List of 4K film transfers on Blu-ray shot on film (non-digitally shot)

[cms382]

How many films from the 90s (well really through 2002, the "90s look" didn't really phase out until after then) have modern transfers? It seems like that's the era you're most likely to run into a re-used DVD-era master.

Going by the OP, it's only

Sleepless In Seattle TT (Sony) ?
Philadelphia TT (Sony) ?
Men In Black 4K (Sony)
Godzilla 4K (Sony)
Spider-Man 4K (Sony)

Romeo + Juliet (Fox)
Titanic (Fox)
The Thin Red Line Criterion (Fox)
Fight Club (Fox)
Moulin Rouge! (Fox)

Schindler's List (Universal)
Being John Malkovich Criterion (Universal)

Saving Private Ryan (Paramount)
Minority Report (Paramount)

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by cms382

How many films from the 90s (well really through 2002, the "90s look" didn't really phase out until after then) have modern transfers? It seems like that's the era you're most likely to run into a re-used DVD-era master.

That is a very cogent observation. It's like every film made between 1988 and 2004 is mired with an obsolete transfer. Those films aren't old enough to be treated like classic properties but aren't new enough to have had nice digital intermediates struck for them.

In terms of picture quality on BD, it's a great black hole.

[AgentOrange]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

That is a very cogent observation. It's like every film made between 1988 and 2004 is mired with an obsolete transfer. Those films aren't old enough to be treated like classic properties but aren't new enough to have had nice digital intermediates struck for them.

In terms of picture quality on BD, it's a great black hole.

I don't get the significance of 1988 in your range 1988-2004. It's not like the early 1980's films have a great track-record on blu-ray either.

Previous decades might have a better track-record in terms of quality, but that's because the further back you go, studios can't even be bothered bringing those films to blu-ray at all!

[cms382]

That may be true, but the frequency of top tier PQ from that era seems to be far lower than any before or since. Especially given the popularity of a lot of those movies for modern audiences.

It's almost as if consumers have been subconsciously trained to avoid Blu-rays from the VHS/DVD era, with studios doing almost nothing to change their perception.

[theprestige85]

Originally Posted by cms382

How many films from the 90s (well really through 2002, the "90s look" didn't really phase out until after then) have modern transfers? It seems like that's the era you're most likely to run into a re-used DVD-era master.

Going by the OP, it's only

Sleepless In Seattle TT (Sony) ?
Philadelphia TT (Sony) ?
Men In Black 4K (Sony)
Godzilla 4K (Sony)
Spider-Man 4K (Sony)

Romeo + Juliet (Fox)
Titanic (Fox)
The Thin Red Line Criterion (Fox)
Fight Club (Fox)
Moulin Rouge! (Fox)

Schindler's List (Universal)
Being John Malkovich Criterion (Universal)

Saving Private Ryan (Paramount)
Minority Report (Paramount)

Hmm, that's interesting. Yeah, not too sure why theres a lack of love for 90's era filmmaking.

I think that Clark Kent is onto something when he says that they fall somewhere between old and new for the distributors releasing them. This is a shame because the 90's were similar to the 70's terms of it still having the attributes of the golden era of Hollywood but also having a strong wave of independent and worldwide cinema too.

[theprestige85]

By the way cms, you have a very eclectic taste in cinema. Interesting collection of blu rays.

[L'armée des ombres]

But there is also the lack of info.
Studios like WB are very very reluctant to release any info on titles.

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by AgentOrange

I don't get the significance of 1988 in your range 1988-2004. It's not like the early 1980's films have a great track-record on blu-ray either.

Previous decades might have a better track-record in terms of quality, but that's because the further back you go, studios can't even be bothered bringing those films to blu-ray at all!

I was thinking of hit films from the 1980s and movies like Ghostbusters, Terminator, RoboCop, Total Recall, and Predator have all received new film transfers, some multiple times already in the Hi-Def era. You can pick any of the latter years after 1986 or 1987 for when the black hole period begins. Even big box office films from the 1990s get saddled with obsolete film transfers on Blu-ray, whereas the studios seem much more willingly to grant totally new transfers to movies of the 1980s.

[HeavyHitter]

I think it just comes down to sales. I would speculate, as a whole, the 'classic' catalog titles from the 70s and 80s will outsell something from the 90s and forward. Hence, more effort is put into those titles.

[cms382]

Was Chicago 4K? That would be a black hole era PQ standout for sure.

[Bluyoda]

I don't think the visual effects in Men In Black were rendered in 4K at the time.
Does anyone have both editions, and if so, do you see an improvement also concerning the VFX?

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by Bluyoda

I don't think the visual effects in Men In Black were rendered in 4K at the time.
Does anyone have both editions, and if so, do you see an improvement also concerning the VFX?

They're not 4K but they are rendered out to film.

[The Rider]

Originally Posted by cms382

How many films from the 90s (well really through 2002, the "90s look" didn't really phase out until after then) have modern transfers? It seems like that's the era you're most likely to run into a re-used DVD-era master.

