Bad news for Dr. Zhivago and Ben Hur fans

May 11, 1999

We just got off the phone with MGM Home Entertainment, trying to find out about the current status of Ben Hur and Dr. Zhivago, both titles that had been in a tentatively scheduled stage for a while now. Actually, "Dr. Zhivago" was already scheduled for release once, but got pulled from the release schedules shortly before its anticipated release, because of quality issues. In our conversation with MGM today it turned out that MGM no longer owns the rights to these films. Being part of the Turner Film Library, these movies have been turned over to Warner Brother. As a matter of fact, a large number of MGM movies are now owned and controlled by Warner Brothers, including some of the company's largest and best known films. Almost every movie that carried the MGM logo and was produced before 1986 is now under the control of Time Warner. We currently have no information about Wanrer's plans regarding either, "Ben Hur" or "Dr. Zhivago", but considering the films' success and Warner's commitment to the DVD community, it shouldn't take too long until they get around touching upon these two gems. Of course we will keep you posted first-handedly when we learn more about these releases.

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