"Lawrence" Blu-ray: is there a target release date yet? (1 Viewer)

[lukejosephchung]

Dear Mr. Harris: I've been a fan of your restoration projects ever since I saw this wonderful cinematic masterpiece at the now-defunct Northpoint Theater here in San Francisco in January of 1989. I've bought every home theater incarnation of this work since then going back to Columbia and Criterion's Laserdisc releases! Has Sony/Columbia given you any target date for the Blu-ray release of "Lawrence" yet? If not, is there at least a possibility or probability of it coming out in calendar year 2009? Thank you for your time and attention!

 

[Heinz W]

It's been a few months since this was posted, and still no news.

Any insight Mr. Harris?

 

[Heinz W]

Guess not.

The silence surrounding this title is deafening. I'm sure Sony wants to do this release the right way, and that it will be magnificent when it finally does come out but how about at least a hint of when to expect it? Please don't tell me they're waiting for 2012, the film's 50th anniversary.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Please don't tell me they're waiting for 2012, the film's 50th anniversary.

Why not? It would make sense from a marketing standpoint, and the installed base of BD players will be that much larger in two years. It is still the case the most titles get the bulk of their sales immediately after their release, so it makes sense to schedule things so as to maximize free publicity (which anniversaries help generate) and sales. It would be nice to have Lawrence tomorrow, but it won't kill me to wait if doing so helps get us a better product and - more importantly - better sales that will encourage the studios to release more classics going forward. OTOH, I'm glad that WB went with 70th anniversary releases for The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind rather than waiting for the 75th in 2014.

Regards,

Joe