Unobstructed View Shows "Hollywood" How It Is Done With The “Oppenheimer Model” For The 4K Ultra HD Launch For Director Tinto Brass' Caligula: The Ultimate Cut On Sept. 17

The headline should read: Indie Gets It Right!   Studios, please take note of how it is done, please!!

Unobstructed View is set to release the Drafthouse Films “Ultimate Cut” of director Tinto Brass’ Caligula theatrically on Aug. 16.  This will be followed by the distribution of Caligula: The Ultimate Cut 4K Ultra HD Collection (two 4K discs, a Blu-ray disc and a bonus CD soundtrack) on Sept. 17 (a double-disc Blu-ray purchasing option and a stand-alone DVD edition will also be available).

Here’s the big news — the news that the so-called “Hollywood” studios are ignoring — the VOD window for Caligula: The Ultimate Cut will not arrive until Oct. 18.   

Let that sink in!   Unobstructed View is following the highly successful “Oppenheimer Model” in the distribution of this restored “classic.”  

This distribution scheme actually has a formal name: Promo, Better, Best.   It was the model that studios (and book publishers) followed during the past century.   It works.

This is how it goes.   First, Best is the theatrical release window (which comes first) where the distributor controls the film asset and shares the revenue with its exhibiting partners.   There is little to no chance of piracy at this point.

Note, we did formally alert AMC Theatres that one of their “digital prints” was used (likely in the New England area) to generate the first pirated Blu-ray edition of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.   To our knowledge nothing came of this alert, but at least they were make aware of the issue … and acknowledged same.

Next, Better is the distribution of physical media assets.   Again, the distributor controls the film asset and its distribution — in this case, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD product offerings.   Copies can be ripped at this point, but that is rarely an issue.

And finally, Promo, which is the VOD window for all those down-market consumers who are too lazy to go to the local multiplex or lay down the bucks for a physical media edition of the film.   This is where piracy is running rampant these days as the studios are putting the VOD window before the physical media release (if that ever happens … witness: Napoleon, Killers of the Flower Moon, etc.).

Unobstructed View and Drafthouse Films have gone to the expense of restoring this film — a landmark film in some ways — and they have wisely taken the precautions of controlling the distribution of this asset to minimize piracy (which will happen … most likely on Oct. 18).

As to what Unobstructed View is serving up on Aug. 16 is the newly restored “Ultimate Cut” of the film, which clocks in at 178 minutes.   The second 4K Ultra HD disc features the original theatrical cut of the film, which run 151 minutes and 47 seconds.

For the “Ultimate Cut” we have two separate commentary options.   Producer and re-constructionist Thomas Negovan is joined by re-construction editor Aaron Shaps in the first commentary option, while author Grant Morrison teams up with Negovan for the second.

These commentaries should be very informative when you consider the history of the film.   In well-documented accounts, Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione began working with famed author and playwright Gore Vidal in 1976 on a film production focusing on the life and times of First Century Roman tyrant, Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus, who is better to known to history as simply Caligula.

Vidal set out to get it right and used contemporaneous accounts (notably: “The Annals of Tacitus” and “The Lives of the Twelve Caesars by C. Seutonius Tranquillus”) to create an extensive vision of Caligula’s madness and excesses.

Meanwhile, Guccione set out to find an arthouse director to bring his vision of what it was really like in Caligula’s court — both in terms of the violence and the excessive sexual elements (also well documented).   The likes of Federico Fellini and Lina Wertmuller turned him down.

After seeing director Tinto Brass’ Salon Kitty (aka: Madam Kitty) in the spring of 1976, Guccione approached him on directing the film.   The deal was done.   Malcolm McDowell, who was sensational in Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, was cast as Caligula, Teresa Ann Savoy (as Margherita in Salon Kitty) was tapped for the role Drusilla, Caligula’s sister (and lover), Helen Mirren as Caesonia (Caligula’s wife and mother to his child … among her other “talents”) and Peter O’Toole was Tiberius.

An impressive cast to be sure.    Brass shot “his” version of the film.   Guccione was not pleased and fired Brass and took over the production, shooting extensive “inserts” after the original production had already wrapped.   Because of strict Italian rules for directing and producing credits, Guccione had to smuggle his new footage out of the country under bogus title labels.

Time passed … 1977 came and went.   1978 as well!   Where is Caligula?   Finally, in August of 1979 the film opens in Italy … and lasted about six days before Italian authorizes shut it down.

Nothing but controversy followed.   So much so that Guccione had to “four-wall” theatres for its domestic theatrical release (beginning in February of 1980) … he rented each venue, a common practice back then.

Now, in glorious 4K, you can see both the theatrical cut and what Negovan and his crew envisioned as the Brass (fully endorsed by McDowell) vision for the film.

Additional bonus features, which are on the companion Blu-ray disc, include a trio of production featurettes — “The Orgy of Power,” “The Making of Caligula” and “The Guccione Scandal.”