Will Toho succeed in suppressing/wiping out certain US Cuts?

[Terasawa]

Even if it was the case that U.S. rights were tangled up with Dreamworks, it's very, very, very unlikely that they have any great materials--if any--on those films.

[The Octopus]

All I want is a widescreen version of The Terror of Godzilla. Is that to much to ask?

[StreamOfKaijuness]

I'm a little skeptical that this is the situation

August posted that same claim back in 2011 on the Monster Zero / Club Tokyo / SciFi Japan forums. Keith Aiken subsequently refuted it.

I'm sure it will happen. Like I said earlier when FCTW was optioned to Classic Media and they passed, Media Blasters's Tokyo Shock was quick to pick it up.

FCTW wasn't optioned by Classic Media, they owned it outright. They had acquired the UPA catalogue from the estate of Henry G. Saperstein who owned the perpetuitious world-wide rights (excluding Asia) for GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS, GIGANTIS, RODAN, GODZILLA VS. THE THING, GHIDRAH, FCTW, MONSTER ZERO, THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS, GODZILLA'S REVENGE, TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA, LAST DAYS OF PLANET EARTH, ESPY, LAKE OF DRACULA, and EVIL OF DRACULA.

Classic Media wanted to work with Toho, to obtain the Japanese versions of the Godzilla films for release as Special Features DVDs, but they didn't need permission for the versions that they already owned (Toho handed those over to Saperstein in the 1960s-1970s, and Saperstein owned the Home Video rights to the Japanese version of GODZILLA as well). So, to sweeten the deal, Classic Media offered to give back the rights to several titles that they weren't interested in, in exchange for Toho's cooperation. FCTW was one of these that Classic Media returned to Toho, and thus allowed Media Blasters to option those rights from Toho.

IIRC.

I still have my correspondence with Toho, Classic Media, and Media Blasters from 2002-2006, and what they stated does not jive with what August just posted.

Classic Media acquired GIGANTIS and GHIDRAH when they purchased the film library of Golden Books around 1998-99. The other Toho titles came years later, when CM took over some assets of UPA in July, 2001.

In 2002, Toho told me that they considered Classic Media as an extension of Toho's previous agreements with UPA and Golden Books. Classic Media could maintain those rights as long as they continued to pay renewal fees to Toho whenever those bills came due.

The rights to several of the films were up for renewal at the end of 2006. Classic Media already had the idea of doing the "Toho Master Collection" DVDs so in 2005 they negotiated with Toho to include the Japanese versions as part of the renewal.

Former Classic Media producer Steve Vincent told me that they decided to pass on the titles they didn't think would sell (though later they realized they'd made a mistake with FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS). The idea that CM would give up those films "to sweeten the deal' makes no sense to me at all... Toho would much rather have the guaranteed sale to CM than get the rights back and need to sell them again elsewhere. Five years have passed and except for FCTW, none of the movies Classic Media passed on have been sold to another distributor. That's years of licensing fees that Toho didn't make, so that certainly wasn't in their best interest.

Regarding worldwide rights, the Australian label Madman licensed their Godzilla movies from Toho, not UPA or Classic Media. Same with BFI for the UK DVD of GODZILLA.

I'm going by memory, Keith — and, admittedly, the whole, "who owns what" can make for one tangled web — so, if you have documents, kindly present the further details here (if available) and set the record straight for everyone's edification — thanks!

Australia is considered part of "Asia" in realm of film distribution (at least in the days those films were first distributed, although some contracts varied). From my understanding of what was told to us at the Egyptian show in 2004, Saperstein and the North American Home Video rights to GOJIRA (this was discovered when Rialto was looking into a DVD release with Toho, IIRC). So, of course, those rights would not extend to the UK, since those were only for North America.