Dawn of the Dead on BluRay in 3D?

[Neil]

Click here... What's going on? Is this an official release? We're all confused about this one!

[krakenslayer]

I do not understand the confusion over this. It's quite simple: 1) A German video company owns the distribution rights for Dawn of the Dead in that country 2) Said company discovers that Rubenstein is working on a Polarized 3D version of the movie 3) It decides to beat him to the punch, applying a cheap and nasty anaglypic 3D process (i.e. red/blue glasses) to a bad, by all accounts, heavily censored version of the movie, using software than can be purchased by anyone 4) It release its crappy "3D" Dawn of the Dead on Blu-Ray and DVD in Germany 5) The Blu-Ray ends up on eBay in the UK and the US It is only "official" insofar as it is released by a company that has purchased the legal distribution rights for Germany, and can therefore release any version they want within that territory. It has not been "officially" endorsed by Rubenstein or Romero, but since the German company legally owns the distribution rights in that nation, neither of them have a say in the matter. In other words, it's about as official as the Extended Cut or the European Cut. However, Rubenstein will have made money from it because he is involved with MKR Group who hold the worldwide rights and the German distributor will have had to pay MKR to purchase the distribution rights in the first place. But once a company owns the releasing rights for its region, it can do whatever it wants to the film, unless specifically stipulated otherwise in the contract.

[Neil]

I do not understand the confusion over this. It's quite simple: 1) A German video company owns the distribution rights for Dawn of the Dead in that country 2) Said company discovers that Rubenstein is working on a Polarized 3D version of the movie 3) It decides to beat him to the punch, applying a cheap and nasty anaglypic 3D process (i.e. red/blue glasses) to a bad, by all accounts, heavily censored version of the movie, using software than can be purchased by anyone 4) It release its crappy "3D" Dawn of the Dead on Blu-Ray and DVD in Germany 5) The Blu-Ray ends up on eBay in the UK and the US It is only "official" insofar as it is released by a company that has purchased the legal distribution rights for Germany, and can therefore release any version they want within that territory. It has not been "officially" endorsed by Rubenstein or Romero, but since the German company legally owns the distribution rights in that nation, neither of them have a say in the matter. In other words, it's about as official as the Extended Cut or the European Cut. However, Rubenstein will have made money from it because he is involved with MKR Group who hold the worldwide rights and the German distributor will have had to pay MKR to purchase the distribution rights in the first place. But once a company owns the releasing rights for its region, it can do whatever it wants to the film, unless specifically stipulated otherwise in the contract. But it's odd a company would seemingly have such carte blanche to do what it likes with the film!

[krakenslayer]

Well, if you think about it, distributors in various countries around the world will regularly re-edit movies to fit different morals and tastes, sometimes at the behest of a censor, sometimes not. Also, think about all the movies that have different titles and marketing tactics in different regions at different times. Or the Japanese Godzilla movies that were hacked to bits by their American distributors who then inserted newly-shot scenes with American actors. Or Zombi Holocaust, which was re-titled Doctor Butcher, M.D. in the States with a completely unrelated newly-shot beginning tacked on. Or Argento's Dawn cut. Or George Romero himself shooting new death scenes for the American release of Umberto Lenzi's Spasmo. There are any number of other examples. If you think about it, this is a far less drastic change than any of those; all the distributors have done is break the image down into a red and blue image. It's only a technical change, akin to changing the aspect ratio or adapting it to Anamorphic. But yes, when a movie isn't owned by an international studio, overseas distributors can usually do pretty much whatever they want with it as long as they pay their dues.

[Neil]

Agreed! But to actually have the rights to change the content of the film itself? That's what they're doing, messing around with each individual frame cut'n'pasting material in/out... What would stop them digitally introducing a godzilla into the back of scenes for example, and would they have the right to do that!? I suspect this has fallen between the cracks in any agreements, that simply didn't take 3D and such into consideration when it was drawn up.

[krakenslayer]

They could digitally introduce a Godzilla into the background if they owned the character rights to Godzilla. Distributors do change the actual content of movies on a semi-regular basis. The Japanese, for example, will airbush and pixellate glimpses of genitals and pubic hair out of American movies, which likewise involves changing the content of each frame involved. Presumably, the reason these gaps are deliberately left in the agreements is because regional distributors are trusted to know what will help the film sell better in their territory, and can make the changes if required, thus increasing the profits for both themselves and the worldwide copyright holders. It is probably not something that directors would agree with, but unless the director is George Lucas or Stanley Kubrick, they rarely have a say in the matter.

[DEAD BEAT]

Click here... What's going on? Is this an official release? We're all confused about this one! I smell poo...doesnt look real.

[DubiousComforts]

But it's odd a company would seemingly have such carte blanche to do what it likes with the film! No, it's business.