Will Fox Release The Poseidon Adventure 1972 On Blu Ray (1 Viewer)

I am really suprised that Fox has not yet released The Poseidon Adventure 1972 on Blu-Ray. Last July, Fox released The Towering Inferno 1974 on Blu-Ray. The Towering Inferno was at the time the biggest disaster movie in terms of box office. However, in the last 15 years or so I have kind of thought that in today's culture, The Poseidon Adventure had surpassed the Towering Inferno in terms of cult status and popularity. What do others think about this?

Anyway, does anyone have any information about why Fox has not released The Poseidon Adventure on Blu Ray yet? Any information about any plans of Fox to release The Poseidon Adcenture on Blu-Ray is appreciated!


Thanks!


Robert

Apparently the six channel discreet audio master for this film has been lost which is why the last DVD had a 2.0 sound only. I think Fox is reluctant to release this on Blu-ray with a 2.0 soundtrack. They can always re-mix it but that would open up a whole new can of worms.


By the way I agree that this is a better film than the Towering Inferno.

Originally Posted by John Stockton

Apparently the six channel discreet audio master for this film has been lost which is why the last DVD had a 2.0 sound only. I think Fox is reluctant to release this on Blu-ray with a 2.0 soundtrack. They can always re-mix it but that would open up a whole new can of worms.

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Remixing might be a little too hard in and of itself. IIRC, the stereo tapes of John Williams score are missing as well.

Why hasn't 20th Century Fox released The Poseidon Adventure on Blu-Ray yet? I am suprised because The Poseidon Adventure is a cult favorite. While The Towering Inferno made more money, I thought The Poseidon Adventure had suparssed it in cult popularity the past few years. Fox has released The Towering Inferno on Blu-Ray, so where is The Poseidon Adventure? Also, the complete soundtrack in stereo was released by LaLa Land in 2010. Any information, news, etc. regarding The Poseidon Adventure being released on Blu-Ray is appreciated!


Thanks!


Robert

Originally Posted by MCCLOUD

Why hasn't 20th Century Fox released The Poseidon Adventure on Blu-Ray yet? I am suprised because The Poseidon Adventure is a cult favorite. While The Towering Inferno made more money, I thought The Poseidon Adventure had suparssed it in cult popularity the past few years. Fox has released The Towering Inferno on Blu-Ray, so where is The Poseidon Adventure? Also, the complete soundtrack in stereo was released by LaLa Land in 2010. Any information, news, etc. regarding The Poseidon Adventure being released on Blu-Ray is appreciated!


Thanks!


Robert

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The question is partly answered in the post above, only the 2.0 channel tracks for the film seem to survive.


As for the CD, it's not all true stereo, there was some discussion of this when the CD came out on the Film Score Monthly message board. While the album is stereo, most of the surviving masters were mono, and a faux stereo version was then created using modern technology, simply spreading out the sound, but there is no separation between instruments, etc, which would have resulted from a stereo original recording.

I really don't understand the part about the 2.0 and that preventing The Poseidon Adventure from being released on Blu-Ray. Aren't a lot of older movies released on Blu-Ray without the 5.1 sound? Any information helping me understand is appreciated! Thanks everyone!


God Bless!


Robert

^ 5.1 soundtracks are the norm for movies from the 1970's on Blu-ray but to the best of my knowledge, there's nothing that says that they couldn't release it with just a 2.0 soundtrack. However, Fox could be hesitant to do that since most people would probably expect at least a 5.1 soundtrack.

Originally Posted by TravisR

^ 5.1 soundtracks are the norm for movies from the 1970's on Blu-ray but to the best of my knowledge, there's nothing that says that they couldn't release it with just a 2.0 soundtrack. However, Fox could be hesitant to do that since most people would probably expect at least a 5.1 soundtrack.

