What "A-List" Titles Remain to Be Released?

[24framesasecond]

With the forthcoming releases of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the Star Wars Saga, Citizen Kane, and Ben-Hur, Blu-Ray over the next few months will continue an extraordinary run of "A-List" titles that have been released on the format in recent months ("A-List" defined here as major films widely recognized as among the very best ever made). West Side Story is said to be headed Blu-ray's way in late fall, and Lawrence of Arabia almost certainly will be released in 2012 (the film's 50th anniversary), raising the question, what remains?

Here are a few Hollywood greats that come to mind:

Vertigo
Rear Window
Singin' in the Rain
Schindler's List
Sunset Blvd.
Chinatown
The Grapes of Wrath
Jaws
On the Waterfront
E.T.: The Extraterrestrial

Among the foreign classics:

The Rules of the Game
Grand Illusion
Rashomon
La Dolce Vita
Children of Paradise
The Passion of Joan of Arc
L'Avventura
The Apu Trilogy
Sansho the Bailiff
Ugetsu
Ikiru

Some titles that have been released in Region-Free Foreign or Region B Locked editions but not in North America:

Bicycle Thieves
Tokyo Story
City Lights
The Gold Rush
Andrei Rublev (185-minute version only--not the full 205-minute version that Criterion has released on DVD)

I'd be interested in your thoughts on what other truly great films still await the Blu-ray treatment.

[Slip Snake]

bad boys 2 and the shield

[HD Goofnut]

Empire of the Sun (Yes, it's a Spielberg title and Christian Bale's first film)
The Indy Trilogy
Munich
Jurassic Park Trilogy

Those are the first ones that come to mind.

[Rblu-Dblu]

Originally Posted by Slip Snake

bad boys 2 and the shield

It's already been stated that The Shield will not get a bluray release due to the way it was filmed. The gritty/dirty look that it was filmed with would look more exaggerated on bluray.

[s2mikey]

I was thinking the same thing the other day - If blu-ray were to cease disc production after LOTR and Star Wars are released, would I be content with whats out there? Hnoestly, its pretty damn close, for me anyways. We all have our own personal lists of favorites or guilty pleasures but as far as A-list titles are concerned, meaning a large majority of the blu-ray users would want them, I could see:

- Lawrence of Arabia
- Jaws
- Indiana Jones(only Raiders for me but others may want them all)
- Jurrasic Park(borderline title)
- E.T.

Thats really all I can think of as far as A list titles go. The problem with these threads is that the replies will be filled with obscure stuff that are NOT truly A-list titles with mass appeal. You'll get a bunch of films listed that hardly anyone has heard of. Thats fine.... but they arent A-list titles.

[Slip Snake]

Originally Posted by Rblu-Dblu

It's already been stated that The Shield will not get a bluray release due to the way it was filmed. The gritty/dirty look that it was filmed with would look more exaggerated on bluray.

last time anything said by Shawn Ryan or Sony was back in 2009 there has been many movies filmed in 16mm released on BD especially by Sony since then.

so it will come to BD trust me

[ozzsoad]

Catalog Films I'm waiting for:

Pulp Fiction
Jackie Brown
Indiana Jones Trilogy
Lethal Weapon (box set proper transfers)
Jurassic Park
Schindler's List
Jaws
E.T.
Rushmore
The Royal Tenebaums
The Life Aquatic
Being John Malcovich
Adaptation
Waiting for Guffman
Best in Show
True Lies
The Abyss
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Ed Wood
The Big Lebowski
Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny
The Meaning of Life
Finding Nemo

Whether these are all considered A-list or not, I want them.

[Arkadin]

too many to list.

[s2mikey]

Originally Posted by Arkadin

too many to list.

What about A-list stuff though? Are there really that many?

Just curious...

[MarcelS1]

Shaft!

[aggienader08]

"A-list", hmm.

It's funny to me that you work up an "A-list" and not include the likes of the

Indiana Jones trilogy
the remaining 10 Bond films
Titanic
The Abyss
True Lies
The Big Lebowski
Finding Nemo
the other remaining 20 Disney classics
the remaining 50 or so other Best Picture winners.

etc.

Keep in mind that "A-list" is a term that is flagged on this site that will have your thread ending up in the "Wishlist" section of the forum, because isn't that truly what "A-list" means? a list of titles you want to see on blu-ray.

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

A-list titles are concerned, meaning a large majority of the blu-ray users would want them, I could see:

- Lawrence of Arabia
- Jaws
- Indiana Jones(only Raiders for me but others may want them all)
- Jurrasic Park(borderline title)
- E.T.

Thats really all I can think of as far as A list titles go. The problem with these threads is that the replies will be filled with obscure stuff that are NOT truly A-list titles with mass appeal. You'll get a bunch of films listed that hardly anyone has heard of. Thats fine.... but they arent A-list titles.

Agreed. This is a case of "One man's A list is another man's Z list".

I will buy all on your list, but I can't see the current Blu demographic snatching up tons of copies of films like Laurence Of Arabia. In fact, there are articles talking about the disappointing sales of classic titles.

But in terms of A list (titles that will be in an overwhelming majority of collections) catalog titles, we are probably winding down, but there will be new releases down the road that might be must-have A list titles as well.

[Philly Q]

I don't know about "A-list" really, if by that we mean blockbusters then most of the big ones are probably already named above.

It may not turn out to be a big seller, but Lawrence of Arabia really has to be done right!

There are probably a number of titles released in 2007/2008 which could already do with an overhaul.

From a more personal point of view I'm more interested in going a bit further back into the archives. There are loads of great Criterion titles still to be "Blu'd" (The Spirit of the Beehive would be first on my list). Most of Hitchcock's films have never been particularly well represented on home video. Lots of Fellini, Welles, Coens, Argento, Bava, a bit of Tati. Loads of Bogart and Cagney, classic film noir, classic westerns. Many Korean, Hong Kong and Japanese movies still unavailable even in their home territories (as far as I know). The Universal monster movies. It's neverending really....

I'd also like to see some of the smaller distributors like Synapse and Blue Underground release more of their back-catlogues on Blu-ray.

Oh, and let's have some proper releases of Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness!

[Arkadin]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

What about A-list stuff though? Are there really that many?

Just curious...

I probably have a broader list for sure.
as far as the absolute most well known classics US studio+ foreign language I'd say there are still a good number though.
it's really about deciding whether a person defines A list as just very well known popular titles or embraces lesser known seminal classics.
I mean to me stuff like "Sabrina" and "My Darling Clementine" are A list, but you probably were thinking of more modern A list titles.
I think a lot of people would be satisfied if the imdb 250 and the Afi 100 greatest American films all got bd releases, but while that would be a great start, there are still way more A list titles than just those imo.