Seriously, it will be interesting to see which Universal catalog titles don't make the cut. Streets of Fire? Others?

Streets of Fire is a good bet. That's a pretty obscure film, and I'm not sure how well it sold on HD DVD. It's appeal on BD will be as limited, if not more so.

Being the lone HD DVD exclusive studio, Universal completely flooded the market with titles, some good, some that no one wanted. So I think it'll be awhile before we see some of those. Stuff like TimeCop, Cat People, The War, Mercury Rising, etc.

??? Paramount doesn't count?

not really. They weren't exclusive until August '07 and didn't release a whole lot. Universal was red from day 1, so they were truly exclusive.

"Gone with the Wind" will finally have it's day getting it's Hi Def Transfer!!!! In 2 years I am camping out in front of the store. I bet Scarlett is hot in Hi Def.

Speak for yourself. I'm chomping at the bits for TimeCop dammit!

Well, the guessing is over. The film Penton Man was hinting at getting a full blown digital restoration is....LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.

Here's a post from him on blu-ray.com today:

"A lot of questions, let me try to summarize in one post.

You are correct. Last year, the techie people at SPE were asked to produce a new video master of LoA using the last available scan (not telecine but scan) as the source. This did indeed incur a good deal of expense, time, and effort. Then, the marketing folk decided that the installed Blu-ray player base (PS3 as well as standalones) was just too meager at this early time in the format’s history so, the new video master was shelved for whenever it was deemed *worthy to be released* economically.

Meanwhile, early this year, Asset Management determined that LoA was due for digital archiving and the budget for that venture was now available (funded by SPE to answer your direct question). As to how this will all play out……………..

I suspect that the project will take Asset Management (and all its associated contractors) about one year to complete everything. It is possible, that early next year marketing could recommend the currently available video master be used to produce a Blu-ray edition to fit some need. I highly doubt it however, as they seem in no rush to release this epic film on Blu-ray…..esp. the way catalogue titles are selling in general. I expect Asset Management in the meantime to continue on its merry way and do a complete digital restoration of LoA with a new Northlight high resolution scan as a starting point.

A new video master based on this will be produced. SPE does tests on everything imaginable, so I expect a side by side comparison of the latest video masters will be evaluated by a group of eagle eyes and the one with the best PQ will be offered up for a Blu-ray encoding/authoring job to the marketing folk.

An important thing to consider is that although the current process of 4k digital projector theatrical adoption is going slower than some people would like, after the above mentioned digital restoration, a 4k DCP can then be produced which potentially could show this film on big screens (45 ft. or so) with greater picture quality than the current stepped on 3rd generational prints that most viewers are seeing at special screenings at the few theaters that still have functioning/optimally maintained 70mm projectors.

So, it’s a step forward in a sense for the preservation of the film also."

wow i'm underwhelmed. Didn't everyone and their grandmother know that LoA was being restored??

I highly doubt True Lies will ever see a blu ray release. Its unfortunate a movie about arab terrorists released in 1994 will never sniff a blu ray release based soley on its plot. Not to mention, other crap non-anamorpic dvds like Broken Arrow and Commando have already gotten it.

Yup. That's really, really lame.

I've never read that Lawrence of Arabia was getting a full, complete digital restoration, al la Bonnie and Clyde. As you see from the post I copied, Sony already spent money remastering the movie last year. The fact that they are going to spend more money to completely restore the film is good news to me. Certainly not something I would classify as "underwhelming".

Anything getting me closer to having this disc in my hand is newsworthy to me.

Lawrence of Arabia shows up in trailers on some early Blu-ray discs much like Bad Boys 2 which has yet to show up. LOA is very underwhelming news whereas something like The African Queen which is getting a full blown restoration would only be mildly less underwhelming.

Fuck.

I was hoping I'd see V.I. Warshawski in Blu.

Scarlett is hot in low-def.

I hope we get Weekend at Bernie's in HD

You got my hopes up!!!! And by the way, Blu Ray.com sucks. Talk about way to many rules. You can get banned for have a bad attitude. It happened to me. Don't join that site expecting the same rules as this one or you'll be banned within your first 5 comments!!!!

Na, it's James Cameron. It'll get a Blu Ray release someday.

Was it because of the annoying blue text?

Ha! No, I didn't use that on that site. Someone else already had it. But your the 2nd person to tell me it's annoying so, BAM blue text gone.

But you're "Blu Man", it all fits the image.

I want THE CAR on Blu-ray. From seeing the DVD, I'm most hopeful an HD release will make this title shine.

I'm gonna third that, just in case you get any ideas about bringing it back...

Glad to hear LoA is getting a nice resto, but I'm still hoping that King Kong ('33) is on the block for this year. That's a title I'm excited about.