Well, this is interesting news. Park Circus, a distribution middleman for old movies – hang on, let me cover this first, then I’ll carry on…
Films, provided there’s a copy to show, can always be shown in theaters, you just have to pay for the public viewing rights. This isn’t a huge amount of money, so typically studios can’t be bothered to handle the logistics of this – this is why you occasionally see a big deal being made about the Godfather having a re-release to theaters on an anniversary – that’s actually the studio stamping a clean and shiny new print, and releasing it into a single screen in bigger towns. As a re-release, they can take a cut of the first few weeks admissions, as is typical, but mostly they’re looking to make money hyping the franchise and getting you to buy home video, etc.
This is where sub-distributors come in – a lot of these are companies that have collected old prints of a film and are loaning them out. Some just handle the public license and its up to the exhibitor to find a print (this is a more recent thing, when a lot of theaters are fine with running a DVD or Blu-ray copy.)
OK, now to carry on – Park Circus has announced today that they are making a re-issue of Ghostbusters available to exhibitors this October. This is eye-brow raising, as Park Circus appears to be more specialized as a distributor, in that every year they pick one or two films in their catalogs, make new prints as well as promotional materials. This is not the same as a studio re-releasing a film, but it does have some similarities, like the clean new prints – Ghostbusters is an obvious choice, as ever year, it’s repertoire screenings grow, so a new print is a good investment for the company.
So where will it be screening? Good question. Park Circus made the announcement just today, and are likely just now finalizing exhibitors. It is available to theaters worldwide, so it could show up in your town. More details to come so stay tuned.
Thanks to Todd of the Ghostbusters of British Columbia for the link.
[UPDATE]
A bit more movement on this – the day after we posted the news from the distributor, the official Sony Ghostbusters facebook page went from a zombie page to lots of activity, with the admins posting lots of as-if-they-were-real Ghostbusters posts about big things coming, ultimately leading to the release of the Ghostbusters trailer with the October re-release news at the end.
Plus, IGN’s #1 Ghostbusters fan, Greg Miller, is as excited as you’d expect.
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I went and saw Back to the Future when it was re-released by AMC recently in the US. They gave out rad (=P) posters and had trivia before the show with prizes like the blu-ray collection of the films. Would LOVE if they did this for Ghostbusters.
I’m fairly sure it was tried over seas first with BTTF, then done here in the US. So it could be a good sign if it does well there too whenever/wherever it happens.
AMC also asked on their site what other movies we’d like to see up again on and Ghostbusters did get a lot of votes. Not sure how the rights would worked out.
So basically we’re not gonna expect this in our hometowns
There’s a glass half empty and glass half full way of looking at this Mike. On the one hand, it’s up to exhibitors to show it. If your town’s theaters don’t want it, no, you won’t see it. But you can always tell them you want it. Demand can equal interest.
On the other hand, these guys distribute to screenings all over, so if they’re putting together a new, digital system print, it means that even beyond October, a lot more screenings will now be a better print. And re-issue plus time increases the chances you’ll get to see it somewhere some day.
It would be awesome if they did Ghostbusters 2 between Christmas and New Years this year too!
There’s no way they wouldn’t show this in the Pittsburgh area so there’s a good chance I’ll catch a showing. Awesome!
Aside from WHERE, the other big question is HOW MUCH? Will tickets cost outrageous 2011 prices, or something far cheaper? 1984 ticket prices would be nice
Even though it’s Ghostbusters, I don’t go to the theater to see NEW movies (except for on my birthday or when I get free tickets), so it’s highly unlikely I’d go to see a movie that I already currently own THREE copies of (two 1999 DVDs and one Blu-ray). Now if there’s some “added value” to these showings, then I’d consider it.
Of course, that’s assuming that it would be shown at a theater near me. Otherwise, this is all moot.
Oh, and I’m surprised that no one mentioned that the header pic on the Park Circus site is for GB2, not GB1.
What I’m wondering is if Sony will try to slap a 3D version up there. And then try to sell it as a new Blu-Ray version along with 3DTV’s.
I’m really hoping for at least a poster as a handout again.