Bridget Jones's Diary 4K UHD (2001)

[Pieter V]

Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) 4K Blu-ray

[Gacivory]

Nice! In time for Christmas viewing!

[TheBondFan]

https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B09CRTDJR1?...f_=as_li_ss_tl

[Mosley likes BFDI]

Will we get this on 4K in other countries like USA and UK soon?

[McCrutchy]

Assuming this is a multi-territory release including the UK, I wonder if the audio will be uncensored.

Unless of course, UK rights are still with Universal.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Mosley likes BFDI

Will we get this on 4K in other countries like USA and UK soon?

The rights to the film are very complicated. StudioCanal controls it in France. It's controlled by Universal in the UK and Miramax (so, presumably, Paramount) in the US.

The film was made by Working Title, which is owned by Universal. They probably control the negative. Universal had a partnership with Miramax at the time, thus they split the rights - US and International. StudioCanal was a corporate cousin of Universal at the time, they were both owned by Vivendi, and StudioCanal invested in a bunch of Universal films, so they got French rights. I seem to remember reading StudioCanal was also an investor in Working Title itself. It's all exceedingly complicated and my memory may not be 1000% accurate, but the gist is correct.

All of this is to say that the rights are with different companies in each market, so it's not a foregone conclusion that it will get a UHD anywhere else.

That said, I would have to think Universal actually retained the negative, so StudioCanal's new 4K scan would presumably have been done in concert with them. Perhaps they'll release a UK UHD. Although the film grossed a bit more in the US than the UK, the UK is a MUCH smaller market, so, comparatively, it was much bigger there, and it still retains a huge cultural relevance in the UK. I wouldn't be shocked to see a UK UHD from Universal at some point.

Universal and StudioCanal did have a nasty legal battle over the revenue from the films they partnered on, so that might make things difficult:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/201...udios-millions

However, if they mended fences enough for SC to scan Universal's negative, maybe it's water under the bridge.

I don't think Paramount has done any UHDs of any Miramax titles yet, so a US release seems unlikely.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

Assuming this is a multi-territory release including the UK, I wonder if the audio will be uncensored.

Unless of course, UK rights are still with Universal.

Yep, it's still with Universal in the UK.

[James Luckard]

There's another issue I totally forgot that will most likely prevent a US UHD. The US got a completely separate cut of the film.

Aside from the word "c*nt" being uncensored in the US, the US also got an entirely different epilogue sequence.

In the International cut, the film ends with faux-documentary footage of everyone being interviewed a few months later, intercut with the credits.

The US version omits that footage entirely, and ends, instead, with faux-home movie footage of Bridget and Mark in the wading pool in the yard, the memory they talk about much earlier in the film.

The US and UK cuts also have different songs over the end credits, as with Notting Hill and Love Actually.

The 4K scan will certainly be of the overseas cut, so it won't be of any use to Miramax/Paramount to release here.

Unless they just release the wrong cut, which has happened before. Universal released the UK cut of Love Actually on their first US BD, by mistake. They corrected it for their 10th Anniversary Edition.

And the British cut of Sliding Doors was released on BD in the US by Shout without anyone noticing, it restores all the curse words that were deleted to get a PG-13 in the US.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

I don't think Paramount has done any UHDs of any Miramax titles yet, so a US release seems unlikely.

Paramount are releasing Scream, as well as From Dusk Till Dawn, but obviously, those are horror and considered to sell better.

The problem is that I can't see Canal releasing this only in France, so I wonder if they've gained rights for other territories, such as Germany or Australia..

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

Paramount are releasing Scream, as well as From Dusk Till Dawn, but obviously, those are horror and considered to sell better.

The problem is that I can't see Canal releasing this only in France, so I wonder if they've gained rights for other territories, such as Germany or Australia..

I forgot about Scream. But that film was a pure Miramax film.

Also, I think the alternate US cut will present a problem. I would assume the original camera negative is conformed to the Universal international cut, I wonder how they created the US cut.

I checked Amazon Germany, it's still streaming from Universal there, and the BD and DVD there are Universal.

I checked Amazon Australia too, still streaming there from Universal as well. Both OOP Aussie BDs are also Universal, for what that's worth.

[Mosley likes BFDI]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

The rights to the film are very complicated. StudioCanal controls it in France. It's controlled by Universal in the UK and Miramax (so, presumably, Paramount) in the US.

