Eat sand, Lawrence; back to your cab, Travis - Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced Ishtar for Blu-ray release on January 4, 2011. This 1987 comedy starring Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty went down in film history books as a very expensive critical and commercial failure. It had never even been released on DVD.
This what I mean when I say some studios use blu-ray for a dumping ground for all junk movies ever made.
Istar is maybe the biggest flop in movie history.
Sony/colombia could you please release movies like this:
- Body double
- Guns of navarone
- Lawrence of Arabia
- Against all odds
- Christine
Oh my Goodness. This is a shocker. Ishtar? Instead of Lawrence of Arabia, Guns of Navarone, Oliver, Funny Girl, Bye Bye Birdie, and hundreds of other catalog titles that won Academy Awards and made millions more? I am stunned.
Given that there hasn't been a DVD release, I'm convinced that this is a fake announcement, but then, telling the truth is a dangerous business.
(Either that, or
A) there had been unresolved rights problems keeping it off until now, or else
B) add Sony to the list of people misinterpreting why MGM released Troll 2 on disk, and thought there was a "bandwagon".)
"I remember seeing it as a teen and I thought it was pretty funny. I am not sure why it was so slammed..."
I remember seeing it as a teen, and thinking it was physical pain to watch, except for exactly two scenes. (Which were both only funny because it looked like the actors were having fun in them, which had been the producers' hopes for the entire film.)
Ill buy it if it includes the 80s music video in 1080 p. " If you be my bodyguard, I can be youre long lost pal, "You can call me Al "!!!" Comeon everyone sing it !!
the fact that it has never gotten a US dvd release is why it is coming to bd.
since they have finally worked up the dvd might as well release the blu-ray also.
simple as that.
I agree it does look silly considering all the Columbia classics waiting to be released, and in the end we all know that many more worthy films will never even get released on bd.
that's just the way things go.
when you look at all the crazy releases that have come out already on bd you quickly notice that bd is becoming kind of a "cult" classic format.
not that there's anything wrong with that.
While I'm all for all kinds of films getting a proper home theater release (especially ones that never even made it onto DVD), like everyone else here I'm puzzled since this isn't even something you'd imagine will sell well or even rent all that much. Makes no real business sense at all to release this ahead of so many Sony-owned classic films as mentioned by others, though of course unlike Lawrence of Arabia it's not like this one will presumably be getting a lavish special edition with meticulous restoration work done on it. But still..
Can't wait. I thought I read about this about a month ago but there was no release date. And to everyone bashing the movie: Have you even seen it? It's not nearly as bad as everyone says. The first half hour is hysterical.
I'd far rather see "Ishtar" on blu-ray than "Lawrence of Arabia," to tell you the truth. It got slammed back in the day because our "unbiased" media loves to take a very expensive movie and pummel it into the ground so they can look smart at their cocktail parties. They tried the same crap with "Titanic"... but the public made them eat crow in that case. With "Ishtar" it worked... but, in fact, I think it's a very funny comedy (particularly those songs!) and Beatty and Hoffman seem to be having a great time playing against each other, and against type.
Ishtar is a pretty bad movie. In a perfect world no crappy catalog titles would be allowed until all the great movies have been released. However, I'm not sure what all the bitching is about when really horrible movies (i.e. Predators, Splice, Jonah Hex, Clash of the Titans, assloads of horror/anime, etc.) are being and always have been released on a weekly basis.
I would say a good majority of us on here have seen Ishtar and I think most of us would agree this isn't that good of a film.I don't mind a BD release of this title I just wont be buying it until it drops to $7,which won't take that long to achieve. I agree with a previous poster that the first third of the film was funny,but went down hill for me during the last two-thirds. I would love to see other titles released like Lawrence of Arabia but I would imagine more time will be spent on a Lawrence of Arabia remaster than what was spent on this film.
