MGM hasn’t been doing too well lately. While facing an uncertain future due to financial debts, they finally have something good to announce for film fans.
No, nothing solid on Bond just yet (although that future is looking brighter). Rather, MGM’s extensive library of films will see the light of day thanks to an arrangement struck between 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and Allied Vaughn to offer previously unreleased DVDs through an original method of distribution called MOD — manufactured on demand.
It’s a win-win for both parties. MGM provides over 400 titles that are new to the medium and the retailers can offer them on their websites without having to pay up front for a specific number of titles. Considering some of the DVDs – dubbed the Limited Edition Collection – hitting the market will be Still of the Night, Rolling Thunder, and The Hawaiians, this seems like the ideal situation to offer titles that might not have high demand by the masses yet have their own followings for whom this will be great news.
Other titles that will be available off the bat for $19.98 include: Bad Jim, By Love Possessed, Diary of a Madman, Futureworld, The Satan Bug, The Spikes Gang, Still of the Night, Vigilante Force, The Witches (1968), The 7th Dawn, 99 River Street, Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl, Crusoe (1989), Flight From Ashiya, Leo the Last, Callie & Son, The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover, and Big House, U.S.A.
If this form of distribution works out well for all involved, it could mean that more unreleased or discontinued titles could once again become available. Not too shabby — even if they’re just bare-bones releases with, at most, an original movie trailer as the only extra feature.
13 comments
Rolling thunder. Finally…
Well, it's the Warner Archives redux. One question, though – will MGM acknowledge the existence of that tiny part of the world known as "95% of the Earth", or will they be dickheads like Warners and only ship their discs to USA and selected third-world countries (namely England)?
Still waiting for RAD!
Can we get a link to a master list of these 400+ titles? Amazon's done a poor job promoting the Universal Vault series, and I'd hate for these MGM titles to slip through the cracks. Glad to finally see Rolling Thunder made available; I was wondering why Netflix removed it from their Instant View catalog…
Glad to see MGM jumping on the Warner Archives bandwagon. Frankly, this is the perfect situation for both them and film fans. Ever since DVD came on the market, the geek sites have been hammering the studios with, "When is this unpopular-with-the-masses-but-beloved-by-me film coming out?" Although the cost is higher than a mass-produced issue, it's still a way to get a legit copy of films that would otherwise sit in the vaults. It's not perfect. There have been several releases from both WB and Uni that have used dreadful ancient transfers. However, if you're able to find reviews of a disc before you buy it, you can usually avoid those pitfalls. Kudos to MGM!
Where's my Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time?
They've been doing this for a while already. WARNING: Their MOB copy of House of the Long Shadows is a TERRIBLE transfer. I expect many of these to likewise look crappy.
beastmaster 2? pfft.
i'm holding my breath for a bluray copy of beastmaster 3: eye of braxus.
Could we please see a Blu-Ray of Captain Ron, already.
For those in Atlanta, Rolling Thunder is playing at the Plaza Theater this Friday.
Futureworld is on Netflix Instant.
How bout Treasure of the Four Crowns (in 3D) Message From Space, and Solarbabies?
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