Frequently Asked Questions

Why aren't all of Elvis' Hollywood movies available on home video and DVD?

Most or all of Elvis' movies have been out on home video. Presently, some titles no longer are. Why? Of those Elvis movies that are out on home video, some have not been released in DVD format. Why?

Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. does not own Elvis' movies and, therefore, we do not decide if they come out on home video or DVD. The films are owned by the various studios for which Elvis made his films (Paramount, MGM, United Artists, 20th Century Fox, etc.) or they're owned by whatever companies to whom some studios might have sold their catalogs of films. (For instance, the MGM films are owned by Turner Entertainment Company and Turner is owned by Warner Brothers.) While Elvis is our number one priority and the fans' number one priority, that's not necessarily so with the film companies. They have hundreds and hundreds of non-Elvis films, old and new, to think about. Reasons can vary as to why a particular Elvis film is not available.

One thing that prevents some of Elvis' movies from continuing to be out on home video is that the contracts the movie companies had with the owners/publishers of the songs expire over time and come up for renewal. Some song owners/publishers decide to play hard ball and insist on big increases in what they're paid - sometimes for a song that is very important to the film and sometimes for a song that is just incidental. (We're talking about clearances for the songs themselves, not Elvis' recordings of them.) The film companies sometimes decide to cease making the video available rather than cave into music publisher demands. Doing so could also drive the price demanded by other publishers when their songs are up for renewal, or automatically give those publishers a raise because the contracts with all of them are "favored nations" - meaning all publishers have to be paid equally and if one gets a raise, all do. Most movie companies have a large archive of other stars' films they own and it's not the end of the world to them if they can't distribute one or more of their Elvis properties in a cost-efficient manner. We can't verify that this is the problem with all of the Elvis movies that are not currently available, but it's a good guess and it's an example of the types of obstacles that can prevent a film from being in release on home video.

Out of the many Elvis films that ARE in release on home video, not all are out on DVD. Again, we do not own the films and we do not make these decisions. It's not unlikely that the reason could be this: The film companies have many, many new films coming out all the time with big production and marketing budgets, with a DVD release planned from the very beginning. With the older films in their catalog, they probably choose to spend the time and money to re-format and market on DVD the films that, in their opinion, have enough sales potential to warrant it. Gradually, more of Elvis' films are getting put out on DVD. We hope that all will be available on video and DVD someday.

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