The Cinemascope article you linked to contradicts what you're claiming. Here's what it says:Alan Smithee wrote:Jack Nicholson did sit on the passenger for twenty years. He simultaneously didnt like the studio cut and wanted to own a film the way one owns a painting. One big difference with this is you may own a Picasso but anyone can see a reproduction in a book. The passenger was pretty much gone for all that time. CinemaScope has a good article on it.
Note that "exercise some control over its proper exhibition." The article then goes on to talk about Nicholson's licensing of the film to Warner Home Video and then adds "Nicholson was unhappy with all suitors for a theatrical and subsequent DVD release until discussions began with Sony Pictures Classics in early 2003, with a deal finalized in May 2004." In other words, he wasn't trying to prevent the film's release, he just wanted the film to be released properly.Cinemascope wrote:According to Nicholson’s attorney Ken Kleinberg, the actor had long wanted to purchase the worldwide rights to a film he loved as an art collector might; if he wasn’t able to hang it on a wall, he could at least protect the film from potential corporate skullduggery and exercise some control over its proper exhibition.
So there's no connection between what Nicholson did with The Passenger and what Gallo's doing with Promises.