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Airport 50th Collection and Empire Records 25th Anniversaries? (1 Viewer)

darkrock17

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Decided to kill two birds here with this thread (don't tell PETA)

This year marks the anniversaries for both the original 70's Disaster film, Airport and the 90's cult classic Empire Records.

Do you think that Shout could/will do a big 50th Anniversary release for Airport and it's sequels? Last year they did a great job on Earthquake (1974) and prior to that with the two Disasteresque films Rollercoaster (1977) and Two-Minute Warning (1976) as well.

I've been a fan of Airport and the other Disaster classics of the 70's since I saw the AMC documentary BOOM! Hollywood's Greatest Disaster Movies back in 2000.

Once upon a time Universal would of easily released a Collector's Edition of this blockbuster, but times have changed since the late 1990's through the 2000's though. I'm beyond grateful that Shout Factory has been the godsend that are and they're still acquiring as much of Universal's library as they can so that it doesn't silently rot away.

This year also happens to be the 25th Anniversary of Empire Records, a fun 90's film with a fantastic soundtrack as well. It's become one of my all time favorite films since I learned about from watching a VH1 special called The 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders back in 2002 hosted by William Shatner that featured the song A Girl Like You by Edwyn Collins in the countdown which was in said movie.

This film like many other Warner Bros titles (cough Beetlejuice cough Poltergeist) has been neglected long enough in getting the treatment it rightfully deserves. Shout would be the company that can give fans what they've been wanting for years.

I really don't want Warner to release it themselves and it end up being an Archive release.


airport-movie-poster-prints.jpg
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murrayThompson

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And so it was. I was a cinema projectionist in Auckland and Sydney for over 35+ years and showed many of the great 70MM films, I forgot that Airport was one of the very few Todd-AO films. Only the first three were 30fps.
Films produced in 70 mm Todd-AO
(films photographed in Todd-AO 35 not included)

 

Jack P

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I'd want a big release of the "Airport" series to also give us the TV cut of "Airport '77" which IMO is a *much* better version of the film since it fleshes things out a lot more.
 

darkrock17

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I'd want a big release of the "Airport" series to also give us the TV cut of "Airport '77" which IMO is a *much* better version of the film since it fleshes things out a lot more.

I too want to see the TV version as I read a lot about what got cut from the theatrical.
 

Jack P

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I do have an off-air recording. This was the version I was used to for many years from so many two part showings on NBC in the late 70s and early 80s. Some of the new scenes were shot after the fact like with other Universal films but the bulk is from the original production and the restored footage clears up some gaping plot-holes in the theatrical cut.
 

darkrock17

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I do have an off-air recording. This was the version I was used to for many years from so many two part showings on NBC in the late 70s and early 80s. Some of the new scenes were shot after the fact like with other Universal films but the bulk is from the original production and the restored footage clears up some gaping plot-holes in the theatrical cut.

I didn't know NBC aired 77, I thought it would of been on ABC since they showed the original Airport and The Poseidon Adventure too.
 

Jim*Tod

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Actually only the first two Todd-Ao films were shot at 30fps. OKLAHOMA! was shot in both 70mm and in 35mm Cinemascope. For AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS the whole movie used 70mm film for shooting, but one was shot at 30fps and the other at standard 24fps for the 35mm reduction prints. (And was released in a wide variety of formats). Starting with the third film, SOUTH PACIFIC and all subsequent Todd-Ao films were shot at 24fps. I highly recommend the late Martin Hart's incredible site AMERICAN WIDESCREEN MUSEUM.

http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/wingto8.htm
 

darkrock17

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I think NBC aired it six times overall (the last time they aired the short theatrical cut in one night). Here's a promo for one of their airings.



I did a quick Google search after you said that and I saw that it did in fact air on NBC. I wouldn't of thought NBC would been interested in this film as they previously showed two of the big 4 Disaster films.
 

darkrock17

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Here's where all the Airport films aired on TV.

Airport aired on November 11 1973 on ABC and was the then highest joint rated movie on TV matching Love Story's premiere with 42.3 rating but a higher audience share of 63%.



Airport 1975 and Airport '77 both aired on NBC in 1978 and 1981 respectfully.



The Concorde Airport 79 aired on ABC in May 1982 and re-aired in 1987.



 
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OliverK

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Here's where all the Airport films aired on TV.

Airport aired on ABC in 1972



Airport 1975 and Airport '77 both aired on NBC in 1978 and 1981 respectfully.



The Concorde Airport 79 aired on ABC in 1982 and 1987





Very interesting and thank god we do not have to watch that kind of quality anymore!
 

trajan007

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The IN 70MM web site said the TODD-AO elements were being looked at to see if they could be saved.
 

Randy Korstick

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I remember watching Airport 77 two part version on TV. It was on NBC as that was the main channel I watched in the 70's.
This and the two part tv version of 1976 King Kong are the only two extended for tv movies I thought were worthwhile since they both added something significant. Midway is deceiving since it appears to be offering the battle of Coral Sea but all it was are a few new scenes on the bridge of the Yorktown and then reused battle footage from the main battle. Really disappointing. Most of the new footage is just an added romance with Charlton Heston which just bogs things down. I much prefer the theatrical version of Midway.
 

Jack P

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The TV cut of "Midway" is interesting but doesn't get particularly enhanced overall (though it does restore one bit of information cut from the theatrical release that clarifies that Charlton Heston suffered a hand injury at Pearl Harbor that's kept him out of flying action up to this point and this has big ramifications for what happens to him at film's end). The Coral Sea sequences added new footage aboard the USS Lexington which was sunk at Coral Sea with Mitchell Ryan called in to play the Lexington task force commander. James Shigeta as Nagumo also had a couple new scenes involving a Japanese pilot he meets before Coral Sea who gets killed in the battle and later during the Midway battle a new TV scene shows him ruminating on this pilot. The end credits of the TV cut also use the "Men Of The Yorktown March" (which is more prominent in the film's underscore) instead of the "Midway March".

One thing that may unfortunately prevent the TV cuts from appearing commercially is the Universal fire which supposedly destroyed the tape elements of these TV cuts. That's why the TV cut of "Two Minute Warning" was sourced from an off-air recording and the TV cut of "Earthquake" came not from the master that was used for AMC screenings in the 90s but from the source for the NBC two-part airing in 1976.
 

OliverK

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The IN 70MM web site said the TODD-AO elements were being looked at to see if they could be saved.

I do not think that there is doubt that they can be saved but Universal is probably not willing to pour huge amounts of money into creating new preservation elements. I also like the idea of striking new 70mm prints for Airport as all 70mm release prints have turned red or pink by now.
More than other 70mm presentations I felt that a large audience helped with Airport as it is actually quite funny.
 

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