Could we ever expect to see lesser known films on Blu?

[Idioteque...]

By that I mean films that aren't very popular for example movies like Mean Creek, Thumbsucker, a Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Half Nelson. These films are pretty unknown, so would studios even take the time to put an effort to upgrade these to blu or is the source material even worth it?

[pscoop]

Originally Posted by Idioteque...

By that I mean films that aren't very popular for example movies like Mean Creek, Thumbsucker, a Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Half Nelson. These films are pretty unknown, so would studios even take the time to put an effort to upgrade these to blu or is the source material even worth it?

I suppose anything is possible. Look at some of the junk available on DVD now that it is the primary format.

[Moviefan1203]

Eventually almost everything will be released on Blu-ray, it's just a matter of having patience and waiting for titles to be announced. Good things come to those that wait.

[benbess]

Originally Posted by Moviefan1203

Eventually almost everything will be released on Blu-ray, it's just a matter of having patience and waiting for titles to be announced. Good things come to those that wait.

I'm afraid after doing a little research I disagree.

George Feltenstein, one of the heads of Warner Home Video, which has one of the biggest libraries out there, has more or less warned that the economics probably aren't there to master obscure titles to blu-ray. Here's a bit from an interview with him from High-Def Digest:

""I don't think you'll find anyone on the planet complaining more about the lack of classic releases on Blu-ray than me," Feltenstein said in a recent phone interview from his Burbank office. As a consumer himself, he personally thinks it's "horrible, ridiculous, and frustrating" that more pre-1970 titles are not available on the format, and believes "thousands upon thousands of people" haven't made the Blu-ray leap because few of the titles on store shelves interest them. (Feltenstein also feels the film industry hindered the public's adoption of the technology because it failed to clearly and accurately communicate the format's vast superiority over standard DVD during its early stages.) As an industry executive, however, he understands all too well the studios' quandary over whether to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on a per title basis to remaster classic films – and that's what it costs if you need to start from "scratch" – when demographic research shows "typical" buyers couldn't care less about the classic genre. And, Feltenstein adds, "The fact that we are in a recession-slash-depression and the world's economy is going to hell in a hand-basket doesn't help things."

All that said, Feltenstein, who dubs himself WHV's "in-house Blu-ray cheerleader," believes WHV has recently made some "bold and aggressive" moves regarding classics, and hopes other studios will follow suit. He cites next month's releases of the biblical epic 'Quo Vadis,' and two Best Picture winners, 'Gigi' and 'An American in Paris,' as a "litmus test" for classics, even though they are "very, very risky titles to put out in this marketplace, which mostly caters to new theatrical releases."

In other words, big and well known classic titles like Singing in the Rain and Ben-Hur, both of which I love, will make it to blu in beautiful transfers, but more obscure stuff is less likely because they just don't sell well enough to make up the $100k to 1 million dollar restoration and master creation process.

That's my rather grim 2 cents, anyway. I suppose we can all help make the economics better by--if we can afford it--buying those classic titles that we like.

[Propellarhead9]

I would say it's possible to lesser titles on Blu but it won't be anytime soon. There are still a lot of movies appearing on DVD for the first time.

[Swift1246]

I certainly hope so. I just refuse to buy dvds at all anymore. I guess I am spoiled. I saw Showdown in Little Tokyo today for $3, and really wanted it but chose not to get it because of the standard definition. They will probably NEVER give a movie like that the hi-def treatment, but I put off buying it in hopes that they will, even though it would not be for several more years.

Is remastering films to blu-ray really that huge of a task? I thought that the original film print is already the best that it can be, so all they have to do is convert it to a BD. Am I wrong?

[Clark Kent]

The sad reality is that many, many obscure movies will never see the light of day as a real Blu-ray. The economics of initially producing them just does not scale well relative to dvd. Most of the mainstream hits and classics will show up eventually, but the niche titles will likely stay exclusive to dvd forever.

[madmojo]

Forever is a long time. Obscure titles are already being put on Blu by Blue Underground and other smaller companies.

I wonder if people talked in absolutes about this when DVD first came out. Well, there are now MANY obscure movies on DVD that I'm sure people thought would never make the jump from VHS, and some are still being released.

True, not all movies will make the jump, but I'd say that in about five years, after all the classics have come out, they'll get some of the more obscure ones out. (I do think it'll be in combo packs like MGM does with it's Midnite Movie collection or Columbia does with it's Icons collection.)

The big wall that will potentially be in the way of this is of course digital downloading. (Though I think it should replace DVD, with Blu being for us that like actual collecting or real quality.)

[hardtosayx]

I'm sure there will be at some point. I think lesser known/popular movies should have the chance more than movies such as Date Movie, Disaster Movie, and anything along the lines of bad.

[Moviefan1203]

Originally Posted by benbess

I'm afraid after doing a little research I disagree.

Once we hit a better market penetration, which shouldn't be that far off, you'll see almost all films on Blu-ray. Of course, not every film will make the transition, but nearly every film will. Blu-ray is going to dominate the market for a very very very long time, and you'll see pretty much everything out on Blu-ray.

[Idioteque...]

Pertaining to this argument, Machinist got quite a truly quick blu release but then again isn't the film a very popular cult flick?

[Ex Accountant]

Originally Posted by Swift1246

I certainly hope so. I just refuse to buy dvds at all anymore. I guess I am spoiled. I saw Showdown in Little Tokyo today for $3, and really wanted it but chose not to get it because of the standard definition. They will probably NEVER give a movie like that the hi-def treatment, but I put off buying it in hopes that they will, even though it would not be for several more years.

I think Showdown in Little Tokyo will make it someday. Against my better judgment, I've already been buying the Steven Seagal & JCVD movies from the 80s and early 90s. Showdown in Little Tokyo and I Come in Peace can't be too far behind!!!