UHD Sony needs your input for "Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection Volume 2" (1 Viewer)

[darkrock17]

It Happened One Night
His Girl Friday
From Here To Eternity
Guess Who's Coming To Dinner

These 4 are truly Columbia Classics and would be perfect for vol. 2

 

[Rob W]

Not sure how much demand there is for Guess Who's Coming To Dinner ? - Twilight Time's blu-ray was limited to 3,000 units and stayed in print forever.

 

[Ejanss]

Tri-Star made the movie, which is a Columbia Pictures sub company.

And that was back when Sony owned the Henson catalogue, just after making "Labyrinth", so naturally had to make a new project for ownership.
Just like the German company that bought them and had to make "Muppets From Space", until Disney bought them and had to make the '11 movie.

This seems more a way to get extra addresses for their mailing list.

No, Sony's one of the new "disk-curious" studios getting their toe back in the water after the ruins of the 10's Digital Wars.

But then, they have firsthand experience, since they're the ones that bought back "Christine" and "Fright Night" after discovering how, ahem, popular they were on Twilight Time.
Now, like most studios that spent eight years ignoring the Physical audience and literally pretending they didn't exist anymore, they know there's a disk underground out there online somewhere that would buy significant numbers of disks, they just don't know who or where...

 

[Brian Husar]

I would like Lord Jim to finally be released or rereleased. 4K would be great because of 65mm, as well as McKenna’s Gold. I do hope Taxi Driver as well. But I have to agree. I hope the ones in Vol 1 get individual releases and I hope whatever is in Vol 2 does as well.

 

[Dave H]

Wish I could choose more than three choices for the second selection.

 

[david hare]

An uninspiring list to choose from
But here goes
Q 1 Pal Joely
Q 2 Pal Joey A Matter of Life and Death (but why not Tales of Hoffmann or Red Shoes or Black Narcissus instead?) and Born Yesterday.

Anthony Sony has no rights to the other P&Ps, they are kjostly with Canal. AMOLAD is their only title, and its handled by Park Circus everywhere else.

Having just splashed out on a 75 inch Panasonic 2020 model screen which carries both DV and HDR10, while I see why Mr Harris doesn’t think a lot of older stuff is best left to BluRay. Once again I don’t agree, especially with such striking restorations from Sony of Only Angels have Wings, Lady from SHanghai and It Happened One Night. If only for the fact of DV itself and the degree it lifts the quaity of even Academy B&W material. The biggest lift in image for me is the dynamic range and pop in color and white levels.

 

[jayembee]

I could've sworn I posted my choices, but apparently not. Anyway, for Question 1, I answered The Lady from Shanghai. For Question 2, I answered The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Caine Mutiny, and The City of Lost Children.

Not a fan of this type of boxed set. Allow people to purchase the films they desire.

Some boxed sets make sense, ie Criterion’s Bergman.

But to release a boxed set in order to release a boxed set?

Don’t think so. Unless it has the most famous Columbia film - ever!

In my comments, I told them that there seems to be an upside to a set like this, as it encourages people to spend the money on films they might not buy individually. But at the same time, they probably lost sales by forcing people to do that. In the long run, releasing them individually is the wiser choice.

Anyway, I agree that while some box sets make sense -- based on star, director, or series -- sets of otherwise unrelated films tend to be annoying. At least with the V1 set, the films came individually packaged so I could shelve them appropriately, and use the outer box as decor.

Volume 1 sold out quickly. Was it limited to 2000 copies? Here's hoping Columbia releases the films from Volume 1 individually in time for the holiday season. Not sure why they are not out already .

V1 was announced as limited to 8000 sets in the US. I've no idea what limitations there were on the non-US editions.

 

[PMF]

Wish I could choose more than three choices for the second selection.

Agreed. A 6-film set is worthy of a 6-film vote.

Also, I must admit, I’d be fully into having Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, just to see that 4K oomph of Kate and her killer red scarf.

BTW, I wonder why we didn’t get a second-round chance at 1776, Das Boot and Bye, Bye Birdie?

 

[Worth]

...BTW, how come we didn’t get a second round chance at 1776, Das Boot and Bye, Bye Birdie?

Maybe they've already decided to release those. I'd be surprised if at least Das Boot didnt come out.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

I'd buy an Archers 4k set in a flash as long as it included Red Shoes, Tales of Hoffmann and Black Narcissus. I don't know why someone else in this thread suggested no-one would be interested in Archers movies even though they'd already been mentioned as wanted.

 

[jayembee]

I'd buy an Archers 4k set in a flash as long as it included Red Shoes, Tales of Hoffmann and Black Narcissus. I don't know why someone else in this thread suggested no-one would be interested in Archers movies even though they'd already been mentioned as wanted.

