Fun City Editions

[deltatauhobbit]

Originally Posted by jah13

Ha, keep them coming. That appears to be a Lionsgate title. Lionsgate rarely, if ever, sub-licenses their titles.

In that case, I would love Six-String Samurai. I believe Palm Pictures has it, not sure if they license out but they also have Demonlover which Arrow released in the UK (but not the US, so it's possible Palm only has domestic for that title and shows they don't license out). Demonlover would also be an interesting choice as well so you could do a twofer if you're able to make a deal with them.

[jstxanothrxstory]

Originally Posted by jah13

Ha, keep them coming. That appears to be a Lionsgate title. Lionsgate rarely, if ever, sub-licenses their titles.

Ah, that’s a bummer. I knew Lionsgate had it one point but wasn’t sure if they still did. Thanks for the quick response!

[Mose Harper]

Kino said they passed on Joyride('77) over music licensing issues.

Since I've only ever seen the film on DVD, I've never been aware of those and it never intruded on my ability to enjoy the rest of the film. Sounds like it might be up for grabs and as a bit of an outside the box, nihilistic road movie, might be up your alley.

Been waiting thirty+ years to see GoldenGirl ('79) in a decent OAR form. Kino also passed on that one from Studio-Canal. Never had a DVD release and I would think the subject of eugenics would be a more exploitable one in 2020's than it was in the late 70's.

[locomotive]

Black friday sale i take them both
Interested in alfhabet city it just screams for my name one way or another

[iamnoone]

Originally Posted by Mose Harper

Kino said they passed on Joyride('77) over music licensing issues.

Since I've only ever seen the film on DVD, I've never been aware of those and it never intruded on my ability to enjoy the rest of the film. Sounds like it might be up for grabs and as a bit of an outside the box, nihilistic road movie, might be up your alley.

It's the ELO songs that are the legal issue with JOYRIDE. The VHS deleted all of the ELO songs, if I remember correctly, but the DVD had a couple of their songs restored and the 'music by ELO' credit at the beginning was back, but not all of their songs were actually restored to the film. Weird situation overall.

Maybe someone knows more?

[deltatauhobbit]

Originally Posted by iamnoone

It's the ELO songs that are the legal issue with JOYRIDE. The VHS deleted all of the ELO songs, if I remember correctly, but the DVD had a couple of their songs restored and the 'music by ELO' credit at the beginning was back, but not all of their songs were actually restored to the film. Weird situation overall.

Maybe someone knows more?

Music rights holding up film releases are so annoying since what they are probably asking for is more than what the film will make in the home market nowadays. There's certainly more than a few films that have been doomed to VHS only because of it (especially if that older film includes a Beatles song; they demand quite the royalty).

I'm not one for editing or censoring, but I'm all for replacing songs that aren't integral to a film (such as songs being in the background) if it means the film will be able to be released. If characters are singing along to the song or if the film is edited in a way to match the song beats, that would certainly be a different thing, but I wonder if using a previously authorized cover version would be less expensive to clear.

[jah13]

Originally Posted by deltatauhobbit

Music rights holding up film releases are so annoying since what they are probably asking for is more than what the film will make in the home market nowadays. There's certainly more than a few films that have been doomed to VHS only because of it (especially if that older film includes a Beatles song; they demand quite the royalty).

I'm not one for editing or censoring, but I'm all for replacing songs that aren't integral to a film (such as songs being in the background) if it means the film will be able to be released. If characters are singing along to the song or if the film is edited in a way to match the song beats, that would certainly be a different thing, but I wonder if using a previously authorized cover version would be less expensive to clear.

Often the title is simply not available to the licensee, if there are unresolved music or other legal issues. Personally, I loathe music changes and it would be a last resort situation for me to release something with an altered soundtrack. But, yes, I agree that a song in the background coming out of a radio is different than a song that characters are singing to or that the film has been edited to.

I've only ever seen JOYRIDE via an old theatrical print, so the ELO songs were intact. ELO has quite a following and didn't do too many soundtracks...I think releasing it to Blu with a rescored track would take away a major selling point of the film.

