Paramount Pictures Theatrical Catalog on Blu-ray

[CreasyBear]

I would really love Bringing Out the Dead and Breakdown, more than any others!

[BaronVH]

You have to wonder what happened to Paramount. They really had some excellent films with great directors over the years, and have gone into a slump. The only remaining studio in Hollywood of The Godfather, Indiana Jones, and Star Trek, yet they just can't seem to get a break lately. I watched Dragonslayer yesterday, and it really was ahead of its time. With the Disney deal, I do think it is important for other studios such as Paramount and MGM to prosper. Disney seems to not give a care recently for their catalog titles unless you join their captive club or subscribe to the anti-Netflix. Paramount has sold some of its major films to Netflix. It seems the lovers of physical media are the ones left out in the cold. What my paranoia says is there will only be streaming services in the future with three major studios and many smaller studios, and the only things for us to watch are massive superhero films or low budget art house with nothing in between. I think that is just paranoia though. Hopefully.

[AgentOrange]

Originally Posted by BaronVH

You have to wonder what happened to Paramount. They really had some excellent films with great directors over the years, and have gone into a slump. The only remaining studio in Hollywood of The Godfather, Indiana Jones, and Star Trek, yet they just can't seem to get a break lately. I watched Dragonslayer yesterday, and it really was ahead of its time. With the Disney deal, I do think it is important for other studios such as Paramount and MGM to prosper. Disney seems to not give a care recently for their catalog titles unless you join their captive club or subscribe to the anti-Netflix. Paramount has sold some of its major films to Netflix. It seems the lovers of physical media are the ones left out in the cold. What my paranoia says is there will only be streaming services in the future with three major studios and many smaller studios, and the only things for us to watch are massive superhero films or low budget art house with nothing in between. I think that is just paranoia though. Hopefully.

Bad management.

Plus everything has to be a "franchise" nowadays. Owning the Godfather and Indiana Jones also aren't going to help them with current box office take. It would be blasphemy to remake the Godfather films, though $$$ wise I'm surprised they haven't. Maybe now that Viacom are merging back with CBS, they can do some series' on CBS all Access (if you've checked that service out, as I have for Star Trek... the amount of content is absolutely pathetic compared to all their competitors). It's sad, most bizarrely their slim movie selection features a bunch of films that are licensed from Univesal or Fox. But again, maybe with the Viacom deal we'll now see it filled up with Paramount pictures as you'd think it naturally should.

The Star Trek reboot started off successfully but the 3rd film disappointed (hence the cancellation of the 4th). Transformers seems like it's taking a hiatus or has run it's course? So yeah... they are in a rough spot. But it's tough out there for anybody not named Disney.

Physical media has come to the end of the road technology wise. There's nowhere else to go after UHD, so other than continuing filling in the back-catalog what's left to do?

[gazza1975]

Never gonna happen but I would love a new transfer for the film Sliver in its original 2.35 aspect ratio and the original version - i have a workprint but the quality isnt too great

Plus i know Dreamworks own Mousehunt so who would be releasing that on Blu-Ray ? Plus the The Haunting (1999)

[billydillydilly]

"Hud" please!

[EVERYONE LIES]

Originally Posted by BaronVH

You have to wonder what happened to Paramount. They really had some excellent films with great directors over the years, and have gone into a slump. The only remaining studio in Hollywood of The Godfather, Indiana Jones, and Star Trek, yet they just can't seem to get a break lately. I watched Dragonslayer yesterday, and it really was ahead of its time. With the Disney deal, I do think it is important for other studios such as Paramount and MGM to prosper. Disney seems to not give a care recently for their catalog titles unless you join their captive club or subscribe to the anti-Netflix. Paramount has sold some of its major films to Netflix. It seems the lovers of physical media are the ones left out in the cold. What my paranoia says is there will only be streaming services in the future with three major studios and many smaller studios, and the only things for us to watch are massive superhero films or low budget art house with nothing in between. I think that is just paranoia though. Hopefully.

It isn’t just Paramount. The studios are almost incapable of making great movies anymore. Go back to 1994, Disney put out Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show and Ed Wood all in the same year.

[critterdvd]

Originally Posted by StarDestroyer52

I think its way too early to know many particulars. My grasp of what the KL Insider suggested is that maybe they are releasing some of their bigger stuff that hasn't been released on BluRay themselves. And then hopefully, some of the boutiques can get access to more of the deeper Paramount catalog. I don't think we are going to see anything like Warner Archive every month from Paramount where we get four titles monthly, but hey I love to be dead wrong.

My impression is that Paramount would be releasing these as normal catalog title releases. It would take a lot of new info structure for them to start something akin to the Warner Archive Collection, and a few catalog releases sprinkled throughout the year seems more logical, especially in the beginning.

[BaronVH]

Originally Posted by AgentOrange

Bad management.

Plus everything has to be a "franchise" nowadays. Owning the Godfather and Indiana Jones also aren't going to help them with current box office take. It would be blasphemy to remake the Godfather films, though $$$ wise I'm surprised they haven't. Maybe now that Viacom are merging back with CBS, they can do some series' on CBS all Access (if you've checked that service out, as I have for Star Trek... the amount of content is absolutely pathetic compared to all their competitors). It's sad, most bizarrely their slim movie selection features a bunch of films that are licensed from Univesal or Fox. But again, maybe with the Viacom deal we'll now see it filled up with Paramount pictures as you'd think it naturally should.

