Arrow Announcements, Speculation & Wild, Irresponsible Conjecture

[furbicide]

Yep, happened to me with Behind Convent Walls! Not too much of a drama to reorder, though, and the price was the same as before.

[Finch]

So, considering what Park Circus have from MGM in the UK and what Arrow have been able to release, we might see 4K upgrades of the following from Arrow and other UK labels:

The Apartment
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
Fargo
the Dollars Trilogy
From Beyond
Lifeforce
Misery
Platoon
The Return of the Living Dead
Road House
Rollerball
Silence of the Lambs
Species

Blue Velvet is probably with Criterion UK (did they release Sid and Nancy in the UK? I don't remember) and I think Capelight announced The Misfits for the UK.

[therewillbeblus]

A lot of these would be unnecessary retreading of already-solid releases from other regions, but I'm praying they prioritize Lifeforce, Tobe Hooper's masterpiece, with the DC on UHD to best the Shout! release's laziness. I know Arrow haven't been releasing all DCs on the format either lately, but I'm sure that has more to do with Mann or the last-minute addition than ignorance given the label's consistent conscientiousness to the ethos shared by their customer base. Still, releasing the longer, preferred cut of a space vampire movie by a glorified horror director during the current physical media climate seems like a no-brainer, unless the blu wasn't a big seller - though these days it seems that enough people will spring for "Anything Horror 4K" for the company to probably break even at least?

[dwk]

I think Sid and Nancy's UK rights are with StudioCanal?

[Finch]

Silence of the Lambs and Platoon need to be fixed for sure. Roadhouse (and From Beyond?) would benefit from a more authentic grade (no lobster skintones) and I would love for Arrow or MoC to release the Dollar trilogy in a more comprehensive package plus HDR10/DV than Kino's edition. Ditto an Arrow or MoC upgrade of the one Wilder comedy I like.

[TechnicolorAcid]

Out of the titles listed, I think Lifeforce, Return of the Living Dead, and Misery might have the most chance to get an Arrow 4K. I would say Species but I believe that’s already with a UK label so it’s probably not gonna happen with Arrow.

Ditto an Arrow or MoC upgrade of the one Wilder comedy I like.

Genuine question: As much as I love The Apartment, is it really a comedy? Don’t get me wrong it’s a very funny film but it’s always confused me how most people label it as a comedy. It’s much more focused on the drama of Baxter’s dilemma over renting out his apartment and his relationship to Mrs. Kubelik and a lot of the comedy serve more as setups to dramatic conclusions in the story.

[therewillbeblus]

Most comedies have dramatic elements, and most dramas have very funny moments dispersed throughout for relief. The Apartment is straight down the middle, and you could argue several ways. It is great though, and it's one of their best LE packages (the book, in particular, is fantastic) so I'd welcome an upgrade, if just to give folks a chance to grab something they may have missed in the blu print run

[Finch]

Species is with 88. They might be interested in Misery and Platoon, and somehow they feel like a better fit for Road House than Arrow. I only really care about the Leones and The Apartment so hopefully MoC would upgrade the Wilder if Arrow weren't interested anymore.

Pity that Park Circus weren't listing The Manchurian Candidate because the Kino by all accounts looks great but sounds shit. Really hope someone in the UK gets to fix that too.

[What A Disgrace]

I've been annoyed that TGTBTU has only been SDR for, what, five years now? The Dollars trilogy from Arrow would finally convince me to toss away my old DVDs.

[ryannichols7]

Arrow fit the Dollars Trilogy way too well. as many other spaghetti westerns as this label has released, doing the definitive package of these titles (at last) would be top notch, though I know Eureka would be a fair home too (plus they did A Fistful of Dynamite already)

Silence of the Lambs has to be coming from Arrow, I can't see them passing that one up at all. very much in need of a fix

[JamesF]

No comment on any of the rest, but I don't believe MGM have home video rights on Blue Velvet for the UK; rather, it's one of a bunch of De Laurentiis productions from the early/mid-80s where the physical media (not theatrical or digital) UK rights are with High Fliers, who inherited them from Sanctuary Records.

[dwk]

I know there is always some confusion when rights are split like that in a country, but last year Park Circus listed a number of MGM titles that were available to license on UHD and Blue Velvet was among those titles available worldwide and the listing has no mention of any other rightsholder than MGM (as opposed to something like Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, which has both MGM and StudioCanal listed.)

[rapta]

I've been lobbying Eureka to try and do The Dollars Trilogy for a long time now, but always figured Arrow might be interested as well. Of course I'd snap it up in a heartbeat, a no-brainer if ever I saw one. I'd imagine either label would fix the issues present on all previous releases, and give the release a nice amount of extras too.

Fargo is an interesting one, as it seems to be the only Coen Brothers title available on Park Circus. You'd think UK boutiques would jump at the chance to release some Coen Brothers stuff and I'd assumed one of them would've tried to get The Hudsucker Proxy from Universal by now (the studio has released it in other territories, but still not the UK; obviously Warner Bros have the US rights).

