^While I do wish that there were more catalog titles being released on BD, there are a number of pre-1980 movies already out or coming. Including some older classics such as Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, North by Northwest, and The Wizard of Oz*. Even relatively obscure titles such as Logan's Run have been announced on BD. Are we ever going to see things like Mister Roberts, The Sound of Music, and The Philadelphia Story? I don't know. But the much-delayed Lawrence of Arabia is bound to get released eventually.

I think catalog releases are somewhat ahead of where I would have guessed they would be six months ago. IMO, things are picking up.



*However, the pricing and packaging for Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, and The Wizard of Oz are pretty ridiculous. Even North by Northwest is too expensive for me. I hope that they get released again in regular cases at reasonable prices.

There most certainly are some announced titles that will make it's way in to my collection. GWTW, Wizard of Oz, Bravehart, and Gladiator will all make wonderful additions to my collection at some point just probably not release day.

It's just that Laserdisc never made it beyond niche status yet any major title could be had on LD. Because I only dabbled in LD after DVD came out I don't know how long it took to see titles Like BTTF, Bev Hills Cop, Star Wars, Jaws and Saving Private Ryan but I know they were avialable. Blu-ray is already beyond niche market status but it seems they want market domination before we see Lawrence of Arabia or Jurassic Park

Lawrence of Arabia was scheduled for some sort of restoration for this year. Naturally they would want to wait until that has been done so the new master can be used for the BD. I don't know when exactly it was to happen (if it was early this year or later), or how long it would take to produce the disc after that, but it should at least be in the works.

Now that you mention it, being niche meant that LD was more of a movie buff format, hence a fairly wide selection of titles. And prices were high so volumes didn't need to be that great for a release to make money.

Do I need to point out that many of the titles you mention as being available on LD — and imply that you would like to see on BD — were recent releases back in the '80s? BttF was hardly a catalog release on LD but it sure would be on BD! How many catalog titles from, say, the '30s, '40s, '50s, and '60s were released on LD? A handful? Dozens? Hundreds?

When you say "any major title could be had on LD", isn't that the case for BD now? (At least for recent movies.)

Criterion's very first Laserdisc was King Kong from 1933.

The exceptionally useful LDDb lists:

INCEPTION OF FILM THROUGH 1929: 203 titles
1930 THROUGH 1939: 560 titles
1940 THROUGH 1949: 837 titles
1950 THROUGH 1959: 1,351 titles
1960 THROUGH 1969: 2,154 titles
1970 THROUGH 1979: 3,271 titles

That's a total of 8,376 Laserdisc releases of films originally released before the 1980s.

Edited to add: limiting to the U.S. since that might be more useful (sorry, didn't think about that before):

INCEPTION OF FILM THROUGH 1929: 128 titles
1930 THROUGH 1939: 431 titles
1940 THROUGH 1949: 624 titles
1950 THROUGH 1959: 861 titles
1960 THROUGH 1969: 1,159 titles
1970 THROUGH 1979: 1,718 titles

That's a total of 4,921 U.S. Laserdisc releases of films originally released before the 1980s.

^Interesting!

Good Burger.

No, I'm serious.

Right now for me it's Stardust. Recently "discovered" the movie on cable and absolutely love it, can't wait to get my hands on a BD.

My daughter is very big into fantasy type films and she got me to rent this one. I picked up the HD-DVD cheap because I had to own this movie and for the price of the HD's I couldn't resist.

Probably been mentioned but Apollo 13 and Backdraft are at the top of my wishlist now.... I'm guessing maybe next spring? Along with Carlitos Way, Pianist, and Lost in Translation... basically the best Universal HDDVD's not out yet.

When will Universal release the original Fankentstein , and The Bride Of Frankenstein Universal Monster Movies on the Blu Ray format? The new Wolfman movie has been put back until next year - however , apparently Universal has green lit a remake of The Bride Of Frankenstein to start production later this year so maybe on the back of that decision they'll release at least something on the new High Defintion Blu Ray format?

At least some of the Universal monsters were on a shortlist of rumored titles for HD DVD very early on in the format's lifespan, but obviously that never materialized.

I think we'll either see them as part of a Halloween promotion or to tie into a new theatrical release like you mentioned.

Movies: Conan the Barbarian! (with both Extended and Theatrical versions) My most wanted Blu-Ray.

TV: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Hopefully they would be in the correct 4:3 ratio, include the "previously on..." segments, have the best video quality possible, and have upgraded HD special effects (I can dream).

Red Planet.
Not a real must have title but an enjoyable guilty pleasure.

Though it'll assuredly fall on deaf ears, I'd ADORE a Blu-ray version of Kim Ji-woon's A Bittersweet Life. Palisades, this would be a great way to reinvigorate the "Asia Extreme" line in the US.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0456912/

Of course, if we're going down that path, chalk me up as someone who'd jump at the chance for A Tale of Two Sisters in HD as well.

Sign me up for A Tale of Two Sisters on BD as well. That would be an easy upgrade for me.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

That's my happening and it would freak me out!

Walkabout and Picnic at Hanging Rock from Criterion - the former was initially listed as one of the first wave of bd from them and then it went off the list after I sold my copy - it's supposed to have a retool a la M, Wages of Fear, Seventh Seal, etc...and I'm getting antsy dammit! Black Narcissus is another i'd like to see them revisit, and it's glorious color palette is a natural fit for BD.

Bruno?

The original that is and not the 101 min steaming pile of cow dung i just endured tonight in Hollywood.
I need to wash the memory of this travesty out of my system as quickly as possible.
Has anyone heard any word on if universal is working on the original halloween II for a possible release. or for that matter if anchor bay or Buena Vista are working on blurays of The curse of Michael Meyers, H20, or Resurection.

Universal bringing new catalog titles to Blu-ray? So far we've had 3 in 1 year.

Sadly, I have to agree on that point. Of all of their catalog titles, this would not likely be high on their list for restoration and release on Blu-ray. They have many other titles that would earn them more revenue.

Yeah, like Street Fighter.

Although not on Blu Ray, Amazon says that Dimension is releasing a "Halloween 3-Pack" on September 8th. It will include Halloween 6, H20 and Resurrection.



http://www.amazon.com/Halloween-Trip...229726&sr=1-14

The same boxset has been available at Wal-Mart for over a year now.

Same discs that are currently available.