Alien trilogy coming to blu-ray?!... (1 Viewer)

BD Horror News - Original 'Alien' Trilogy Coming to Blu-ray

We learned of some very interesting news that has me jumping for joy. We discovered that Fox Home Entertainment is currently working on brand new Blu-ray releases for Alien, Aliens and Alien 3. Each film is said to be released in a new special edition set with brand new special features made just for these releases! The only concern I have is Fox's lackluster Blu-ray releases, where the quality looks like a simple up-convert as opposed to a brand new transfer (see Predator, Commando, Donnie Darko and numerous others). No release date has been set, but I'm praying we see this before year's end.

Anything you can tell us Charlie?!

Update... now all 4 films!

The Digital Bits Rumor Mill - Current Posts

Okay, Alien fans... you'll be pleased with this. You may have read at the excellent Bloody Disgusting website today that the first three films in the Alien series are rumored for release later this year on Blu-ray by 20th Century Fox. We've actually hinted previously here that you might see them on BD in 2009. Now, however, we CAN confirm that our industry sources have informed us that Fox's current plans call for not just the first three films, but the ENTIRE Alien Quadrilogy set to be ported over to Blu-ray Disc for a late 2009 release. This would include all four films in the series - the complete set will all extras - and likely new material created exclusively for the Blu-ray release as well. We understand that the work is still on-going and (as always with these Rumor Mill posts) all of this is subject to change. But with a little luck, the Quad set should make its debut in 1080p before the year is out.

Stay tuned!

I'm really curious as to what these new features are!

Let's hope Fox doesn't use DNR (especially on Aliens). And what was wrong with Donnie Darko exactly? It looked soft, but that was inherent to the print, wasn't it?

Fox does not use DNR. This has been stated by many insiders.

Patton and Longest Day are the ONLY exceptions.

I would expect Aliens to exhibit a LOT of grain though.

Well, I read several complaints so I assumed there were more examples. It's good that there aren't any more films botched then, isn't it?
And James Cameron said that he was surprised how grainy Aliens looked. If it was too grainy or if he misremembered, I don't know. It should look better, anyhow.

I remember on the commentary track James Cameron saying something about the film stock Kodak was producing at the time and how it was more grainy than usual.

Awesome news

Aliens will probably need to be redone since Fox's existing transfer is 10 years old now. Otherwise these should look superb.

Maybe beg cameron to release the burke cocoon scene? Either include it in the film itself, or seperate as a deleted scene perhaps?

I wouldnt count on it ending up in the film due to the fact that Camerons argument against it was that it was far too soon for Burke to be talking to Ripley.

One thing that's bothered me a bit concering "Alien" that it would be nice to see fixed is that the Theatrical Cut isn't truly the Theatrical Cut in the sense the "base" version in the Director's Cut. This means that all the new color timing for the DC (especially the more golden color in the parts of the ship that Brett travels through to find Jones) The Theatrical Cut loses the original opening 20th Century Fox logo and fanfare for a later version. I would also guess some of the digital touch ups that occured for the DC are also present in the Theatrical Cut. It's not a huge deal, but I usually find myself watching the older 20th Anniversary disc rather than the Quadrilogy version.

It would also be nice to restore the original Ridley Scott commentary that appeared on the older disc, which was very good. And if legal issues permit the isolated score and production audio tracks that appeared on the old disc as well.

You know its funny that despite people complain about how the Fox fanfare is wrong on the current Alien disc when if you think about it, it actually isn't. The one that is used now is the official fanfare used for films made from 1976 to about 1990, so basically you're asking to revert from one intentional anachronism to another.

Try wrapping your noodle around that.

Well, technically you might be right (and I did wonder why the original Fox Fanfare and logo seemed to be an old version) But I still would like to see the logo and fanfare that originally appeared on the film in 1979 for the theatrical cut on a BD release.

This is also one of the reasons I occasionally put the old 20th anniversary DVD into the player. Both the commentary and the isolated, untampered version of Goldsmith's score are gems, and should be included on the high definiton set.

The biggest extra, which would instantly make me to rebuy Alien a THIRD time, would be to do a final sound mix on Alien, with the untampered Goldsmith score. I understand Ridley Scott's creative decisions, but every time I hear the complete score on CD, I cringe because there is SO much stuff made of genius NOT appering in the final score. I appreciate BOTH Scott and Goldsmith as great artists.

I think a tribute to the late Jerry Goldsmith would also be more than appropriate, since Alien is one of the best and most unique film scores ever made, done by one of the best film composers ever lived. Sadly, he is so underappreciated by the masses because he often made excellent scores to mediocre films, lacking the commercial fame of John Williams.

Enough rambling.

I second your comments especially since the Goldsmith isolated track makes Alien more chilling and creepy.

aliens was shown a few months ago in japan in hd and it was very grainy. can it be reduced? sure, if the use a master directly from the master. other then that, it looked pretty good and it suits the film. the set-design is all dirty and that's one of the things i love in aliens.

still looking forward to the blu-ray release.

Not unless DNR is applied (which is something of a nono here).

Agreed. As much as I love "Alien" it wouldn't have anywhere near the impact it has without that score.

The music and the visuals is what makes Alien an intense sensual experience. I think it's the main reason why this film has aged so well and is being considered a classic, despite, if you take a more honest look at it, having a b-movie script, which could have easily turned into a ridiculous horror flick.

Yep, and that is a point that pretty much everyone involved with the film has admitted. It's been refered to a "a haunted house movie in space" albeit one with an especially noteworthy scene.