Lions Gate buys back 22 titles from Universal

[SkottDMD]

From DavisDVD.com

"Lions Gate Entertainment has bought back video distribution rights to 22 of its titles from Universal Studios Home Video, the company announced yesterday. The four-year deal in which Lions Gate paid Universal a fee to handle distribution of selected releases expired last fall, and among the films back at the Canadian-based independent are Affliction, American Psycho, Buffalo 66, Gods and Monsters, Love and Death on Long Island, The Red Violin, and Shadow of the Vampire. Lions Gate is expected to re-release the titles, some as new special editions, over the next few years (look for the debut of the company's "Signature Series" line next month - more officially on this soon)."

I guess if they did better versions of Shadow of the Vampire and American Pyscho I would be pretty happy! I wonder what the rest of the titles are though?

[smurdleman2000]

I'd certainly buy a better edition of American Psycho, hopefully with the deleted scenes present on the R2 release.

[Chaplin]

I'd like to see a SE (and hopefully with a lower price) of Red Violin.

[Galahad67]

I really want an se of Red violin to replace my current RV disc.

[SolidSnakeASS]

I'd love to get a good release of the Red Violin!

[Marq]

great news.

I am pleased with my current editions of Buffalo 66 and American Psycho, but would consider upgrading if there seemed to be a vast improvement...

The Canadian market definitely deserves an OAR version of The Red Violin, so hopefully Lion's Gate will correct that.

Pretty much every other title mentioned is one I have a slight (Gods and Monsters) or strong (Affliction) interest in, so I'll anticipate more news on them, and hopefully a full list of the 22 titles.
Thanks for the news!

[Reaver]

Count me in for a great DVD of American Psycho. Christian Bale is just too cool...

[SilentBob]

Originally posted by Reaver
Count me in for a great DVD of American Psycho. Christian Bale is just too cool...

Me too. At first i thought the movie was just totally F#%!ed up. A few weeks later i had the erge to buy it and still have it today. I guess i must fight it a bit longer in hopes of a new SE soon.

[Soggy Bagel's Revenge!]

Yay, maybe finally we'll get a chance to hear a Mary Harron commentary or even perhaps get some interviews with those involved in the whole "American Psycho" fiasco (Oliver Stone and Leonard DiCaprio most notably). Maybe it's wishful thinking, but you never know...

All I can hope is that these re-releases have good cover art. PLEASE let them have good cover art!!!!!

I still laugh every time Jared Leto gets axed to death to the tune of "Hip to Be Square" -- bring on the SE!

Arigato,
Brook

[BubbleGumUK]

If this is the Sam Jackson Red Violin then count me in!

I might take a look at Gods And Monsters, but the current DVD is more than enough for the type of film it is.

[Marq]

All credit from a dude on this thread:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=113581

The first 4 releases for Lion's Gate's Signature Series of DVDs will be....:
Monster's Ball
Amores Perros
Eve's Bayou
O

All due to be released on February 11th apparently.

WOW!!!! All 4 were titles are ones I was on the bubble of buying very soon, but this news is great stuff. Tremendous films to start off this line of SE DVDs.
Here's the specs (much of which sound similar to the existing editions, but there are some new goods too):

Eve's Bayou (Signature Edition)

Special Features:
Director's cut
New production commentary
Kasi Lemmons "Dr. Hugo" - the short film with new commentary


Monster's Ball (Signature Edition)

Special Features:
Extended version of the film
Commentary by Marc Foster and Academy Award nominated writers Milo Addica and Will Rokos
Cast and crew interviews including an in-depth discussion with producer Lee Daniels
Sundance Channel presentation of Anatomy of a Scene


"O" (Signature Edition)

Special Features:
Director's commentary
Basketball scene analysis by Tim Blake Nelson and director of photography Russell Lee Fine
Deleted scenes with commentary
Cast and crew interviews


Amores Perros (Signature Edition)

Special Features:
Production commentary
Deleted scenes
Two featurettes
Three music videos
Photos
Storyboard

And the covers:








Nice. They look like slip-covers. Love the director signature too. Hopefully the same will be in store for such films as American Psycho and Buffalo 66...

