Escape From New Edits!

[rhett]

The upcoming reedit, which was done without Carpenter's involvement, changes the circumstances of the U.S. President arrival in the now prison once known as New York City. A new conversation between Rehme (Tom Atkins) with a US General has been dubbed in, explaining that Air Force One has experienced mechanical failure and is off course, complete with CGI'd mouth movements! After suggesting the president use the emergency shuffle, the President (Donald Pleasance) climbs aboard with the briefcase handcuffed to his wrist as in the original film. But a new digital shot has been added of the shuttle falling down tot he New York streets, with the original shot of the plane striking the skyscraper now excised.

According to dvdfile.com, Escape From New York will be receiving a new cut in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. WHAT THE FUCK is MGM thinking, this is a joke! Okay, sure, the terrorist attack is one of the worst things to happen to the USA, but that was over a month ago, it is time for Hollywood to pick up the pieces and move on.

If anything, the terrorist attacks have increased interest in terrorist related films like The Siege, Die Hard, Independence Day and the like, so it is obvious that society isn't horrified of seeing images of destruction or plane crashes. But MGM, in all their self-riteousness, feel as if they have the right to alter a classic film, inspite of the directors scorn.

Even Warner Bros., who have been really taking it to DVD fans with all this P&S nonsense, have left it in their best interest to not alter any of the WTC images in "A.I.", and that film is a big budget Spielberg film for crying out loud! Who in their right mind is going to complain about the content in EFNY, a low budget film over two decades old!

I saw the upcoming SE of EFNY as the definitive edition, with all the extras and more from the LD along with improved audio/visual. But with these asinine cuts, I can't picture anyone wanting to buy this DVD anymore. I mean, the DVD doesn't even come out for months! And then what, after all this terrorism scare blows over, will MGM release EFNY <b>yet again</b>?

I got enough CGI mouth movements in Babe, I don't need any for one of the 1980's superior action films.

MGM was really starting to turn themselves around with their devotion to high quality SE's, but they have pulled a swift 180 with this announcement, and are right back where they were about a year ago. EFNY SE has probably been my most anticipated DVD for years, but MGM has completely ruined it. Shame on you!

[Paff]

I gotta pull out my old card, let's wait for a corroborative report on this. DVDFile is usually pretty damned reliable, but so far they're the only ones reporting this. It could still just be a rumor. Let's hope.

In the meantime, that cha-ching sound you hear is the value of my special edition Laserdisc climbing.

[ctyner]

Someone's having fun at DVD File's (not to mention <i>our</i>) expense. The current issue of Fangoria is #207, though the DVD File post mentions that the interview is in "an upcoming issue" numbered #155. Not coincidentally, issue 155 includes an interview with Carpenter on <i>Escape From L.A.</i>.

Doing all that CGI work would be cost-prohibitive, and Fangoria's leadtime would prevent any such interview from appearing at least until a couple issues from now.

Way to fact-check, DVD File.

[Yowie]

This is not April 1st, is it ?. I just read it too, and it better be a joke !. If this is true, there's one thing to do and one thing only; BOYCOTT MGM's UPCOMING DVD OF "ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK" !!!!. -I know I will, and I predict they'll sell zero copies. If this shocking news turns out to be fact, we must bombard (no pun intended) MGM with complaints morn, noon and night. This is just like Lucas messing with "Star Wars", and uttely un-necessary. I've said it before and I'll say it again; CGI is the Devil's invention. Yes, it was a terrible and unforgivable attack by those ugly and evil scumbag terrorists but this drastic move is completely unacceptable. No wonder Carpenter is outraged. Let's all take a deep breath, and stay calm before the storm...

[ctyner]

MGM's Alan Plummer has been posting quite a bit to the Home Theater Forum recently, and he confirmed that, not surprisingly, the "editing" announcement has absolutely no basis in reality. I'm amazed that this hoax -- something that would've been simple to debunk with even the most casual of checking -- became so widespread.

[Erg0n]

just t oreiterate what he said, it is a hoax. There's no proof of this becoming reality. and it would be too costly to release such a version.

[Paff]

Agreed man.

Some people need to check the calibration on their bullshit detectors. Or even buy one. I mean, maybe it's true, but the fact that SO many people on so many forums have just chomped into this story like a striped bass worries me. There's been maybe one or two "this sounds like a hoax", which is nowhere near enough.

