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Vol. XIV Discontinued Due to rights issues with “Soultaker,” Shout! Factory has discontinued selling Vol. XIV. It’s still available at Amazon and other retailers, but unless the rights issues are resolved, once it’s gone, it’s gone. Get it while you can! Thanks to alert reader Stargazer for the tip. 34 Replies to “Vol. XIV Discontinued”Commenting at Satellite News
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i wonder what the rights issue is.
I bought it years ago. I’m good. :P
on soultaker.
I’m assuming they got the rights for a limited time and that time is up. This way the owners of Soultaker can sell the rights somewhere else for that sweet Criterion edition or something.
And I could easily be wrong about all of this. Corrections are welcome.
I think the rights simply expired and Shout! could not justify paying the requested amount to renew. I don’t know if that means the price was raised or if Shout! wanted it discounted or if it stayed the same and the numbers just don’t crunch. Since the set is several years old, most MSTies who wanted it bought it by now, so it’s not like Shout! can count on a large amount of future sales when calculating whether plunking down another wad of cash for Vivian Schilling, or whomever owns it, is worth it.
Shame, as the episode is a classic. The annotated version is gone, as is the episode on Amazon Instant.
Soultaker wasn’t public domain, and even the original SciFi show had likely licensed it in a group of other comparatively recent titles like Deathstalker, Werewolf or Hobgoblins from the cheap 90’s video distributor.
But does this mean Shout’s not “allowed” to show the movie anymore, and we can get a replacement like with Toho’s Godzilla/Megalon? (Which was during the Rhino days.)
XIV not being current, Shout probably won’t bother, and may just retire the set. For the new kids, here’s one lesson about why owning disk is better than digital.
and on youtube (a full episode not just clips)
Shout has said in the past that they want to make as many episodes available as possible. Maybe they will work out the rights issue or re release it with another episode (perhaps one of the singles).
I think what happened is that with the new show coming, the producers of Soultaker think there will be new demand for this important episode and raised the price accordingly.
You know, in France “Soultaker” is regarded as a work of genius.
Shout Factory could always do a brand new DVD/Blu-Ray release of Soultaker.
Shout! has said via social media that the set will be gone once it is sold out due to losing the rights for Soultaker, so it doesn’t look like they’ll be reissuing this with a different title. The set has been out for 7 years, after all. Shout! actually announced this a couple of months ago and it has only recently sold out through their site, so it looks like it might take awhile for it to start fetching ridiculous prices on the secondary market.
I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come with other sets.
this isn’t completely on topic, but it reminds me of something: i swear i remember somebody on here once wishing that shout had spread out all of the gamera episodes instead of putting them all out together (and that’s been OOP for some time now). like, really dude? whoever you are?
Vivian Shilling is an opportunist. Look for “Soultaker 2” coming soon to a toilet near you.
I’m afraid it will happen from time to time. Any non-public domain movie has a contract giving Shout! the rights for sell the MST version for a negotiated amount of time at a negotiated price. Once that contract expires it needs to be renewed/renegotiated to continue selling the episode. Sometimes the rights holder will try to raise the price beyond a point that makes business sense for Shout! It is just the way of the world.
As we can see with this episode Shout! got a decent length of time on its first contract. Bottom line if you buy every set within five years of release you have nothing to worry about. And if everyone buys it within five years, renewing the rights (especially if the price goes up) makes little sense.
Rights Taker!
Wow, they got a solid 7 years out of that set. Very impressive. I’m also certain that Shout! will rectify this one day. They’re one of the hippest grooviest DVD distributors out there. They’ll fix this.
Now, if any of us were smart, and there really still are any (new) copies available at Amazon, we’d pick the entire lot up, sit on them for a while, and then re-sell them at OUTRAGEOUS prices !!!
Just this past week I stopped into one of our local Half Price Book Stores (Milwaukee area) and was STUNNED to see a number of the old Rhino MST3K dvd collections going for anywhere from $75 to $200 !!!
I know, I know………they’ve been out of print for some time now, and I realize that they’re being sold all over for a lot of dough………..but $200 at Half Price Books ???
Whatever the market will bear, I guess……. :-?
This reminds me of Frank’s story in the ACEG about how they had trouble getting the rights to “Radar Secret Service”. Does the owner of the rights to “Soultaker” really think there is any demand for the non-MST3K version?
The Sooooowwlllltaker!!!
From the interview with Joe Estevez on the disk (“I still get people on the street saying ‘Hey, Soultaker!'”), I’d say that delusion is a distinct psychiatric possibility…
Just look at the difficulties with Blood Waters of Dr. Z’s delusions of non-MST3K grandeur that held up its release.
Perhaps I shouldn’t say this for multiple reasons, but I own non-MST3K DVDs of both Space Mutiny and Werewolf. So, yes, there is a demand. I mean, hey, they’re fun, harmless cheese!
I own Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, Mitchell, Manos and Seven Angels (the proper edit of Angels Revenge). I’d buy Soultaker if it were on DVD.
Did Overdrawn come free with a totebag for your PBS donation of $50? :-)
I didn’t have this one but purchased it a couple months ago when I first heard about it going OOP. Worth it just for Soultaker, I can’t say that the other episodes are particular favorites of mine (probably why I didn’t buy it when it came out). I too find it ridiculous how much these OOP sets go for. While I would love to own the 20th anniversary set to have the mini Crow to keep my mini Tom and mini Gypsy company, I am NOT spending 200 bucks on it. :pain:
So seven years should be the maximum for all the other sets, too, then? That since many of the sets have been out for seven plus years you consider that a great length of time and all that is important is that you got yours? Is that your point?
If not, what is your point “after all”?
You must be quite young to think seven years is anything but a blip in the scheme of things. :-D
No, I think this is serious. It is a crack in what was perceived before as a constant.
The sets will go OOP like gangbusters when the revival is established and respective copyright owners attempt to leverage for more money.
The writing is on the wall.
It’s Rhino 2.0. :laugh:
As for all you Popsicles who knew about this two months ago, why didn’t you share with the class? :-D
And how did you find out… from a newsletter from Shout?
It’s depressing that while Shout is (thankfully) re-releasing old Rhino volumes, they have to deal with problems with one of THEIR volumes.
So much legalese… it’s a wonder MST3K ever aired at all, what with everyone being so goshdang sensitive about their crappy movies.
They should THANK MST3K for keeping heir crappy films ALIVE. They were LUCKY they were picked to riffed on. :-D
thanks for the warning. I already have it, but cases are marking up my discs. :( some kind of oil is leaving splotches on many disc, including Shout! factory. It’s a bitch getting everything squared away.
you guys are nerds, lol
@27 I saw it on Twitter, I can’t remember who tweeted it but I believe it was the MST3k account. I figured it had been on here too and I had just missed it, but I guess not!
This is why I
A.Buy physical media and
B.Preorder each set.
(Smiles while caressing volume 10)
This is the first I’ve heard of anything like this. Could it be something coming from your player?
Yup !!! :-|
That’s why I stopped storing my DVDs in the pit at a Jiffy Lube.