Warner Home Video, Hearst Entertainment, and King Features announced an agreement for WHV to distribute all of the Popeye theatrical and made-for-TV toons on DVD.  The agreement covers 231 theatrical shorts produced between 1933 and 1957, 220 TV toons produced from 1960-1962, 65 episodes (161 shorts) of the Continuing Adventures of Popeye produced form 1978-1981, and 26 Popeye & Son shorts produced in 1987. 

 

The b/w theatrical shorts consist of 106 Fleischer Studios productions and 14 by Famous Studios.  The Technicolor cartoons include three from Fleischer Studiois and 108 by Famous Studios.  In a promising note, WHV said in the announcement that it planned 'to commence preservation and restoration activities immediately.' 

 

The first DVD will be released in 2007. 

 

Popeye fans are going to be in a very target-rich environment next year, with Fantagraphics' collection of the Popeye strips (see 'Fantagraphics to Collect Popeye') in addition to at least the beginning of the WHV DVDs.