The film was made by Working Title, which is owned by Universal. They probably control the negative. Universal had a partnership with Miramax at the time, thus they split the rights - US and International. StudioCanal was a corporate cousin of Universal at the time, they were both owned by Vivendi, and StudioCanal invested in a bunch of Universal films, so they got French rights. I seem to remember reading StudioCanal was also an investor in Working Title itself. It's all exceedingly complicated and my memory may not be 1000% accurate, but the gist is correct.

All of this is to say that the rights are with different companies in each market, so it's not a foregone conclusion that it will get a UHD anywhere else.

That said, I would have to think Universal actually retained the negative, so StudioCanal's new 4K scan would presumably have been done in concert with them. Perhaps they'll release a UK UHD. Although the film grossed a bit more in the US than the UK, the UK is a MUCH smaller market, so, comparatively, it was much bigger there, and it still retains a huge cultural relevance in the UK. I wouldn't be shocked to see a UK UHD from Universal at some point.

Universal and StudioCanal did have a nasty legal battle over the revenue from the films they partnered on, so that might make things difficult:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/201...udios-millions

However, if they mended fences enough for SC to scan Universal's negative, maybe it's water under the bridge.

I don't think Paramount has done any UHDs of any Miramax titles yet, so a US release seems unlikely.

Universal will probably do the UK 4K UHD Blu-ray, and Paramount is releasing some Miramax titles on the 4K format, like From Dusk till Dawn and Scream, and Universal have released The Cornetto Trilogy on 4K in the US and UK in which the first two movies of that trilogy are co-produced by StudioCanal.

[James Luckard]

The bigger issue for a US release will be the US cut of the film being different.

But I agree, a UK release at some point seems plausible.

I could be wrong, but I believe Universal controls the film in all markets except France and the US, so Universal could release a UHD pretty much worldwide.

[CelestialAgent]

Another Universal title released through StudioCanal in France

[whiteberry]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

There's another issue I totally forgot that will most likely prevent a US UHD. The US got a completely separate cut of the film.

Aside from the word "c*nt" being uncensored in the US, the US also got an entirely different epilogue sequence.

In the International cut, the film ends with faux-documentary footage of everyone being interviewed a few months later, intercut with the credits.

The US version omits that footage entirely, and ends, instead, with faux-home movie footage of Bridget and Mark in the wading pool in the yard, the memory they talk about much earlier in the film.

The US and UK cuts also have different songs over the end credits, as with Notting Hill and Love Actually.

Also, a few of the voice-overs by Renee Zellweger are different in the Miramax version. They had her re-record them to remove British words that would be unfamiliar to American audiences. Some examples:

1. In the party scene in the beginning:
   
   Original: "My mum, a strange creature from the time when a gherkin was still the height of sophistication."
   
   Miramax: "My mum, a strange creature from the time when pickles on toothpicks were still the height of sophistication."
   
   
2. Right after the party scene in the beginning:
   
   Original: "and be found three weeks later half-eaten by Alsatians."
   
   Miramax: "and be found three weeks later half-eaten by wild dogs."

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by CelestialAgent

Another Universal title released through StudioCanal in France

Yep, that's also a Working Title film. I believe StudioCanal had/has a stake in Working Title.

[TheBondFan]

French Steelbook:

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by TheBondFan

French Steelbook:

[Show spoiler]

I'm very surprised this is coming in France but not co-ordinated with Universal the UK.

[Mosley likes BFDI]

If Paramount are gonna release this movie on 4K steelbook in the US and/or Canada for it's 20th anniversary, will they use the same steelbook artwork as the France one?

[rezpekt]

Universal and Paramount did feck all with The Deer Hunter, The Elephant Man, They Live, Prince of Darkness, Serpico, Three Days of Condor, Flash Gordon, other than licensing some of them out to others.

Warner are the first Hollywood big boys who are collabing with Studiocanal on a 4K UHD release of The Outsiders.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Mosley likes BFDI

If Paramount are gonna release this movie on 4K steelbook in the US and/or Canada for it's 20th anniversary, will they use the same steelbook artwork as the France one?

As posted above, the US version of Bridget is an entirely different cut of the movie, I'm not sure how relevant the French UHD, using the international cut of the film, is to any possible US UHD from Paramount.