Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[Dex Robinson]

Originally Posted by Brad1107

Has anyone from overseas received their NOTLD and Enemy Mine orders yet? I'm in Australia and didn't take the insurance for the first time so am sort of worrying that they won't turn up now.

By the way, if you do get the insurance, but your package doesn't show up... what happens if it's a title they've sold out of? Do they have a certain amount of extra copies for replacements and reviewers?

Don't sweat it.

Most of us Canadians (me included) haven't got our copies yet either (here's hoping for today).

As for replacements, I was reading just recently that Twilight Time have contingencies to provide replacements...they didn't specifically elaborate but it seems they have it covered.

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by Blu Titan

ahh, good find .

When I see something that strikingly different from the rest of the movie promo, I always wonder "Where did it come from?" "What was the inspiration?" With most TT covers and inserts, it's fairly easy to identify the source as a still or poster, but this one was the trickiest yet because I had to go outside North America to even find that image.

Thanks for humouring me though Blu...just my collector-detective curiosity at work here...a little game I play each month.

[Blueherring]

Originally Posted by Brad1107

Has anyone from overseas received their NOTLD and Enemy Mine orders yet? I'm in Australia and didn't take the insurance for the first time so am sort of worrying that they won't turn up now.

By the way, if you do get the insurance, but your package doesn't show up... what happens if it's a title they've sold out of? Do they have a certain amount of extra copies for replacements and reviewers?

I received my copy today in the mail and im in Aus.
received Enemy mine, NOTLD, Rapture and Swamp water.
All in good nick, but no magnets
I had asked for the generic magent with the picture of all the releases so far that I had seen some people have.
Its the only one i dont have, other than a couple of movies I dchose not to get that came with magnets.

[zeze]

Originally Posted by Dex Robinson

Don't sweat it.

Most of us Canadians (me included) haven't got our copies yet either (here's hoping for today).

As for replacements, I was reading just recently that Twilight Time have contingencies to provide replacements...they didn't specifically elaborate but it seems they have it covered.

I live in Canada and got my copies of Night of the Living Dead and Enemy Mine today.

[Mooch360]

Originally Posted by zeze

I live in Canada and got my copies of Night of the Living Dead and Enemy Mine today.

Mine came today.

[JoeDeM]

Mine came today as well

[Blu Titan]

NOTLD and EM were available for pre-order on 9/14. Any word on the pre-order date for The Rains of Ranchipur?

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by Blu Titan

NOTLD and EM were available for pre-order on 9/14. Any word on the pre-order date for The Rains of Ranchipur?

Next Friday, October 19th.

[Dex Robinson]

Man, I just dodged a bullet .

I'm always shooting my mouth off about guys getting suckered into paying the extra postage. I haven't had a package go missing in decades of mail order.

I thought maybe my luck finally ran out and I'd NEVER live it down. My Twilight Time movies generally arrive a week after I get the shipping notice. Well, I got the shipping notice for NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD on the 27th of September. As of my regular mail delivery today, IT STILL HADN'T SHOWN UP! I was right there when the mailman dropped of the mail...a phone bill and nothing else.

Geez, two weeks and a day.

Half an hour later, I'm leaving the house and I see the lid on my mailbox propped up. There it is: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD!

How odd. Why over two weeks? Who dropped it off...my regular mailman didn't.

A couple of us noticed that our discs took a side trip to Chicago about two weeks ago. Screen Archives did a great job of mailing the discs on time but I think the guy driving postal the truck from Virginia must have got lost .

But there's the lesson: Never lose hope. I declared this Blu-ray Missing in Action at 1:00PM and at 1:30PM I had it in my hands.

[kdo]

Originally Posted by Dex Robinson

I declared this Blu-ray Missing in Action at 1:00PM and at 1:30PM I had it in my hands.

Glad you got it...though I myself do hereby declare THIS Blu-ray to be "Missing in Action," and I'm sure

[Show spoiler]Chuck Norris

does as well

[LucasM2012]

Originally Posted by Dex Robinson

Man, I just dodged a bullet .
Well, I got the shipping notice for NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD on the 27th of September. As of my regular mail delivery today, IT STILL HADN'T SHOWN UP! I was right there when the mailman dropped of the mail...a phone bill and nothing else.

