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Arrow teased Friday's announcement with a priest inside the confession booth.

My first thought was Robert Lepage's Le Confessional - but that seems far too literal for Arrow...

Maybe Amen with Matthieu Kassovitz, directed by Costa-Gavras, as an unofficial Academy title?

EDIT: Doesn't Desperado have a confession scene?

Also, this from Fran Simeoni's Twitter account:

I'm assessing the year or more ahead and it's looking pretty good if I say so myself.

- Looking at big deals with a variety of studios
- Have an epic deal in (mentioned before) with a studio we are working with directly in US for first time
- Recommending 2 big franchise box sets get upgraded to UHD
- Recommending delay of one or 2 boxsets to work more on major extras
- Have a documentary in submission to major festivals
- Have a major release-event celebration in the works for 2023

Despite some UHD hiccups things are good

Finch wrote: Wed Apr 27, 2022 3:46 pmEDIT: Doesn't Desperado have a confession scene?

Yeah that was my first guess

Finch wrote: Wed Apr 27, 2022 3:46 pm Maybe Amen with Matthieu Kassovitz, directed by Costa-Gavras, as an unofficial Academy title?

EDIT: Doesn't Desperado have a confession scene?

Also, this from Fran Simeoni's Twitter account:

I'm assessing the year or more ahead and it's looking pretty good if I say so myself.

- Looking at big deals with a variety of studios
- Have an epic deal in (mentioned before) with a studio we are working with directly in US for first time
- Recommending 2 big franchise box sets get upgraded to UHD
- Recommending delay of one or 2 boxsets to work more on major extras
- Have a documentary in submission to major festivals
- Have a major release-event celebration in the works for 2023

Despite some UHD hiccups things are good

Which franchise boxes make sense for a UHD upgrade? Hellrasier seems like a no brainer, but for #2? Ringu perhaps? Battles Without Honor and Humanity would probably be overkill.

Grand Wazoo wrote: Wed Apr 27, 2022 6:21 pm Which franchise boxes make sense for a UHD upgrade? Hellrasier seems like a no brainer, but for #2? Ringu perhaps? Battles Without Honor and Humanity would probably be overkill.

Hellraiser definitely, but I think only the first Ring film was restored in 4K, correct? The other two came from very dated masters more than likely created for DVD originally. Unless they can justify going back and restoring them, of course.

I'm having trouble thinking of another franchise that would benefit...

Taviani Brothers UHD WHEN!?

It would be a fun psychological study to see how many trigger-happy UHD fans double-dip on Gamera within the brief time span of purchasing the blu-ray set for a pretty penny

Finch wrote: Wed Apr 27, 2022 3:46 pm - Have an epic deal in (mentioned before) with a studio we are working with directly in US for first time

Did folks ever figure out which studio this is, or at least what the possibilities are?

therewillbeblus wrote: Wed Apr 27, 2022 7:27 pm It would be a fun psychological study to see how many trigger-happy UHD fans double-dip on Gamera within the brief time span of purchasing the blu-ray set for a pretty penny

I'd totally buy the Heisei era set again in 4k. My favorite discovery of last year.

senseabove wrote: Wed Apr 27, 2022 7:37 pm Did folks ever figure out which studio this is, or at least what the possibilities are?

Waded into the Arrow thread on the other forum and the intrepid sleuther BarnDoor has ideas:

As for the studio they're working with in the US for the first time, well we've discussed that before. Here's who it can't be:

- Universal
- Sony
- MGM
- Warner Bros (when suggested, Fran noted they'd worked with WB in the US before, seemingly shooting down the prospect)
- StudioCanal (they haven't licenced any titles from them in the UK)
- Disney (as above; we've seen Fox titles in the UK, but surely they're in the same Disney boat for the US)
- Lakeshore
- Fortune Star
- Celestial/Shaw Bros
- Toei
- Toho
- Nikkatsu
- Kadokawa Daiei

As for who it could be:

- Lionsgate (if indeed Shivers and Rabid were licenced via Lionsgate for the UK)
- Paramount (we've seen a handful of Paramount titles licenced for the UK, so this would be some breakthrough. Trouble is, after Scream Factory's dealings, I don't know how 'epic' this deal would be for the US market. If the Miramax titles are on the table - as seems to be the case now for Shout at least - then yes, it could be interesting)

Hellraiser seemed like a done deal a while back going off his clue sheet, so these may be 2 separate franchises entirely.

Phantasm and *gulp* House would be my guesses.

