Studio Day 2001

Magistrate Terry Coli

October 3rd, 2001

If you live in SoCal and have the $$$, Dave's Video in Studio City is the place to shop for DVD, Laserdisc and top-of-the-line home video equipment. If you don't have the $$$, Dave's is the place to drool endlessly over a fabulous selection of discs you just can't find at Best Buy. Dave's frequently sponsors celebrity disc signings (like the recent John Landis An American Werewolf In London event) and one can often see a star or two browsing the aisles on any given day. But without a doubt, Studio Day is the most eagerly anticipated event on the calendar of local videophiles. Studio Day is a time when representatives of the major studios hang out to chat about the happenings in the home video world. Fans can praise, gripe and get the latest scoop right from the source, and most importantly, give suggestions as to what titles we want on disc right away. Since many of our faithful readers (and judges) live too far away to attend the event, we collected titles requests and set about getting some answers. Before we tell you what we learned, be aware that DreamWorks and Universal were no-shows at Saturday's event, so no word on that Freaks and Geeks boxed set or on the "Holy Grail" of DVD (at least to Judge Naugle), the Back to the Future Trilogy. Also, Artisan, who controls the oft-requested Glengarry Glen Ross, was absent so there's no info on that title either. But to the good news -- let's go studio by studio:

MGM
Proving they actually listen to the suggestions of fans, MGM is working on a special edition of UHF, one of their most requested titles. Weird Al is involved with the disc's production and we should see it sometime in the latter half of 2002. Also warranting special edition treatment in 2002 are Escape From New York, The Fog, Dances With Wolves, The Sure Thing, The Producers, Rain Man, The Usual Suspects and Robocop. Return of the Living Dead will debut in 2002 and the response to the already-on-VHS Vampire Lovers was "probably soon."

As for what's not on the schedule at this time: Child's Play: SE, re-do's of A Fistful of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More, Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three nor Tod Browning's Freaks. To Live And Die In L.A. is held up due to rights issues.

BUENA VISTA
The one rep from Disney at Studio Day worked with animated features on home video and had only limited knowledge of their live-action DVD slate. He admitted that Ed Wood should be on the horizon soon, along with classic Disney fare such as 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and Swiss Family Robinson. A special edition of Who Framed Roger Rabbit is held up due to complicated rights issues and the familiar response to Song Of The South was "forget about it." Because you asked, I'll admit I queried about Chris Elliot's Cabin Boy. The answer: "why?" [Editor's Note: Hey! I really want that movie! Do you wanna buy a monkey?]

Peter Pan will reappear as a special edition in early 2002 to coincide with the theatrical sequel Return to Neverland. Peter Pan will be on a single-disc though the rep admitted there was enough material for two discs. Other titles previously available on featureless discs, such as Pocahontas, could warrant a double dipping in the future. There will be a second wave of the Disney Treasures series, but no firm word on the content of those discs yet (perhaps Mickey and Donald shorts?).

COLUMBIA TRISTAR
Probably the coolest news I could've gotten from Columbia was that there's a special edition of Christopher Guest's hysterical The Big Picture in the works for 2002. Apparently, Guest has already recorded a commentary and Columbia's found some deleted footage -- yippee! A Groundhog Day special edition is also on tap, with a commentary and a featurette. Other probable double-dips include: Stripes, Starship Troopers and Philadelphia. Columbia intends to release the remainder of their Ray Harryhausen catalog next year, including Mysterious Island and First Men On The Moon with the possible involvement of Tim Burton (apparently a Harryhausen fan, though I'm sure we'd all rather see Tim get to work on those Batman and Beetlejuice SEs). Future Superbit titles will include Gattaca and Bram Stoker's Dracula (not as a special edition anytime soon).

As of now Columbia has no plans for a special edition of The Quick And The Dead, Ski Patrol, nor for Modern Romance due to music rights issues. The special edition of Starman will only be released in Region 2 for now. Sadly, the rep admitted that they are putting plans for their Columbia Classics series on hold until the market grows some more. Apparently, their terrific SEs of It Happened One Night and Lost Horizon didn't sell well, so no plans for Capra's You Can't Take It With You or The Bitter Tea Of General Yen as of yet.

NEW LINE
New Line doesn't have much of a library selection to report on, but they'll continue to put out top-notch discs of their recent theatrical release, including several Infinifilm titles a year. Jason Goes To Hell will appear on disc whenever they finally release the shelved Jason X (probably in the first half of 2002). Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me SE is still in the works, as well as SEs of Robert Altman's Short Cuts and Kansas City.

20th CENTURY FOX
Fox continues to please with planned SEs of Speed, True Lies, and Say Anything. Also look for All That Jazz, The Hustler, Barton Fink and Miller's Crossing (the latter two expected in the summer of 2002). The rep also mentioned that The Grapes Of Wrath is currently undergoing a restoration for DVD release. Fox plans to continue their strategy of releasing two boxed sets a year for their television properties, including Buffy, The Simpsons, and MASH.

PARAMOUNT
Friday The 13th fans should be pleased (or peeved) to hear that after the bare-bones release of Part VII and Part VIII in 2002, they'll revisit the series with SEs. Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan will also get SE treatment early next year with the other titles to follow. Star Trek: The Next Generation will arrive on DVD in the Spring of 2002, as a boxed set of all the first season episodes. 2002 will see Bad News Bears, Sunset Blvd., Beverly Hills Cop Trilogy, Top Secret, Top Gun: SE, and Fatal Attraction: SE. 2003 releases include the Brady Bunch movies, Pretty In Pink and Some Kind Of Wonderful. Perennial wish-listers that aren't on the slate include Grease and Indiana Jones (surprise, surprise).

WARNER
Warner has plenty of special edition titles on the way in 2002, including Goodfellas, Mean Streets, Amadeus, Victor/Victoria and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Also look for new editions of Poltergeist, Blade Runner and the Gremlins movies. The Mission, Joe Vs. The Volcano and Innerspace will all arrive in 2002 as well. The special edition status of Tim Burton's Batman films, as well as Beetlejuice, are pending his involvement. Warner also said they were still considering the best method of releasing their classic animated shorts, but they will start appearing in 2002-2003. A documentary has already been completed for an eventual SE release of The Shawshank Redemption, which could first appear in a Stephen King boxed set including the current theatrical release Hearts In Atlantis and a revamped The Green Mile. As far as Warner's classic library goes, James Cagney's White Heat is being restored for a 2003 release. Though already briefly released in Canada, James Dean's Giant will surface in the U.S. in 2002 with enough supplemental content to put that release to shame (George Stevens, Jr. is very involved). Singin' In The Rain will be given Citizen Kane-like treatment when it hits its 50th birthday next year. Ditto for King Kong and Dial M For Murder which are undergoing extensive restorations.

Films from the Warner vault that are not on the schedule are Road Warrior: SE, National Lampoon's Vacation: SE, Roger And Me, and Memoirs Of An Invisible Man.

Thanks to everyone who submitted questions for Studio Day. Apologies if we weren't able to secure an answer to your questions; sometimes those studio reps can be kind of wily. With so many great titles on the horizon, 2002 looks to be another solid year for DVD. Start saving your money!