Friday the 13th: The Complete Collection (WB)

[HarrisonJohn]

Originally Posted by fitprod

Warner Brothers controls distribution of Friday the 13, or more specifically "Jason," due to their deal with Sean S Cunningham, who was original producer of the series, and owned the characters. Since Paramount had not been moving on a sequel since Part VIII, Cunningham was allowed to shop the franchise elsewhere, but Paramount kept the copyrighted name of the series, "Friday the 13th." They partnered with New Line/Warner so they could finally use "Friday the 13th" in the title of the 2009 re-boot.


fitprod

It's a common misconception that New Line (later WB) couldn't use the F13 title- they could, just chose not to. There was some very early promotional material for JGTH that has it named as F13 IX: JGTH. In fact the credits in the Crystal Lake Memories book gives the F13 trademark credit to New Line. New Line has marketed tons of stuff with the F13 logo over the years, including the original movie poster. When they wanted to do a remake of a Paramount movie (even though these movies are all the same) they had to make a deal with Paramount.

from Friday the 13th (2009) imdb;
The first film in the series released by both New Line Cinema and Paramount Pictures. Originally, Paramount owned the rights to the series after the original was released in 1980 but sold the rights to New Line Cinema in the early 1990's after poor box office returns of Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. New Line bought the rights to the characters of Jason Voorhees and Pamela Voorhees, the Crystal Lake name, and the trademark for the title "Friday the 13th". All footage from the first eight films and the remake rights for the first film remained the property of Paramount. New Line Cinema released Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, Jason X and Freddy vs. Jason. When Platinum Dunes came aboard to develop the new film, they wanted the freedom to use scenarios and characters from the films still owned by Paramount. After a legal dispute, the companies decided to co-produce the 2009 film.





It's interesting that these movies, from the very start, have bounced around between Paramount and Warner.... I think this set will be the only time we ever see this many F13s in one place.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by fitprod

And it has been answered at least twice, by me, but here's the full breakdown of the distribution issues with Friday the 13th.

Warner Brother was given access to the first Friday the 13th films (I-VIII) due to a 3 year US distribution agreement with Paramount Home Entertainment. The deal began January 1, 2013 and end December 31, 2015.

Warner is given access to the pre-existing sources, by Paramount, but Paramount is not investing any additional work into titles. (Thus, Paramount does not have the HD Left Eye/Right Eye master for Part III.)

Warner Brothers controls distribution of Friday the 13, or more specifically "Jason," due to their deal with Sean S Cunningham, who was original producer of the series, and owned the characters. Since Paramount had not been moving on a sequel since Part VIII, Cunningham was allowed to shop the franchise elsewhere, but Paramount kept the copyrighted name of the series, "Friday the 13th." They partnered with New Line/Warner so they could finally use "Friday the 13th" in the title of the 2009 re-boot.

Warner was not moving on the sequel, and they we're really wanting to get into Christopher Nolan's next film, Intersellar. In exchange for getting half the production credit on Intersellar, they gave Paramount a five year window to work with the film franchise. Paramount also fully controls domestic and international distribution of South Park due to this deal. (Warner controlled the movie...) - Franchises are something Paramount desperate for at this point, having lost Marvel and Lucasfilm. All they have are Mission Impossible, Star Trek, GI Joe and maybe, World War Z. (This was part of the reason they bid heavy, and acquired The Terminator...)

So basically:
Friday the 13th Part I to Part 8 - Domestic distribution controlled by Paramount, international distribution controlled by Warner Bros. (Masters are property of Paramount...)

Warner Brothers has domestic distribution of these films until December 31, 2015. (Barring a extension of the deal.)

Jason Goes to Hell; Jason X; Jason vs Freddy and Friday the 13th (2009) - World wide distribution rights are controlled by Warner Brothers, due to new contract with Sean S Cunningham. - Friday the 13th is a co-production with Paramount.

Subsequent Friday the 13th sequels - Warner gave Paramount rights to produce a new Friday the 13th film within the next 5 years. (expires Dec 2017)

fitprod

Thank you for the response. Okay, so then basically Warner really only had access to whatever Paramount allowed them to have, not their entire "master vault" of original film elements so to speak regarding Friday? They are allowed to distribute the films domestically, but they don't actually have access to Paramount's master prints of the film, correct?

That being the case, it's fully understandable, though unfortunate, that Warner can't put out what they don't have.

