Scream Factory Blu-ray Discussion Thread

[jthefrank]

I think that is very true. If Die Monster Die or Beast of Hollow Mountain had come out in 2018 instead of when they did, there is no way I would have justified a purchase considering how much other stuff I still need to get.

[zbinks]

Their comments re: niche titles seemed to be aimed more at content for which they would have to pay a, presumably expensive, licensing fee. The Wasp Woman is a different scenario, because they own territorial rights to it, outright, through Corman. There are no additional licensing fees that would need to be paid.

[JackForrester]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

Ah so they did licence Candyman from Universal... And as expected, they're collaborating with Arrow on the release.

Other points:

- Dracula: Prince of Darkness will have a new 4K restoration from the original negative.

- 'More than a few' Hammer films coming in 2019. I think Jeff might have said 'a lot'. The deal is with Hammer themselves, as people speculated. And they went quiet when The Devil Rides Out was mentioned.

- More NECA figures are 'in the works'

- They'd 'love to get' Valentine

- New scan of Creepshow from the OCN, supervised by the DoP

- Sounds like they might not be taking as many risks on obscure titles in future, as certain releases are falling short of expectations (The Spell was cited as one example, but then, I'd ask how many copies of that film they expected to shift)

- Exorcist 2 will contain two cuts (the 102 minute one being the other), both from new scans

- 'Still trying' for Alligator

Nothing on TCM: Next Generation?

[zbinks]

Originally Posted by JackForrester

Nothing on TCM: Next Generation?

They mentioned lawyers.

[Catastrophe]

Originally Posted by zbinks

They mentioned lawyers.

Oh dear...

Who wants to bet it gets pushed back even further?

Or..dare I say it..cancelled?

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by zbinks

They mentioned lawyers.

Yeah, they mentioned that there’s a reason why titles like Firestarter and Misery don’t show the actor’s faces. Either the price of licensing their likeness is too high, or the actors don’t want their likeness used at all.

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by Catastrophe

Oh dear...

Who wants to bet it gets pushed back even further?

Or..dare I say it..cancelled?

They were just talking about the actor’s faces on the cover. Apparently their lawyers told SF to remove them.

[RedHarvest]

Originally Posted by TripleHBK

This new mindset is concerning particularly if/when the Wasp Woman bombs. Films like Sorority House Massacre 2, Hard to Die, and even Munchies are releases I've been really, really wanting for a long time but none of them carry the mainstream appeal banner that Scream Factory could be touting moving forward.

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

I’m thinking that since they have the Corman deal, they will be the exception. But many obscure films from MGM, Universal, WB, Sony, etc could all be on the chopping block.

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

They basically said that they’ve been chewed out by their superiors for the titles that underperformed. This tells me that they’re mostly going to go the safe route (mainstream stuff and double dips).

It’s unfortunate, but I’m not surprised. After all, many of these obscure non-collectors edition releases are priced just a few dollars less than the mainstream collectors editions with lots of extras. I have to wonder how these obscure title would sell if they had sales like Kino, where they could be had for $10 or so? For many, these are blind buys, and most people just won’t spend $20 on a blind buy.

For the titles that SF has to pass on, hopefully smaller studios like Arrow, Kino, Vinegar, etc can release them.

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

It’s DOA. They have to know that. Maybe they have to release it as part of the Corman deal or something?

You make a strong point. If they were selling the non-CEs in special sales for $8-$12 every couple of months, the way Kino does, they would probably move a lot more. I know I would pick up titles I don't have and haven't seen if they were priced better. Now I'm starting to wonder if maybe the Sorority House Massacre/Hard to Die release was cancelled...

[jshaide]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

Yeah, they mentioned that there’s a reason why titles like Firestarter and Misery don’t show the actor’s faces. Either the price of licensing their likeness is too high, or the actors don’t want their likeness used at all.

I think this was a reason why they couldn't make new art for DEATH BECOMES HER.

[jshaide]

Are the Scream guys supposed to be on some podcast soon? I remember someone posted a date fairly recently but I can't remember when or which podcast.

[Catastrophe]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

Yeah, they mentioned that there’s a reason why titles like Firestarter and Misery don’t show the actor’s faces. Either the price of licensing their likeness is too high, or the actors don’t want their likeness used at all.