The Silence of the Lambs is definitely in need of saving, as are a handful of other MGM titles not mentioned in Finch's post (namely The Great Escape, In the Heat of the Night, Some Like it Hot, Moonstruck, 1984, The Fugitive Kind, House of Games etc). Of course Criterion released all of those in the US, and they recently released/announced Thelma & Louise and Raging Bull, so we could at least see a couple from them. I'm sure they haven't licensed them all though, so may be some available, particularly those with 4K rights also available (that Kino Lorber released in the US).

Similarly, Eureka have announced a few MGM titles lately (Valley Girl, Paths of Glory 4K) as have Arrow (Carrie 4K, Invasion of the Body Snatchers 4K), so we could see some of the above from either of those labels in the near future. Capelight seem to be licensing whatever they can get their hands on for the UK, which so far doesn't seem to include The Apartment, Dressed to Kill, The Great Escape, Red River or When Harry Met Sally, so I assume those might be coming from other UK labels (most likely Arrow for those first two); either that or they failed to secure the rights through Park Circus.

No comment on any of the rest, but I don't believe MGM have home video rights on Blue Velvet for the UK; rather, it's one of a bunch of De Laurentiis productions from the early/mid-80s where the physical media (not theatrical or digital) UK rights are with High Fliers, who inherited them from Sanctuary Records.

Ah, thanks for confirming James. We were just talking about Blue Velvet in the Criterion thread on the other forum and there was some debate over whether UK rights were still with High Fliers or - as the Park Circus site seems to suggest - MGM. Didn't Arrow license Dune through High Fliers, so presumably it'd be available to license for the right price?

I know there is always some confusion when rights are split like that in a country, but last year Park Circus listed a number of MGM titles that were available to license on UHD and Blue Velvet was among those titles available worldwide and the listing has no mention of any other rightsholder than MGM (as opposed to something like Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, which has both MGM and StudioCanal listed.)

Another I noticed is Planet of the Vampires which appears as both MGM and StudioCanal. No idea who Radiance licensed it from though as usually MGM require their logo to appear on the spine of a release, and Radiance's mockups don't show that. I'd be surprised if they'd secured a StudioCanal deal...

[dwk]

Another I noticed is Planet of the Vampires which appears as both MGM and StudioCanal. No idea who Radiance licensed it from though as usually MGM require their logo to appear on the spine of a release, and Radiance's mockups don't show that. I'd be surprised if they'd secured a StudioCanal deal...

That disc is also going to be region free. Something neither MGM or StudioCanal would allow.

[rapta]

Another I noticed is Planet of the Vampires which appears as both MGM and StudioCanal. No idea who Radiance licensed it from though as usually MGM require their logo to appear on the spine of a release, and Radiance's mockups don't show that. I'd be surprised if they'd secured a StudioCanal deal...

That disc is also going to be region free. Something neither MGM or StudioCanal would allow.

Ah yes, good point. In that case it's not going to have been from either! Very interesting, but might also explain why it has taken so long for a UK release of the film.

[TechnicolorAcid]

On the topic of who owns Planet of the Vampires, I did a bit of digging and it points to the rightsholder possibly being Italian International Film who are still in service and have distributed PoV and they’re a bit prolific who have distributed films from Moonfall to The Howling to several Arrow Video titles like ‘The Black Cat’ & ‘What Have You Done to Solange’ (if we are to trust IMDB at least) so I imagine it wouldn’t be the easiest to normally license from them with Radiance most likely getting it because Fran’s already done business with them for Arrow.

[Calvin]

I've been lobbying Eureka to try and do The Dollars Trilogy for a long time now, but always figured Arrow might be interested as well. Of course I'd snap it up in a heartbeat, a no-brainer if ever I saw one. I'd imagine either label would fix the issues present on all previous releases, and give the release a nice amount of extras too.

Not convinced that Eureka would be able to mount the budget to give us a definitive release of the Dollars Trilogy like Arrow (probably) would. Considering it would probably require going back and re-doing the restorations with an HDR pass (as laudable as Kino's color correction attempts were) and including the Italian cuts to the same standard.

[tenia]

Considering what Arrow did with the Bruce Lee movies (grading, texture, extras), I think it'd be a better place than Eureka for the Dollars Trilogy to try and have something more accurate and fine-tuned.

[Finch]

New announcements on Thursday instead of Friday

[Peacock]

American Gigolo? Armani designs feature in quite a few movies.

[cdnchris]

The Untouchables came to mind, and it seemed likely because of De Palma, but then I remembered Paramount already released a 4K. Though I guess that may not stop them.

[Finch]

Lionsgate are licensing to UK boutiques (Second Sight got the master files for Inside from Lionsgate which, by the way, has the audio pitched too low) and I wonder if it might be an American Psycho 4K as a UK exclusive with Arrow's Arte Originale store exclusive and other tat.

[Drucker]

The Untouchables came to mind, and it seemed likely because of De Palma, but then I remembered Paramount already released a 4K. Though I guess that may not stop them.

Carlito's Way had a 4K out from Universal already. Different label, but could be promising.

[sabbath]

Another already-out-on-4K possibility: Armani did "Brad Pitt's evening attire" in Inglourious Basterds, which Arrow hinted via postcard back in 2019.

[dwk]

How Arrow's clues usually pan out, a UK Dressed to Kill UHD?