First Blood / Rambo: First Blood Part II / Rambo III 4K UHDs (1982-1988)

[DR Herbert West]

Originally Posted by vwnut13

The captions on First Blood are infuriating.

One of the worst.

[Brian81]

Originally Posted by DR Herbert West

One of the worst.

First Blood SDH translation:

Originally Posted by DR Herbert West

So very bad.

[vwnut13]

Originally Posted by Brian81

First Blood SDH translation:

More like:

Originally Posted by DR Herbert West

Not my favorite.

[Hardback247]

I'm assuming the new set will be a Best Buy-exclusive, because Lionsgate always puts out their best physical media content through Best Buy.

[gregmasciola]

I just popped in my 4K of First Blood the other day. While as far as clarity goes it's way better than the original Blu-ray, the black levels are terrible. The scene where Rambo is talking to Trautman over the radio is the worst offender. Almost all of the red glow from the fire is gone. It really takes me out of the movie.

[Hardback247]

I wonder if Last Blood will get any new extras for the upcoming set, like a commentary track?

[Jeremiah2849]

Originally Posted by Cliff

Ugh... Fine. This will be the only post I make and there will be no follow up because I no longer post/participate at Blu-ray.com. I was banned twice by some anonymous mod after refusing to play nice with people who clearly like to cause trouble. I don't need the aggravation and have spent the better part of two years deleting my posting history.

BUT... I'm the one working on the upcoming LG Rambo set and I'm the source of both Geoff's and PeterTHX's info. Here's everything I can tell you at this point in time and, again, there will be no follow up.

All five films with both the theatrical and extended cuts of Rambo and Last Blood (Last Blood will be the final cut that appeared on Amazon).

New Dolby Vision grading on 1-3 (Rambo III is particularly in need of correction as it's colors are not only off, but it's highlights are terribly clipped. We're fixing that.)

Rambo III's subtitles are also being corrected and, while they'll be player generated, they're designed to match the font and timing of the optical theatrical subs. One thing to note about Rambo III's subs is that a lot of what people THOUGHT was subtitled originally, WASN'T. This has led to a lot of confusion about various releases missing them and one of the Blu-ray releases actually ADDING them when they weren't there theatrically. We're fixing all that and if it was subtitled theatrically... it'll be subtitled on the UHD.

1-3 have all been given brand new Dolby Atmos mixes. Part II, in particular, has sounded terrible for 20 years. We found the original 70mm 6-track mag for Part II and that was the basis for the new Atmos mix. But each of the first three movies will include: Theatrical Stereo PCM, TrueHD 5.1 (the 2002 mixes for First Blood and Rambo III and the unaltered 70mm 6-track for Rambo II) and the new Atmos mixes. Rambo: First Blood Part II sounds INCREDIBLE now... both it's original 6 track mix and the new Atmos. It's night and day and probably the thing I'm most excited about with this set.

We're looking to include EVERYTHING that was ever created for any of the various Rambo releases (globally) in the special features department. We're also creating a few new bits and one of those is dedicated to the original Drew Struzan art.

This release has been my baby for over a year and I've been dedicated to making sure this gets produced from the perspective of a fan and the Ghostbusters set that Sony put out earlier this year has been the model for this all along. Packaging is likely to be more of a gatefold style, but we've also secured the original lobby cards for the first three films and I'm hoping to talk to the studio into also including preprinted case inserts that use all the "style A" artwork so you could migrate the set to traditional cases if desired.

Everyone is completely committed to making this the very best Rambo set ever released which is why we missed the First Blood 40th (which was the plan) to give ourselves enough time to get all the details right.


So... that's it and that's everything that'll be said for now.

Thank you for the update and for the hard work you're putting into this release. Stallone is my all-time favorite actor and Rambo my favorite film franchise, so this is great news, and saved me from purchasing the 4K discs that have already been released.

I just wish we could somehow get Rambo and the Force of Freedom included. I imagine all the episodes could be fit onto 2 discs, or maybe even one.

[Marv Inc.]

All I want for a new set is Stallone to do commentary's for Rambo II & III

[Rocklandsboy]

I can't wait for set to emerge - it promises to be fantastic! I'm delighted to hear that the Russian subs on Rambo III are being handled by somebody who actually knows the movie! Now let's just hope Goldsmith's scores for the original trilogy are mixed well :-)

One interesting thought: I wonder how Last Blood will sound. I found the Australian BD of the extended cut sounded significantly better (DTS 7.1?) than the IMHO flat-sounding Atmos mix on the US 4K theatrical cut.

The latter was particularly disappointing compared to the reference quality sound quality of the previous movie.

So, yeah, curious to know which mix we'll get on this "definitive" version of the director's cut.

[Darren75]

So there's a new ultimate rambo boxset in the works?

I just spent £165 on the zavvi first blood boxset.

[Sky_Captain]

Did it come with lube?

[Dr. T]

Originally Posted by Darren75

So there's a new ultimate rambo boxset in the works?

I just spent £165 on the zavvi first blood boxset.

There are three absolutes: death, taxes, and another Rambo box set.

[kenkraly2004]

Originally Posted by Cliff

Ugh... Fine. This will be the only post I make and there will be no follow up because I no longer post/participate at Blu-ray.com. I was banned twice by some anonymous mod after refusing to play nice with people who clearly like to cause trouble. I don't need the aggravation and have spent the better part of two years deleting my posting history.

BUT... I'm the one working on the upcoming LG Rambo set and I'm the source of both Geoff's and PeterTHX's info. Here's everything I can tell you at this point in time and, again, there will be no follow up.

All five films with both the theatrical and extended cuts of Rambo and Last Blood (Last Blood will be the final cut that appeared on Amazon).