And why they were forced to use the alternate poster as the front-facing cover art for Death Becomes Her (and the theatrical poster was on the reverse).

[osubuckly]

Originally Posted by jshaide

Are the Scream guys supposed to be on some podcast soon? I remember someone posted a date fairly recently but I can't remember when or which podcast.

Shock Waves. It is up now.

[jshaide]

Originally Posted by osubuckly

Shock Waves. It is up now.

Cool. That'll pass some time on a long drive later.

[AKORIS]

Originally Posted by BrianJoynt

You make a strong point. If they were selling the non-CEs in special sales for $8-$12 every couple of months, the way Kino does, they would probably move a lot more. I know I would pick up titles I don't have and haven't seen if they were priced better. Now I'm starting to wonder if maybe the Sorority House Massacre/Hard to Die release was cancelled...

no kidding! It's amazing really that the Collector's Editions seem to have better sales and pricing than the non-CE's....
$14.99 is now getting to be a familiar sale price while the standard releases just seem to sit at the $20 mark forever (The Car, Dead Of Winter, Virus, etc etc)

That doesn't make much sense to me...

[jthefrank]

Yeah, seems like you've been able to get the CEs for about $20 since the beginning.

Whereas stuff like Dark Angel and Q could be pre-ordered for $9. And now those same types of titles are usually over $20, and rarely under $18

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

They were just talking about the actor’s faces on the cover. Apparently their lawyers told SF to remove them.

Which fundamentally goes back to one of my biggest complaints with most commissioned artwork pieces... they are nothing but floating heads/faces. It boggles my mind why this continues to be an issue. If not having actors faces on the cover makes the releases easier to release, then stop putting them on the covers! This also likely explains ALOT of why Arrow and Criterion releases look the way they do.

Scream Factory can invoke that 1980's video shop feel without resorting to actors faces plastered all over. I've said it before but, find a scene from the movie or even a theme that runs throughout and use that as the basis for the new artwork. Most of these covers are way WAY too busy for my liking. Some of my favorites feature a single focal point image with little to nothing else on the cover.

[jshaide]

Originally Posted by jthefrank

Yeah, seems like you've been able to get the CEs for about $20 since the beginning.

Whereas stuff like Dark Angel and Q could be pre-ordered for $9. And now those same types of titles are usually over $20, and rarely under $18

This is why Scream complaining about low sales for certain things is kind of obnoxious. Their price points really aren't great, especially comparatively to things like Kino, Olive, etc. Even Arrows can be had for better deals.

[zbinks]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

They were just talking about the actor’s faces on the cover. Apparently their lawyers told SF to remove them.

Yeah, it's around the 1:21 - 1:23 mark.

Jeff Nelson: "Likenesses on artwork is becoming more of a problem."

Jeff Nelson: "... you guys can kind of make the sort of good guess of why we had to change the artwork on that..."

Cliff MacMillan: "Some lawyers would rather we just be quiet, at this point."

[AKORIS]

Originally Posted by jshaide

This is why Scream complaining about low sales for certain things is kind of obnoxious. Their price points really aren't great, especially comparatively to things like Kino, Olive, etc. Even Arrows can be had for better deals.

on top of that, I can buy 4k releases for less than B-grade non-collector's editions!

Lower these titles to a $14.99 msrp and then have the online retailers offer them for $10 to $12 bucks and watch their sales sky rocket.

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by AKORIS

on top of that, I can buy 4k releases for less than B-grade non-collector's editions!

Lower these titles to a $14.99 msrp and then have the online retailers offer them for $10 to $12 bucks and watch their sales sky rocket.

The MSRP doesn't even need to be that low. Just have quality sales the way that Arrow does. Twice (at least) per year sales which see markdowns equivalent to what Scream Factory offered Last summer (or Arrow consistently offers in the UK) and sales will go up. I've already bought multiple Scream Factory titles at Best Buy at the $14.99 price point that I never guessed I would have purchased, so clearly that price point is a success with me. Even if I couldn't get it in person offering all the titles at that price a few times a year would have me scrambling to own everything they put out each time a sale would roll along.