Something Wicked this way Comes

[WJWS Channel 13:Amity]

Anyone in the LA area that might be interested we are hosting a screening of Something Wicked This Way comes at the chinese 6 theatres on November 27th at 9pm.
Ill be moderating a Q&A with several of the animators as well as the assitant film editor and some of the cast.

[FatherDude]

Is that Barry Mark Gordon? The question I would want asked is whether the preview cut still exists. It seems somebody's got it on a DVD at least (see post #11), but maybe a 35mm print lay deep within the Disney vaults somewhere. I want to keep hope alive that it could emerge as an extra on an eventual Blu-ray release.

[wonkavision]

Originally Posted by WJWS Channel 13:Amity

Anyone in the LA area that might be interested we are hosting a screening of Something Wicked This Way comes at the chinese 6 theatres on November 27th at 9pm.
Ill be moderating a Q&A with several of the animators as well as the assitant film editor and some of the cast.

I hope the Q&A goes well and we get some cool info. Are you filming the Q&A?

[ghidorah]

Just wanted to bump this agin. I suppose I can't really complain as two of my favourites are finally getting a release this year ( Fearless Vampire Killers and From Beyond The Grave) but this is one of my most wanted films in HD.
The alternative cut would be great but I'll happily just settle for a good copy of the released version. There's just something about this terrific atmospheric wee film. I can see why it wasn't a big hit with mainstream audiences but for genre fans its sooooo good. The perfect Halloween time movie for autumn nights. Jonathan Price is outstanding in this and the scene between him and Jason Robards in the Library is just perfect!
Listening to James Horner's terrific score as I type this! Pleeeease someone put this out there!!!

[benkell]

^

I couldn't agree more, i absolutely love this movie. Fingers crossed(and everything else) for a Blu but i'm not holding my breath. Funnily enough i was recently listening to the unused score by Georges Delerue which is marvellous as well.

[brooklynne]

The original DVD release contains a commentary track from Ray Bradbury. He's quite candid about the problems involved in its production and for the less-than-perfect results.

[HotRats]

Ray Bradbury's wonderful novel is getting the deluxe treatment from Centipede Press. From their latest update:

Our edition of Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes is hitting the bindery this week. An oversize book, printed in color throughout, with a special gallery of old edition artwork, this book has an introduction by Neil Gaiman, wood engravings by Vladimir Zimakov, stereoscopic illustrations (with a viewer!) by David Ho, dustjacket artwork by Matt Mahurin, and is signed by Gaiman, Mahurin, Zimakov, and Ho. It also comes in a capped slipcase.
It is also one of more expensive items, due here in late May, right in the middle of a pandemic. If you want to be on the early notify list, please let me know. Anticipated retail is around $450.

[buck135]

I'd pay $450 for a blu-ray of this film.

[DaViD Boulet]

was just thinking of this film today and thought "huh, this is one classic that I don't think I own yet on blu-ray... let me read the blu-ray review" and then I discover that it's caught in Disney's reluctance to release live-action films (especially with darker themes) on blu.

Sigh.

Would absolutely love to have this properly in HD with lossless audio. Someday...

[Scoot79]

Originally Posted by brooklynne

The original DVD release contains a commentary track from Ray Bradbury. He's quite candid about the problems involved in its production and for the less-than-perfect results.

Really? Neither the original DVD (Anchor Bay, 1999) or the second DVD (Di$ney, 2004) mention it on the back cover.

[Aclea]

It was only on the laser disc.

[beamish13]

Hope the excised scenes still exist. Disney’s archivists tend to preserve more than other studios’.

Bradbury attended a screening of this at the Egyptian in L.A. about 12 years ago. He had some great anecdotes about it, and was as generally quite proud of the final product.

[FatherDude]

Surprised nobody has ripped the Bradbury commentary by now. There's an MP3 I would like to have.

Seeing Jack Clayton's preview cut remains bucket list material for me. It's probably too much to hope for that film elements exist, but when the Delerue score got released several years back, a DVD of the workprint was apparently screened in clips as part of a panel to showcase how the Delerue cues played in context. So somebody has something, in DVD quality anyway.

There's also an intriguing post on the Film Score Monthly boards:

I too loved the film growing up, got the Anchor Bay DVD (and am friends with the curator for that, Scott Michael Bosco) and was privvy to a LOT of behind the scenes bullshit that is so typical of Disney. I won't go in to that so publicly but I can tell you that, as of circa 2001, when the Anchor Bay dvd was first put out, all the the elements for the film, negatives, different prints of different cuts, sound cues, were being stored in PRISTINE condition...