The Star Trek reboot started off successfully but the 3rd film disappointed (hence the cancellation of the 4th). Transformers seems like it's taking a hiatus or has run it's course? So yeah... they are in a rough spot. But it's tough out there for anybody not named Disney.

Physical media has come to the end of the road technology wise. There's nowhere else to go after UHD, so other than continuing filling in the back-catalog what's left to do?

That is the simple answer. Disney had its huge flops a few years ago with the Lone Ranger and John Carter, but look at them now. Certainly, it would be foolish is remake The Godfather and Disney arguably has Indiana Jones now. Everybody does want franchises, but marketing is really the key. Look how well the last Tarantino movie was marketed. A three hour movie about making movies in the sixties. It made over $100,000. If you look back at John Carter, marketing was part of the problem. Excellent movie. Terrible name and was not sold for crap. There have been some films lately that have been excellent that you have to wonder if there are some behind the scenes reasons that the studio wants to bury like Annihilation. So, yes, bad management. But maybe management that refuses or is unwilling to work with newer directors and artists.

[t_rav]

Originally Posted by Rzzzz

Speaking of Ralph Bakshi, why hasn't this been released on blu in the states?

I’ve been thinking the same thing. Hopefully Scorpion can nab it and its sequel with their MGM deal.

[Troy Perkins]

Originally Posted by CreasyBear

I would really love Bringing Out the Dead and Breakdown, more than any others!

Breakdown for sure... one of the best Kurt movies.

A few others I’d love to see released:

The Dead Zone
Young Sherlock Holmes
The Golden Child
Tales from the Darkside - The Movie

[StarDestroyer52]

Originally Posted by critterdvd

My impression is that Paramount would be releasing these as normal catalog title releases. It would take a lot of new info structure for them to start something akin to the Warner Archive Collection, and a few catalog releases sprinkled throughout the year seems more logical, especially in the beginning.

This. And TBH I'm pretty happy with that plan. Of course I love to see the deeper catalog, but let's get the big films like Roman Holiday, A Place in the Sun, The Odd Couple, the John Wayne titles, and then move on to the lesser known stuff.

[SammymeBlu]

The Longest Yard 74
King Kong 76
Black Sunday 77
The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training 77
Orca 77
Heaven Can Wait 78
Foul Play 78
Urban Cowboy 80
The Hunter 80
The Elephant Man 80
Popeye 80
Going Ape! 81
Still Smokin' 83
Uncommon Valor 83
The Keep 83
Top Secret! 84
Gung Ho 86
April Fool's Day 86
Some Kind of Wonderful 87
Beverly Hills Cop II 87
Summer School 87
Eddie Murphy Raw 87
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie 90
Another 48 HRS. 90
Graveyard Shift 90
True Colors 91
Dead Again 91
Regarding Henry 91
Frankie and Johnny 91
Fire in the Sky 93
Eye for an Eye 96
Beavis and Butt-Head Do America 96
The Saint 97
Breakdown 97
A Simple Plan 98
Rules of Engagement 00
Narc 02
The Hunted 03

[NeMo_ET]

Great list. Definitely some must haves on there. Lots of potential either for them or to be sourced out to other labels. Almost all of the above are titles I would want.

[CinemaScope]

Yup, Uncommon Valor (83), excellent film.

[HenryHill]

It's odd that some Paramount releases like Invasion of the Body Snatchers have had multiple releases, but War of the Worlds (53) and When Worlds Collide have only been released once on DVD back in the early 00s.


Wish List Additions
The Naked Jungle (Charlton Heston vs ants)
The Parallax View (This ought to be Criterion)
No Way to Treat a Lady (Rod Steiger is a serial killer)
Hail the Conquering Hero (Classic Preston Sturges comedy)
Sorry, Wrong Number (Someone is trying to kill Barbara Stanwyck. . . in bed!)
Detective Story (Kirk Douglas )
Roman Holiday (This should also be on Criterion)
The Court Jester (Danny Kaye in a Robin Hood farce)
I Married a Monster from Outer Space (Despite the title, a top-notch sci-fi classic)
The Assassination Bureau, Ltd. (Diana Rigg tries to have Oliver Reed murdered by his own organization)

[50strat54]

I'm happy that a lot of these films are on itunes for 4.99. I just bought a bunch of Martin & Lewis which I've wanted for a long time, Sons Of Katie Elder, The Adventurers [harold robbins novel]

[rocknblues81]

Originally Posted by Troy Perkins

Breakdown for sure... one of the best Kurt movies.

A few others I’d love to see released:

The Dead Zone
Young Sherlock Holmes
The Golden Child
Tales from the Darkside - The Movie

The Dead Zone can be imported.

[Chaotic]

I want Ghost and the Darkness.

[DukeTogo84]

I'm hoping we hear something from Paramount directly about this and what their plans might be.

[danny24]

Originally Posted by Chaotic

I want Ghost and the Darkness.

Forgot to mention this one as I have the German Blu-ray but it can be improved on.

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

I'm hoping we hear something from Paramount directly about this and what their plans might be.

Exactly, Paramount starting a MOD BD line called essentials is just pure speculation (I actually mentioned it) and tbh sounds to good to be true. They have such a deep catalog though I could see it turning out to be a MOD BD line there is money to be made and if it's MOD BD they are not losing anything. Low risk, high reward. Even if it's not going to be a MOD BD line it's a brilliant idea for them anyway and I hope they consider it.