Half an hour later, I'm leaving the house and I see the lid on my mailbox propped up. There it is: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD!

How odd. Why over two weeks? Who dropped it off...my regular mailman didn't.

A possibility: my mail carrier, if it is a busy day (i.e. lots of people have lots of stuff being delivered) will make two passes by houses. The first is usually the normal mail (envelopes and such) the second is for any packages that were likely to not fit in peoples' boxes (for that, she usually does it in her USPS car, parking briefly in front of each house receiving a package). So it's possible that your carrier did a 'second run' if there were a number of packages being delivered in your stretch of your carrier's route.

...Either that, or a zombie worker carrying your set who left the post office at the same time as your regular carrier just - of course - took longer to carry the package to you.

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by ROclockCK

Next Friday, October 19th.

Thanks Rock. I am intriged by TROR. I watched A Flame Over India a few weeks ago and loved it. This is a different type of film, but should be well worth it due to the locations and actors involved.

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by Blu Titan

Thanks Rock. I am intriged by TROR. I watched A Flame Over India a few weeks ago and loved it. This is a different type of film, but should be well worth it due to the locations and actors involved.

Oh, glad you saw that little Rank gem too Blu. Dang, I wish it had been a better print and transfer, but even VCI's best effort given the state of the elements couldn't blunt my enjoyment of such a well conceived and produced historical adventure.

Actually, I grew up on these vintage Rank programmers, typically showing up on the second half of a Saturday matinee double-bill. In its heydey, that company had some of the best talent - literate writers and 'unfussy' directors, with dependable performers such as Kenneth More, plus very resourceful-with-a-buck craftsmen at every level. I mean, most of those films looked like they cost millions, and rarely came in for even a half or third. The zenith of that kind of frugal classiness were A Night to Remember and Sink the Bismarck, both of which, by no accident, also starred Kenneth More. He was Rank's star pony.

Two other wonderful Rank films with somewhat "meh" transfers from VCI (again, just what they had to work with) are Campbell's Kingdom and Genevieve (and there's that More lad again). Both movies were a blast for different reasons, but both had that unmistakable Rank mark of quality in the storytelling and production.

[JoeDeM]

Originally Posted by Dex Robinson

Man, I just dodged a bullet .

I'm always shooting my mouth off about guys getting suckered into paying the extra postage. I haven't had a package go missing in decades of mail order.

I thought maybe my luck finally ran out and I'd NEVER live it down. My Twilight Time movies generally arrive a week after I get the shipping notice. Well, I got the shipping notice for NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD on the 27th of September. As of my regular mail delivery today, IT STILL HADN'T SHOWN UP! I was right there when the mailman dropped of the mail...a phone bill and nothing else.

Geez, two weeks and a day.

Half an hour later, I'm leaving the house and I see the lid on my mailbox propped up. There it is: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD!

How odd. Why over two weeks? Who dropped it off...my regular mailman didn't.

A couple of us noticed that our discs took a side trip to Chicago about two weeks ago. Screen Archives did a great job of mailing the discs on time but I think the guy driving postal the truck from Virginia must have got lost .

But there's the lesson: Never lose hope. I declared this Blu-ray Missing in Action at 1:00PM and at 1:30PM I had it in my hands.

This is the first time I decided not to take the extra shipping and I was cursing you but it all worked out

[Dex Robinson]

Originally Posted by JoeDeM

This is the first time I decided not to take the extra shipping and I was cursing you but it all worked out

Yeah, if this package had gone missing I would have quietly disappeared from the forum never to be heard from again!

Paranoia was starting to set in. I would glance at the mailman and think, "That guy looks suspicious...I wonder if he took my disc". .

Let's hope the Chicago excursion is a one time anomaly. Discs to Canada used to go directly from Virginia to Canada. Some of us noticed that the discs went from Virginia to Chicago this time. That DOUBLED the transit time.

But at least we have an experience for future reference. If this happens again, we'll know not to panic.

There is, of course, always the chance that a package might go missing but that's a very, very low order of probability. As I look it, having ordered about 10 discs from Screen Archives using the basic shipping, I've saved over $100.00 already. That's enough to buy three Twilight Time discs! So the savings are already greater than the cost of any lost disc so I would still be well ahead financially. The problem with Night of the Living Dead is that, since it sold out before shipping, I wouldn't have been able to order it again even with my $100.00 in hand.

