Creature (85) Director's Cut coming soon (Titan Find)

[Mr. Thomsen]

I believe he does own it himself, which is why he was able to release the limited edition DVD. But, yeah, maybe he is asking too much for it. AFAIK he paid for the transfer etc. out of his own pocket, so he probably wants to see that investment back.

I am SO pissed at myself for not getting the DVD when it was available.

[zbinks]

Rights may very well be an issue. This probably would've been amongst the films MGM acquired when it bought Orion and The Samuel Goldwyn Company from Metromedia in 1997.

[Show spoiler]

Creature & 4 other titles; motion picture photoplays.

Type of Work: Recorded Document
Document Number: V2151P039
Date of Recordation: 1985-11-08
Entire Copyright Document: V2151P039 (Single page document)
Date of Execution: 18Oct85
Title: Creature & 4 other titles; motion picture photoplays.
Notes: Transfer of rights.
Party 1: T W E Productions, Inc.
Party 2: the Samuel Goldwyn Company.

Links: List of Titles

Names: TWE Productions, Inc.
Samuel Goldwyn Company.



This list contains titles in document V2151P039

Document title: Creature & 4 other titles; motion picture photoplays.

The complete document is: V2151P039 (Single page document)



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

List of titles:
001 Creature.

002 Thunder warrior.

003 White fire.

004 No time to die.

005 The Tomb.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

End of titles list for document V2151P039
This is not a legal document.

How to obtain a copy of a recorded document: http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ06.pdf

[Mr. Thomsen]

Originally Posted by Christian Muth

But if MGM- and not Malone- are the actual rights-holders, what difference would that make? I found it odd that this was streaming on Netflix at the same time Malone was selling his restored DVD. If he owned it, surely he would have put a stop to the Netflix stream? And yet the opposite seems to have happened- he had all sorts of plans for it and they came to an abrupt end. Sounds like he was cease-and-desisted by MGM.

Valid question. However, streaming rights are not necessarily tied up with the rights to release it on disc. And there may also be to consider that the version Malone released himself was the DC which is different from the version available for streaming (and released on fullscreen DVD elsewhere).

[Lacenaire]

No one's even selling the DVD on eBay or Amazon for $500.

Must have been extremely limited if even profiteers and opportunists didn't get the chance to lay their hands on it.

[iamnoone]

Originally Posted by Lacenaire

No one's even selling the DVD on eBay or Amazon for $500.

Must have been extremely limited if even profiteers and opportunists didn't get the chance to lay their hands on it.

There were a few for sale on Amazon a few months ago priced at well over $100, but they're all gone now. The reviewers there even called the sellers bad names because they apparently didn't get one in time and are po'd. lol. But there are none for sale there anymore so I guess the sellers got their prices, although I don't think it was $500!

[Kentai]

Originally Posted by Mr. Thomsen

Valid question. However, streaming rights are not necessarily tied up with the rights to release it on disc.

True, the rights themselves are different, but it'd be VERY unusual for a studio to outright own one and not the other. Sell them separately - say, streaming to Netflix and video to Shout Factory - sure, that's pretty standard. But ownership for ALL distribution methods would go back to whoever holds the copyrights, which are presumably still MGM.

Odds are Malone didn't own the rights to the movie itself, even if he's in possession of the 35mm materials. Whoever legally holds the copyright to a film holds the rights to distribute it themselves or pass those rights off to a third party, but if MGM didn't specifically sell the video rights, they're still in their position to hold onto them, even if all they're doing is squatting on them.

Studios will often ignore small-scale potential infringements, but if Malone was trying to sell the implicit rights to the film itself, MGM's lawyers probably noticed and told him to knock that s**t right off. Stuff like fan edits and copies of workprints are typically so small in scale that even issuing a legal threat just isn't worth it. (I'm sure if MGM really wanted to they could stomp that Albert Pyun "CA" workprint out of existance, but it's such an oddity, why would they even care?)

And there may also be to consider that the version Malone released himself was the DC which is different from the version available for streaming (and released on fullscreen DVD elsewhere).

Poor guy... so not only would a licensor have to make him an offer for everything he sunk into it, but they'd also have to get MGM to sign off on the whole thing.

I hate to say it, but Arrow Video - or another, non-US distributor - might actually be worth exploring. The market in the UK, Australia and pretty much any European nation is smaller, and thus licensing fees tend to cost less. You usually have to start slapping on region-locks or forced subtitles or whatever, but it'd be something!

A shame. I've always wanted to see this flick, but never wanted to waste my time with the old pan-scan/cut copies that have been floating around for ages.

[omenboy]

Originally Posted by Lacenaire

No one's even selling the DVD on eBay or Amazon for $500.

Must have been extremely limited if even profiteers and opportunists didn't get the chance to lay their hands on it.

It was extremely limited - if I remember correctly, after a very short window when it was available to order, it suddenly vanished from Dark Delicacies website and a planned dvd signing event was abruptly and mysteriously canceled.

It was unclear whether even the dvd was going to ever ship at all, and then only the orders that had been received before it was taken off the DD website were filled and shipped (with the signature of Malone).

[bgart13]

I got it without any problems from Del. Also sold it for $75 a month or two ago (needed the cash). If MGM does indeed own it - I understand they own the neg - Arrow or Shout Factory would be ideal since they both have been licensing from MGM.

[MTRodaba2468]

Originally Posted by Mr. Thomsen

Boy, do I regret not getting that DVD. I was lured into passiveness by all Malone's talk about an upcoming deal with a distributor, so I thought I might as well wait for the inevitable BD...