[salad]

Hopefully the King Sunny Adé music/performance won’t cause problems for ‘O.C. & Stiggs’

[BarnDoor]

Some MGM titles I'd like to see that might fit the line:

Halls of Anger
Born to Win
Sunnyside
Roadhouse 66
Crack House (admittedly this might be more Vinegar Syndrome)
Laws of Gravity

[jah13]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

Some MGM titles I'd like to see that might fit the line:

Halls of Anger
Born to Win
Sunnyside
Roadhouse 66
Crack House (admittedly this might be more Vinegar Syndrome)
Laws of Gravity

Some of these have been considered. 👍

[lemonski]

Not sure what the criteria are for FCE consideration, but if it's 70's American films, how about these two Terrence Malick-scripted oddities?

Deadhead Miles
The Dion Brothers (aka The Gravy Train)

[jah13]

Originally Posted by lemonski

Not sure what the criteria are for FCE consideration, but if it's 70's American films, how about these two Terrence Malick-scripted oddities?

Deadhead Miles
The Dion Brothers (aka The Gravy Train)

For sure, would love to do both...but you still need a willing licensor and useable elements from which to make a new master. In the case of these two films, one or both are an issue, alas.

[jstxanothrxstory]

Originally Posted by jah13

Some of these have been considered. ��

I'll also suggest a film called Raiders of the Living Dead while we're at it. It was a bit of a guilty pleasure, and the first DVD release featured two prior cuts of the film (Dying Day and Dark Night, respectively) that were drastically different than the finalized version (and each other). idk if it'd get licensed out, but I can only imagine how much stuff there'd be for a special edition Blu-Ray.

[Jobla]

Not exactly an MGM title, but MGM supplied mint quality elements for American Zoetrope's 2118 4K restoration of Francis Ford Coppola's DEMENTIA 13.
Would love to see some boutique label release that edition on home video.

[locomotive]

Enemy territory would make a good release.
Gladly throw my dvd away then

[jah13]

Originally Posted by locomotive

Enemy territory would make a good release.
Gladly throw my dvd away then

RE: ENEMY TERRITORY, it’s a great one, agreed.

[Gerby]

@ jah13
i don't suppose you know if Wowhd will be stocking I Start Counting (they have a pre-order for Alphabet City) or am i going to have to import it from the VS website?

Edit - sorry just got my answer on the I Start Counting thread.

[Aficionado]

Very promising start for the label. Are you looking to release a new title every month?

[jah13]

Originally Posted by Aficionado

Very promising start for the label. Are you looking to release a new title every month?

Merci, Aficionado. That would be a nice pace to keep. We'll see.

[Yami]

Originally Posted by jah13

Yes, it's true FCE (that's me), will be releasing films from all over the world, not just the U.S. Please forgive my friends at VS for the slightly inaccurate description.

At the risk of turning this into a wish list thread, some further suggestions that I would consider maverick:

[Show spoiler]
Nadja (Michael Almereyda, 1994) - The other great black and white vampire film of the 90s. Rights: Almereyda

Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind (Tsui Hark, 1980) - A masterpiece from Tsui Hark about three teenagers being blackmailed into anarchism. Rights: no idea

Tusk (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1980) - Jodorowsky's most obscure film - obstensibly a children's film about an English girl and an elephant. Rights: Gaumont

Litan (Jean-Pierre Mocky, 1972) - Surrealistic French horror about a couple who arrive in a strange village during the Festival of the Dead.

Whity (R.W. Fassbinder, 1971) - Fassbinder does a western! Rights: R.W.F. Werkschau


Signs of Life (Werner Herzog, 1968) - Herzog's little seen debut feature about a wounded German soldier's descent into madness. Rights: WERNER HERZOG FILM GMBH


Gates to Paradise (Andrzej Wajda, 1968) - Wajda directs Jenny Agutter in his English-language British-Yugoslav co-production about the Children's Crusade of 1212. Rights: possibly with Avala Studios?