[bluknight1]

Originally Posted by HyperRealist

awesome! this would have been a killer cover.

Any ideas on how quickly this title will sell out?

[EddieLarkin]

Originally Posted by bluknight1

Any ideas on how quickly this title will sell out?

Possibly never, if we're being honest. Certainly not in the 3 year licence period.

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

Possibly never, if we're being honest. Certainly not in the 3 year licence period.

Agreed, up to a point Eddie. The Rains of Ranchipur is no doubt one of TT's vault MIA 'labour of love' titles. I'm sure there will be some initial curiosity or completist buys, but no matter how well produced and packaged, most modern audiences will not likely be racing to pre-order it...although its striking cover/insert artwork could have some fence-sitters intrigued enough to blind buy. What I don't agree with is your assumption that this title will not eventually sell out within TT's 3-year license window.

In all the excitement over the brisk sellouts of TT's twin barnstormers to date, Fright Night and Night of the Living Dead '90, what gets lost here sometimes is that these aren't the only TT Blu-rays selling. Several of their vintage catalogue titles have also done very well...just not as quickly...more of a 'tortoise and hare' thing. I mean, Journey to the Center of the Earth took 3 months to sell out, Mysterious Island about 9. Earlier in this thread Redman mentioned that there are 6 other TT titles (not identified by name) which will likely be sold out by the end of this year. So if SAE's cart is to be even remotely believed, then that corroborates his statement, because it shows 6 other TT Blu-rays already below 1000 (the magic 2/3 threshold for going into the black): The Big Heat (probably their next 500 left announcement), Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, Bye-Bye Birdie, The Egyptian, Demetrius and the Gladiators, and Bell, Book, and Candle. Except for The Egyptian, all of these Blu-rays have been in release for less than a year, most of them less than 6 months. Although none of them have been smashing sales records, all have been slow yet steady performers. It's safe to say that most if not all of those titles will be long gone by the close of TT's 3 year licensing window. Again, these are not hard number facts; I'm just going by Redman's own statements coupled with 'guestimates' based on SAE's not-always-reliable but not total science fiction cart counts.

So who knows exactly which way it will go with The Rains of Ranchipur? A month ago, I thought Bonjour Tristesse would be outselling it out of the gate, but after all the recent interest expressed here and elsewhere, I'm not so sure anymore. TT has certainly given TROR's packaging the royal treatment though. Total coin flip at this point.

[JoeDeM]

Originally Posted by ROclockCK

Agreed, up to a point Eddie. The Rains of Ranchipur is no doubt one of TT's vault MIA 'labour of love' titles. I'm sure there will be some initial curiosity or completist buys, but no matter how well produced and packaged, most modern audiences will not likely be racing to pre-order it...although its striking cover/insert artwork could have some fence-sitters intrigued enough to blind buy. What I don't agree with is your assumption that this title will not eventually sell out within TT's 3-year license window.

I think that TT should be posting a trailer on youtube for these more obscure titles, they really need to try and market this better, I know that I can't recall ever seeing this, so the first thing I did was a search for a trailer, and there is none to be found. The cover/insert is not enough to entice me since I'm not a completist I need more to get me excited.

[EddieLarkin]

3 years is a long time I suppose. I think for it to sell out it will need quite a bit of interest from people who have no prior familiarity with the film (people like myself). But after undertaking the research I always perform regarding the quality of a film when considering a new blind buy, I'm having difficulty coming up with anything other than "mediocre". I think it will see similar sales that Desiree has, which going from the lack of discussion here, I doubt is doing anywhere near as well as the 6 titles you've listed.

I'll probably pick it up myself, eventually, because it looks intriguing enough. But it'll only ever be something that gets added on to another order, when I get an itch to finally see it.

I think what will determine it's possible sell out most greatly, is how more well known Twilight Time becomes over the next couple of years. There no doubt is a couple of thousand people who would pay $35 for this release, its making them aware of its availability that is the key issue.

To counter that though, TROR is one of the few TT releases that has an equivalent release elsewhere in the world, for a much lower price (currently $13!). That will surely impact sales from TT's international customers if the quality of the disc is the same, and TT's domestic customers if the release is region free.