Official outlook from the estate themselves. From the outside looking in it would appear that everything that can be nebulous is nebulous and that perhaps they themselves have no clue what actually is happening - thus leaving them having already thrown in the towel on a prospective 2025 date before the year has even started while hedging their bets by leaving not one, but TWO entire calandar years on the table.

It probably also looks like that from the inside looking out, if I were to guess.

[Edited 1/2/25 3:50am]

I don't know whether the doc is coming during that span or not, but the LUTHER VANDROSS doc that dropped on CNN tonight sets a very high bar. What an absolutely touching documentary. The estate might want to reach out to Jamie Foxx and others who produced it.

MIRvmn1 said:

It's possible that the Netflix documentary will be released and they have reached an agreement. I hope that's the case so we can move on.

If they reached an agreement, it surely wouldn't take an entire 1-2 years to get this documentary out.

I'll believe it when I see it.

Is there an official statement from The Estate, link?

Seems to me that release date was: never

Source? Link?

My guess is they're either going to do their own documentary to counter the claims made in the Netflix documentary, or they're hoping to get the Netflix doc canned altogether so they can start from scratch with a new director and tell his story in a way that they feel won't do any harm towards his legacy and the Prince brand.

If Edelman changed the name to "The Book of ", he could shop it around to other streaming sevices to avoid the current contract

MIRvmn1 said:

It's possible that the Netflix documentary will be released and they have reached an agreement. I hope that's the case so we can move on.

I hope so too.

paisleyparkgirl said:

MIRvmn1 said:

It's possible that the Netflix documentary will be released and they have reached an agreement. I hope that's the case so we can move on.

I hope so too.

If they had reached an agreement or were on the verge of reaching one, the "release" date wouldn't be "2026/2027". "2026/2027" sounds like a tentative "date" (not to say BS).

happyshopper said:

All we can hope is that they’re making a new Doc with someone like Questlove or Spike Lee, and doing a proper job of it. They’ll need to reinterview a lot of people, who may not want to talk about it all again!

Agreed. Either of those two would do fine. They should have asked Spike Lee to do it in the first place.

From Matthew Belloni's (Puck) "What I’m Hearing" newsletter July 19, 2024:

"Dearly beloved, a Prince movie update: A few people reached out after reading my Monday reveal of the secret fight over Ezra Edelman’s nine-hour Prince documentary to note that attorney L. Londell McMillan and reps for the artist’s estate have been shopping a new development deal. The Endeavor-backed Asylum Entertainment met with...".

The rest can be read if you copy the link below, and paste it into a 'Remove Paywall' website.

Link: https://puck.news/newslet...ie-update/

happyshopper said:

All we can hope is that they’re making a new Doc with someone like Questlove or Spike Lee, and doing a proper job of it. They’ll need to reinterview a lot of people, who may not want to talk about it all again!

LOL no respected filmmaker would touch this doc with McMillions in full control

Mindbells9 said:

My guess is they're either going to do their own documentary to counter the claims made in the Netflix documentary, or they're hoping to get the Netflix doc canned altogether so they can start from scratch with a new director and tell his story in a way that they feel won't do any harm towards his legacy and the Prince brand.

If it gets canned then hopefully the director will leak it (probbaly not) because I really want to know what footage and audio is in there. Don't really care about talking heads talking about Prince's personal affairs now that he's not around to counter them.

fredmagnus said:

What I need above all is NEW MUSIC. As for the documentary, they can take their time to make it right. I won't be missing the Netflix one in the light of what we've heard so far about it. Ezra went in the wrong direction as long as music is NOT the main topic of the doc. Make a new documentary and take your time but for God sake, release new music meanwhile. We will get the videos when possible. A Vault series and so many other projects don't need to include any video content. [Edited 1/5/25 13:14pm]

It seems that doc needs to come out for new music to be released (unless grantd permission by Netflix).

leecaldon said:

fredmagnus said:

What I need above all is NEW MUSIC. As for the documentary, they can take their time to make it right. I won't be missing the Netflix one in the light of what we've heard so far about it. Ezra went in the wrong direction as long as music is NOT the main topic of the doc. Make a new documentary and take your time but for God sake, release new music meanwhile. We will get the videos when possible. A Vault series and so many other projects don't need to include any video content. [Edited 1/5/25 13:14pm]

It seems that doc needs to come out for new music to be released (unless grantd permission by Netflix).