My dream would be an expanded Boro Box.

We're probably getting the Tenebrae UHD this summer, too. Michael MacKenzie had it on his letterboxd watched list several times over the past few months.

Grand Wazoo wrote: Wed Apr 27, 2022 6:21 pm Which franchise boxes make sense for a UHD upgrade? ... Battles Without Honor and Humanity would probably be overkill.

Plus I don't think those were great sellers. In the recent Arrow sale they were $5 each.

- Have an epic deal in (mentioned before) with a studio we are working with directly in US for first time

Paramount. They've already released a few titles from the Republic library under the Arrow Academy banner in the UK and it would be a new studio for Arrow US/CA.
If Fran's hinting at a UHD Hellraiser: The Scarlet box that would also require a Paramount deal as they now own the Miramax library.
There's also rumors that Arrow is going to release Monster Squad. The making of documentary Wolfman's Got Nards has screened in the UK courtesy of Arrow. It's also has a cast reunion and screening at Texas Frightmare this weekend which Arrow is a corporate sponsor.
Fran's use of the word epic may just refer to a deal that has titles from multiple libraries. (Paramount, Republic, Miramax, CBS)

- Recommending 2 big franchise box sets get upgraded to UHD

Presumably Scarlet Box UHD is one. Other is probably Phantasm or House. The Ring is possible but would require new scans on the sequels.

- Have a major release-event celebration in the works for 2023

Sounds like the possible Empire Pictures boxset. EMP Box is actually a December 2022 clue on Fran's last list but it could be 2023 now. Someone is doing a big Empire Pictures set. The Scream Factory releases all went OOP. There was a kickstarter backed documentary on Empire pictures that mentioned in an update to contributors that it was licensed to a label and was now going to be a series of smaller documentaries. Fran also has the EMP Box on his clue sheet in December. I would guess a big box for Christmas and they would then break it down into individual titles and smaller boxsets spread out across 2023.

Clarification from Fran re the two franchises

Not an upgrade of things we've released before but new ones we acquired a while back and only thought about BD releases of them. So far...

Tombs of the Blind Dead collection in 4k. So much for that overpriced Synapse death metal tribute CD steelbook with the film as a bonus

Drucker wrote: Wed Apr 27, 2022 7:16 pm Taviani Brothers UHD WHEN!?

Crazy how Good Morning Babylon never made it out of the VHS era

black&huge wrote: Thu Apr 28, 2022 12:08 am Tombs of the Blind Dead collection in 4k. So much for that overpriced Synapse death metal tribute CD steelbook with the film as a bonus

There is no 4K master for Tombs and one doesnt seem to be in the cards anytime soon. Arrow is going to be using Synapse's work on the first film.

Titles have already leaked on Base:

[spoiler]Tenebrae 4K
The Righteous
The Sacred Spirit
Hell High
Giallo Essentials - Black Edition[/spoiler]

Outside of Tenebrae, nothing else sounds all that interesting. Hopefully they announce some exciting U.S only releases and I'm hoping that ShawScope Vol 2 does get announced.

Could the other UHD franchise upgrade be for Jodorowsky? Or does it not count as a "franchise"?

yoloswegmaster wrote: Thu Apr 28, 2022 1:06 am Titles have already leaked on Base:

[spoiler]Tenebrae 4K
The Righteous
The Sacred Spirit
Hell High
Giallo Essentials - Black Edition[/spoiler]

Outside of Tenebrae, nothing else sounds all that interesting. Hopefully they announce some exciting U.S only releases and I'm hoping that ShawScope Vol 2 does get announced.

Righting Wrongs is getting a US release from someone with a good relationship with Diabolik who asked them not to carry the UK release from 88. Figure Arrow is the most likely suspect.

For a series, what about the Re-Animator films?

dwk wrote: Thu Apr 28, 2022 1:13 am
Righting Wrongs is getting a US release from someone with a good relationship with Diabolik who asked them not to carry the UK release from 88. Figure Arrow is the most likely suspect.

I looked at the list of hints for 2022 and I can't find a "RW" on there. I'd say it's unlikely that Arrow will be releasing it since it's not on that list of hints and I believe that they haven't announced a title that hasn't appeared on that list. Does Vinegar Syndrome have a good relationship with Diabolik? That's the only label I can think of that has a good chance of releasing it.

VS does seem to be another likely possibility for Righting Wrongs.

Guys, read post 2217 from Finch, Fran Simeoni clarified that the franchises are not upgrades, rather ones they have yet to release.