Spinal Tap is back!

Fans of the mock-rock band SPINAL TAP may just hear the phrase, "You can't really dust for vomit" one more time. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. and France's StudioCanal said Friday they will re-release the 1984 film, This is Spinal Tap about the mock rock band making a comeback, in an 11-city tour in September. The tour to major U.S cities like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago spotlights a simultaneous relaunch of the cult hit on video and a new DVD with over 100 minutes of unused scenes taken from 30 hours of original footage that was unearthed from a salt mine in Kansas. "This is Spinal Tap," a documentary style film that spoofs the comeback of a 1970s hard rock band, will screen on college campuses around the country this fall, and band members David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), Nigel Tuffnel (Christopher Guest), Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) -- along with a guest drummer -- are set to appear on cable TV network VH1 in June. Down the road are action-figure toys, a book, a re-release of the group's album and an overseas tour of the movie backed by the boys in the band, said Ron Halpern, vice president of special projects for Paris-based StudioCanal. "This coordinated launch is something that anyone who ever liked the film and the actors has dreamed of," Halpern said. "We've been trying to do this for years." Halpern, a self-confessed Spinal Tap junkie who says he's seen the movie about 30 times, has made the rebirth of "Spinal Tap" one of his pet projects for over three years. But tracking down the rights and a pristine copy of the movie was nearly as difficult as keeping the mock rock band on tour. "This is Spinal Tap," directed by Rob Reiner, is a fictional story that recounts the U.S. tour of the British rock band Spinal Tap, which had once ruled the top of the pop music charts. The tour starts out strong enough, but slowly unravels due to problems with management, an album launch, record companies, stage sets, costumes, hotels and venue bookings. And, of course, the band has a difficult time keeping a drummer. While the film met with little fanfare when first launched, it grew into a cult hit on videotape. Halpern said the video, which is now out of issue, was so popular that rental stores had a difficult time with people not returning the tapes. "People preferred just to pay the $80 deposit and keep it," he added. The movie and band also recorded several songs like "Big Bottom," "Hell Hole," and "Sex Farm," that were popular among music fans. But the film's original distributor, Embassy Pictures, fell on hard times and eventually folded in 1985. The rights to the movie were sold to several companies that also went out of business, and finally wound up with StudioCanal. Video rights also passed through many different hands before landing in MGM's library. MGM (MGM.N) after a change in management last year has made it a goal to exploit products in its video and film library, and the two companies put their heads together to coordinate this year's relaunch. Halpern said when StudioCanal first dreamed up the idea, it went to Embassy's old distributor Columbia Pictures, which found an original copy collecting dust deep inside the Kansas salt mine.