I will say that Paramount does indeed have access somewhere to the 3D master film elements. They needed them to create the anaglyph version they made a few years ago, and they would have needed them back in the late 80's when Friday 3 was released in 3D in Japan on the 3D VHD disc. So it just seems that Paramount wasn't interested in preparing a properly transferred blu-ray 3D of part 3. That makes some sense since they clearly weren't in a rush to release the rest of the series either.

It's beginning to look like it's indeed not Warner's fault as much as Paramount's as far as part 3 goes. Regarding part 9 - we'll have to wait and see. Clearly Warner controls that one entirely so we'll just have to see what they're planning on giving us for part 9.

[BluPat]

Could we please get a sequel greenlit around here? Paramount hurry up.

[nousefouraname]

I see myself likely getting this set. I hate to pile on the packaging, but I agree. The cover art is underwhelming. I'm also one of those obsessive blu-ray collectors who enjoys uniformity on my shelf. So, the thing that bugs me the most is that there's nothing on the spine of the tin. Hoping, by some chance, that this design isn't quite final and maybe the real thing will look slightly different. If not, I see myself probably displaying it on the shelf minus the tin. It will fit in better that way anyway. I'm also not a fan of the book designs, but I can live with that. That is more of an issue of difficulty in getting the discs out and potential of damage than aesthetics.

Honestly, I would have probably been happier with individual releases, or I would have really liked 3 seperate 4 packs. Split them up by the general eras of the series. 1-4, 5-8, JGTH-Remake. That way, one could choose which parts of the series they wanted in their collection. Of course, they'd never do that because 1-4 would sell and the others would collect dust.

It's minor nitpicks, I get it. But, in this day and age, if you're going to bother to buy physical media, the presentation is huge. I'd say almost as important as the movies themselves. I mean, you can already stream most of these movies in HD, so, they should make it worth it. I just wish these companies would take some notes from Scream Factory. They get it and they are on top of exactly what collectors are looking for.

1. A high quality transfer of the movie
2. Interesting extras that haven't been rehashed 5000 times
3. An interesting but well thought out package. Original logos. Original poster art. Art on the spines. reversible cover art. We don't need books with sleeves in the pages. Just give me a cover with the original logo down the spine and either the original poster art on the front or something new that's well done (not a 5 minute photoshop job).

[Rich1983]

Originally Posted by leem6453

Don't mean to butt into your buying habits Rich, but why not save yourself another $20 and get it through WBShop?

For all I know, amazon's price could go lower. I am not in the habit of putting my credit card number on too many websites, mainly just Amazon and my University.

Originally Posted by fitprod

Warner Brothers controls distribution of Friday the 13, or more specifically "Jason," due to their deal with Sean S Cunningham, who was original producer of the series, and owned the characters. Since Paramount had not been moving on a sequel since Part VIII, Cunningham was allowed to shop the franchise elsewhere, but Paramount kept the copyrighted name of the series, "Friday the 13th." They partnered with New Line/Warner so they could finally use "Friday the 13th" in the title of the 2009 re-boot.

That is actually false. Paramount has always owned the American distribution rights to 1-8 and the international distribution rights to 2-8 (Warner owns 1 in Europe), but when they allowed Sean to take the property to New Line, the "Friday the 13th" name did go with it. The studio just opted not to use the title to market the films as Jason character films and not to link them to the 1980s franchise as far as publicity is concerned.

New Line could have called Jason Goes to Hell "Friday the 13th Part IX" if they wanted to, but I think the reason is kind of obvious why they did not.

For anyone who owns the Crystal Lake to Manhattan box set:

Take out any disc of your choice, open it up, look all the way on the bottom of the left inside of the slim case and read for yourself, and I quite "Friday the 13th is a Trademark of New Line Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved."

And that is coming from a box set Paramount released in 2004.

Case closed.

[xxBachelor1981xx]

Originally Posted by nousefouraname

I see myself likely getting this set. I hate to pile on the packaging, but I agree. The cover art is underwhelming. I'm also one of those obsessive blu-ray collectors who enjoys uniformity on my shelf. So, the thing that bugs me the most is that there's nothing on the spine of the tin. Hoping, by some chance, that this design isn't quite final and maybe the real thing will look slightly different. If not, I see myself probably displaying it on the shelf minus the tin. It will fit in better that way anyway. I'm also not a fan of the book designs, but I can live with that. That is more of an issue of difficulty in getting the discs out and potential of damage than aesthetics.

Honestly, I would have probably been happier with individual releases, or I would have really liked 3 seperate 4 packs. Split them up by the general eras of the series. 1-4, 5-8, JGTH-Remake. That way, one could choose which parts of the series they wanted in their collection. Of course, they'd never do that because 1-4 would sell and the others would collect dust.

