rxfiend
12-12-2007, 09:20 AM
http://fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=5606
Fango recently caught up with writer/producer Daniel Farrands, who has most recently won notice as co-scripter of the Jack Ketchum adaptation THE GIRL NEXT DOOR. However, as any self-respecting horror buff will know, Ferrands got his breakthrough penning the screenplay for the much-troubled sequel HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS (pictured), 1995’s sixth installment in the long-running slasher series. The good news, Farrands reveals, is that the alternate “producer’s cut” of the much-criticized follow-up may finally see the (legal) light of day after a decade’s worth of bootleg trading.
“It’s going to be the subject of a conference call that I’m having with Miramax,” the writer tells Fango. “I’ve finally gotten somebody’s attention over there. I have been in touch with them over the years, and during the past month I’ve had e-mail exchanges with everyone from their home video marketing people to their legal affairs department. The long but sad answer is that first, no one could figure out who had the rights. The movies Dimension made at the time when they were funded by Disney have reverted back to Disney, so they own the sixth, seventh and eighth HALLOWEENs, and the Weinsteins no longer have the rights. But not only did Disney not know they had them, they did a cost analysis [once they were informed], looked at it and said, ‘We don’t think it will make any money.’
“I told them everyone who had bought a bootleg would go back out and buy [an official release],” Farrands continues. “We could do a two-disc version with the producer’s cut and the theatrical version, commentaries, behind-the-scenes and everything. They said no, and I said, ‘Well, could you license it to a company such as Anchor Bay? They have done a wonderful job with the series.’ But they said no again, and that was because they didn’t want it competing with the bare-bones version they had in the marketplace.
“However, that DVD is now out of print. So I sent them dozens and dozens of websites and eBay pages, and I finally got their attention. So we are now going to have a discussion about it, and I hope I can convince them do something.”
Currently, Farrands is undertaking producer duties on the based-on-a-true-story chiller THE HAUNTING IN CONNETICUT, which reteams THE PROPHECY stars Virginia Madsen and Elias Koteas (see previous report here). “It is the about a very frightening battle between good and evil,” Farrands says of the just-wrapped feature. “Virginia Madsen is amazing in this film, and I love her. We had a hard-working crew and a good cast, and everyone gave it their all. It’s going to be a scary and hopefully very entertaining, spine-tingling movie. In a similar fashion to AMITYVILLE, we optioned the rights to the [real] family’s story, but it’s not a documentary of the actual case—it’s a Hollywood movie.” —Calum Waddell
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Wow, Weinstein's don't own Halloween 6 - 8 anymore. Interesting. I think Disney should do a 2 disc release of 6 and a SE of H20, both films are in desperate needs of a re-release.
Fango recently caught up with writer/producer Daniel Farrands, who has most recently won notice as co-scripter of the Jack Ketchum adaptation THE GIRL NEXT DOOR. However, as any self-respecting horror buff will know, Ferrands got his breakthrough penning the screenplay for the much-troubled sequel HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS (pictured), 1995’s sixth installment in the long-running slasher series. The good news, Farrands reveals, is that the alternate “producer’s cut” of the much-criticized follow-up may finally see the (legal) light of day after a decade’s worth of bootleg trading.
“It’s going to be the subject of a conference call that I’m having with Miramax,” the writer tells Fango. “I’ve finally gotten somebody’s attention over there. I have been in touch with them over the years, and during the past month I’ve had e-mail exchanges with everyone from their home video marketing people to their legal affairs department. The long but sad answer is that first, no one could figure out who had the rights. The movies Dimension made at the time when they were funded by Disney have reverted back to Disney, so they own the sixth, seventh and eighth HALLOWEENs, and the Weinsteins no longer have the rights. But not only did Disney not know they had them, they did a cost analysis [once they were informed], looked at it and said, ‘We don’t think it will make any money.’
“I told them everyone who had bought a bootleg would go back out and buy [an official release],” Farrands continues. “We could do a two-disc version with the producer’s cut and the theatrical version, commentaries, behind-the-scenes and everything. They said no, and I said, ‘Well, could you license it to a company such as Anchor Bay? They have done a wonderful job with the series.’ But they said no again, and that was because they didn’t want it competing with the bare-bones version they had in the marketplace.
“However, that DVD is now out of print. So I sent them dozens and dozens of websites and eBay pages, and I finally got their attention. So we are now going to have a discussion about it, and I hope I can convince them do something.”
Currently, Farrands is undertaking producer duties on the based-on-a-true-story chiller THE HAUNTING IN CONNETICUT, which reteams THE PROPHECY stars Virginia Madsen and Elias Koteas (see previous report here). “It is the about a very frightening battle between good and evil,” Farrands says of the just-wrapped feature. “Virginia Madsen is amazing in this film, and I love her. We had a hard-working crew and a good cast, and everyone gave it their all. It’s going to be a scary and hopefully very entertaining, spine-tingling movie. In a similar fashion to AMITYVILLE, we optioned the rights to the [real] family’s story, but it’s not a documentary of the actual case—it’s a Hollywood movie.” —Calum Waddell
===============
Wow, Weinstein's don't own Halloween 6 - 8 anymore. Interesting. I think Disney should do a 2 disc release of 6 and a SE of H20, both films are in desperate needs of a re-release.