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Super Mario Bros. movie re-release

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SmearglePaints

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So, apparently Disney has re-released the original Super Mario Bros. movie. The problem? It's exactly the same as the original DVD release from seven years ago, with the only difference being barely perceptible cosmetic changes to the DVD box. The poor transfer directly from laser disc and the aspect-ratio issue in which widescreen mode only being watchable under fullscreen mode are still present. Nothing was changed.

Needless to say, the fans of the movie that have been waiting for a proper release for 17 years aren't happy about this. We've contacted Disney and received some response, but in order to actually have some influence and have them consider finally releasing this movie in a respectable format we have to step on some more toes.

I know many of you may not have even seen the movie, let alone like it, but considering how much we all appreciate movies and video games I was hoping some of you could take the time to write out a short E-mail to Disney to convey a larger presence. A few paragraphs on the improper aspect-ratio and the hope for a better release is all that needs to be said.

You can read about the comparison between the original and new releases as well as the problems found in both here, and you can contact Disney here. Feel free to ask questions or post your E-mails here... Any help is really appreciated. :)
 
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Oooooooooooooooooooh man is Nintendo gonna have a Tactical Facepalm to this! I hated this movie for being almost nothing like the games! The cartoons were more like them!

Why re-release, I'll never know...
 
Not really surprising... Disney is only a distributor, not one of the production companies. They have a bad track record with releasing certain movies on DVD, and this is certainly one of the types.

Unfortunate, though... laserdisc transfer, non-anamorphic widescreen. I mean, this is 2010, not 2001... that stuff is pretty inexcusable (though it was worse when George Lucas did the same thing for the non special edition original trilogy; those are laserdisc as well). As silly as this movie was, it would be nice to have a decent transfer of it.
 
Why bother to re-release it anyways?
 
TM2-Megatron said:
Not really surprising... Disney is only a distributor, not one of the production companies. They have a bad track record with releasing certain movies on DVD, and this is certainly one of the types.
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All the actual production companies involved in the movie went bankrupt or were absorbed into other companies, so Disney remains as the only company with a direct power over the direction of the movie's release.

TM2-Megatron said:
Unfortunate, though... laserdisc transfer, non-anamorphic widescreen. I mean, this is 2010, not 2001... that stuff is pretty inexcusable (though it was worse when George Lucas did the same thing for the non special edition original trilogy; those are laserdisc as well). As silly as this movie was, it would be nice to have a decent transfer of it.
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It was Buena Vista (a subsidiary of Disney) that did the actual transfer, which is company apparently notorious for their bad transfers during the onset of DVDs. This is as worse a release as you can get.

-Ryuutakeshi- said:
Why bother to re-release it anyways?
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TM2-Megatron said:
That's a good question. Why bother re-releasing a DVD, now that Blu-Ray is starting to take over? It makes no sense.
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Because, believe it or not, there are fans of the movie (it's a cult classic in several ways) and 17 years of waiting for even a halfway decent release is too long.

That said, there's over 10 minutes of deleted scenes indicated by early scripts and related media that suggest the original, uncut film was more mature, less cheesy, and more faithful to the games. That's something worth seeing.

We're not necessarily asking for a DVD re-release. A Blu-Ray release is our ultimate goal, though may be asking too much from Disney. Even if we get yet another DVD, it'd all be worth it if it was at least properly-anamorphic.
 
TM2-Megatron said:
That's a good question. Why bother re-releasing a DVD, now that Blu-Ray is starting to take over? It makes no sense.
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But a lot of people actually prefer DVD over Blu-Ray. Probably to save money. So either way, it makes no sense as to why the movie was re-released.
 
Game Maker said:
But a lot of people actually prefer DVD over Blu-Ray. Probably to save money. So either way, it makes no sense as to why the movie was re-released.
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Yeah, but Blu-Ray is now becoming much cheaper than it once was... and the massive increase in quality is worth another few bucks, for many. If there was a pre-existing DVD set for the SMB movie already in circulation, I just don't know why Disney would bother making a slight redesign on the package and pump it out again. Why not just re-produce the original set in greater quantities again, for a while? Flood the market with the little bastards.

In any case, it'll probably be 4 or 5 years before anyone bothers to do a proper, widescreen, HD transfer of this movie for a Blu-Ray release. Shame, as it's kind of a fun reminder of my childhood. The movie was shitty, but I loved watching it as a kid.
 
TM2-Megatron said:
Yeah, but Blu-Ray is now becoming much cheaper than it once was... and the massive increase in quality is worth another few bucks, for many. If there was a pre-existing DVD set for the SMB movie already in circulation, I just don't know why Disney would bother making a slight redesign on the package and pump it out again. Why not just re-produce the original set in greater quantities again, for a while? Flood the market with the little bastards.