It's minor nitpicks, I get it. But, in this day and age, if you're going to bother to buy physical media, the presentation is huge. I'd say almost as important as the movies themselves. I mean, you can already stream most of these movies in HD, so, they should make it worth it. I just wish these companies would take some notes from Scream Factory. They get it and they are on top of exactly what collectors are looking for.

1. A high quality transfer of the movie
2. Interesting extras that haven't been rehashed 5000 times
3. An interesting but well thought out package. Original logos. Original poster art. Art on the spines. reversible cover art. We don't need books with sleeves in the pages. Just give me a cover with the original logo down the spine and either the original poster art on the front or something new that's well done (not a 5 minute photoshop job).

You make some good points especially about these companies taking notes from Scream Factory who in my opinion is the best when it comes to Horror blurays. I already pre ordered this but the thing that worries me the most is the packaging and the book style. I am afraid the discs might get scratched it looks similar to the Universal classic monster collection which had its problems.

[mar3o]

There are several threads about disc storage that suggests storing discs in sleeves is a very bad idea. I was reading a thread earlier today in here about the scratch-resistant coating on these discs being somewhat "impressionable" - the poster and others in the thread noted that when the discs were pressed against textured surfaces for a period of time the texture could literally "imprint" onto the actual scratch-resistant coating of the disc, rendering the disc unplayable. It was found applying high heat from a hair dryer could reverse the damage by softening the coating which smoothed out the imprint, which then rendered the discs playable again. I had no idea until I read that thread that this can be an issue with these discs. Here's the thread:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=128389

So the takeaway was to store the discs in their original cases - not stacked, and not in sleeves. I really don't like the idea of sleeves. My Alien set is in sleeves and I hate it. This isn't a petty gripe about package art - this is a legitimate concern for the longevity of the discs, and I see no reason why this set had to be released in sleeves.

[Gardenofstone10]

The days just can't go by fast enough to get this one!

[fitprod]

HarrisonJohn, Rich1983,

Thanks for the clarifications.

I didn't realize Warner only controlled Pt 1 internationally. (It get confusing with a lot of distribution deals... Paramount had certain international territories on Watchman, while WB had domestic; Benjamin Button was the opposite Paramount domestic, WB international... And that's just relatively recently.)

I thought there we're still some copyright hang-ups with regard the the "Friday the 13th" title, but I guess that was resolved before Jason Goes to Hell.... That was the excuse I've heard over the years...

fitprod

[redrunner97]

As long as Paramount makes one Friday film every 5 years, they will retain all rights to future film, so we will probably see sequels coming fast, similar to how Paramount handled it in the 80s.

and, as far as 1-3 go, we already know Paramount allowed for the Uncut version of the original to be re-released, as they did it on January 1st of this year, with their logo on the back and spine.

[Optimus-Prime-Rox]

Originally Posted by redrunner97

As long as Paramount makes one Friday film every 5 years, they will retain all rights to future film, so we will probably see sequels coming fast, similar to how Paramount handled it in the 80s.

and, as far as 1-3 go, we already know Paramount allowed for the Uncut version of the original to be re-released, as they did it on January 1st of this year, with their logo on the back and spine.

Maybe they could film in another country like New Zealand to save money & do 2 movies back to back on the budget of 1.

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by Rich1983

For all I know, amazon's price could go lower. I am not in the habit of putting my credit card number on too many websites, mainly just Amazon and my University.

Buy a Mastercard/Visa/American Express gift card. Works just like a credit card online.

[Shadow Master]

Can't wait for the set. Seeing as everyone else is ranking the whole series I may as well do it also.


4
6
2
7
3
1
Reboot
5
8
9
FVJ
10

[Britbuffguy]

Originally Posted by Mr. Thomsen

I tried to ask this question before, but it appears it was deleted in the recent purge by the mods. I cautiously ask again as no ill was intended whatsoever and I am genuinely interested in your answer.

Of course the 3D does not alter the story. But it sounds to me that you only think of movies in terms of their narratives. Do you really only watch Friday the 13th because of the story?

We have a tendency to talk about movies and remember them in terms of narratives, but most research point to that we really are watching movies because of how they make us feel. Stories are really just one aspect of movies as emotion machines. An equally large part is style, which is everything from editing, to framing, and music. And, in fact, it appears that for some genres, especially the horror movie, style is much more important than story, because style is a) how we recognize that we are watching a horror movie, and b) style plays the key part in mobilizing our affective response, i.e. scaring us.

