Will classic films ever make it to Blu-Ray?
#1
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Thread Starter
Will classic films ever make it to Blu-Ray?
I have a very sad feeling the answer is no. Five years ago, I could find Bette Davis or Joan Crawford or Humphrey Bogart titles at Columbia House, Best Buy, Costco, and every other DVD outlet. Now, in 2010, nobody carries those films.
What happened?
I'd hate to think that great old films like Mildred Pierce or Dark Victory will be left behind as hi-def video obliterates DVD in the home video market.
What happened?
I'd hate to think that great old films like Mildred Pierce or Dark Victory will be left behind as hi-def video obliterates DVD in the home video market.
Last edited by Gobear; 06-16-10 at 03:33 PM.
#2
Senior Member
Re: Will classic films ever make it to Blu-Ray?
I have a very sad feeling the answer is no. Five years ago, I could find Bette Davis or Joan Crawford or Humphrey Bogart titles at Columbia House, Best Buy, Costco, and every other DVD outlet. Now, in 2010, nobody carries those films.
What happened?
I'd hate to think that great old films like Mildred Pierce or Dark Victory will be left behind as hi-def video obliterates DVD in the home video market.
What happened?
I'd hate to think that great old films like Mildred Pierce or Dark Victory will be left behind as hi-def video obliterates DVD in the home video market.
#3
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Will classic films ever make it to Blu-Ray?
Outside of Criterion, I'm thinking we'll be lucky to get 7 or 8 classics on Blu-ray per year, and all but one or two will be from WB.
#4
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Thread Starter
Re: Will classic films ever make it to Blu-Ray?
I would love to see the the Warner Noir or Gangster sets on Blu, but I think nobody under 30 has any interest in movies from the Golden Age of Hollywood, so the studios won't invest the $$ to update them.
#5
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Re: Will classic films ever make it to Blu-Ray?
02/16 - The Ladykillers (Lionsgate)
03/23 - The African Queen (Paramount)
04/20 - Battleship Potemkin (Kino)
05/11 - The Magnificent Seven (MGM)
05/25 - Django (Blue Underground)
05/25 - Spartacus (Universal)
06/01 - The Man With No Name Trilogy (MGM)
07/06 - Jason and the Argonauts (Sony)
07/06 - Steamboat Bill, Jr. (Kino)
08/03 - Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (Kino)
09/14 - The Twilight Zone: Season 1 (Image)
10/19 - Psycho (Universal)
11/?? - Metropolis (Kino)
12/07 - Fantasia (Disney)
??/?? - Our Hospitality/Sherlock Jr. (Kino)
I'm sure I missed several, not to mention imports and titles yet to be announced. Suffice it to say that 1 or 2 per year might be a slight exaggeration WB also has about 9 or 10 released/announced so far this year.
Don't get me wrong though, I too wish that we were getting a much higher output of classics on the format.
#6
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Will classic films ever make it to Blu-Ray?
I guess I should amend my original statement: 7 or 8 Hollywood classics per year, such as the OP was looking for. Other than a handful of titles, this area has been all but ignored by the major studios except WB.
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Re: Will classic films ever make it to Blu-Ray?
DVD, in a sense, spoiled us. There is just so much great classic (as well as obscure) material available on the format, and although I hold some hope I really can't see all of it making the leap to BD. That is why, although I am upgrading some of my collection, I suspect I will have a large number of DVDs for a very long time. I love DVDs, and treasure them, and certainly still buy some (if the title in question doesn't get a BD release).
#8
Re: Will classic films ever make it to Blu-Ray?
King Kong, The Exorcist, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and The Maltese Falcon are all on the way this year from WB.
The classic titles will take longer to come out for a couple of reasons. One, the BD demographic is still mainly comprised of young males, who overwhelmingly lean towards action/sci-fi/new releases. They're not interested in older films. Second, the cost of restoring some of these films are very expensive. WB has sunk in millions on 4K restorations of many of their titles. Paramount invested $6 million for The African Queen. Sony is likely spending quite a bit on Lawrence of Arabia and Bridge on the River Kwai, the latter is likely coming out this year. The US user base is about 17 million BD capable players. Due to the high cost of restorations, they're likely waiting until more players are sold before they give the okay on some of these films. WB clearly is focusing more on their classic back catalog.
Now that high definition is here, you can't hide all the faults of a transfer like you could on a DVD. The enhanced detail shows the flaws, so they have to spend more time on cleanup.
