Editing Wattstax (section)

==Film releases==
As originally edited, the ''Wattstax'' film concluded with two performances by Isaac Hayes of hit songs from the motion picture ''[[Shaft (1971 film)|Shaft]]'': "[[Theme from Shaft|Theme from ''Shaft'']]" and "[[Soulsville (Isaac Hayes song)|Soulsville]]." Following Wattstax's premiere on February 4, 1973, at the [[Los Angeles Music Center]],<ref name=var>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=February 7, 1973|page=5|title=Wolperized Black-Angled Ballyhoo For 'Wattstax'; Columbia's Angles}}</ref> but before its wide release in the United States, Stax Films and Wolper Films were informed by [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] (MGM), producers and distributors of ''Shaft'', that ''Wattstax'' could not be released with Hayes' performance numbers.<ref name="MGMTrouble">{{cite video|people=Bowman, Rob (Historian) |date=January 10, 2006 |title=''Wattstax'': Audio commentary with Rob Bowman and Chuck D. |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070902/ |medium=DVD |publisher=Warner Home Video |location=Burbank, CA |access-date=April 18, 2020 |time=1:31:20 - 1:35:03, 1:36:50 - 1:39:35 }}</ref> MGM's contracts for the music in ''Shaft'' prevented any use of those songs in any other film until 1978.<ref name="MGMTrouble" />

As a result, Isaac Hayes was pulled from a tour in the [[Netherlands]] to return to Los Angeles and film a new performance number based around his next scheduled single, "Rolling Down a Mountainside."<ref name="MGMTrouble" /> This number concluded the original theatrical release of ''Wattstax'' from [[Columbia Pictures]] and most subsequent television and home video exhibitions.<ref name="MGMTrouble" />

Because of profanity used throughout the film's interview segments, ''Wattstax'' was [[Motion Picture Association of America film rating system|rated "R"]] by the [[MPAA]] in the United States, preventing children under 17 from attending the film unaccompanied by an adult. Despite that rating, Stax promoted the film to family audiences, spinning the "R" rating with the promotional tagline "Rated 'R' Because it's Real."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lawrence |first=Novotny |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=klqQBQAAQBAJ&q=rated%2520r&pg=PA143 |title=Documenting the Black Experience: Essays on African American History, Culture and Identity in Nonfiction Films |date=2014-10-24 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-7267-3 |language=en}}</ref>

''Wattstax'' was restored and remastered in 2003, using [[Apple Inc|Apple]]'s [[Final Cut Pro]] and [[Cinema Tools]] to create new film and HD video elements from its original [[16 mm film]] negatives. The original audio elements were used to create a new [[surround sound]] soundtrack and new stereo elements for soundtrack album releases.<ref name="Mixonline">{{Cite web |url=https://www.mixonline.com/sfp/wattstax-369015 |title=Wattstax |date=2003-06-01 |website=Mixonline |language=en-US |access-date=2020-04-18}}</ref> "Theme from ''Shaft''" and "Soulsville" were restored to the film at this time as well.

The restored film first played in limited release in the United States during the summer of 2003.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2003/06/06/its-back-and-its-proud/8b085359-87cc-4b62-85b8-c4e4b6a8dfc2/ |title=It's Back and It's Proud |last=Howe |first=Desson |date=2003-06-06 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |access-date=2020-04-26}}</ref> In January 2004, the restored version of the film played at the [[Sundance Film Festival]], followed by a theatrical reissue in June by [[Sony Pictures]] Repertory. In September 2004, the [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] series ''[[P.O.V.]]'' aired a new documentary about the concert and the movie. That same month, the movie was released on DVD by Warner Bros., which obtained the video rights when it purchased the [[David L. Wolper|Wolper]] library (Warner's former sister company, [[Warner Music Group]], coincidentally owns the rights to most pre-1968 Stax recordings).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archive.pov.org/wattstax/film-description/ |title=<nowiki>Film Description | Wattstax | POV | PBS</nowiki> |date=27 September 2004 |access-date=26 January 2020}}</ref>  Warner Bros. also acquired the distribution rights from Sony as a result of their ownership of the library of current copyright holder The [[Saul Zaentz]] Company.