Little Shop on Bluray?

[JP2]

Posted: 4/19/11 at 5:06pm

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Little Shop of Horrors movie. I know some people on this forum are "in the know" or at least claim to be... so does anyone have an idea if WB has any plans of a bluray release this year? I'd kill for one! I own it on DVD, and when I watch it on my bluray player the transfer looks awful.

I'd also love to have the ORIGINAL ending in color, as well as the entire 'Meek Shall Inherit' scene in tact. And even some of the darker bits that were removed, like Steve Martin's severed head.

This is a lost cause, isn't it?

[BDrischBDemented]

Posted: 4/20/11 at 3:14am

I vaguely recall a while back that a WB representative had confirmed in a chat with some website that a special edition DVD of "Little Shop" was in the works. I assume that the only reason to do another DVD release of it would be to include at least the alternate ending, so I guess Geffen and Warners had worked through whatever issue they had or something. I haven't heard anything since then saying it's been cancelled or going as planned, but if it is still going through, I'd expect a simultaneous Blu-ray release.

But as for like, any concrete confirmation apart from that, no, I'm on bluray.com fairly often and I haven't seen anything there lately.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/20/11 at 6:47am

There are no rights issues with the alternate ending. David Geffen didn't want it seen, at the time, and ordered the original DVDs pulled from the shelves, which they were, after one day of release. The alternate ending was removed, and a new disc was released just weeks later. That's the one you can buy now.

As for the movie looking better, it never did. I saw the film the day it opened in NYC, and a few weeks later in Los Angeles. The print was dark, grainy, and the contrast was pumped so high in some scenes that many elements and even Audrey were washed out. The color was oversaturated to compensate for it, too.

If you're hoping for a better-looking DVD or Blu-ray release, just know that it's unlikely. That may be one of the reasons Warner Home Video hasn't put the film on their release schedule yet. They don't want to hear how crappy the transfer looks.

Still ... I wouldn't be surprised if it showed up any day now. I think as far as catalog titles go, this one sells fairly well.

Updated On: 4/20/11 at 06:47 AM

[BDrischBDemented]

Posted: 4/20/11 at 5:57pm

I doubt anyone would confuse a Blu-ray of LSOH with any recent movie quality-wise, but it would look better on Blu-ray. It's not going to be pristine and clean, but it's a rare situation where there's no improvement. And this would hardly be the first Warners Blu-ray that would appear this way.

Also, here was the reference from the chat. My memory was playing tricks on me, and there's little more than a non-committal mention:

"We are hopeful we can re-address the LITTLE SHOP issues for BD, but nothing solid yet....."
Warners Chat

[JP2]

Posted: 4/20/11 at 6:07pm

Thanks for the info guys. Much appreciated. I read somewhere else that there was an HD version of the film up on PSN a while ago that looked pretty decent. I feel like there would HAVE to be some way to make it look better than it looks on DVD, though. The recent bluray release of Rocky Horror looks amazing, and apparently that was transferred directly from the film negatives (or something like that, I'm not completely sure).

I'll just keep my fingers crossed, I guess.