In any case, it'll probably be 4 or 5 years before anyone bothers to do a proper, widescreen, HD transfer of this movie for a Blu-Ray release. Shame, as it's kind of a fun reminder of my childhood. The movie was shitty, but I loved watching it as a kid.
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...no arguing on the first part, but you sir, have something wrong. In 4 or 5 years, if filmmakers are smarter, there will be a Mario movie that is not this one! XD

Seriously! If you were one dedicated to films, would you bother having this one re-released, let alone in a widescreen format? XD
 
TM2-Megatron said:
In any case, it'll probably be 4 or 5 years before anyone bothers to do a proper, widescreen, HD transfer of this movie for a Blu-Ray release. Shame, as it's kind of a fun reminder of my childhood. The movie was shitty, but I loved watching it as a kid.
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I don't believe a Blu-Ray release will ever come about unless we make an effort to show Disney/Buena Vista that it's in their interest to make such a release.

Every E-mail, no matter how short, is one person more that makes them re-consider the treatment they've given the movie. I just hope one or two of you will take the time to say something as we've already had a few begun working over Disney for some time. A consistent interest is all it takes.

Game Maker said:
...no arguing on the first part, but you sir, have something wrong. In 4 or 5 years, if filmmakers are smarter, there will be a Mario movie that is not this one! XD

Seriously! If you were one dedicated to films, would you bother having this one re-released, let alone in a widescreen format? XD
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I don't believe they'll ever be another Mario movie (possibly animated, but certainly not live-action). I read an article several months ago about how after the failure of the SMB movie Nintendo had to take stock and hold their characters much closer to protect the image they'd built up over the previous decade. They stated that there won't be any Nintendo-adapted movies for some time, and if there ever will be again it'll be done right.

Again, any E-mail sent in helps towards the eventual proper, respectable release of the SMB movie. It would be great, after 17 years, to finally know what was so mature and dark that it was cut to bring the rating down.
 
SmearglePaints said:
I don't believe a Blu-Ray release will ever come about unless we make an effort to show Disney/Buena Vista that it's in their interest to make such a release.
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Eventually, I'm sure there will be. With time, the cost of an HD transfer will go down until (for Disney) it's negligible. It took many, many years for some really good movies to get proper DVD releases. I waited for some time for the 2nd release of Spaceballs, for instance... one would think that it would get good treatment the first time around, but no. It'll be the same with Blu-Ray.

Disney always has their own properties first and foremost, though... and even then, it's mostly movies they treat well. Disney also has a bad track record with releasing television series on DVD; even their own... to say nothing of ones like Digimon, which will never see the light of a laser diode under Disney's management.
 
I would like to see a new Super Mario Bros movie. This time set in the Mushroom kingdom, with as little CG I as possible of course, but they just probably well use CG I to make another one if they do.
 
That film is an abomination. They should just chuck it in the dump.
 
$aturn¥oshi said:
That film is an abomination. They should just chuck it in the dump.
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You don't have to enjoy the movie or agree with its principles but there's no reason to bash it in a thread specifically asking for support.
 
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It is a cult movie. Its rerelease won't make too much money.

Mario Bros. is a cult movie the same way the early Pokemon flicks are. Similarly, the rerelease of the DVDs of the first three flicks (lazily aptly titled Pokemon; The First Three Movies) was literally a 2-disc set copy-paste job of the original DVDs. Right down to the menu screens and special features. I don't mind it, though, because I lost my old Pokeflick DVDs and got three for the price of one.

When it comes to Mario Bros., you can't expect them to go all-out and release a DVD with a bunch of modern bell-and-whistles. It wasn't critically acclaimed, and doesn't have the large cult following of something like Blade Runner (which was critically acclaimed)...
 
YeOldeJacob said:
When it comes to Mario Bros., you can't expect them to go all-out and release a DVD with a bunch of modern bell-and-whistles. It wasn't critically acclaimed, and doesn't have the large cult following of something like Blade Runner (which was critically acclaimed)...
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All very true, but we're not asking for a LoTR-epic trilogy, five-hour director's commentary kind of deal, just something watchable. A proper transfer and, maybe, just maybe the deleted scenes. They don't even have to be re-mastered... They can be straight from the workprint, as long as we get to see them.

The Waterworld fans orchestrated a huge petition and letter-writing campaign and managed to get over 20 minutes of deleted scenes on a more decent release. While everything was workprint and the movie was literally transferred from the TV censored version, it was still a win to see what was originally intended for the story.
 
It doesn't seem to me that this is what one would call a "rerelease", though. Is Disney advertising it as one?

It seems to me that they just changed the front cover for marketing purposes (it is believed title on top typically sells better). It was probably done during the transfer to the eco-friendly DVD cases (which is the case, the cases being a different brand than the one in the link). Old movies get new(ish) covers all the time. Doesn't necessarily mean it is a rerelease.
 
YeOldeJacob said:
It doesn't seem to me that this is what one would call a "rerelease", though. Is Disney advertising it as one?

It seems to me that they just changed the front cover for marketing purposes (it is believed title on top typically sells better). It was probably done during the transfer to the eco-friendly DVD cases (which is the case, the cases being a different brand than the one in the link). Old movies get new(ish) covers all the time. Doesn't necessarily mean it is a rerelease.
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Yeah, this isn't a "real" re-release, but it is a re-release in the sense they're re-releasing the movie in a slightly different format. I don't think any of us think that, and I would certainly be annoyed if it was marketed that way. The title of the thread is more about a potential re-release.
 
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