I believe Scott Bosco is a user here (if I remember right he had posted in the thread for THE EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC collector's edition, a release he contributed to), so if anybody knows him and would care to politely steer him to this thread, I am sure we would all be grateful to hear anything he cared to share on the subject.

As far as the prospects of Disney taking action, I don't know what we are supposed to base any hopes on. The studio cannot even be bothered to throw a stream of the theatrical cut up on Disney+, so it's clear they are not interested in spending one thin dime on this title, and I don't know if they would be willing to license it out to a label like Shout! either. At least we have RETURN TO OZ in HD.

Hope springs eternal, I suppose.

[beamish13]

Originally Posted by FatherDude

Surprised nobody has ripped the Bradbury commentary by now. There's an MP3 I would like to have.

Seeing Jack Clayton's preview cut remains bucket list material for me. It's probably too much to hope for that film elements exist, but when the Delerue score got released several years back, a DVD of the workprint was apparently screened in clips as part of a panel to showcase how the Delerue cues played in context. So somebody has something, in DVD quality anyway.

There's also an intriguing post on the Film Score Monthly boards:



I believe Scott Bosco is a user here (if I remember right he had posted in the thread for THE EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC collector's edition, a release he contributed to), so if anybody knows him and would care to politely steer him to this thread, I am sure we would all be grateful to hear anything he cared to share on the subject.

As far as the prospects of Disney taking action, I don't know what we are supposed to base any hopes on. The studio cannot even be bothered to throw a stream of the theatrical cut up on Disney+, so it's clear they are not interested in spending one thin dime on this title, and I don't know if they would be willing to license it out to a label like Shout! either. At least we have RETURN TO OZ in HD.

Hope springs eternal, I suppose.

Thank you for this information. Yes, Disney has done an exemplary job with preserving their assets, but as evidenced by their treatment of other works like The Black Cauldron, they really aren’t taking advantage of them. What a shame

[FatherDude]

Wish partially granted, though being a Disney Movie Club release puts it out of reach of a distributor that might actually do it justice. I greatly look forward to the theatrical cut's HD debut, but Jack Clayton's discarded work remains white whale material.

[Marv Inc.]

Disney were one of the first studio's after MGM to start preserving there archive and releasing how important it was.
I'd believe they would have kept everything that was shot but they have never been big on doing special editions of there live action films so i expect nothing from this blu ray apart from good A/V.

[FatherDude]

I am happy to have the movie in HD, but zero effort was put into this presentation. It is clearly the same master that the old DVD was derived from - same debris patterns and everything - and honestly doesn't look much better than a DVD all in all.

I wonder why the studio doesn't just chuck this up on Disney+ while it's at it?

[FatherDude]

Hopefully this has at least been digitized.

Bradbury 101 Bonus Episode: Something Wicked This Way Comes - First Version Discovered - YouTube

[Watershipdownisgood]

I consider this film to be a very very dark and terrifying film I watched it last year and it scared me so much I had never seen it and wow it really holds up. And I’m an adult and that film has got to be one of the scariest and darkest Disney horror flicks ever made. That spider scene shiver shiver even though I don’t mind spiders that was scary.

Darkest Disney Films

1. Something Wicked this Way Comes
2. The Black Hole
3. The Black Cauldron
4. Hunchback of Notre Dame I love the book but I also love the movie too and they’re both super dark
5. Atlantis The Lost Empire
6. Fox and the Hound
7. Treasure Planet wonderful film still quite mature and dark

[Grinnygog]

Originally Posted by Watershipdownisgood

I consider this film to be a very very dark and terrifying film I watched it last year and it scared me so much I had never seen it and wow it really holds up. And I’m an adult and that film has got to be one of the scariest and darkest Disney horror flicks ever made. That spider scene shiver shiver even though I don’t mind spiders that was scary.

Darkest Disney Films

1. Something Wicked this Way Comes
2. The Black Hole
3. The Black Cauldron
4. Hunchback of Notre Dame I love the book but I also love the movie too and they’re both super dark
5. Atlantis The Lost Empire
6. Fox and the Hound
7. Treasure Planet wonderful film still quite mature and dark

Have you seen THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS? It's one of my Top 5 Favorite Films. I was surprised it wasn't on your list. I know that Di$ney would rather everyone forget about it - maybe their wish is coming true.......