I wonder if it ever will appear.

Same here. That was the only reason I didn't place an order when DD had it up.

[Mr. Thomsen]

Originally Posted by Kentai

Odds are Malone didn't own the rights to the movie itself, even if he's in possession of the 35mm materials. Whoever legally holds the copyright to a film holds the rights to distribute it themselves or pass those rights off to a third party, but if MGM didn't specifically sell the video rights, they're still in their position to hold onto them, even if all they're doing is squatting on them.

You are, of course, right. The only situation I can think of that might alter the situation is if the movie was a negative pick-up. But then, presumedly, MGM wouldn't be in the possession of the negative, which I understand they are.

Originally Posted by Kentai

A shame. I've always wanted to see this flick, but never wanted to waste my time with the old pan-scan/cut copies that have been floating around for ages.

It's not a great film, but as Alien rip-offs go, it's one of the better and fairly entertaining. Klaus Kinski is, as always, a hoot.

I was so stupid to get the DVD that was released in the UK a couple of years back. There was a rumor going around that it was supposed to be a new widescreen transfer. But after quite a while there still was no review of it available, so I took a chance and ordered it anyway. Of course it turned out to be the same old, cut fullscreen transfer that has been used for every release since the days of videocassettes.

It's nowhere near the top of titles I want to see released, but it's still fun enough that I would buy a BD of it in a heartbeat.

[Mrlovkim]

I have this on DVD, would love to see it come to blu ray.

[Buffalobison]

Not a bad Alien ripoff, but how many of them are really that good? It has decent effects, and it would be interesting to see how they look on Blu-ray. A widescreen version would be nice, too, as I've only seen the P&S.

Kinski is (by far) the best actor here, but he's only in a few scenes. The rest of the acting is incredibly flat. There's a lot of running around between the two ships where nothing much happens (you'll get tired of seeing the same 3 or 4 sets). Other than that, um, there's an exploding head, a couple of other gory effects, and one longish nude scene.

This lands somewhere in quality between Forbidden World and Galaxy of Terror. Recommended for cheesy Alien ripoff fans, but others may be bored.

[nagysaudio]

Watching the remastered DVD in widescreen was a revelation. This movie received an exceptional new transfer.

[Blu-21]

Seeing as the widescreen remastered DVD was so limited and is now expensive and hard to find I wonder if there are any good downloading or streaming options sourced from the new DVD? I mean I have the orignal DVD release but it looks like a pan & scan port from a VHS tape, so anything would be an upgrade over that. There are Asian widescreen Laserdisc editions but they would be even harder to find then the new DVD and obviously aren't 16:9 anamorphic.

[GasmaskAvenger]

Originally Posted by Blu-21

Seeing as the widescreen remastered DVD was so limited and is now expensive and hard to find I wonder if there are any good downloading or streaming options sourced from the new DVD? I mean I have the orignal DVD release but it looks like a pan & scan port from a VHS tape, so anything would be an upgrade over that. There are Asian widescreen Laserdisc editions but they would be even harder to find then the new DVD and obviously aren't 16:9 anamorphic.

I found an mkv rip of the movie from some Russian site complete with the actual English audio track and William Malone's commentary track a few months back

I really wish someone was kind enough to do an entire image file rip of the disc itself.

[Mrlovkim]

I am guessing this is never going to happen since its out of William Malones hands now, I can only hope to get my hands one day of the remastered DVD.

[Mykol Gantt]

Originally Posted by Kentai

True, the rights themselves are different, but it'd be VERY unusual for a studio to outright own one and not the other. Sell them separately - say, streaming to Netflix and video to Shout Factory - sure, that's pretty standard. But ownership for ALL distribution methods would go back to whoever holds the copyrights, which are presumably still MGM.

Odds are Malone didn't own the rights to the movie itself, even if he's in possession of the 35mm materials. Whoever legally holds the copyright to a film holds the rights to distribute it themselves or pass those rights off to a third party, but if MGM didn't specifically sell the video rights, they're still in their position to hold onto them, even if all they're doing is squatting on them.

Studios will often ignore small-scale potential infringements, but if Malone was trying to sell the implicit rights to the film itself, MGM's lawyers probably noticed and told him to knock that s**t right off. Stuff like fan edits and copies of workprints are typically so small in scale that even issuing a legal threat just isn't worth it. (I'm sure if MGM really wanted to they could stomp that Albert Pyun "CA" workprint out of existance, but it's such an oddity, why would they even care?)



Poor guy... so not only would a licensor have to make him an offer for everything he sunk into it, but they'd also have to get MGM to sign off on the whole thing.

I hate to say it, but Arrow Video - or another, non-US distributor - might actually be worth exploring. The market in the UK, Australia and pretty much any European nation is smaller, and thus licensing fees tend to cost less. You usually have to start slapping on region-locks or forced subtitles or whatever, but it'd be something!

A shame. I've always wanted to see this flick, but never wanted to waste my time with the old pan-scan/cut copies that have been floating around for ages.

I was just about to mention the Albert Pyun "Captain America" kerfuffle. Director doesn't own the film rights, but is still trying to pass off some dodgy workprint or 35mm materials. Our best bet would be if this was licensed by Shout or some other independent distributor from MGM.

[oldgame]

Still no news about a release?

[therock666]

seen this listing on ebay it has been selling but anyone know if this transfer is same that was on the limited dvd director's cut issue http://www.ebay.com/itm/Creature-198...wAAOSw-7RVCOrU

[hawkangel]

IS this still coming or dead in the water?