT2200

I also got an email today stating that both Sinbads have shipped.

I just ordered mine this past Monday, along with ROYAL FLASH plus a few other earlier releases of pre-1970 classics I hadn't gotten around to ordering yet, so maybe they're shipping them in order of receipt. Anyway, they're theoretically due out next Tuesday, so I expect I should have them and the rest by mid-December.

[bluknight1]

Originally Posted by baheidstu

Gawd, I know I've said more than my share about this topic in the past but it's getting really tiresome reading complaints over and over again about TTs business model etc. Maybe this thread should be bifurcated with a new forum designed specifically for b*tching about TT and another for everything else.

Originally Posted by jayembee

It's business. To corporate bean-counters films aren't art, they're product. And, unfortunately, as long as they own the films, they can do whatever they want with them, including doing nothing.

With respect to Sony themselves, I doubt that they don't care about the films. The problem comes down to whether they think their profit margin on a given title will be large enough to justify the expense of prepping it for release. That's why I'm convinced that the studios would prefer to go to a digital-download-based system. It's easier and cheaper for them: no having to author discs, create all the extras that consumers have come to expect, have the discs pressed and distributed. Already, several of the studios have implemented a half-way measure: the Manufacture On Demand DVD-R.

On the positive side, Sony is certainly now willing to license to Criterion. On the Waterfront and 3:10 to Yuma are two examples of Columbia titles that have already come out from Criterion, and more are on the way. The downside is that Criterion has a lot of irons in the fire, and can only do so much. And a lot of the niche genre films aren't likely to get released by them. Sure, they've done some -- Robinson Crusoe on Mars and The Blob (the original) to name two -- but not that many. They did release Jason and the Argonauts back in their laserdisc days, so it wouldn't be beyond belief that they could do so on BD (they would already have a bunch of extras to use).

I'm surprised that Sony didn't give All the King's Men to Criterion, given the status of that film.

Regarding bifurcation of this thread, it won't do any good, because there will always be some opposition to Twilight Time posted in the thread populated by the Twilight Time loyalists.

[cmleidi]

Originally Posted by Blu-Velvet

I just ordered mine this past Monday, along with ROYAL FLASH plus a few other earlier releases of pre-1970 classics I hadn't gotten around to ordering yet, so maybe they're shipping them in order of receipt. Anyway, they're theoretically due out next Tuesday, so I expect I should have them and the rest by mid-December.

I ordered them a minute after they went on pre-order, and I haven't received any shipping notices. Last time, I ordered them the same time, and they didn't ship until a week after most orders had been sent out. Don't know why I'm low man on the totem pole when it comes to shipping out. SA used to be so fast at mailing out items.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by cmleidi

I ordered them a minute after they went on pre-order, and I haven't received any shipping notices. Last time, I ordered them the same time, and they didn't ship until a week after most orders had been sent out. Don't know why I'm low man on the totem pole when it comes to shipping out. SA used to be so fast at mailing out items.

How many items did you order? It seems SAE usually ships based on the following pattern: 1) later orders prior to early orders (LIFO), 2) smaller orders before larger ones and 3) US orders prior to international orders.

[oildude]

It also seems that they ship closer to home first. They are based in Virginia, and it seems east coast gets initial shipping notices.