People, take a couple of seconds to read a story and consider the authenticity first. The Internet is a breeding ground for hoaxes.

[rhett]

The reason why I got worked up about this was because it was on dvdfile, which I consider the most reliable website for DVD related news, and never before have they fabricated a story just to stir controversy.

As for my "calibration on my bullshit detector", I think it sounds pretty feasible that MGM would go and do something like that. If companies can shelve big budget efforts like Collateral Damage and Big Trouble (losing them tens of millions of dollars), then I don't think it sounds too out of the question for a company to decide to spend roughly fifty thousand dollars to alter a film with several occurances that could contain questionable material in the wake of the terrorist attacks. Not to mention that the film contains "New York" in the title as well, which would surely draw more attention to itself. DVDfile also included quotes from Carpenter about the issue, making it all the more possible that it could be true.

I understand that I may have jumped the gun a little early, but I had every reason to, based on past experiences with DVDfile and all the trimming that Hollywood has been doing to their violent films. That artical seemed pretty authentic to me.

[mutleyhyde]

Originally posted by rhett
The reason why I got worked up about this was because it was on dvdfile, which I consider the most reliable website for DVD related news, and never before have they fabricated a story just to stir controversy.

You mean moreso than Horrordvs??? Blasphemy!

[ctyner]

Originally posted by rhett
The reason why I got worked up about this was because it was on dvdfile, which I consider the most reliable website for DVD related news, and never before have they fabricated a story just to stir controversy.

I don't think anyone's saying that DVD File made it up -- just that they didn't bother verifying the information some prankster sent them.

As for my "calibration on my bullshit detector", I think it sounds pretty feasible that MGM would go and do something like that.

The guys who don't even include inserts in their recent budget releases?

If companies can shelve big budget efforts like Collateral Damage and Big Trouble (losing them tens of millions of dollars), then I don't think it sounds too out of the question for a company to decide to spend roughly fifty thousand dollars to alter a film with several occurances that could contain questionable material in the wake of the terrorist attacks.

Where are you getting the $50,000 figure?

As for the comparisons to <i>Collateral Damage</i> and <i>Big Trouble</i>, MGM isn't nearly in the same boat financially as Warner or Buena Vista. Also, in each of those cases, promotion wasn't strongly underway, and they'll receive a release at some point in the not-too-terribly-distant future.

DVDfile also included quotes from Carpenter about the issue, making it all the more possible that it could be true.

No, DVD File never claimed to have acquired those quotes -- they're from an article provided to them by some unspecified source that the site obviously didn't bother spending more than half a minute trying to verify.

[rhett]

As for the comparisons to Collateral Damage and Big Trouble, MGM isn't nearly in the same boat financially as Warner or Buena Vista. Also, in each of those cases, promotion wasn't strongly underway, and they'll receive a release at some point in the not-too-terribly-distant future.

Regardless though, they will still lose millions because of the terrorist attacks. Collateral Damage was a mere 2 weeks away from release, and at all the multiplex theaters I was at, they had huge standees everywhere, not to mention trailers and posters. So disposing of those and making new ones will cost them a truckload of money in the first place. And plus, wherever they slot these films in, that means that another film will get moved around, and though they may still make money on these films, the rearranging of their release schedules will surely cause losses, especially in the 3rd quarter of 2001.

All I was saying there, is that if money is being lost with these shufflings, then it makes sense that other companies would jump on the same bandwagon. And besides, MGM could have always rereleased it again, which would make them even more $$.

The guys who don't even include inserts in their recent budget releases?

Haha, you do have a point there. That is something that I definitely overlooked!

You mean moreso than Horrordvs??? Blasphemy!

Say what you want, but I will always consider this a "everything DAVE is a fan of site...", not a DVD site.

[Philzilla]

not true, rumor already smashed over at HTF

[ArrowBeach]

I told you MGM suxs! Boycott them! stop buying their crappy discs!

[ctyner]

To be clear, rhett, I don't think Paff was criticizing you directly in this thread, and that wasn't my intent either. I probably should've been clearer that I was referring to discussions on DVD Talk and the Home Theater Forum, which drew tons of posts from people who blindly believed the story. I didn't get the same impression from your post, which had more of a "DVD File said this. What the hell?" feel, unlike those other discussions.

[Dave]

The rumor is indeed false. I didn't see the thread at HTF, but I just talked with MGM - it's 100% false. No cutting and no editing of EFNY will take place.