Going by the OP, it's only

Sleepless In Seattle TT (Sony) ?
Philadelphia TT (Sony) ?
Men In Black 4K (Sony)
Godzilla 4K (Sony)
Spider-Man 4K (Sony)

Romeo + Juliet (Fox)
Titanic (Fox)
The Thin Red Line Criterion (Fox)
Fight Club (Fox)
Moulin Rouge! (Fox)

Schindler's List (Universal)
Being John Malkovich Criterion (Universal)

Saving Private Ryan (Paramount)
Minority Report (Paramount)

You forgot:

Forrest Gump (Paramount)

David Finchers Seven (Warner)

The Abyss (Fox)

True Lies (Fox)

Jurassic Park 3D (Universal), by the way with the start of the new film its time for a new 2D blu-ray with the new 4K transfer and the new soundmix.

And on Braveheart, I read somewhere, they make the scan at the Spirit 4K.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by The Rider

You forgot:

Forrest Gump (Paramount)

David Finchers Seven (Warner)

The Abyss (Fox)

True Lies (Fox)

Jurassic Park 3D (Universal), by the way with the start of the new film its time for a new 2D blu-ray with the new 4K transfer and the new soundmix.

And on Braveheart, I read somewhere, they make the scan at the Spirit 4K.

Every 90's Disney CAPS film, minus (sadly) The Rescuers Down Under.

[The Rider]

Thanks, I forgot this.

To the E-Film DIs, they use 4K scans, what are with this films?

-Wolfman
-Hellboy the golden Army
-AVP
-Kingdom of Heaven
-Spider-Man 3

[cms382]

Originally Posted by The Rider

You forgot:

Forrest Gump (Paramount)

David Finchers Seven (Warner)

The Abyss (Fox)

True Lies (Fox)

Jurassic Park 3D (Universal), by the way with the start of the new film its time for a new 2D blu-ray with the new 4K transfer and the new soundmix.

And on Braveheart, I read somewhere, they make the scan at the Spirit 4K.

You made my heart skip thinking that I missed the release of Abyss and True Lies. Oh I think I missed Catch Me If You Can too. Either way, those are all from big name directors.

And yeah, JP deserves a proper release.

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Every 90's Disney CAPS film, minus (sadly) The Rescuers Down Under.

I wouldn't really put those in the same category as this thread even if they were struck to a film negative at some point in the process.

[Bluyoda]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

They're not 4K but they are rendered out to film.

Yes, I am aware of that, but do they look any better or worse because of it?

[singhcr]

Originally Posted by Bluyoda

Yes, I am aware of that, but do they look any better or worse because of it?

They should look better because they would have to stand up to 35mm projection, at the least.

Look at the first Toy Story. The CG had to be printed to film, so the models had to be of a sufficient resolution to hold up to being projected on a huge screen.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by cms382

You made my heart skip thinking that I missed the release of Abyss and True Lies. Oh I think I missed Catch Me If You Can too. Either way, those are all from big name directors.

And yeah, JP deserves a proper release.


I wouldn't really put those in the same category as this thread even if they were struck to a film negative at some point in the process.

Disney's been doing 4k scans of their classic films for a while, and yeah -- the 90's films were struck to a film negative, from which the release prints were derived.

[AgentOrange]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

I was thinking of hit films from the 1980s and movies like Ghostbusters, Terminator, RoboCop, Total Recall, and Predator have all received new film transfers, some multiple times already in the Hi-Def era. You can pick any of the latter years after 1986 or 1987 for when the black hole period begins. Even big box office films from the 1990s get saddled with obsolete film transfers on Blu-ray, whereas the studios seem much more willingly to grant totally new transfers to movies of the 1980s.

I think that's mostly coincidental. Lets not forget that Total Recall and Robocop were by the same director, who likely played a large role in "fixing" them for new blu-ray releases (compared to their original, terrible blu-rays). Those releases were also timed to release with movies in theaters, when interest would be high. Predator "upgrade" is nonexistant, that one still needs a proper 4K mastered release without tampering.

There have also been re-issues of 1990's films like Stargate, Fifth Element, Gladiator, Fargo(4K scan), etc. We supposedly have a 4K scan of Rain Man (1988) in the pipeline. So I think the appetite is about the same to "reissue" films whether before or after 1988. Also I can think of quite a few blu-rays from after 1988 that received exceptional transfers on first release (Schindler's List, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, City Slickers, Titanic, Pulp Fiction, The Patriot, etc etc etc... there's many of them. Plus Sony did a handful of "mastered in 4K" re-releases that clearly were modern transfers (Glory 4K, Spiderman 4K, Godzilla 4K, etc).

Yeah, there's some key franchises from 1990's that still have shameful blu-rays considering their box office - but maybe those will be big enough to get on an actual 4K format if it ever happens (i.e. Goodfellas, Die Hard, Mission Impossible, etc). Even if catalogue market in 4K is extremely small, I think franchises like these will make it so long as there is any type of physical format at all. I don't really think there has been a great push to upgrade older blu-rays, the sample size of "upgrades" is really too small since it's really just a handful of films out of hundreds that are getting upgrades.