Warner Brothers Archive Collection Blu-rays

[Ribs]

I think the idea of it as a cohesive range that is selected is a little bit of a misnomer - my impression of the range is basically "these are things that have been restored recently by the Warner Archive," where the primary purpose is not the Blu-ray but simply updating assets in the library so they're able to monetize again. As some titles are unlikely to ever recoup the investment of restoring them, it's built in to the restoration funding that there will be a release at the end of the line to recoup some of the money, simply because otherwise they will be deeply in the red on any movie they do. So even if Kentucky Kernels only sells 500 units (which wouldn't surprise me), it's still making them $5000 or whatever that title wouldn't have been able to do and they now have that restoration in the bank ready to be monetized for the future forever.

I do recommend the podcast George Feltenstein appeared on that was shared earlier in this thread - he explained one frustration was that, while he is able to understand the specialist film market and knows titles that would appeal and sell well, he still has to try to appeal to young executives who are not necessarily versed in titles that aren't omnipresent culturally. An example he gave when asked about 4K was Logan's Run, which he said he thought would easily be profitable knowing how enthusiasts like that film, but he doesn't expect the people above him with the checkbooks at WB would necessarily greenlight because they have no knowledge of it, as opposed to stuff like Clockwork Orange or Shawshank that they are easily able to go, "oh, I know that, yeah, that'll sell." He is obviously a unique figure in that he's had a kind of custody of this library for three and a half decades and for basically any of the 5,000 titles they own is able to immediately identify how he thinks it would sell and the condition of elements and stuff, and it's great he'll be back in a position to do more to update their library (and he sounded very much like they will be treading more in his part of the library's territory for 4K releases in the near future).

[swo17]

I still primarily think of Logan's Run as Dave Nelson's favorite movie (and Persona as Lisa Miller's)

[domino harvey]

Don’t forget Dave recommended Renoir’s A Day in the Country to Catherine without crediting Lisa for introducing it to him

[swo17]

Ha!

[PfR73]

I still primarily think of Logan's Run as Dave Nelson's favorite movie (and Persona as Lisa Miller's)

Not as the "sexiest movie ever" per Ross Geller????

[swo17]

You mean the show referenced here? Isn't that like...one of those fake shows?

[JakeStewart]

No covers posted yet, but Amazon has pages w/release dates for The Ghost Ship/Bedlam, Night Shift, and Tex Avery, Vol. 3

[L.A.]

Bedlam/The Ghost Ship is most welcome . Bring the Lewtons coming.

[therewillbeblus]

All I want is The Seventh Victim

[DeprongMori]

Given that WB has licensed out several of the Lewton titles domestically, I’m guessing the possibility of an upgraded WB box set is pretty much nil, huh? I’m bummed Criterion did such a “meh” release of Cat People instead of going big with a set themselves.

[Finch]

I want I Walked With A Zombie the most, and Seventh Victim. Sorry if it's been asked before, but have they done any titles from their Busby Berkeley set yet?

[swo17]

42nd Street
Footlight Parade

[Finch]

thank you, swo!

[reaky]

So it’s obviously I Walked with a Zombie for our next Lawton blu.
No.
Oh, we’re doing Seventh Victim, then?
I don’t think so.
Of course - Curse of the Cat People!
Nope.
Well, Leopard Man has good things in it…
Uh-uh.
Ah, Body Snatcher? That’s the best-regarded of the Karloffs.
Be that as it may…
But that just leaves…

[swo17]

Those last three already have Blu-rays from Shout

[domino harvey]

And Shout/Scream abandoned plans for the rest because the sales were so poor. Be glad WA is releasing them at all even though we know for a fact they aren’t big sellers

[dwk]

I am curious how well or not Criterion's Cat People sold. Maybe these all should have just been issued as double features by WAC.

[reaky]

Meanwhile, all we poor bastards in the UK have is the Criterion Cat People.

[JakeStewart]

I’m thinking they have plans to release I Walked With a Zombie/The Seventh Victim as a double-feature next. The “Val Lewton Double Feature” sub-heading on the cover seems to indicate that. The Isle of the Dead release was to sort of test the waters as I understand. If it didn’t sell very well, packaging two films together would be a way to get the remaining Lewton films out more quickly.

[swo17]

Well that would be slightly lame because they're otherwise cleanly separated by director, in case you want to organize them that way

[agnamaracs]

I wonder what's on the third Tex Avery disc. Will it wrap up all the ones that weren't on the first two, or will some of them get censored?

[domino harvey]

Well that would be slightly lame because they're otherwise cleanly separated by director, in case you want to organize them that way

Buy two copies duh

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

I wonder what's on the third Tex Avery disc. Will it wrap up all the ones that weren't on the first two, or will some of them get censored?

Which ones were censored on the previous releases?

[swo17]

See my post here for a comprehensive availability/censorship guide. The only thing I'm not sure of: Have any of the cartoons on the BD volumes been censored?

[JakeStewart]

The Naked Spur is a 4K scan of the Technicolor negatives according to the Warner Archive Facebook page.