Unless they manage to cancel the Netflix deal and make a new deal with another streaming platform...

fredmagnus said:

leecaldon said:

It seems that doc needs to come out for new music to be released (unless grantd permission by Netflix).

Unless they manage to cancel the Netflix deal and make a new deal with another streaming platform...

Only music/video that is related to the doc is blocked for commercial release.

Should be possible to release anything else.

I don't think the previous Estate was that dumb to block all vault releases.

The current McMillions Estate is balls deep in Purple Rain 2.0, so I don't think they want to release anything else.

Trufunksoulja said:

fredmagnus said:

Unless they manage to cancel the Netflix deal and make a new deal with another streaming platform...

Only music/video that is related to the doc is blocked for commercial release.

Should be possible to release anything else.

I don't think the previous Estate was that dumb to block all vault releases.

The current McMillions Estate is balls deep in Purple Rain 2.0, so I don't think they want to release anything else.

Hopefully this ois true but we don't know what kind of deal the previous management had with Netflix.
There are alot of rumors going around even outlandish once like that because Netflix had full unobrstructed access to the vault they have the right to block any release for (at least) 6 months after the release of there documentray. This sounds too stupid even for the previous management, but gven there track record it also wouldn't surprise me.

MIRvmn1 said:

If it’s true that Netflix has to approve releases, then the SDE shouldn’t be a problem for the estate since it was part of D&L and ready for release anyway. I think the problem is that the estate is prioritizing PR again this year. But no one really cares about PR anymore since the 40th anniversary is over and they screwed up badly. Basically, everyone wants to move on except Londell and Spicer.

U should apply 4 a job!
U r so knowledgeable!
'm sure they would take U on as lead "Prince Dude".

nayroo2002 said:

MIRvmn1 said:

If it’s true that Netflix has to approve releases, then the SDE shouldn’t be a problem for the estate since it was part of D&L and ready for release anyway. I think the problem is that the estate is prioritizing PR again this year. But no one really cares about PR anymore since the 40th anniversary is over and they screwed up badly. Basically, everyone wants to move on except Londell and Spicer.

U should apply 4 a job!
U r so knowledgeable!
'm sure they would take U on as lead "Prince Dude".

Over emphasis on 'Purple Rain' and his two-to-three "hit" records (vs. the other 37) got us in this Groundhog Day cycle mess in the first place. All the sarcasm in the world will never negate that.

WhisperingDandelions said:

nayroo2002 said:

U should apply 4 a job!
U r so knowledgeable!
'm sure they would take U on as lead "Prince Dude".

Over emphasis on 'Purple Rain' and his two-to-three "hit" records (vs. the other 37) got us in this Groundhog Day cycle mess in the first place. All the sarcasm in the world will never negate that.

.

You mean "the other 70-80"... At least we here should know better than to ignoring half of his official catalog just because he chose to release the other half under other names.

JorisE73 said:

While I want to see the Netfix doc as the director inteneded, on bit from the director himself has gave me mixed feelings about it.He has mentioned that he didn't quite know where to take the narrative, which is hard to believe anyone having trouble with that, and that he settled on theJills jones, Wendy Lisa arch as the hook becasue of how compelling it was for the narrative. Now, I mean I want to see all that, but not as a gimmick or arch or becasue it helped him settle on something compelling for him to drive a narrative. But none of us have seen it and it is quite long so who knows, but i hope he didn't use her as a lazy part of the narration becasue he was stuck.

[Edited 1/8/25 9:47am]

v10letblues said:

While I want to see the Netfix doc as the director inteneded, on bit from the director himself has gave me mixed feelings about it.He has mentioned that he didn't quite know where to take the narrative, which is hard to believe anyone having trouble with that, and that he settled on theJills jones, Wendy Lisa arch as the hook becasue of how compelling it was for the narrative. Now, I mean I want to see all that, but not as a gimmick or arch or becasue it helped him settle on something compelling for him to drive a narrative. But none of us have seen it and it is quite long so who knows, but i hope he didn't use her as a lazy part of the narration becasue he was stuck.

[Edited 1/8/25 9:47am]

Wendy and Lisa ? I don't think they said anything they hadn't seen before. The Jill Jones story is what ruined the doc.