MovieChat Forums > The Legend of Billie Jean (1985) Discussion > why no dvd release...Possible reason

why no dvd release...Possible reason

posted 17 years ago by tweeti45
12 replies | jump to latest

I was online and I was doing research on the movie and I happen to be on Wiki. I know it can be inaccurate but it gives a possible reason for why we are not seeing it on DVD..

This is what Wiki Says:

"The film's only home video release as of 2007 was on pan & scan VHS in 1985 and has yet to be released on DVD due to the original masters of the film being destroyed in a fire at Paramount Studios.[citation needed]."

Here is the link for the rest:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Billie_Jean

[–] jeffster67 17 years ago

That's not reliable. I have a copy of the DVD that I just bought and it is a great copy. It's like $19.99 plus $6.00 S/H. You can get it from this site:

http://www.jdvds1994.com/leofbijedvdn.html

"I'd be very happy to be myself if I could remember who I am. Who am I?"

[–] FOLEYAXEL 17 years ago

i have a dvd too...but it was a recording from hdnet movies. It's not a official copy. here's an interesting article:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hp24jan24,1,1276080.story

if that's the case tri-star pictures is under Sony, maybe the fans can see if HP can make and distribute the dvd soon.

[–] papi88 17 years ago

YEAH I WANT THIS ON DVD TOO MAN

i hope they release this on dvd or something, SOON

CALL ME SNAKE-snake plissken
DROOG #60
THE WARRIORS

[–] lanative 17 years ago

I saw it at New Beverly in L.A. last year, so there are some prints around (this one had the credits cut off). The DVD versions circuting are most likely bootlegs. My guess is the official DVD holdup has to do with licensing of music rights and/or residuals (which is typical of most delays). That said, it's playing on Showtime this month (P/S of course, too bad not in HD).

[–] robertjobes69 17 years ago

it is playing this month on flix

[–] misfit7575 17 years ago

that page is wrong and needs to be corrected. The movie has been on Universal HD in the last year, so they had to make a HD master from something. Maybe one day we'll get it on Blu-ray. It looked great in HD in OAR btw.

[–] jonandshellie 17 years ago

That is not accurate because they would need the masters to reproduce the movie for HD. The Legend of Billie Jean was shown on HDNET movies several times late in 2007 and although it wasn't presented in true HD, they would have required the master tapes to update it to fit on 16:9 TV's as well as to clean up the audio and the video.

The likely reason that it's not on DVD is there may be trouble obtaining the rights. Alot of those old movies that were made by companies like Vestron are hard to produce on DVD because sometimes the copyright owners are not known.

I would expect a major DVD release sometime within the next 5 years though. It is a cult classic film and has quite a cult following.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] livingdead70 17 years ago

Well they arent lying its on Amazon. Amazon wont sell bootlegs or copys so its got to be real. Strange. Maybe its a Canadian release. They get different things up there than we may see here due to copyright laws being somwhat diff up there. Thats all I can think of.
tre

[–] smarieru 17 years ago

A few things about the listing on Amazon.

1. There are only 2 available

2. the ASIN begins with B000T

[–] evilzombie20 17 years ago

Amazon actually gives the customers the ability to create a listing for their marketplace item if there isn't one. A few years back I was trying to sell my copy of THE CURSE OF THE SCREAMING DEAD on there and there was no listing for it, so instead of me having to put it under its original title - they let me create a new listing for the video.

After they got rid of the Marketplace on Amazon, that's been standard practice. Unfortunately it makes it a hell of a lot easier for bootleggers to sell DVDs "legitmately".

I'm not too sure if the music is what's holding this film's DVD release up. If it was Sony would have trouble airing it on Universal HD with the soundtrack still intact. If anything maybe its just a rights issue with the film itself. I don't think it was distributed by Tri-Star back in the 80s but on some no name company that's now MGM I believe. Maybe there's an issue there.

[–] superman747 16 years ago

that could be true, but still....the studio must have another copy because the movie is now being shown on TV. The studio that owns the rights is Tri-star Pictures (now Sony Pictures), not Paramount.