US versions vs Canadian versions = the same?

[substance]

I noticed some titles are available in Canada but not yet in the US. Importing movies from Canada is easy and cheap enough(from amazon.ca). I have browsed titles available here in the us and canada. they seemed to be identical(cover art, video, audio, specials etc...) in most cases if not all(I have seen a few different cover arts) Is it safe to assume movies already available in Canada will be released here later with the same disc?

[threefiftyrocket]

prob not, there's a studio that releases them in Canada that release all films open matte, so many of their releases are not OAR. A lot of the features have been stripped out of the releases as well. Many times, they are not the same release

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by substance

I noticed some titles are available in Canada but not yet in the US. Importing movies from Canada is easy and cheap enough(from amazon.ca). I have browsed titles available here in the us and canada. they seemed to be identical(cover art, video, audio, specials etc...) in most cases if not all(I have seen a few different cover arts) Is it safe to assume movies already available in Canada will be released here later with the same disc?

Don't assume that. A lot of the Canadian BDs are released by Alliance which has the rights for Canada example: Sin City. In the US the right would be owned by someone else and the release would be different. Be aware that a lot of the Alliance BD releases have no extra features, since those rights are usually owned by US studios.

[steve_dave]

Originally Posted by threefiftyrocket

prob not, there's a studio that releases them in Canada that release all films open matte, so many of their releases are not OAR. A lot of the features have been stripped out of the releases as well. Many times, they are not the same release

I have no idea where get this bias from but...

Paramount, Sony, Fox, Warner, and Lionsgate titles are the same releases in the US and Canada. Lionsgate titles are labled as Maple Pictures.

Now Alliance is one of the major distributors in Canada and holds the distribution rights to Universal, New Line, Disney, and Weinstein titles. To help boost their product line, Alliance will release titles exclusively in Canada.

These exclusives are produced with the lowest cost video elements avaialble to Alliance. So they may use HDTV broacast masters but Alliance does put in the effort to create DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks for nearly all of their exclusive releases.

Also, Alliance does have a few titles with extras:

Outlander (not listed on artwork), A Hard Day's Night, and the re-release of Sin City (which is a localized release of the US BD).

Further, Alliance did repress Outlander with a new 1080p transfer at the original aspect ratio.

Even further, if Disney, Universal, or Warner/New Line released a BD in the US before Alliance then the Canadian BD is the same as the US but with bilingual artwork.

It just comes down to checking the product to make sure. You can use AxelMusic.com who posts the backcovers for both the US and Canadian releases to compare them.

[threefiftyrocket]

Originally Posted by steve_dave

I have no idea where get this bias from but...

Paramount, Sony, Fox, Warner, and Lionsgate titles are the same releases in the US and Canada. Lionsgate titles are labled as Maple Pictures.

Universal has a dsitributuon deal with Alliance who distributes the same disc in Canada as the US release but with localized artwork.

Now Alliance is one of the major distributors in Canada and holds the distribution rights to not only Universal (as mentioned earlier) but New Line, Disney, and Weinstein titles. To help boost their product line, Alliance will release titles exclusively in Canada.

These exclusives are produced with the lowest cost video elements avaialble to Alliance. So they may use HDTV broacast masters but Alliance does put in the effort to create DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks for nearly all of their exclusive releases.

Also, Alliance does have a few titles with extras:

Outlander (not listed on artwork), A Hard Day's Night, and the re-release of Sin City (which is a localized release of the US BD).

Further, Alliance did repress Outlander with a new 1080p transfer at the original aspect ratio.

It just comes down to checking the product to make sure. You can use AxelMusic.com who posts the backcovers for both the US and Canadian releases to compare them.

I apologize, I do not live in Canada, nor do I import titles from Canada, I was only going by what I've been told. I misspoke, I should have said "What I have been told." The bias comes from films such as Equilibrium because, from what I've heard, does not have OAR. So it wasn an overgeneralization on my part, and for that, I am sorry.

Also, look at the post before mine, Blu Titan said kinda what I was looking to say.

[steve_dave]

Sorry threefiftyrocket, if I singled you out.

I think Alliance gets a lot more grief on the internet than they deserve. If it were not for Alliance, we would not have Fanboys, Outlander, or The Others on Blu-ray Disc.

Yes, they have faults:

Fanboys has none of the BD extras.

Outlander has two pressings.

The Others is 1080i.

This is a way to boost the Canadian Blu-ray Disc market just as Warner's Double Feature discs are an initiative to boost the US BD market.. In a way, Alliance also pushes the US distributors to release a Blu-ray Disc themselves.