The Towering Inferno - Australian release?

[MainTitle]

Twentieth Century Fox has released this classic film on a Region-A coded Blu ray disc in the US. Warner Home Video (which owns the film's international distribution rights) has announced a slew of back catalogue product - including TTI - for November release in the UK. Let's hope it sees the light of day here in Australia!

As the very first co-production between two major motion picture studios, "The Towering Inferno" has a vast following and from all reports the picture and sound quality on the Region A disc are outstanding.

Unfortunately, we never got the 2-Disc Special Edition DVD released in 2005 (from which this new BD release is taken) due to the anomalies associated with the distribution rights to this property. The inferior 2001 DVD we do have has IMHO substandard picture quality and Dolby 2.0 Surround is all that is featured. This version is still available albeit only narrowly in stores like JB Hi-Fi.

I can't see that Warners will not release it in this country but stranger things have happened. At least if it doesn't come out here, then Aussie fans can import the UK version upon issue.

Just as an aside, I imported the US Region A-coded Blu ray last week which features a slimline transparent blu ray cover. [Don't know why?] Naturally it won't play on my Sony S-550 player (coded Region B), however, I had my hopes up as the disc initially loaded and on came a disclaimer screen with Fox background that announced:

"This disc is coded to Region A. Please eject this disc from your machine and play in a Region A player"

It staggers the mind that movie studios insist on this Region coding issue but now allow all six DVD regions to be played on most BD players, but not anything other than what the BD region is locked in as. Go Figure!