Lionsgate

[John Hodson]

Coppola approves; of course he has.

[perkizitore]

[HarryLong]

I only own one Lionsgate Blu-ray, Requiem for a Dream, and I think it is fantastic (and very reasonably priced). I have high expectations for Apocalypse Now release but I'm still waiting for Pi...

Maybe I should clarify that my sour opinion of Lionsgate is based more on the debacle of MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN than any quality problems. I haven't seen any of their Blus, but more than a few of their DVDs have crossed my desk for review & I can't say I can fault any of them on presentation quality.

[fdm]

... except that at least a few of them should have been anamorphic widescreen rather than full screen presentations.

[fdm]

Four new Blu-rays out October 5: Secretary, Bad Lieutenant (The Keitel one), Wonderland... and Hard Candy! \:D/

Looks like some or all of these will be selling rather cheaply at Best Buy this weekend (starting Sunday), exclusives apparently for a month or so. Hard Candy will be going for $9.99, as is Blair Witch; Maniacs, Open Water 1&2 are will be $7.99. The others noted above may be similarly priced in store (and/or online?), for how long at those prices, no idea.

[HarryLong]

... except that at least a few of them should have been anamorphic widescreen rather than full screen presentations.

Well, yes, there is that...

[domino harvey]

Man oh man, the Hard Candy Blu-ray is everything I'd hoped it would be and more. One of the best looking discs I've seen yet, this one is a total stunnah. I only intended to test it out and ended up watching the whole thing

[Howard Roark]

Does anyone know if Lionsgate's recent release of The Conversation has a new digital transfer? Or is it the same image quality as the old Paramount edition?

[dx23]

Lionsgate Inks Miramax Home Entertainment Deal

Lionsgate Inks Miramax Home Entertainment Deal


By : Erik Gruenwedel | Posted: 11 Feb 2011
[email protected]

Lionsgate Feb. 11 said it signed a major global home entertainment distribution agreement with Miramax Films, the famed independent studio founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstein.

Under terms of the agreement, Lionsgate will have access to more than 550 Miramax titles, including Pulp Fiction, The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love, Chicago, Good Will Hunting, Life Is Beautiful, Kill Bill Volumes I and II, and No Country for Old Men, which it will distribute on disc, electronic sellthrough and Internet video-on-demand, in addition to cable VOD internationally.

The Santa Monica, Calif.-based minimajor will share home entertainment distribution with Paris-based Studiocanal in the United Kingdom and Europe.

The first home entertainment release under the deal will be The Switch in the United States, a romantic comedy starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman, which will be released March 15 on disc, VOD and digital download.

It wasn't immediately clear how (or if) the agreement impacts the Dec. 16 deal between Miramax and The Weinstein Co., or TWC, for home entertainment distribution of planned sequels, including Clerks, From Dusk Till Dawn, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Copland, Shall We Dance, Swingers and The Amityville Horror, among others. That agreement expanded on a previous deal that includes sequels Scream 4, Spy Kids 4 and Scary Movie 5.

The Walt Disney Co., which originally bought Miramax from Bob and Harvey Weinstein, sold the studio last summer to an investor group for $660 million. Bob and Harvey, of course, now own and operate TWC.

Lionsgate has one of the largest (and most lucrative) libraries in home entertainment, with titles such as Dirty Dancing, Memento, Monster's Ball, Crash and Rambo. Indeed, the studio Feb. 9 attributed its library for generating record home entertainment revenue for five consecutive years through a combination of organic replenishment and strategic acquisitions and distribution deals, despite the challenging marketplace.

“The Miramax library will be one of the most treasured jewels in our home entertainment crown,” Lionsgate president Steve Beeks said in a statement.

I wonder if we get now the Kill Bill complete set and an uncut version of Malena.

[Ashirg]

“The Miramax library will be one of the most treasured jewels in our home entertainment crown,” Lionsgate president Steve Beeks said in a statement.

Considering they are treating Republic and Studio Canal libraries like crap, wonder how they will treat Miramax titles...

[agnamaracs]

Yet they are probably working on at least three more editions of Terminator 2 and Reservoir Dogs as we speak... Lionsgate, to me, represents everything that is wrong with the home video industry, and their alliance with Canal didn't help.

[Jeff]

“The Miramax library will be one of the most treasured jewels in our home entertainment crown,” Lionsgate president Steve Beeks said in a statement.

"We like to keep the crown jewels locked up to keep them safe and away from the public."

[ianungstad]

Even their "Studio Canal" collection in the US has trickled off to nothing. (Is it even a going concern anymore?)

I hope Canal regrets signing an exclusive and dissolves their relationship once the current agreement expires.

A lot of the rights to the licensed titles in the Miramax library will expire over the next couple of years. I don't see Miramax signing new deals for most of the foreign/art films and they'll once again be up for grabs.

[dx23]

I'm wondering, are they just simply outbidding companies like Criterion or is it that no one else has been interested in doing similar deals to get the distribution deal for these catalogs? Do they benefit because the purchase in bulk instead of individually? It pisses me off every time I hear Lionsgate acquiring another catalog of films and then knowing that they are just releasing crap or not releasing the film at all.

[RodneyOz]

Well, buying a heap of great films and then leaving them rotting unreleased on a shelf is at least in line with Harvey Weinstein's Miramax legacy.

[Adam X]

perhaps it's in their contract with Miramax to not release any of the films their paying for, and they're really just selling storage rights? ](*,)

regarding the Studio Canal titles, I didn't think Lionsgate had anything to do with the actual presentation of the films, and were just distributing them. they don't seem to be coming out that frequently in other countries either.
The blame for the general lack of quality and quantity would really seem to rest with SC in this case. That said I'd be the last to stand up for the way Lionsgate treats the films it owns the rights to. They are what they are...

[fdm]

Looks like Lionsgate is not to be the sole distributor of the Miramax catalog... Echo Park is going to play too. Perhaps there are still further developments in store for the Miramax catalog.

[hearthesilence]

Awesome news - Pulp Fiction is apparently slated for June too:

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=5874" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[domino harvey]

Amelie, Chocolat, Bridget Jones' Diary, and the Boy With the Striped Pajamas coming to Blu this summer

[zedz]

And I bet I know which Chocolat this isn't!

[cdnchris]

You're not f***ing French Pete, it's called "Chocolate".

[dx23]

Looking at the reviews around the interwebs, it seems that both Lionsgate and Echo Bridge aren't doing that good of a job with these Miramax Blu-ray releases. Echo Bridge releases seem to be crap on a stick but Lionsgate isn't far behind. My expectations for the forthcoming releases have certainly lowered now that the Lionsgate has been using Alliance Atlantis 1080i transfers for their Miramax releases. This is truly disheartening.

[matrixschmatrix]

Hot damn, Jackie Brown. I hope it's a decent transfer and not a piece of crap Echo Bridge cash in.

[manicsounds]

I thought Del Toro was working with Criterion on a new cut of Mimic while working with them on Cronos. Wonder what this means if Mimic is a Walmart exclusive.

[dwk]

Nothing has been announced, but Lionsgate, via their StudioCanal deal, now has the rights to Evil Dead 2 and Red Shirt Pictures has been interviewing cast & crew for, it seems, a new release.