Well, now about five months after the release of the initial Miramax special edition offerings, all subsequent announced titles (Il Postino, Switchblade Sisters, Halloween H20) have been pulled from the schedule, and though retail order sheets went out for a June 29 release of Clerks, Buena Vista PR late last week announced (via email to me, anyway) that it, too, was yanked with no new date set. Further, aside from the pulled titles, some of the other titles thought to be on the way, such as Chasing Amy, Jackie Brown and Life Is Beautiful, are all MIA.

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The answer, according to Buena Vista’s statement, is pretty straightforward. “The main reason we have many Collectors Series DVDs on hold or delayed is the legal clearances for bonus materials turned out to be much more complex than we imagined.” Okay, fair enough, because though I’ve never had to negotiate the complex waters of rights and clearances personally, from just trying to keep track of the Request Line and titles announcements here, I can relate. And Buena Vista further reassured me that “everyone here is just as frustrated at these delays, but we are working to resolve them.”

However, there are some possibly ominious signs ahead. Clerks has been pulled “for a different reason, but it’s under discussion right now” for a future release. Buena Vista PR will not be including it in their June nor July announcements (I was unable to confirm with Buena Vistamarketing that the Clerks disc had been pulled from their retailer preorder lists.) Though this site and myself have not always been completely enamoured with Buena Vista’s output, they did add at the end that “we are a very cautious company, and we want to make sure all filmmakers are happy and consulted in the process and that all rights clearances are obtained”.