Are You Disappointed With UHD Release Selections? (1 Viewer)

[Alan Tully]

Well a year since the original post & hardly even a trickle of the good stuff, they don't seem to be thinking about movie fans (that's movies 30s-90s) & they're the ones with the money to buy this stuff. The younger people I know are quite happy to stream films on their phone. I wonder what the plan is, I mean they know best, don't they.

 

[Dick]

Well, every damn time a new format is introduced, the number of classic films being released to it is further narrowed. As awful as VHS looks to us now, there are literally thousand of movies available on video cassette that never saw the light of day on the next format, DVD. Then we got Blu-ray, but, again, with many hundreds of catalog titles never being upgraded. Now, 4K? I doubt that more than about 10% of the classics we love will ever be given a UHD upgrade. That will save collectors a lot of money, but an awful lot of cinema masterpieces are being more and more marginalized on video. Personally, Blu-ray works just fine for me, and I do own a 4K-capable LG OLED. I am being incredibly selective when purchasing these discs (I'm sick and tired of spending money on new editions of films I've paid for three, four, five times already), and am happy with the upgrades of the first two HARRY POTTER films, but am a bit ambivalent about more recent films.

I doubt that, in my remaining lifetime, I will accrue even 100 4K Blu-rays. I will, however, buy any and all classic films in 3D.

 

[Worth]

Well a year since the original post & hardly even a trickle of the good stuff, they don't seem to be thinking about movie fans (that's movies 30s-90s) & they're the ones with the money to buy this stuff. The younger people I know are quite happy to stream films on their phone. I wonder what the plan is, I mean they know best, don't they.

Honestly, how many copies of vintage titles could they realistically hope to sell? We know most classic blu-ray titles struggle to sell more than 3000 units. So what could 4K do? Maybe 1000 at best?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Honestly, how many copies of vintage titles could they realistically hope to sell? We know most classic blu-ray titles struggle to sell more than 3000 units. So what could 4K do? Maybe 1000 at best?

Right, if you're only interested in classic film then 4K/UHD is probably a format & expense you can forego and the industry knows it. They probably realizes they can't sell enough units for most of these film titles to make enough profit so why bother except for a select few titles.

 

[jcroy]

Honestly, how many copies of vintage titles could they realistically hope to sell? We know most classic blu-ray titles struggle to sell more than 3000 units. So what could 4K do? Maybe 1000 at best?

One could ask whether 1000 copies of a particular title on 4Kbluray, is enough to at break even for somebody like Twilight Time, Criterion, or Kino Lorber.

 

[Alan Tully]

Honestly, how many copies of vintage titles could they realistically hope to sell? We know most classic blu-ray titles struggle to sell more than 3000 units. So what could 4K do? Maybe 1000 at best?

Well if all this stuff is just for the latest superhero films, fine, I can totally ignore it & carry on as I am.

 

[jcroy]

Well if all this stuff is just for the latest superhero films, fine, I can totally ignore it & carry on as I am.

(This may sound really silly).

I keep a mental list of current 4Kbluray titles, largely as a guide of what movies NOT to buy.

Nowadays I'm willing to wait 2+ years for now-current superhero movies to eventually show up on basic cable channels. (Same story with now-current lousy action movies).

 

[RICK BOND]

The only 4K UHD titles I have so far are ...Bridge on the River Kwai, King Kong (2005) and Planet Earth 2. Where's Lawrence of Arabia ? Some Classics, Epics, Star Wars original trilogy ?? Some Bond movies ?? Lord of the Rings, Hobbit ??

 

[David Wilkins]

It's the same song and dance, and the same general response every time there's a new format.

 

[Jason_V]

Something non-actiony is coming: Daddy's Home 2 (and the first)...

Avengers or Star Wars or Alien is going to sell TV's, players and more discs. Citizen Kane won't.

 

[Edwin-S]

There is nothing surprising in the way content is being rolled out on 4K. It is following the same pattern as for any of the preceding formats. The studios start out with under performers and outright dogs because they know early adopters are going to be desperate for content. They use a new format to recoup some of the money they lost on their box office flops and under performers.

Then it is newest release films as those are the freshest in people's memories. Next is older but very well-known films. As the format ages out, you start seeing more and more older titles some well-known and some not. It is starting to happen on Blu-ray HD discs right now.

Rinse and repeat.

 

[Keith Cobby]

For me blu-ray has been the biggie, mainly good AV and when projected, a feeling that you are in a cinema (a small one!). UHD is incremental and there are few titles I want. Saying that I do plan to buy a new OLED and player in the next three months. I prefer watching films through a projector and it will be some time before I replace my Optoma.

Doubtful that many titles from my favoured period (1940/50s) will be released because, as others have said, they won't sell in quantity on UHD.

 

[TheSteig]

I think we will see The Wizard of Oz, King Kong 1933 and Gone with the Wind in 4K / UHD at some point . probably Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies as well..

 

[Lord Dalek]

Doubtful that King Kong makes it onto UHD because of the middling quality of the surviving elements.

In fact I still doubt B&W in general will ever have a place on the new format.

 

[Worth]

Casablanca will probably be released at some point. Also, Criterion will probably start releasing 4K discs sooner or later, which should boost the number of black & white titles.