New Disney licencing agreement with Mill Creek(!)

[Monterey Jack]

https://whatsondisneyplus.com/mill-cree ... th-disney/

Hey, it's at least somethin'.

[AndyDursin]

I was all excited until I saw the line about MC being the distributor for "certain existing titles". Probably means they're just handling whatever is out there and what will be repressed...not adding anything new. Hope I'm wrong!

[Monterey Jack]

I was all excited until I saw the line about MC being the distributor for "certain existing titles". Probably means they're just handling whatever is out there and what will be repressed...not adding anything new. Hope I'm wrong!

Still, even if it's just that, there's tons of OOP Disney and Fox titles that might get repressed. Plus, Disney signing an agreement with ANY label is an encouraging sign (like with the recent Criterion release of Wall*E). Maybe they'll be open to upgrading some ancient DVD Masters of Touchstone and Fox titles to Blu if sales are good (and they should be).

[AndyDursin]

I hope but sadly it's what I figured -- nothing new is coming. Whatever was out before will be repackaged. Nothing new, no remasters, etc. Knowing Mill Creek they might compress some of this stuff down so there are multiple old transfers on a single disc.

I mean how many Fox released titles are OOP that command a fortune? There are a few but not too many.

This guy I remember in publicity way back when confirmed it on Twitter earlier:

[Monterey Jack]

Well this sounds a bit more encouraging...

[Edmund Kattak]

I think if you take a look at the stormy waters of the theatrical market right now, Iger seems to be prudent in taking a look at all channels of revenue to get the company back on track for growth. Even if this mindset is considered a stopgap measure, he at least understands the sales channels that could be tapped. This is why - as much as I love him - I disagree with Jon Favreau's simple argument regarding there being no market for the original STAR WARS TROLOGY Theatrical presentations. The last couple of years have been extraordinary for fans of "catalog" titles as it's referred to, from small boutique labels. Many of those titles were not schlocky obscure movies. You mean to tell me that if Disney packages a new set of STAR WARS (programme TBD) that includes both the original theatrical presentations and the modern special editions that there would be "no market" for it? To be fair, I think Favreau was referring to the original trilogy alone. But as history has shown us, fans will keep buying this sh*t if you throw them an additional bone or something unique. How many people bought the various incarnations of the Fox SW DVD's? I have at least three, including the Best Buy metal box with the bad non-anamorphic DVD's of the original films. So let's not be one-dimensional here and say that there's no market for it, because clearly, Sales & Marketing was not Favreau's area of expertise.

We are at an opportune time here at this perfect storm where there is potential. When I hear Favreau - who is a STAR WARS fan making STAR WARS content - saying there is no market, I wonder if he's really saying that from a point of view of reality - or respecting George's Lucas' wishes. He should have situational awareness of what is going on inside his house. He may be next in line to run Lucasfilm, so why kill the idea by making a statement like that. He should have just avoided answering the question. I know this probably belonged in that other thread, but this is very timely in terms of what could potentially generate revenue for a company that seems willing to st least consider the options - especially for one of its biggest IP's. Also Jon, I would argue that mostly people born after 1992 or 1993 give a damn about the SE's. There are still many mid 30's and 40-somethings with kids out there who remember ONLY seeing the theatrical editions on VHS or DVD un until the first remnants of the SE's appered on physical media. It's interesting to me because I remember back in 2004 seeing only VHS copies of the OT theatricals at a summer rental place on Long Island - watching all three on a binge with my nieces and nephews on an old Mitsubishi 50-inch rear projection TV. My oldest newphew was 11 and had never seen the SE's.

An untapped opportunity. Remember when Lucasfilm was quick to release that PHANTOM MENACE UTIMATE EDITION 2-CD because a bunch of people were bottlegging the music from the video games? Even if it wasn't the presentation we wanted, it was something in the ballpark. I guess we'll have to settle for bootleg 4K restorations by fans and bootleggers who seem to care about the quality of their work with some yielding pretty damn good-looking results. We hear so much about Lucas "cutting up" the original negative and so forth so that it would be difficult to reconstruct the original theatrical presentations, now the line is "there is no market for it." Which is it guys? Nonsense. So much for the "professional" decision making.