Blade Runner, Road Warrior SE DVDs + Other Upcoming Warner Releases

[Woochifer]

Last week, Warner Home Video reps had their annual chat room Q&A with Home Theater Forum (see link below for a transcript). A LOT of activity that they got planned for 2007 and 2008. Aside from its own library, Warner also owns the rights to the pre-1970 (?) MGM film library as well as the RKO library, so they got a very large catalog of potential releases.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/chat/warner07.txt

It seems like an annual ritual, but Warner does plan to get the long-overdue special edition of Blade Runner out "before the holiday season." Their reps said that this would include a "final cut" of the movie, along with previous versions (including the now-maligned theatrical cut, which has been unavailable on home video for years). I'll believe it when I see it, but it looks like a definitive DVD version of this classic will finally come out this year.

Warner also indicated that they are (finally) working on a special edition of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, but did not give an estimated release date. This title remains a movie-only edition that came out with Warner's earliest DVD releases, which typically had no anamorphic enhancement and used the lower 384k bitrate DD soundtracks. This is long overdue for a great movie, since so many of Warner's other catalog titles have since received the special edition treatment.

Some other highlights (among many) that I found noteworthy ...

- Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons and Journey Into Fear due out in 2008
- 100th anniversary commemoration in honor of John Wayne, include new SE of Rio Bravo and 6 new DVD titles featuring The Duke
- new boxed sets of Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney, and pre-code "forbidden" Hollywood titles
- SE of The Candidate in progress
- 10th anniversary SE of LA Confidential due this year
- 80th anniversary SE of The Jazz Singer due this year
- 35th anniversary SE of Deliverance due this year
- more HD-DVD and Blu-ray announcements coming soon
- Warner is in active negotiations to release the Golden Harvest titles and "should have good news soon." This is HUGE for Hong Kong film fans!
- New Clint Eastwood discs possibly announced next year

Lots of other news is in the chat transcript.

[Dusty Chalk]

It seems like an annual ritual, but Warner does plan to get the long-overdue special edition of Blade Runner out "before the holiday season." Their reps said that this would include a "final cut" of the movie, along with previous versions (including the now-maligned theatrical cut, which has been unavailable on home video for years). I'll believe it when I see it, but it looks like a definitive DVD version of this classic will finally come out this year.

I'm with you on the optical veracity verification, but if it does, I'll say it now -- it's about time!

[Gerald Cooperberg]

It seems like an annual ritual, but Warner does plan to get the long-overdue special edition of Blade Runner out "before the holiday season." I'll believe it when I see it, but it looks like a definitive DVD version of this classic will finally come out this year.

I knew there was a reason that I never got around to buying this... it's always been a hole in my collection.

[Woochifer]

I'm with you on the optical veracity verification, but if it does, I'll say it now -- it's about time!

No kidding! The original plan was to have the 3-disc special edition out in time for the movie's 20th anniversary in 2002 (I recall that Blade Runner got a limited theatrical run that year). Then it got entangled in a bunch of legal snafus over ownership of the movie. Then it seemed set for release in 2003, and it's been tied up since. Here's a link to the whole tortured path that the DVD release has taken so far.

http://brmovie.com/BR_Special_Edition.htm

I knew there was a reason that I never got around to buying this... it's always been a hole in my collection.

The "director's cut" DVD has been available for years, but just about anyone who periodically looks up DVD review sites knows that a special edition has been in the works. Plus, I hear that the existing DVD release is not very well done.

A special edition DVD that includes a "final cut" should be interesting because Ridley Scott does not consider the 1992 "director's cut" to be the definitive version of Blade Runner, though it is much closer to his original vision than the heavily reedited 1982 theatrical release. (There is also a workprint version of Blade Runner [basically Ridley Scott's original rough cut of the film] that got a very limited theatrical release in 1991 and led to the 1992 wide release of the so-called "director's cut")

[Smokey]

Warner also indicated that they are (finally) working on a special edition of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, but did not give an estimated release date. This title remains a movie-only edition that came out with Warner's earliest DVD releases, which typically had no anamorphic enhancement and used the lower 384k bitrate DD soundtracks.

I been looking for this title for over a year in my local DVD outlets (even Walmart’s bargain bin ) and had no luck. And I am kind of glad since new version probably will have better video/sound and didn’t waste money on the earlier DVD version.

New Clint Eastwood discs is also a welcome news. I hope they redo Dirt Harry and Every Which Way.....DVD series as video/sound of current DVD versions on the market is pathetic.

[Gerald Cooperberg]

The "director's cut" DVD has been available for years, but just about anyone who periodically looks up DVD review sites knows that a special edition has been in the works. Plus, I hear that the existing DVD release is not very well done.

Yah, but it is one of those awful double-sided discs that get trashed the moment that you take them out of the case. Worst idea ever.

-Coop

[Dusty Chalk]

The original DVD of Blade Runner had a lot do with why I stayed away from DVD for as long as I did -- it looked awful. A friend of mine recently forced me to rewatch the opening sequence again, and with his line doubler (a multi-thousand dollar Faroudja pro job), it didn't look anywhere near as bad as I remember. Also, it's been remastered recently (2006), so I did actually just buy it, but I'll probably still get the SE when it comes out. I'm one of those few people who prefers the movie with the voice-over. I actually think the studio was right, just this once. I know a lot of people will disagree with me, but you have the benefit of already having seen the movie. Can you imagine seeing the director's cut for the first time? You wouldn't have any idea what's going on.

[topspeed]

Interesting. I just caught Blade Runner on UHD this past weekend. It was the first time in years I've seen that flick and it reminded me how prescient it was. 'Course, all my kids cared about was, "Hey, Han Solo is in this!"