According to retailer information, Universal Studios Home Entertainment is preparing a deluge of catalog Blu-ray releases, with no fewer than 15 very diverse movies, prominently including classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird and Hitchcock's The Birds, two John Landis comedies, a George Lucas non-scifi movie and several titles previously released on the defunct HD DVD.
WOW! A lot of really solid ones here. I seriously can't wait for "Eternal Sunshine Of A Spotless Mind," which is one of my absolute favorites. Also "To Kill A Mockingbird", "The Birds", "The Blues Brothers" as well!!!! The only thing I am worried about is the fact that Universal is really spotty with some of their catalog releases. Those movies are too great to not spend a solid amount of quality time doing the transfer. I HOPE (!!!!) they don't rush these absolute classics like it seems they slightly did with the "Psycho" BD video quality based on the recent review. Eeeeee! My heart will be broken.
This is GREAT news, there are alot of good titles there. I do have to say I am disappointed that not one Universal musical is listed. Thoroughly Modern Millie, Flower Drum Song, Sweet Charity, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Xanadu, The Pirates of Penzance, all great musicals, c'mon Universal!!!!
Wait, why isn't Criterion releasing Dazed and Confused? I thought that's their film. I wish it was, they always do the best quality films.....Picture and Audio I mean
Wow - great list. Hard to believe RAY & A BEAUTIFUL MIND haven't been released yet (??? What's up with that Universal?!) - AMERICAN GRAFFITI: Classic classic flick, hope they do a Worthy restoration/transfer of Both Audio & Video. DAZED & CONFUSED: Awesomely funny movie, same for FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH (hopefully has a Cameron Crowe Commentary), THE BLUES BROTHERS: Nothing needs to be said for this hilarious farce of a comedic film With some Excellent Musical performances to match! OUT OF SIGHT: George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez - Excellent underrated movie, great performances by the entire cast.
Missed that one "mishal" - ANIMAL HOUSE is also an all-time classic & hilarious flick. Not that it ever Looked that great to begin with, so I'm not expecting Much from the transfer. Hopefully they'll port over all the extras on the recent release of the DVD a couple years back (commentary's, all kinds of extras/special features).
Thoroughly Modern Millie, Flower Drum Song, Sweet Charity, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Xanadu, The Pirates of Penzance, all great musicals, c'mon Universal!!!!
Must support the sentiment here. For such a diverse display of movie genre not one of Universal's great legacy of Broadway musicals brought to the big screen has been announced. Still, The Wiz arrived unannounced a few months ago and that was a welcome surprise. Musicals are important too and what great transfers they make to Blu-Ray, too. Hopefully a few musicals may find their way (unannounced?) in the near future.
Thank you Universal for your continuing commitment to restore the movie classics to Blu-Ray.
I just came on here a few days ago looking for a review of A Beautiful Mind because I had assumed it was already released. I've got the 2 disc dvd so I'll wait for the release before upgrading but I'm looking forward to it. I hope To Kill a Mockingbird looks good.
so two of Belushi's best get announced but what about 1941?, oh well in time I guess, Blues Brothers & Animal House day 1 purchases. Out of Sight another plus overall a great mix of classics old and new.
I'll have to wait and see what kind of extras are available. When I first started buying blu-rays, I just assumed that the discs would contain any special features that had previously been released on DVD. Why would the studio not take complete advantage of the format, right? Found out the hard way I was wrong. I won't upgrade a disc unless it has the same or more content than a disc I already own.
I do hope that Animal House, Blues Brothers, and Fast Times fit that bill.
Universal needs a DVD for Blu-ray service like Warner Brothers. Everytime I see waves of catalog titles being developed for release on blu-ray, I suddenly see funds in my bank account diminishing. Day one purchases for me!!
there are some good movies on this list, but nothing that will make me want to go out day one and pick it up. Maybe I am being overly critical, but Universal has a large catalogue of AMAZING movies, they have not even touched. I know they will in time, but I want them now. That being said there are at least 4 I will be getting, maybe 5.
Now I love UNIVERSAL's new releases, in fact they are my favorite, however the catalog titles are more than a little suspect. However i'm excited for the release of THE BLUES BROTHERS and pray they give it the proper treatment.
Now where's BLUES BROTHERS 2000? I want that too!!
I am definitely in for To Kill A Mockingbird, The Birds, and American Graffiti. (Sigh, is A.G. no longer that well-known that it is now referred to as "a George Lucas non-scifi film"???)
Nice! That's 8 HD-DVDs and 6 DVDs I can replace. Although I'll keep my HD-DVD copy of Billy Madison since it's autographed by Norm MacDonald.
A few requests, Universal. Do NOT let George Lucas tinker with American Graffiti anymore. The CGI sunset is enough. Include the original theatrical version of The Blues Brothers like you did on the 25th Anniversary DVD. And include a lossless mono track for The Birds like you did for the Blu-ray of Psycho.
