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Thursday, 07 November 2024
My Two Cents
Wednesday, 07 August 2024 16:16

Warner’s A-List tips its hand on 4K catalog titles under consideration, plus Godzilla Minus One 4K, Blu-ray & DVD pre-orders

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Warner Bros. A-List Community

We have two more new disc reviews to share with you today here on The Bits, with more on the way...

Tim has reviewed Walter Colmes’ Woman Who Came Back (1945) on Blu-ray from Imprint Films.

And Stephen has offered his thoughts on Tai Katô’s Eighteen Years in Prison (1967) on Blu-ray from Toei via Radiance Films.

Now then, the big news today is that Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment has apparently conducted another of its “A-List” Community surveys asking which of its many catalog titles fans would like to see the studio release in 4K Ultra HD. And of course, as happens every time, the details of that list got leaked immediately online and so it becomes something we have an obligation to report on here at The Bits. In any case, dozens of people have shared the information either privately or widely online. Because of course they’re going to—they’re enthusiasts.

Having said that, it’s probably unreasonable to assume that the studio will get around to every one of these titles any time soon, but if more of them start being released in 4K UHD, that would certainly represent a big improvement in the studio’s 4K catalog release strategy to date. So which titles were on this list? [Read on here...]

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According to many sources, Warner’s A-List 4K poll included the following possibilities...

  • Them! (1954)
  • Forbidden Planet (1956)
  • Speed Racer (2008)
  • Lethal Weapon (1987)
  • The Conjuring (2013)
  • The Conjuring 2 (2016)
  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
  • Amadeus (1984)
  • THX 1138 (1971)
  • Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (2005)
  • Barry Lyndon (1975)
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street (7-Film Collection)
  • Demolition Man (1993)
  • A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
  • Gravity (2013)
  • Logan’s Run (1976)
  • Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
  • Lolita (1962)
  • Lolita (1997)
  • Boogie Nights (1997)
  • Blade Trilogy
  • Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
  • Soylent Green (1973)
  • Constantine (2005)
  • Se7en (1995)
  • Under Siege (1992)
  • Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995)
  • Bond 6-Film Collection (Sean Connery)
  • Bullitt (1968)
  • The Haunting (1963)
  • Green Lantern (2011) (Theatrical + Extended Cut)

Now right away, Gravity has been cooking for 4K UHD for a year or two at the studio (the issue has apparently been getting director Alfonso Cuarón to approve an HDR grade) and Se7en is obviously coming because we’ve seen the Amazon listings (and studio personnel have told me it’s coming, but probably not until next year).

As for the rest? Right off the top: Forbidden Planet, Speed Racer, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus, Barry Lyndon, A.I., Lolita (1962), Eyes Wide Shut, the Connery Bond films... yes please!! Take my money right the heck now!

And looking at the rest of that list, hell yes, we’d be interested in lots of those titles too! I would also like to strongly suggest The Right Stuff (1983), Excalibur (1981), King Kong (1933), Doctor Zhivago (1965), 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), Ben-Hur (1959), the rest of the Bond films, and a 4K HDR release of the complete Max Fleischer’s Superman (1941-43) shorts to make up for last year’s disastrous overcompressed Blu-ray release.

The most important thing I would like to stress to the decision-makers at Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment is this: Lots more 4K Ultra HD catalog please! Please dig deeper! If you don’t feel comfortable releasing titles yourself, license them out to Shout, Arrow, Criterion, etc! And please include the Blu-ray version too, so that you can put all of the extras save audio commentaries on the Blu-rays, so that you can also utilize all of the 4K disc space for AV quality (on UHD-100 discs). Actually author your discs for maximum video and audio quality! Use Dolby Vision. Do new Atmos mixes when possible, but at least always include lossless audio and the original sound mixes too (in addition to any new mixes).

Here’s the thing WBDHE: 4K Ultra HD enthusiasts are ravenous for your catalog product on this format! So please open the floodgates and don’t cut corners.

And we will all thank you for it mightily!

All right, one other thing today... remember how we mentioned yesterday that more Godzilla Minus One physical media SKUs were coming to North America? Well, the listings are starting to appear on Amazon (and elsewhere) now. So click on each of the title links below to visit the respective pre-order pages...

That’s all for now. Stay tuned...

(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)

 

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