Musivision Films

Cult films are and  may be regarded as the enigmas of the film industry; the black sheep who may do good once they pass adolescence, a heap of trouble. You can't be sure that they don't fall into the crevice of anonymity. What can we say about the rebel without a cause who does 180 turn? A loser who eventually turns a prophet err do we mean profit? No film marketing plan, great director or big budget can ever guarantee the success of any film. What constitutes a successful film in the monetary world of ticket sales aside from Avatar to Titanic the classic definitive box office winners in film world lexicon.

First let's start with small budget, bad planning and lack of experience .Lets' starts with now legendary Canadian producer turned Hollywod mogul Ivan Reitman. in 1979 Heavy Metal magazine content would lend it's name to a movie which would be born from the idea of stringing various stories together via animation. An Oscar nominated director Gerald Potterton (subject of THe Flying Animator [crowdfunding Kickstarter campaign https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/86822212/gerald-potterton-the-flying-animator-a-documentary?ref=category_location  live NOW] would be put in charge of an international team based in Montreal but with animation directors and artists working around the world and against the clock intensely for one year.  Sounds great but  a load of stress. A problem would then arise with the fantastic soundtrack they chose. They forgot to secure the licenses and rights for the film which would delay its launch for years! A legal battle and bad planning however could not prevent how the film could eventually succeed,

The soundtrack was released on LP in 1981, but for legal reasons, was not released on CD until 1995. The album peaked at number 12 on the Billboard 200 chart. Blue Öyster Cult wrote and recorded a song called "Vengeance (The Pact)" for the film, but the producers declined to use the song because the lyrics provided a capsulized summary of the "Taarna" vignette. "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" was used instead. Both songs can be found on Blue Öyster Cult's album Fire of Unknown Origin. Though used in the film, the songs "Through Being Cool" by Devo and "E5150" by Black Sabbath were not included in the released soundtrack album. These songs are on New Traditionalists and Mob Rules, respectively.

The legal difficulties surrounding the use of some songs in the movie delayed its release to home video. The production company's use of some songs were limited solely to the theatrical release and soundtrack and did not include home video releases. It was not until 1996 that there was an official home video release on VHS when Kevin Eastman, who had bought the publishing rights of Heavy Metal magazine in 1992 and previously contributed to the magazine, reached a settlement with the music copyright holders

A great post launch deal would eventually lead to Sony Classics buying the rights and an entire generation of animators becoming professional because of Heavy Metal cult following.

Next up Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Article written by Laurie Gordon