That's nice Universal. Now, how about releasing "Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide To The Orchestra". For those who do not know who he is, go to billbailey.co.uk. This is of course a Great Briton release by Universal.
Not to bring a "dog turd" to the lawn party, but Universal has been inconsistent with the quality of their catalog releases. Even a title the stature of Psycho is reported to be a little short of what we hope for. The titles already released on HD DVD will probably get recycled masters which will look mediocre on BD.
Some excellent titles on this list, but no blind buys here. Let Universal show us the quality first before we spend. There have been too many great films released on poor discs.
Edit...I just looked at the pre-order price on these. They're all $18.99. What does that tell you about how much effort is being put into any of them? They'll be masters used for HD TV and nothing better. Some of the titles may turn out OK, but some will undoubtedly be poor.
I, as most of you are thrilled with the announcement of these. But beware, with Universal releasing such a big amount at once, I'm hoping the transfers will be what we're looking for and not just transfers of sub-par masters. Studios do this all the time and release a movie to see how the numbers come back, then if it is satisfactory to what they wanted, then they go back and re-master it with a new HD negative. Almost every time a new blu comes out, I'm checking for the review first or renting it before buying. As I said before I will not waste my money for thier greed and I know alot of people feel just like I do.
Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, Dazed & Confused, and Fast Times at Ridgemount High will be mine, oh Yes they will be mind. Phoebe Cates in 1080p HD Oh Yeah!!!
"Not to bring a "dog turd" to the lawn party, but Universal has been inconsistent with the quality of their catalog releases. Even a title the stature of Psycho is reported to be a little short of what we hope for."
I'm not gonna defend Universal's track record. They ARE inconsistent to say the least. But Psycho looks and sounds(at least the mono track which has the original sound FX) terrific on Blu-ray. Universal did a great job with that title.
As for the others they've announced, most of those looked pretty good on HD-DVD. Out of Sight, Ray, and Eternal Sunshine had solid transfers. Happy Gilmore looked decent. The rest were only marginally better than the DVDs, but keep in mind that they're not exactly big budget movies.
well great news maybe.
retailer info can turn out to be totally wrong as we all know.
not that some of these titles won't come out; I'm sure some will.
but any one title could end up being delayed, etc. etc.
so I'll wait for the official announcement.
I just pre-ordered National Lampoon's Animal House, The Birds, American Graffiti, and Babe. I'll have to watch The Blues Brothers and Fast Times at Ridgemont High again on DVD today to see if I like them enough to order the Blu-rays. I hope to see many more Hitchcock films on Blu-ray. I already have North by Northwest and Psycho is in shipment. I think my Babe DVD is non-anamorphic, so the Blu-ray upgrade will be great. It's really disgusting to watch a non-anamorphic DVD on my 60" HDTV.
Good stuff! Instant buys: The Birds, Eternal Sunshine, To Kill a Mockingbird
Definite buys when the price is right: Babe, Blues Brothers, Dazed, Fast Times
Nice list, for sure.
"Blue Crush"!?? Does any here give a shit? What an odd title. I would wait for reviews for most of these those. Universal has screwed us before in the past with the PQ on older films.
Where's "Babe: Pig in the City"? How about past Universal HD-DVD titles that have still not been released on blu-ray like "Born on the 4th of July", "Midnight Run", "Mulholland Drive", "What Dreams May Come", "Being John Malkovich", "Scent of a Woman", "Monty Python's Meaning of Life" and others? Hurry up, Universal!!!
WOW! Lots of great picks there! I'll definitely be getting 'A Beautiful Mind', 'Billy Madison', 'The Birds', 'Blue Crush', 'Dazed and Confused', 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind', 'Happy Gilmore' and 'Out of Sight'.
I've been waiting forever for Dazed and confused. I hope they give it a proper transfer and not just duplicate the HDDVD Version. I'll probably pick up Happy Gilmore too.
There's a lot of good bonus material in the Criterion of Dazed and Confused, but I sadly doubt much of any will make it to the Blu release as I guess Criterion owns those features
oh man this is awesome, i was hoping to see Big Lebowski here, but its all good. For sure getting, dazed and confused, The Blues Brothers, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Happy Gilmore & Animal House
Next to 'LOA', AMERICAN GRAFITTI is my most hoped-for catalog title ....with its great soundtrack, I'm also hoping that it gets a lossless bump up in audio -- sigh, dreams DO come true (!)
I'm so GLAD " Ray " is going to be on blu !
Finally we get to see Ray Charles the way we're supposed to see him!
Also Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is favorite movie of mine.
Great list! really really great news!
Universal's BD picture quality record is so spotty that I'll wait for the reviews before buying. The quality and quantity just hasn't been in their releases. Along with Paramount I suspect that these two studios really want BD to flop to justify their sticking with HD DVD to almost the bitter end. There's an ulterior motive at work here.
