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Where Has Everybody Gone?
And "The Living Daylights" DVD is missing
too...
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The Missing "The Living Daylights"
DVD
8th January 2003
At first it looked like a simple marketing slip, but then
upon further inspection it became more curious - where had
"The Living Daylights" DVD gone? Several online
retailers simply issued a "temporarily unavailable"
notice and could not confirm the film's certificate.
MGM re-released the 007 special edition DVD series to coincide
with the 40th anniversary, but Bond's 15th adventure was
nowhere to be seen.
Missing from the Region 2 "Buy Bond Get Bond Free"
deal, unavailable as a single film, and missing from the
first set released in the USA, fans turned to the Region
2 boxset featuring all 19 DVDs for their Timothy Dalton
fix.
MGM have now removed that final option too, as all DVD
boxsets have been recalled from online retailers and high-street
shops.
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(Image courtesy Amazon Associates)
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Mystery Solved
Rumours explaining the recall ranged from the Afghanistan location
being too sensitive in light of recent events, to industry insiders
stating that Sam Neill was objecting to his screentest being featured
in the DVD documentary. John Cork, producer of "The Living
Daylights" DVD and author of "James Bond - The Legacy"
contacted MI6 to put the record straight - and fans minds at rest.
He told MI6, "The DVD was distributed world-wide in 2000
without objection from Neill. An associate producer on the DVDs
obtained a release [from him]".
"The real reason that The Living Daylights is not part
of the UK release is much more boring."
MI6 has obtained an official statement from MGM Home Entertainment
regarding the issue:
The reason the James
Bond DVD "The Living Daylights" is not available to
purchase as a single disc, yet is available in the James Bond
Collection box set, is due to a pending rights issue that we had
anticipated would have been resolved before our November DVD release.
However, production timelines
meant that we had assembled and packaged the Box Set including
"The Living Daylights" in advance of the release, and
an interim agreement was reached that we could sell "The
Living Daylights" in the Box Set.
We hope to resolve the
issue soon and will make "The Living Daylights" available
as a single product again as soon as possible.
The negotiations were still taking place when the "Buy Bond
Get Bond Free" offer launched in the UK, leading to much
confusion among Bond fans about the missing film. MGM Home Entertainment
did publish a similar statement to retailers at the time but it
failed to filter through.
Although the MGM statement notes an agreement was reached whereby
they could ship "The Living Daylights" as part of the
box set, this interim agreement by Danjaq (owners of the distribution
rights) seems to have been rescinded as box sets have been recalled
from retailers in the UK.
There is still no known release date for "The Living Daylights"
DVD.
A Rare Breed Indeed
Sealed copies of the DVDs, which could be bought for £16.99
when the disc was originally launched in the summer of 2000, are
now changing hands for as much as £340 through online auction
sites (although the average TLD DVD is changing hands for around
£50).