New Dolby Vision grading on 1-3 (Rambo III is particularly in need of correction as it's colors are not only off, but it's highlights are terribly clipped. We're fixing that.)

Rambo III's subtitles are also being corrected and, while they'll be player generated, they're designed to match the font and timing of the optical theatrical subs. One thing to note about Rambo III's subs is that a lot of what people THOUGHT was subtitled originally, WASN'T. This has led to a lot of confusion about various releases missing them and one of the Blu-ray releases actually ADDING them when they weren't there theatrically. We're fixing all that and if it was subtitled theatrically... it'll be subtitled on the UHD.

1-3 have all been given brand new Dolby Atmos mixes. Part II, in particular, has sounded terrible for 20 years. We found the original 70mm 6-track mag for Part II and that was the basis for the new Atmos mix. But each of the first three movies will include: Theatrical Stereo PCM, TrueHD 5.1 (the 2002 mixes for First Blood and Rambo III and the unaltered 70mm 6-track for Rambo II) and the new Atmos mixes. Rambo: First Blood Part II sounds INCREDIBLE now... both it's original 6 track mix and the new Atmos. It's night and day and probably the thing I'm most excited about with this set.

We're looking to include EVERYTHING that was ever created for any of the various Rambo releases (globally) in the special features department. We're also creating a few new bits and one of those is dedicated to the original Drew Struzan art.

This release has been my baby for over a year and I've been dedicated to making sure this gets produced from the perspective of a fan and the Ghostbusters set that Sony put out earlier this year has been the model for this all along. Packaging is likely to be more of a gatefold style, but we've also secured the original lobby cards for the first three films and I'm hoping to talk to the studio into also including preprinted case inserts that use all the "style A" artwork so you could migrate the set to traditional cases if desired.

Everyone is completely committed to making this the very best Rambo set ever released which is why we missed the First Blood 40th (which was the plan) to give ourselves enough time to get all the details right.


So... that's it and that's everything that'll be said for now.

That's great news Cliff. I've held off on getting the Rambo films on 4K UHD Blu-Ray so far because of prior issues with the US 4K UHD Blu-Rays even held off on the US Best Buy Steelbook set and the UK Steelbooks on 1-3 and the 4K's of Rambo 4 and Last Blood. Hopefully this future release will be the best ever and can't wait until it comes out in a few years.

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by kenkraly2004

That's great news Cliff. I've held off on getting the Rambo films on 4K UHD Blu-Ray so far because of prior issues with the US 4K UHD Blu-Rays even held off on the US Best Buy Steelbook set and the UK Steelbooks on 1-3 and the 4K's of Rambo 4 and Last Blood. Hopefully this future release will be the best ever and can't wait until it comes out in a few years.

"In a few years"?

[Muyfa666]

Originally Posted by Darren75

So there's a new ultimate rambo boxset in the works?

I just spent £165 on the zavvi first blood boxset.

And to add insult to injury, the UK 4K release of Rambo III is cut...

[Darren75]

Originally Posted by Muyfa666

And to add insult to injury, the UK 4K release of Rambo III is cut...

Thankfully I didn't buy that. Before christmas I bought the regular 4k's of First Blood and First Blood part 2 for myself.

Watched them with my daughter and she decided she loves Stallone and wanted the big Zavvi First Blood boxset for christmas but it had sold out a long time ago.

I managed to find a sealed one on ebay £165.

So I Actually have spent closer to £210 on Rambo only to find out this new boxset is on the way.

Buying a 4K movie shouldn't involve university degree levels of research.

[Muyfa666]

Originally Posted by Darren75

Thankfully I didn't buy that. Before christmas I bought the regular 4k's of First Blood and First Blood part 2 for myself.

Watched them with my daughter and she decided she loves Stallone and wanted the big Zavvi First Blood boxset for christmas but it had sold out a long time ago.

I managed to find a sealed one on ebay £165.

So I Actually have spent closer to £210 on Rambo only to find out this new boxset is on the way.

Buying a 4K movie shouldn't involve university degree levels of research.

Ouch.

Then again, it's not like the existing releases are total botch jobs, we just started to expect better from the format.

I got the nordic single releases myself, as the nordic subtitles are much better than the english ones. Also got the SC encodes, and uncut part III.

Will buy the new box in a heartbeat thou.

[mfan1986]

Can someone please confirm that the 4K restoration premiered on BluRay circa 2017, and that it preceded the 4K transfer on UHD in 2018? I have the BluRay BoxSet that was released around 2017, and it features a newer transfer than the earlier BluRay releases. I assume the BluRay that comes with the UHD on the 2018 release is the same transfer of the first 3 movies as the newer circa-2017 transfer?

[batman2000]

I’m sorry but I have to ask how much longer until we get an official announcement for this new set.

[Filmmaker]

Originally Posted by paulboland

UK 40th Anniversary SteelBook

Note Germany anf France SteelBooks not affected those releases have the Extras

StudioCanal UK contacted me this morning

Dear Paul,

Many thanks for your email.
We are aware there was a production error on the Rambo 40th Anniversary Steelbook and that the 2 new extras were not included on the UHD disc:

A LONG ROAD: 40 YEARS OF FIRST BLOOD

THE HUNTER AND THE HUNTED: SCORING FIRST BLOOD



We will be implementing a disc replacement service early 2023.

Please be assured as soon as we have full details we will get back to you directly.



Kindest regards,

Studiocanal

February is wrapping up and not a peep about this yet. Of course, that may be a blessing in disguise since it’s very questionable how those of us who imported this to the U.S. from Zavvi will be handled in light of their (hopefully temporary) shipping embargo outside of the UK.