"The Birds" which is certainly not one of Hitchcock's best, is only the second Hitchcock film to be released on Blu-Ray. Where are "Psycho," "Vertigo," "Rear Window," among many others.
Also I believe that John Boorman's "Excalibur" was released by Universal on HD-DVD, so there is a hi-def master somewhere. Hopefully this will come out on Blu-Ray.
THE BIRDS,BILLY MADISON,HAPPY GILMORE,FAST TIMES,AMERICAN GRAFFITI,ANIMAL HOUSE,
BABE,and the BLUES BROTHERS they will be all mine!!! I bet we will see most of these next year.
Although there are some good titles coming none are worth owning to me.I want Jurassic Park already.Something tells me it will be sometime in 2011 if we are lucky.
This is fantastic news! American Graffiti, The Birds , The Blues Brothers , Dazed and Confused, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , Fast Times at Ridgemont High , Happy Gilmore , National Lampoon's Animal House, and To Kill a Mockingbird are all definite buys for me.
This is quite good news, as Universal, when it comes to releasing its catalog titles on Blu, has, overall, been decidedly behind the curve (not a good thing), especially compared to studios like Warner, Fox and even Paramount. Criterion is doing a wonderful job with its Blu-ray discs of a small handful of Universal titles and I'm sure more Universal titles will soon appear on Criterion Blu (Brazil, anyone?).
From this list, the titles I'm most interested in are To Kill a Mockingbird, The Birds (the second BD upgrade from my Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection SDVD box set, after Psycho), Ray (also an upgrade from SDVD), A Beautiful Mind, American Graffiti and National Lampoon's Animal House. Down the line I may also buy Babe, The Blues Brothers and, with a low price, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Like someone else said, I just hope the a.v. quality is the best it can be, especially with the most important titles in this list (e.g., Mockingbird, Birds, Mind and Graffiti), as this studio can sometimes be a little inconsistent (e.g., Out of Africa). And I hope the supplemental material is relatively extensive and of high quality and at least matches those on the best SDVD versions. I find Universal to frequently be rather stingy with it's supplements on BD.
Finally, I want more. More catalog titles from Universal. How about The Pianist; Talk to Me; Play Misty for Me; E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial; Schindler's List; Death Becomes Her; The River Wild; The Deer Hunter (a US version); the original film Frankenstein; the original film Dracula; Harvey; Earthquake; Airport; Day of the Jackal; The Sting; Jaws; Duel; Vertigo; The Man Who Knew Too Much (1950s version); Rear Window; The Trouble with Harry. And I also want editions of certain existing BD titles that are missing supplements that the studio included on earlier SDVD or HD-DVD formats: King Kong (the most recent version); The Thing and others.
Universal really has its work cut out for it in this area.
Universal is not going to bend over backwards and create new encodes of the discs it already released on HD DVD. It was the number one studio supporter of the now defunct format and it really is taking its sweet time releasing the previous HD DVD titles on Blu-ray. I'm sure they took a financial shellacking when HD DVD went under...
In for A Beautiful Mind. But where's The Sting & The Deer Hunter (both on HD DVD, and surely Universal can fix StudioCanal's "stretched-PAL" soundtrack on its TDH BD)? Or Schindler's List?
Awesome!!! 'To Kill A Mockingbird' and Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds'!!!!! DAY ONE!!! Hopefully the transfers will be up to par with Warner Brothers' catalog titles. Now we need MORE Alfred Hitchcock, Halloween II & III, Jaws 1-4, Psycho II-IV, etc.
This is awesome news!!!!...Fast Times, Blues Brothers, Dazed and Confused (finally!!!!), Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison and Animal House will all be bought for sure!!!
YA WOOHOO YIPPEE!!!!!! I'm so happy to finally see Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison are hitting blu-ray!!! by far Adam Sandler's 2 greatest films!! There are a lot of good titles up there but the 2 that jump out at me the most are those 2!!
Hopefully John Landis got a chance to include the missing recordings from Blues Brothers that just missed the DVD collector's release or even better find that footage!?!
OMG another Hitchcock Movie! I want "THE BIRDS", "OUT OF SIGHT" (Jennifer Lopez's best work ever), "BABE", "Eternal Sunshine", "Ray", "Animal House" !!!!!!!
American Graffiti: Excellent. Let's just hope that George doesn't add CGI or make changes.
The Blues Brothers: 'Nuff said.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High: Phoebe Cates topless and Jennifer Jason Leigh nude in HD. I'm there.
Animal House: Hells yeah.
Here's to hoping for proper restorations and transfers!
There's quite a few good titles here, I'll be picking up a few of them that I don't already have on DVD and, as long as the transfer is good, I'll be replacing my DVD copy of A Beautiful Mind.
....with its great soundtrack, I'm also hoping that it gets a lossless bump up in audio 
