by lhb412 » Fri Jan 18, 2019 10:33 pm
With the avalanche of catalog releases happening in the past year or two it's as good a time as any to revisit my wish list for blu-ray releases.
A lot of stuff I want but I know is coming. Criterion will slowly release their Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd films, between Shout Factory and Kino all the Universal genre films will be released, Shout Factory is also slowly putting out the Val Lewton and unreleased Hammer films as well.
Of course, Criterion's Godzilla set is the big thing that we're all waiting for.
- Toho/Tsuburaya/Daiei toku stuff. Anything as yet unreleased and, if I may be so bold, some stuff that has been released could do with improved new releases. (Thinking about those new 4K masters they made for the Gamera trilogy in Japan).
- The Thin Man series. I'd like 'em as a box set, but if the Warner Archive wants to drip feed me by making me buy them all individually, sure. There are several other William Powell and Myrna Loy films that I love that are all great candidates for Warner Archive releases. I Love You Again and Libelled Lady come to mind.
- The original Japanese Ring and Grudge films. I know Arrow Video is putting out a Ring set in the UK, but apparently rights issues in the US are holding up a domestic release. Hopefully that gets sorted out. There's apparently a new American remake of The Grudge later this year, so maybe there'll be movement because of that?
- '80s through early '90s John Woo and Jackie Chan movies. Lot of them are unavailable, and even the ones that had been previously released are such terrible quality that all of them need some serious TLC. I know Criterion will be releasing both Police Story movies in a few months, so hopefully that's a sign of things to come!
- All of the Marx Brothers movies currently owned by Warner Brothers need to be released.
- Come to think of it, the catalog of Laurel & Hardy films also needs HD releases.
- Athough classic Hollywood genre films are some of the most popular catalog titles and thus are getting a lot of attention there are still a few that are nowhere on the horizon, presumably because of rights issues? The George Pal version of War of the Worlds as well as Invaders from Mars come to mine. The original Dawn of the Dead is also held up by issues with the rights holder