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Corman-Shout Agreement: Cross Your FingersSome folks may have seen this story and wanted to celebrate the possibilty of more Corman episodes coming the DVD. Our sources at Shout! Factory advise you to keep the champagne on ice for now, and cross your fingers. Of course, we are told, the issue of MST3K episodes featuring Corman movies came up, but so far Corman’s people have not been interested. But the hope is that, as the relationship matures, Roger might change his mind. Here’s hoping.
39 Replies to “Corman-Shout Agreement: Cross Your Fingers”Commenting at Satellite News
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Does this mean that Roger isn’t a fan of the show’s treatment of his movies? They always give him crap for how bad they are. I can’t recall ever hearing him say anything about that. I know at least one movie, ‘Swamp Diamonds,’ was released by Rhino. Maybe he feels like Sandy Frank does.
I think Joel had said in a recent interview that he met Roger Corman once, and Corman made it clear he didn’t like what MST3K (or Cinematic Titanic) has done to his movies.
I really hate it when a movie that Corman simply produced is billed as a Roger Corman film. “Pirahna” is a JOE DANTE film, damnit!
Wasn’t “Gunslinger” a Corman movie? Or did he just not own the rights to that one….?
I’m sure that some money will change his mind. If Shout! Factory manages to release regular DVDs of the MSTed movies, what is to stop them from using them for MST3K episodes?
Now if they can just get Sandy Frank to agree…
I hear you, mikek–lets hope thats the next press release!!
Hey, Starcrash is coming out! It’s one of the worst films ever and lots of fun to riff at home with your friends. I’m looking forward to finally seeing that one all the way through.
A friend of mine got Corman to autograph a VHS of the MST3K version of Gunslinger and he seemed pretty nice about it. I’m not surprised he’s not a fan. I think the only directors who are happy with MST3K are the ones who don’t think they made a good movie.
Most of the Corman episodes that have shown up on DVD are public domain, so they didn’t have to clear them with anybody. I don’t think there are that many in this deal that they could use, since I don’t think he owns his B&W AIP work from the 50’s that MST3K used in Seasons 3 and 8. Still probably a couple of films in this deal that were on MST3K. Maybe Deathstalker or Robot Holocaust? I’m not sure what Corman owns.
i want viking women and the sea serpent!!!!!!!!
Corman: the Barbarian!
Corman: the Employer…
Man – WORK IT OUT! That would be great. The only one I want more is Sandy Frank (but that ain’t happenin’).
#2 Brandon – Piranha is a great film!!
To be like the Cor-man. To live like the Cor-man.
I think it’s a money issue for Corman but we’ll see. They got Final Sacrifice, and you know what they said about that…
Corman doesnt own the rights to a lot of his movies..the ones Shout has gotten the rights to are more “recent” like Piranha, Humanoids from the Deep, Galaxy of Terror , Foribidden World, and other non MST3K used titles..
the older ones from Season 3 are owned by Susan Hart & Arkoff Estate
http://www.dvddrive-in.com has the details…
What are the details on the Sandy Frank issue? Does he feel insulted or is it just a money issue with him? I know this is an old story but I guess I missed the specifics over the years.
Corman movies on DVD + Rifftrax = YES.
No great loss. Corman’s dull, grey movies generally make for dull, grey episodes.
By what reasoning does the Cor-man have to complain about what MST3K did to his films? Does he not get that having anyone watching his crap films is like making money off a dead horse.
monoceros4, You are being far, far to kind with that dull, grey stuff. Cor-man the Bore-man.
Joel tells a story about how Corman tried to stop Cinematic Titanic from performing Wasp Woman live in LA a few years ago, claiming it wasn’t public domain. Even though Corman’s attorneys were ultimately proved wrong, CT did a different film that night to avoid legal hassles. Eventually WWoman was riffed and released by CT. (Heard this on one of those podcast interviews Joel did last year, don’t remember which one).
Regardless of the potential for future MST releases, this is good news for B-movie buffs in general. Death Race 2000 has been in the “unavailable” category in my Netflix cue for a year now. Though I have a bad AVI copy of Starcrash in my Caroline Munro Collection, I look forward to upgrading it.
The Corman movies on MST3K were really some of my least-favorite episodes because the movies themselves were always so dull. But….any episodes that can be put out will be gladly added to my collection! I have to agree though that the Sandy Frank movies would sure be nice to have. Here’s to wishful thinking!
One nice thing….these Shout factory sets seem to be selling well, so they’ll have more $$$ to throw around for future ones. This seems to be working, judging by the Final Sacrifice thing.
And some of those season 3 Corman shows are pretty funny, but those are the Susan Hart/Arkoff owned eps.
(I would much rather get them to release Yucca Flats, thus completing the Coleman Francis trilogy. It must be done.) :mrgreen:
I would like to see It Conquered the World and Viking Women and the Sea Serpent be on a future volume..please,oh,please????
All those are going to be hard to get (Comment # 22)
ShoutFactory is also one of the companies that will be buying MGM Midnight Movies (cult B movies / sci fi and horror) along with I think Synapse Films..MGM is slowly selling these type of movies since they arent doing it themselves
One of those MGM movies happens to be The Incredible Melting Man … I dont know if Squirm will be sold or not
Right now for those that like the films and have wanted the films that Shout just bought from Corman we will be in for some MAJOR MAJOR treats !