I'm not sure where you got that idea. mBen's post quoted below I think was commenting on the fact that no one (I guess, I'd have to read all the posts up to that point to be sure) claimed to have checked off A Matter of Life and Death as a title they wanted on UHD from Sony. RAH (also quoted below) commented on why the Archers films aren't (in his opinion) good candidates for an upgrade to UHD.

I don't think there's been any comment by anyone saying that no one would be interested in the Archers films. Aside from RAH's reasons, one has to consider the quality of the elements available. As such, the existing Blu-rays may well be as good as they'll ever be.

Choosing from Sony's list is challenging in that one has to consider whether to choose films one wants in 4K, regardless of any value added (to 2K BD) or not, or films that would be better served by the format. I love The Archers' films, and I collect whichever ones I can. But when it comes to choosing whether to upgrade it to UHD, I'd rather Sony spend their resources on a film that would be better served by the upgrade. In his review of the 4K of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, RAH explained why he didn't think it was worth the upgrade. And he was right. It wasn't a significant-enough improvement over Sony's Blu-ray. I still love the film, and the disc, but yeah, it wasn't all that much better.

So I guess no one wants an Archer production in 4k.

Two problems with that.

First, I'm not certain how much would be gained in 4k.

Second, it shouldn't be part of a super-duper, look at us, history of Columbia set.

It was a UK production, distributed here as Stairway to Heaven, as I recall, by Universal. I believe Columbia acquired the rights as part of a potential remake deal.

I'm not averse to any Archers production coming out in 4k, just not as an odd dangling participle to a set.

 

[rdf8585]

Very disappointing. Sony hasn't brought The Three Stooges into the Blu-Ray age and seem to have no interest in bringing them into the 4K age either. Huge miss.

 

[Bryan^H]

I think that the Fright Night on that list is the 2011 film with Colin Farrell, although I'm not positive. That's the only reason I didn't pick it.

I didn't realize that, and I loathe that film, so I messed up.

Not a fan of this type of boxed set. Allow people to purchase the films they desire.

Well said. I feel the same which is the reason I have not picked up the first set.

 

[cineMANIAC]

I would vote for the Night of the Living Dead remake but I'd rather a boutique label handle it. Sony doesn't have a clue how to please those of us who enjoy things like collectible packaging and presentation. Besides, fans of the film don't want the same old theatrical cut. I've read numerous articles over the years that discuss a gorier version of the film that was butchered (no pun intended) by the MPAA to receive an R rating. Whether or not this footage still exists is up another story but I can almost guarantee this would sell like hotcakes if they dug up any of that footage and assembled a new cut. The film deserves a full reappraisal IMO.

As for the next potential commemorative set, I only have one request: Stop with the collections and release the films on UHD individually. Most folks don't have $100-150 lying around to spend on fancy sets and most folks only want one or two of the films in these sets. Personally, I was only interested in Lawrence of Arabia from that first collection. It's all about choices. You change that dynamic, you risk not selling a product that people actually want but can't afford

 

[Ejanss]

Very disappointing. Sony hasn't brought The Three Stooges into the Blu-Ray age and seem to have no interest in bringing them into the 4K age either. Huge miss.

I guess they don't classify shorts as "Films".

Sony is searching for their House-Breakout film, and we've been seeing a lot of the Curly Joe-era features back on streaming. I, for one, have no interest in bringing "The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze" into the 4K age. (Yet.)

 

[Keith Cobby]

My top picks from the lists would be Pal Joey and Cover Girl, but i doubt we would see much benefit of a 4k release. I can't see many large format films on the list, which are the only ones worth releasing in UHD. Also, what are sales likely to be. I see 4k mainly for well photographed contemporary films and a handful of older, popular classics. This isn't likely to include Gilda or The Lady from Shanghai, however much i may like them!

 

[TheSteig]

I was surprised to see Panic Room not on the list
Fright Night is for the original one, and worthy/popular enough to have a UHD release. Same for the 1990 Night of the Living Dead

They should do a poll for what titles people want on Blu-ray too. They have plenty that havent seen the light of day in HD.

Now that I think about it Id LOVE the Heisei and Millennium Godzilla series on UHD if it was done right and could benefit from the format. I dont know if Sony still has the rights to the films.

 

[Old Bones]

Sadly us Canuckleheads can't vote just like the first time

 

[Rob W]

Sadly us Canuckleheads can't vote just like the first time

Sure we can. Just use an American zip code like 90210.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

Sure we can. Just use an American zip code like 90210.

That's the zip code I used as well. I hope they don't catch on.