4K UHD: Fewer subtitles than on regular Blu-ray? Why?

[Geoff D]

As I said, Deer Hunter is certainly a fair example, but you've got to bear in mind that not all localised markets are "4K ready", so to speak. The distribution deals that covered Blu-ray don't mean that the UHD is a shoo-in for that market, StudioCanal own the rights to Deer Hunter across Europe IIRC but the video distribution rights themselves are tied up with lots of smaller local distributors, many of whom are nowhere near going into 4K production for themselves - so SC weren't going to spend x amount more money to create a UHD disc with the exact same language set as their BD when there was no local outlet for such a version. And if/when Universal get around to releasing Deer Hunter in North America then it's only going to have North American language options e.g. English, French and Spanish, because that's the only territory they're releasing it in.

Same goes for many of those you've listed if we're just talking about "US/UK" releases. Challenge accepted:

Apocalypse Now: old US BD had no dubs at all and just English (plus HoH), French and Spanish subs. Old UK BD had the same video encode but just English subs. With the UK Final Cut discs being actual clones of the US discs then we now get MORE foreign language subs on the BD, the same English/French/Spanish as mentioned above. Germany gets its own version. Universal handled the distribution of the film on Blu-ray in several territories (Italy, Japan, Scandinavia) so their BD had a lot more language subsets, if they release a UHD version in those territories then it will likely follow the same template.

Lone Survivor: US BD just had English and Spanish audio & subs, the UK/US 4K has the exact same options. The UK BD had Italian as the alternative language option instead of Spanish, but that's it. Nothing else.

American Psycho: old Lionsgate US BD had English audio with English and Spanish subs, UK Lionsgate BD just had English only. The Sony BD released in mainland Europe had a lot more languages and subs, but that's the thing: it's not Sony who've released the UHD disc of American Psycho, Lionsgate have, so the languages on the Lionsgate UK/US UHD mirror the US BD.

Leon: Sony released it in North America, StudioCanal in the UK, and virtually a different distributor for every other mainland European country it's been released in! Sony's US BD had English, French, Portuguese and Spanish (audio and/or subs) and, funnily enough, their US UHD has the exact same language layout. StudioCanal's old UK BD (released via Optimum) had English only and I really wouldn't bet against the upcoming UK UHD of Leon to only have English audio once again.

The Doors: the old StudioCanal (née Optimum) UK BD had English, French and German language options because that was their previous distribution remit and nothing has changed on that front: the UK UHD has English, French and German language options. The old Lionsgate US BD had English and French audio and Spanish subs, but the UHD is a clone of the European disc so it now has English, French and German language options.

I could go on, but the point is that nothing much has really changed for each of those movies, Beer Hunter aside. It sucks but that's the way it is.

[Fjodor2000]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

As I said, Deer Hunter is certainly a fair example, but you've got to bear in mind that not all localised markets are "4K ready", so to speak. The distribution deals that covered Blu-ray don't mean that the UHD is a shoo-in for that market, StudioCanal own the rights to Deer Hunter across Europe IIRC but the video distribution rights themselves are tied up with lots of smaller local distributors, many of whom are nowhere near going into 4K production for themselves - so SC weren't going to spend x amount more money to create a UHD disc with the exact same language set as their BD when there was no local outlet for such a version. And if/when Universal get around to releasing Deer Hunter in North America then it's only going to have North American language options e.g. English, French and Spanish, because that's the only territory they're releasing it in.

Same goes for many of those you've listed if we're just talking about "US/UK" releases. Challenge accepted:

Apocalypse Now: old US BD had no dubs at all and just English (plus HoH), French and Spanish subs. Old UK BD had the same video encode but just English subs. With the UK Final Cut discs being actual clones of the US discs then we now get MORE foreign language subs on the BD, the same English/French/Spanish as mentioned above. Germany gets its own version. Universal handled the distribution of the film on Blu-ray in several territories (Italy, Japan, Scandinavia) so their BD had a lot more language subsets, if they release a UHD version in those territories then it will likely follow the same template.

Lone Survivor: US BD just had English and Spanish audio & subs, the UK/US 4K has the exact same options. The UK BD had Italian as the alternative language option instead of Spanish, but that's it. Nothing else.

American Psycho: old Lionsgate US BD had English audio with English and Spanish subs, UK Lionsgate BD just had English only. The Sony BD released in mainland Europe had a lot more languages and subs, but that's the thing: it's not Sony who've released the UHD disc of American Psycho, Lionsgate have, so the languages on the Lionsgate UK/US UHD mirror the US BD.

Leon: Sony released it in North America, StudioCanal in the UK, and virtually a different distributor for every other mainland European country it's been released in! Sony's US BD had English, French, Portuguese and Spanish (audio and/or subs) and, funnily enough, their US UHD has the exact same language layout. StudioCanal's old UK BD (released via Optimum) had English only and I really wouldn't bet against the upcoming UK UHD of Leon to only have English audio once again.

The Doors: the old StudioCanal (née Optimum) UK BD had English, French and German language options because that was their previous distribution remit and nothing has changed on that front: the UK UHD has English, French and German language options. The old Lionsgate US BD had English and French audio and Spanish subs, but the UHD is a clone of the European disc so it now has English, French and German language options.

I could go on, but the point is that nothing much has really changed for each of those movies, Beer Hunter aside. It sucks but that's the way it is.

Well regardless, I can conclude that for Blu-rays probably around 95-98% of all non-niche movies have releases available that contain subtitles in local European languages (for those countries where it is common practice to use subtitles). For 4K UHD Blu rays other other hand, I would estimate it to maybe 70% (with exception for maybe English, French and German who has better coverage).

So it's a big difference.

Based on what you wrote, I can see that it's a real mess regarding who has distribution deals in what countries and regions for each movie. And I can understand that it in some cases may not be economically viable to produce a dedicated release for e.g. Netherlands only (with backside text in Dutch etc), or even the Nordics.

But if they could at least produce one common release for e.g. the European market and add all relevant European subtitles to that, and have the backside in English, problem would be solved. Then that release could be sold by all local distributors, so it would become economically viable. Would that not be a solution?