Now, I'm considering holding off on the upcoming edition of The Rules of Attraction, if Lion's Gate might be planing an evetual Signature Series of it.... with the Unrated version and 5.1 mix Roger Avery's been working on.

This Lion's Gate deal looks like it'll be very fruitful.

Peace.

[SkottDMD]

Looks neat. Will pick up the new Eve's Bayou and Monster's Ball but I think I will keep my original "O" dvd instead of this one. Not very interested in Amores Perros so I shall skip that one. Marq, interesting comment I never thought about the possibility for The Rules of Attraction coming out that way but I think I will still pick it up on Feb cause' I don't want to wait to much longer to see it again! Also since it looks like features have changed from the original DVDs to the Signature Series (Monster's Ball, O) I think I want to have the first release of Rules of Attraction. American Pyscho would be amazing to see get better treatment! I would pick it up in second

[SilentBob]

Nice covers but i too will be keeping my original 2-disc "O" dvd. I heard that Monster's Ball has an Un-Rated version as well as the version out right now. Any word if this will be the UNrated version they were talking about? Doesn't really matter cause i already bout MB for $7, just curious.

[jlproffitt]

An SE of The Red Violin would be terrific!

It would be great to have some special features dealing with all of the history covered by the storyline.

[SolidSnakeASS]

"O"? Damn. It already has a 2-disc edition, so this is just idiotic. The Red Violin is what they should be putting out...

[peterlee]

Do these new versions also include the theatrical cut or is it the unrated version only?

[Marq]

Sounds like Unrated only on the ones that have it Monster's Ball & Eve's Bayou)...

I'm curious why the announcement on the DVDFile mainpage doesn't mention Amores Perros - my most anticipated of the first batch of Signature Series DVDs.
Hopefully they just forgot it....

[peterlee]

So does that mean the theatrical versions of Eve's Bayou or Monster's Ball will no longer be available?

[Marq]

Originally posted by peterlee
So does that mean the theatrical versions of Eve's Bayou or Monster's Ball will no longer be available?

I guess only on the existing DVDs...

[Avid]

Originally posted by peterlee
So does that mean the theatrical versions of Eve's Bayou or Monster's Ball will no longer be available?

Originally posted by Marq
I guess only on the existing DVDs...

Which would really suck if that is the case with Eve's Bayou. The version out now does not have an anamorphic transfer.

[retroboy]

I'm happy with the current editions of Affliction and Buffalo '66, but I'm glad the uncut Monster's Ball edition is being released--I want the DVD of the film that I saw in the theatre, not the censored version.

Amores Perros is a good film and the existing DVD has plenty of extra material--I'm too lazy to check the back of the case, but I think the extras on the re-release are the same on the existing one (but I may be wrong). I also like my copy of the film, so I won't be upgrading.

Since Alliance Atlantis put out a full-frame bastardization of The Red Violin, I bought the widescreen American edition from Amazon. It's good to know that there's at least one Canadian company willing to release a Canadian film the way it was meant to be seen (are you listening, you miserable, ignorant SOBs at Alliance?).

[peterlee]

retroboy,

I'm confused. The current R-rated version IS the version you saw in the theatre.

As for me, I always want the theatrical version. This has been brought up with the Star Wars Special Editions and the new version of E.T. I've got no problem with new edits but please keep the theatrical available. It annoys me that the Monster's Ball or the Eve's Bayou I saw in the theatre won't be available for sale anymore. On a matter of principle, that's the one I want to see.

[MiddleEarthGirl]

I'm going to hold off on American Psycho and Gods & Monsters for now,maybe the SE will be worth it

[Marq]

Originally posted by peterlee
retroboy,

I'm confused. The current R-rated version IS the version you saw in the theatre.

In Canada, the unrated version of Monster's Ball was shown in theatres, not the R-rated version that played throughout the U.S.
The same thing happened with American Psycho.

[pinballwizard]

I hope they release a SE of The Red Violin. I refuse to watch it in pan & scan, and the it has to be in dts.

I actually won a copy of the U.S. release on ebay, but it was lost in the mail.

I don't understand why Alliance would release a pan & scan version of this movie when they released a widescreen se version of "Good Will Hunting".