To be fair, if he legitimately did believe that he had rights to Wasp Woman, it makes sense to demand compensation whether he was upset about their treatment of the film or not.
And Sandy Frank, as I understand it, no longer has rights to the “Sandy Frank films”. The company leased the rights rather than bought them, and most of them have lapsed back to the individual rights holders (usually in Japan.) So whatever his feelings, he no longer has a say in it. :)
@ mikek #4 If Shout did licensed some of the Corman movies that were done on MST for regular release it wouldn’t mean they could just do the MST release as well. They’d be licensing it for a specific release. The MST version is a different thing which would require them to work out a separate deal, or at least include it into the original deal, which of course Corman would simply reject. There is no way they could back door anything without Corman knowing it was going to happen.
@ John Seavey #24 If it is true that Sandy Frank himself has lost the rights to the Japanese films he edited and dubbed for the US market then I think that is actually terrible news as far as the possibility of those MST episodes ever seeing the light of day on DVD. He would still have a say in any use of his versions of the films since he technically owns the dubbed and edited versions of them. It’s similar to MST itself. Best Brains still owns all the MST episodes even if they have lost their licenses to the films used on the show and can’t do anything with any episode with a film that they can’t negotiate a new license for. So if what you say is true about Sandy Frank losing his rights to the original Japanese films he edited and dubbed then the situation for MST DVDs of those would be that Shout Factory would have to negotiate the use of the original films from the Japanese rights holders, then they would have to negotiate with Sandy Frank as well to get the rights to use his versions of the films, which are what actually appear in the episodes. That’s twice the deals, possibly twice the cost, and twice the chance that somebody will say no (as we all know Frank would anyway). This is what caused all the confusion with and killed Volume 10. They negotiated the rights for the version of Godzilla vs. Megalon used in the episode, but the company who owned the US rights for that version of the film didn’t actually own the rights to the movie itself, which is why Toho was able to throw it’s weight around and force Rhino to recall the set. Yes I think it is highly unlikely we will ever see any Sandy Frank episodes of MST on DVD, which is a shame, because a few of those are among my favorite episodes, and were a highlight of what I consider MST’s heyday.
I’m hoping this means that Teenage Caveman eventually gets a DVD release.
1)Because for the longest time, it was the only MST ep I had on tape and
2)It was a fun episode. Even if just for the “Catching Trouble” stuff.
So, which MSTied movies does Corman own that haven’t been released yet? We know he doesn’t own the rights to the AIP films like “It Conquered the World” or “War of the Colossal Beast,” – they’re owned by the Nicolson & Arkoff’s heirs. Others, like “Swamp Diamonds” and “Night of the Blood Beast” are already out. Anyone know what’s left that’s MSTied that he owns?
wasn’t attack of the giant leeches a corman film too? I believe the only films left are teenage caveman, it conquered the world, viking woman and the sea serpent, the undead.
Corman probably holds some kind of record for MST riffed films- he also had a credit as executive producer on many titles like Kill Zone, Deathstalker, Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet etc. The Undead and Viking Women would be very welcome releases but I think they are held up in the AIP catalogue.
oh man, viking women is definitely one of my favorite episodes of all time. i seriously hope it will be released (fingers crossed)!!! :lol:
“Viking Women…” has already been released on DVD by Lionsgate – it’s owned by Nicolson’s son, along with “Teenage Caveman,” “War of the Colossal Beast,” and “The She Creature.” I think to get the MST rights, Shout would either have to work with Lionsgate or Nicolson.
I’m sorry – got it backwards. It’s the Arkoff estate those films were licensed from, not Nicolson.
I’m not holding my breath on this one. As much as I’d love to see some of those Season 3 titles make it to dvd, the Arkoff estate has been steadfast in their refusals to grant an MST treatment of their movies to be released. Their loss if you ask me, Shout! seems to be doing pretty well on their box sets, and would probably offer a pretty good deal.
I wouldnt hold my breath on any Season 3 Corman movies…
Half are owned by The Arkoff Estate/Susan Hart and Lionsgate owns the rest..hence War of the Colossal Beast saw DVD life before the Amazing Colossal Man
Its basically the AIP library which consists of a lot of 1950s Corman and Bert I Gordon (who is on Facebook by the way)
Shout may do what they can but the fact is these people may not want the MST versions of them released…or it would have happened by now…
Gunslinger and Night of the Blood Beast are public domain titles.
Sorry to bring everyone down, including myself, but when someone on the Shout! Factory MST3K community forum asked about this, Brian Ward’s response was, “There are no plans for these, at this time.” In other words, the episodes in question (e.g., It Conquered The World, Viking Women…, Teenage Caveman) are not any more likely to be released now than they were before the deal with Roger Corman.
It’s too bad there wasn’t some law that locked in the movie rights to a show like MST3K. I wish there was something like that for music used in movies and TV as well. There are many times when a TV on DVD has to have music altered from the broadcast version because money needs to be paid again for that music.
Wasn’t that something that was changed early under President Bush’s reign? I was watching a DVD of “Grease” with friends and saw that they had to blur out all the Coca-Cola advertisements in the malt shop due to rights issues. You’d think that once you’ve paid to put something in a movie it should be able to be there for as long as the movie exists.
Regarding the Sandy Frank films, while the films themselves long ago reverted back to Daiei, Frank’s English-dub recording tracks most likely did not.
I think it turns out that Roger Corman himself does not own the rights to any of the MSTied movies he was involved with.