New releases : continue or cancel?

[Graham Sinden]

Dominique I think Dave was referring to a recent Facebook post where some an ex collector asked why would someone pay £300 for 30 minutes of JP when you can buy it on 4k cheaply.

[Phillip Campey]

Please continue with the new releases Dave, I would rather spend money on your prints than faded, scratched second hand prints. I think to take some pressure off you should not offer up a release date, just a coming soon. After viewing your Dracula print I will be investing in your other hammer horrors, plus you can put me down for The Haunting and the 5th element. I really do appreciate the effort you put into these new releases and I hope they continue.

[Philip Hamilton]

Mark - yeah unfortunately there are TROLLS on all public forums and social media. Why these folks join forums just to make negative comments is such a huge waste of energy and time.

[Philip Hamilton]

The only way to CONTINUE having new Super 8mm films to collect is to have forum members actually COLLECT new prints. Doing so will encourage MORE prints to become available. As far as I know, the following NEW super 8mm films have been released and discussed on this board over the last year -

GODZILLA KING OF THE MONSTERS 600'
CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF 200'
JURASSIC PARK 600'
JAWS 600'
KING KONG vs GODZILLA 200'
DRACULA 1958 400'

I have purchased GODZILLA and JURASSIC PARK and received them and they are great. I am waiting on JAWS and DRACULA. And from the pics posted they look to be great as well - in COLOR and no red fade!! Prints of these are available for order as far as I know right now - yes, there is a wait for processing but the expensive negatives have already been made - so it's just the printing, striping and recording needed to be done and remember these are all European imports which adds more variable to the process as stated in the original post.

I have also heard that these movies are COMING SOON -- to me that means they are likely edited and ready for a negative to be produced -

DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE
EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN
CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN
MOTHRA
GODZILLA vs THE THING and even a whisper or two about STAR WARS 1977!!

So, I suspect that producing these has been a money LOSING venture thus far which means -- not enough prints are being sold to make back most or all of the cost of the negative.

I am curious. This makes no sense to me. There has to be a few hundred collectors on this forum who love the hobby of collecting movies on Super 8mm. Who would not want fresh nicely edited versions of some great sci-fi and horror movies in their collection?

Why do YOU think that more prints are not being sold? Long wait times? Too expensive ? Wrong titles? ANYONE?

I hope to see more of these produced in the future.

[Phil Moors]

I think that it’s the old story, initially there is great interest but then it wanes. It has to be said it is a very expensive hobby and always has been. It reminds me of when I organised a lottery syndicate at work, it wasn’t long before I had to chase people for their entry money and eventually I packed it in because of complacency.

For me there are two reasons I would not buy the new releases. Firstly I can’t afford them and secondly I am not a horror or sci fi enthusiast. But I applaud anyone making the effort to produce top quality Super 8 film releases who has a genuine love for the hobby for enthusiasts to enjoy

[Philip Hamilton]

Phil - THANKS for weighing in and providing an opinion!! I find it interesting that after 24 hours YOURS is the only response. And, you and I both know that everyone has an opinion. Why not provide it? Mystifying.

So the two things you mention are PRICE and TITLES. Not a horror/sci-f fan. Yeah that could be a slight problem - but I'm thinking that when collector's think of CASTLE FILMS they think of the highly popular Monster and Horror movies that Castle put out and advertised in the back of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND. Sometimes us MonsterKids get tunnel vision and think - well - naturally - everyone would want these cool horror and sci-fi titles. But I guess not necessarily so. Thanks for pointing that out.

Still.....I would bet many 8mm collector's like these movies - perhaps that is what they grew up on - I don't know. I do know that I DID. And I will be happy to buy these titles - if they ever come out.

So if it is price - does this mean most collector's would purchase a 200' version - about a $100 USD cheaper than the 400' version? Or is EVEN THAT not a price point folks will pay for a new Super 8mm film?

Anyone?

[Martin Davey]

The titles I often see listed look great, and I'm pleased to see David making the effort to do it and others to put their money down to purchase them. If I had a lot of cash around I would too. The reality is that my budget (for films) for a normal year is around £300, so you can see the problem instantly. I tend to buy a few nice shorts, and just get enough titles to see me through the year and enjoy what I already own in my library that I have built up over decades.

Unfortunately this year looks bad for most people financially, even if they are not quite aware of it as yet. In the UK energy prices are over 5 times what the US pays and going up, and now we have a war on top of that in Europe. Prices for everything have gone into an upward, uncontrollable spiral, so restaurants, entertainment, small business are going to fall by the wayside. I suspect many 'hobby' industries are going to suffer a down turn and not be supported.

I'm tempted to say you should bring out your new releases now while people are willing to buy them, because the future might not be favorable.

[Philip Hamilton]

Martin - all good points!

But most of the prints listed above have been available for 9 months or so and back in 2021 when fuel prices were lower and inflation was just getting started. That means that while things may have been better financially I'm guessing that still did not generate the sales Dave was thinking would materialize after buyers saw the prints and stated how good they were.

So yeah it may be more challenging now for sure but my question really is more of a "why haven't new Super 8mm sales been stronger in 2021?".

Thanks for posting feedback.