So in that respect, 3D very much matters. Of course, since you have an outspoken dislike for 3D, it will probably not be true for you and others like you. The contrary would be the most plausible - that you will be so annoyed by the 3D that it will inhibit your emotional response to the movie.
But for others, with a more open mind for the device, the 3D can actually enhance their emotional experience of the movie.

I'll give you an example: As you may or may not know, the primary function of the gore scene in horror movies is to elicit disgust in the viewer. But as someone who has watched horror movies for more than 30 years now, I am pretty jaded and hardly ever react to blood and guts anymore. I know it's all SFX, I know how it's done, and my teenage fascination with crossing personal boundaries is long gone. So most of the time I find gore effects pretty boring. However, 3D as used in 'Friday the 13th - part 3' or the remake of 'My Bloody Valentine' enhances the experience of gore dramatically to me, almost to the point of tactility, thereby making a worn-out horror device suddenly fresh and effective again. It's not as much about having things coming out of the screen towards me as it is about enhancing the emotional effect and the feeling of possible threats lurking in offscreen space.

Sorry for the delay, but no I don't watch the Friday The 13th films for their stories per say, as I think the more basic and cliched the FRIDAY plot is, the better the film it was. I think it's no secret that when Paramount tried to change the formula with A New Beginning and so on, they seemed to be less with each with. New Line continued the gimmicks, and same result. There is something amazing that the fans just seem to really enjoy the films with the simple formula. Camp, Teens, Party, Sex, Death.

But my main love in any film is characters. And kill me for saying it, but the people that cast the first few Friday films were amazing. They found no namers that became the characters and made them memorable. As a loner, I could relate to Joey or Shelly. A child with no father, I could relate to Tommy. When the studios, more on New Line, tried casting known actors in the films, the characters seemed less real imo. The remake is great example, as most of the cast you had seen in other films. They really need to stick with casting unknowns for the formula to work imo.

And like I have said a hundred times now, 3D just doesn't do it for me. Watching a film in 3D literally gives me crazy bad headaches. And Part III is one of my favorites of the series, and I'd rather not associate physical pain on myself whenever I'd want to watch it.

I literally drove 25 minutes last year to see Underworld Awakening for the ONE showing anywhere close to me that was in 2D. Since it was never shown in 2D, I still have never seen the Silent Hill sequel.

I hope that answers your question. If not, just send me a PM cause I think I'm done talking about this 3D issue now!

[Britbuffguy]

Originally Posted by Gardenofstone10

The days just can't go by fast enough to get this one!

AGREED. Selling both my DVD sets I had last year for rent money to try to keep my home let a little bit of me die on the inside. So besides the remake I had upgraded on Blu, I haven't had them around to watch since last Halloween. I'll be revisiting them that very weekend for sure.

[PuppetMasterBlu]

Why can't anyone get the official word on the cuts?

[benricci]

Originally Posted by PuppetMasterBlu

Why can't anyone get the official word on the cuts?

Because we don't work for Warner Brothers? Chill out, an official press release is coming soon.

[Britbuffguy]

Originally Posted by PuppetMasterBlu

Why can't anyone get the official word on the cuts?

I have a sneaking feeling 1 and HELL will offer the unrated cuts. IT makes the most logical sense. Hopefully they will announce it soon so we don't have to keep hearing the same arguments over and over.

[WMAangel]

Originally Posted by Britbuffguy

I have a sneaking feeling 1 and HELL will offer the unrated cuts. IT makes the most logical sense. Hopefully they will announce it soon so we don't have to keep hearing the same arguments over and over.

I have no doubt that we will get unrated part 1, since every single indication is that they are using the exact same discs for 1, 2, and 3 that are already available....JTGH is the only one still questionable in my mind, but the fact that an HD master of the unrated version is the one available on Amazon Instant Video makes things seem quite hopeful for a positive outcome there....

[Jegærn]

Originally Posted by WMAangel

I have no doubt that we will get unrated part 1, since every single indication is that they are using the exact same discs for 1, 2, and 3 that are already available....JTGH is the only one still questionable in my mind, but the fact that an HD master of the unrated version is the one available on Amazon Instant Video makes things seem quite hopeful for a positive outcome there....

I agree with both of you.....If JGTH is unrated I will buy this set even if its gonna cost me 250$

Sy hyped for this...but really really nervous about running times on part 1 and 9

I`m crossing my fingers!