There are plenty of classics right now to be bought. Next year we'll get Ben Hur and Citizen Kane, and likely a few more gems.
The classic titles will take longer to come out for a couple of reasons. One, the BD demographic is still mainly comprised of young males, who overwhelmingly lean towards action/sci-fi/new releases. They're not interested in older films. Second, the cost of restoring some of these films are very expensive. WB has sunk in millions on 4K restorations of many of their titles. Paramount invested $6 million for The African Queen. Sony is likely spending quite a bit on Lawrence of Arabia and Bridge on the River Kwai, the latter is likely coming out this year. The US user base is about 17 million BD capable players. Due to the high cost of restorations, they're likely waiting until more players are sold before they give the okay on some of these films. WB clearly is focusing more on their classic back catalog.
Now that high definition is here, you can't hide all the faults of a transfer like you could on a DVD. The enhanced detail shows the flaws, so they have to spend more time on cleanup.
There are plenty of classics right now to be bought. Next year we'll get Ben Hur and Citizen Kane, and likely a few more gems.
Last edited by Mr. Cinema; 06-17-10 at 10:38 AM.
#9
Re: Will classic films ever make it to Blu-Ray?
I posted this breakdown on blu-ray.com a few weeks ago.
According to blu-raystats.com, they had the following breakdown of titles:
1960s
WB: 15
Criterion: 9
MGM: 10
Fox: 5
Paramount: 3
Sony: 3
Lionsgate: 1
Universal: 1
1970s:
WB: 23
Fox: 15
MGM: 8
Paramount: 6
Criterion: 5
Sony: 5
Universal: 1
Before 1960:
WB: 16
Criterion: 8
Fox: 5
Disney: 4
Paramount: 3
Sony: 2
Lionsgate: 1
According to blu-raystats.com, they had the following breakdown of titles:
1960s
WB: 15
Criterion: 9
MGM: 10
Fox: 5
Paramount: 3
Sony: 3
Lionsgate: 1
Universal: 1
1970s:
WB: 23
Fox: 15
MGM: 8
Paramount: 6
Criterion: 5
Sony: 5
Universal: 1
Before 1960:
WB: 16
Criterion: 8
Fox: 5
Disney: 4
Paramount: 3
Sony: 2
Lionsgate: 1
#11
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Will classic films ever make it to Blu-Ray?
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/hd-talk/558...late-09-a.html
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Re: Will classic films ever make it to Blu-Ray?
Give it some time, dude. We're still kind of young w/ the format. It's getting better w/ the classics coming out. I keep seeing more and more every year.
#13
Re: Will classic films ever make it to Blu-Ray?
I have a very sad feeling the answer is no. Five years ago, I could find Bette Davis or Joan Crawford or Humphrey Bogart titles at Columbia House, Best Buy, Costco, and every other DVD outlet. Now, in 2010, nobody carries those films.
What happened?
I'd hate to think that great old films like Mildred Pierce or Dark Victory will be left behind as hi-def video obliterates DVD in the home video market.
What happened?
I'd hate to think that great old films like Mildred Pierce or Dark Victory will be left behind as hi-def video obliterates DVD in the home video market.
Not sure about HD obliterating DVD just yet. DVD has a strong hold on the market. It's been here for 15 years vs. BD being here about 3-4 years? Eventually, Blu-ray titles will take momentum and classic films will be released more frequently. We're seeing this already, actually.
Another factor is getting more manufacturing plants to pump out the BD titles. We're now realizing plants getting used to the new spec and so titles are produced quicker, less issues (could be argued I supposed thanks to BD Live and Java crap), and so forth.
I wouldn't worry too much. Give it another few years. There's still so much to catch up on.
#14
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Re: Will classic films ever make it to Blu-Ray?
What's this about there being no classics on Blu-ray? Showgirls was just released, people!
#15
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Re: Will classic films ever make it to Blu-Ray?
I think it's one of the ones Warner hinted at that included a Marx Bros. and Errol Flynn title (likely A Night at the Opera and The Sea Hawk respectively); it was mentioned that while the last restoration was fine the HD master was not, so they were going to redo the master.
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Re: Will classic films ever make it to Blu-Ray?
Dial M for Murder was another title that was often rumored for 2010. It seems to have fallen off the map though.
Last edited by Adboy151; 06-18-10 at 10:15 AM.