Sony's really releasing "Lawrence of Arabia" on that day, they just want to keep it from the competition. This way retailers can place orders before the offical announcement
LOL, I think there must be a diehard HD DVD fan working at Columbia/Sony who still hates Blu. They'll put this out and it will die on the vine, then he can say, "See, nobody's buying Blu-ray."
This was a terrible movie. They even described it in a mixed-up way in the title, I S H T a r.
Wondering if we will be seeing more (such like this and otherwise) titles dumped to blu-ray now that Sony has its own hi-def cable channel (lots of hi def masters ready to roll and all). Also wonder if this has anything to do with Sony's deal with Image.
Ill buy it if it includes the 80s music video in 1080 p. " If you be my bodyguard, I can be youre long lost pal, "You can call me Al "!!!" Comeon everyone sing it !!
I'd be less inclined to be disturbed by this news if there was more of an effort underway to get catalog titles onto blu.
As it now stands, we seem to be in for a long wait on most titles. Which makes an announcement like this from a major studio all the more perplexing.
I don't even need them to put out a bonefide classic (like LoA or Taxi Driver). How about Real Genius, Krull, Muppets Take Manhattan, Heavy Metal... any one of those is going to sell 3x the copies that friggin Ishtar will.
I hate complaining about any release (every movie has fans who have been waiting for it). But either open up the floodgates or make better choices. One or the other, por favor Sony!
As a fan of the movie, I was ecstatic to hear the DVD was possibly coming out early next year. Now knowing I can just skip the DVD and go straight for the Blu? That makes me very, VERY happy.
"Telling the truth can be dangerous business
Honest and popular don't go hand in hand
If you admit that you can play the accordion
No one will hire you in a rock n' roll band!"
I think Ishtar over the years since its release has gained a following. An Elaine May/Beatty/Hoffman commentary would be fun. Personally, I do not remember a thing about this film. I'm thinking it probably is not as bad as its legacy. I'm sure there have been worse films since...Jonah Hex????. With this announcement and the Rodgriguez Mexico films the same day maybe Sony is starting to release catalog titles again. Hopefully 2011 will bring more than 2010 did with them.
Perhaps this is coming sooner than other classics because they are taking the time to do those right and this movie not so much? And perhaps they plan to have all movies in High Definition eventually so they are dumping some unexpected one's also.
Oh my freaking God! "Ishtar"????? Really?????? Well hallelujah, I was getting worried they'd release some mindless drivel like "Dances with Wolves" or "The Abyss" on blu-ray before this glorious epic "Ishtar." Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ishtar before LoA? Since Sony's been using LoA scenes in their BD sales discs for years, that can only mean LoA needs LOTS of restoration--beyond even the DVD restoration.
hi, longtime reader of this site and I finally had to register to vent about this, this is some pure 100% bullshit and indicative of a larger problem, there's countless classics that have yet to be released on blu ray and yet instead Hollywood releases shit like Ishtar, where are movies like Raiders of The Lost Ark? Jaws? Jurassic Park? Citizen Kane? the list goes on and on
while I'm all for Hollywood giving blu ray love to more obscure movies as well, they have to be movies that are actually worth it
For all of you complaining about wanting better movies on Blu-ray, at least these movies you mention have DVD releases. Ishtar has been only on VHS since '87 and is probably not an easy movie to find today, so it's nice that they get this one out of the way for Blu and finally let it see the light of day again (yes, this still goes even if this is a bad movie).
I find it funny all the same people complaining about this movie getting released complain about too few catalog titles, the thing is they think their tastes are more important than someone else and that makes them feel special. Not that I care I never even heard of this movie, but I think it is funny how people don't see more releases as a good thing. Sure better films could be released, but the problem is if I made a list of movies I think should come first it would not be the same list as anyone else and that goes for all of us, we all are different. All it means is crap getting released to make studios money and more movies means more selection and variety to entice those on the fencers who might not be too into CGI. Plus what's funny to one person is just plain stupid to another so just cuz you don't like it doesn't mean nobody else should.
