KING KONG VS. GODZILLA and KING KONG ESCAPES on BD April 1

[Russzilla]

[Russzilla]

[EricDent]

That's cool that they are re-releasing, but with the previous version being pretty good (on DVD), can't really see a purchase.
Of course if it had the Japanese version on them, then I would get them.

[MouthForWar]

I'll probably get both of these since I only own the US versions on old VHS tapes.

[Pkmatrix]

I'm a little sad (though not at all surprised) by the lack of Japanese versions, but that won't stop me from me from buying these! Soon...soon I will have a fully HD collection!

[Jinzo Ningen]

But did Universal actually do ANYTHING to make these better than the DVDs they released a few years back or did they just port them over to Blu-ray format? I've sen plenty of movies on Blu-ray that look no better than their DVD cousins, sadly. If these weren't re-mastered then they probably won't look that much better than just popping the DVD version into a Blu-ray anyhow. The upconversion looks just fine on my Sony Blu player. Can't see investing in a double dip unless they went through a quality upgrade, like DaiMajin was compared to the old ADV subs-only set that came out before the Blu-rays. Just wondering...

[kiryugoji04]

[klen7]

[Zack Metoyer]

I'm not sure if there's time to change this, but I used Universal's contact form in the hopes that it generates an e-mail that can be forwarded, as I requested, to their home video department.



Basically, I explained the situation, as well as the unanimous demand for the original Japanese versions on social media. I tried to explain what a positive difference it could make in sales, which I believe to be quite true in the case of King Kong vs. Godzilla.

King Kong Escapes is probably not worth their effort, but they don't need to know that.

[Dr Kain]

[jellydonut25]

Dude, it's not up for debate. It's a stone-cold FACT that there actually are BDs out there that don't look as good as their DVD counterparts.

Companies like EchoBridge are notorious for putting out BDs of that quality.

[lhb412]

Blu-Ray offers far superior quality than DVD. When a BD is inferior to a DVD of the same title it's because someone goofed up (Echo bridge using, what? VHS copies of films as a source qualifies as a 'goof').

A few years ago Universal had a pretty bad habit of applying DNR for their BD titles, but they've been doing a lot better since then. The new Blu-Rays will almost certainly look great.

[Joseph Goodman]

Even if these films were remastered, it should be kept in mind that whatever material Universal has on them would be dupes made in the 60's, one or two generations away from the camera negative, at best. They're going to be softer and grainier than if they were remastered from the camera negative, or newly printed interpositives on today's duplication stock. They looked that way in American theaters, and will look that way on even the best scanned master for Blu-ray... it's just the nature of the film elements. So, temper your expectations accordingly... they should still beat a Toho transfer, though.

[TylerPreston20]

[H-Man]

[Benjamin Haines]

[GaryT]

[king_ghidorah]

These are two of my favorite movies of all time. Of course I'm going to pick them up.

And yes, it'd be nice to have the Japanese version of KK vs. G but having grown up with the English version, I can say that I'm content just to have A version on blu ray. The Japanese version is better, but to me, the English version is serviceable if for nothing else than nostalgia's sake.

[Dr Kain]

What is stopping Universal from doing the Jp versions is the motivation to care. They don't give a crap about the genre, they just see a quick cash grab since a new movie is coming out. I wish they would just sub license the movie to a company that would actually give a "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!".

[king_ghidorah]

Kain,

From what I understand it'd cost some money to get the prints of the standard Japanese version for Toho. Most people buying this film are doing so because they grew up with the American version. Again, the Japanese version would be nice but lets be thankful for what we're getting.

It annoys me how quickly Godzilla fans are to shout out terms like "lazy, apathetic, stupid" when it comes to US companies releasing classic tokusatsu on dvd and blu ray...but there's almost always a cost-benefit margin that these studios have to account for. These studios aren't evil, or lazy, they're buisnesses..the people that work for these companies depend on the releases making money for their livelyhood. Do you want your Japanese version so much that the release becomes impractical, and too costly, to make any money which means some poor saps could be out of a job (Media Blasters) and/or that we don't get any future releases...as imperfect as they are.

Again, be thankful for what you're getting and while I can't say you shouldn't want more...just try and understand other points of view on this.


I personally don't expect to get Criterion level releases with all of these films. I'm more than happy just to have these films in glorious pseudo-HD.

[Zack Metoyer]

Their analysts have variables at their disposal. Number of DVDs sold in the past, cost of acquiring materials for the Japanese version, etc. But what they don't know is how much increased revenue they will actually gain because of adding in the Japanese version. It's in their formulas, plugged in as X, some arbitrary guess. If this is ever going to happen, they need to be convinced their guess for X is incorrect.

For Godzilla, I wonder what the difference in sales was between Classic Media's single language Blu-ray and Criterion's bilingual set was? While not a direct comparison, I'm assuming it was SUBSTANTIAL.

This movie may be may be mediocre in our collective minds, but it's legendary in pop culture. It's the snobby film buff crowd that they won't get here unless they include the Japanese version. And I feel like those people outnumber actual Godzilla fans by a significant margin.

[klen7]

is anyone else getting all these bluray releases just because bluray cases take less space on the shelf?

[king_ghidorah]

[Jinzo Ningen]

[TylerPreston20]