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Legend Films
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Legend Films, a San Diego-based company, was founded in August 2001. The company specializes in the restoration and colorization of classic black and white films for DVD, HDTV and theatrical release. Legend also produces the DVD, designs the packaging and menus, and creates all value-added materials, including interviews and commentary from the original cast and crew when possible. Their primary goal is to make their attempts look as realistic as possible, in addition to letting viewers choose between the original black and white and new colorized versions without changing discs.
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Encyclopedia
Legend Films, a San Diego-based company, was founded in August 2001. The company specializes in the restoration and colorization of classic black and white films for DVD, HDTV and theatrical release. Legend also produces the DVD, designs the packaging and menus, and creates all value-added materials, including interviews and commentary from the original cast and crew when possible. Their primary goal is to make their attempts look as realistic as possible, in addition to letting viewers choose between the original black and white and new colorized versions without changing discs. The company has also created color effects for newer films, and has been in involved in the distribution of other titles.
Company history
Legend Films' founder, Barry Sandrew, pioneered and patented the first all digital colorization technology and recently reinvented the process by patenting the most advanced colorization technology that largely automates the process. Image sequence enhancement system and method – US Patent 7181081 [12] Some of the works being colorized by Legend are films that have fallen into the public domain and are now copyrighted only in their colorized form in the United States, while their original copyright on the black and white version is still in force. Other movies in the Legend Films library are titles color produced in revenue sharing partnerships with the original copyright holder. Legend has also colorized films owned by 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures and Paramount Home Entertainment. In less than three years, Legend Films has restored and colorized over 100 feature films in high definition or film resolution.
In 2006, comedian and former Mystery Science Theater 3000 host Michael J. Nelson was appointed Chief Content Producer. He will be responsible for building and leading the company's creative content, providing on-going commentaries and developing other premium web-based programming. "Mike Nelson is an outstanding addition to Legend Films," said David G. Martin, CEO of Legend Films. "His experience, vision and skills will be an important asset to the company as we continue to build our entertainment library." In 2006, Nelson and Legend Films founded RiffTrax, a website offering the purchase of downloadable audio commentaries. The first commentary made available through the service was for Road House.
In 2007, Legend Films appointed Bob Pollack, a former Senior Vice President for Warner Home Video, as its president. Pollack will oversee all sales and marketing activities. Legend Films plans to distribute films licensed from other studios. Paramount Home Entertainment has already licensed titles to the company. Legend Films has also invented a process that converts 2-D films into 3-D. In September 2008, Legend closed on a $5 million stock offering used to fund their investment into the technology.
Notable releases
Legend Films has collaborated with Shirley Temple, Jane Russell, Terry Moore and Ray Harryhausen on independent releases. A colorized version of Holiday Inn was met by positive response from the family of Bing Crosby.
On April 20, 2004, Legend Films released a colorized version of Reefer Madness featuring intentionally unrealistic color schemes, playing up on the film's camp appreciation. A colorized version of Plan 9 from Outer Space was screened at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco.
In December 2008, it was announced that Legend will release a colorized 3-D version of Night of the Living Dead coproduced by PassmoreLab. The 3-D version will receive a full theatrical release in Europe, and a limited theatrical release in the United States before being released on DVD and as a digital download through RiffTrax, which will feature commentary by Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy. The 3-D version is slated for an April 1, 2009 release. A Blu Ray release has not been announced. According to Barry Sandrew, the film was the first entirely live action 2-D film to be converted to 3-D.
In late 2008, Legend colourised part 3 of the Doctor Who story Planet of the Daleks; the remaining episodes exist in colour, but part 3 was wiped and only a black and white film version remained. The resultant colourised footage will appear on DVD in 2009.
According to founder Barry Sandrew, Legend Films does not plan to colorize titles that were shot in black-and-white for artistic purposes, unless the original creators of the works participated in the color design.
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