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I think people really do expect 5.1, even on older films that never had it. I can't think of many classic films released on Blu with 2.0, even Psycho had that faux 5.1 mix created in the computer to satisfy modern consumers. Only WB seems to release their classics in original Mono (as well as Criterion, of course, but I'm talking about big studios, not specialty labels). The others seem to remix them or avoid releasing them so far, for fear of confusing the non-film buff audience.

For the record, the 2010 Lalaland soundtrack release is indeed in true stereo, from the original music recording done at Fox, and used in the film (it is not a rerecording of the score). The original stereo tracks had deteriorated and were unplayable until recently. As per the Lalaland website: "For this release, the 2” 24-track tape containing the original 35mm 6-track mag was transferred into Pro Tools, and restored and mixed with the advantages of another decade’s advance in sound processing technology."


The previous Film Score Monthly soundtrack was mostly in mono, taken from a mono back-up of the original.


This new version sold out VERY quickly but I was lucky enough to get a copy. It sounds great (although a couple of tracks sound like broad mono).


http://www.lalalandrecords.com/PoseidonAdventure.html



All that's missing now is a bluray release.


About the existing 2.0 track stereo version of the soundtrack (on special edition dvd), apparently it's an old mix-down from the now missing 6-track master, and had been done for home video some 20 years ago. It doesn't sound that bad, but a new 5.1 mix using the original master would sound much better...

When they do release this title on Blu-ray, I hope they re-attache the Fox logo. I believe for the past DVD and Laser releases they snipped it off where the film opens with the title. I remember seeing it on a VHS edition and of course remember it on the screen as the curtains opened (Curtains covering a screen and not ads). It was silent and did not have the typical Fox fanfare, which is why I remember it. I have missed it on the DVD releases.

Originally Posted by RCinOttawa

For the record, the 2010 Lalaland soundtrack release is indeed in true stereo, from the original music recording done at Fox, and used in the film (it is not a rerecording of the score). The original stereo tracks had deteriorated and were unplayable until recently. As per the Lalaland website: "For this release, the 2” 24-track tape containing the original 35mm 6-track mag was transferred into Pro Tools, and restored and mixed with the advantages of another decade’s advance in sound processing technology."


The previous Film Score Monthly soundtrack was mostly in mono, taken from a mono back-up of the original.

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I don't understand nearly enough of the technical aspects of this to really talk about it with confidence, but I was citing these people at the FSM message boards, who seem pretty sure there was some digital trickery involved in creating the stereo CD.


http://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?forumID=1&pageID=2&threadID=68236&archive=0


About 3/4 of the way down the page is a visual representation of the audio spread on certain tracks, showing how different they are.


Again, the hi-tech aspect of it all is miles beyond me, I just thought it might be a contributing reason that there's no Blu-Ray.

The Fox logo never appeared at the beginning of the film.

My guess, next year for the 40th Aniversary. Perhaps in a digi book.

Bradley, You may be right... It's currently in the process of being digitally restored. The negative has suffered a bit over the years from what I've learned & that will be a factor in it's eventual release. Damage to a negative can sometimes present it's problems even for the amazing digital tools we have today, & therefore prolong the restoration process. "Guns of Navarone" is another title I believe that faces this very situation, which is why the release date for that has been postponed. Rest assured, when "Poseidon" does appear, none of us will be disappointed & it will be worth the wait.

Next year is the 40th Anniversary, so if it's being restored now, then odds are 2012 it comes out.

I'd hope they're looking for a discrete four-track mix which is probably out there somewhere.

We're looking at this for next year, in time for the 40th Anniversary.

Originally Posted by Finn

We're looking at this for next year, in time for the 40th Anniversary.

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That's great news! Thank you for this update.








Crawdaddy

Thank you!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Finn We're looking at this for next year, in time for the 40th Anniversary.


20 years ago when films like "Gone With the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz" turned 50 - it was a great marketing gimmick.


Today It looks like every blu-ray catalog title has an "Anniversary Date" on the cover. It's almost ridiculous and it now means nothing. Really 35 years? Really 40 years? Really 25 Years? Really 17.5 years? Really? Really? I mean, Really