HALLOWEEN (1978) 40th Anniversary Edition | Lionsgate | Sep 24 2018

[CouncilSpectre]

Originally Posted by cinescot

After a bit of checking on previous releases, it seems De Laurentis productions around the era of Halloween II and III would sell the US distribution rights to one of the big studios but they would retain the worldwide distribution rights. A few of the titles are with Studio Canal here but most were released on DVD through Sanctuary, Scanbox, Castle or High Fliers. So in effect the rights to Halloween II and Halloween III are with De Laurentis in the UK. Not sure why more boutique labels have not picked up these titles although Plan B have recently released Firestarter so perhaps that is a sign that others could see a release soon.

Interestingly, Plan B licensed Firestarter from Universal. Although High Flier Films and HollywoodClassics are also shown on the back of the box. Not sure why HFF would be on there if they didn't hold some sort of rights.

I'm still inclined to think that there's some sort of issue around the UK licenses for II and III. As we've said, if there weren't then surely someone would have snapped them up by now.