The Shawshank Redemption 4K UHD (1994)

[NotASpeckOfCereal]

There is another blu-ray (dot) com thread on this, but it's not in this 4K area and has very little traffic, much of the responses being "meh" and "I don't do 4K".

I can't believe that this title — which is still #1 on the IMDb Top 250 list and was a very profitable film in rental and sales, after it was a box office letdown — hasn't been released in UHD yet. Films with lesser source quality have been remastered and released.

Any thoughts on this? Has this film been remastered at all?

I have the Blu-ray Book version and it's nice, but I believe it's just a repackage (ka-ching). It would be nice to see this given the same treatment as, say, Leon. However, this is Warner Brothers and I'm not sure what their track record is for remasters and/or 4K work.

Speck
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[Pgcmoore]

I'd buy it, that makes two of us!

[Laserdisk]

It's a great film, won't be a looker but it deserves a new master.

[UberMensch]

They could release a 25th anniversary edition in 2019.

[nick4Knight]

I want this. But I understand why it isn't and will take time to come to 4K.

The reason this movie is number #1 is because of the DVD age, the sales of that format were obviously vast and the internet drove it's built to that perch... People already own this twice in digital format now, if even twice... It's not a movie home theater enthusiasts get excited to "see". It's a really prevalent favourite movie among the general populous.

[NotASpeckOfCereal]

Originally Posted by nick4amber

I want this. But I understand why it isn't and will take time to come to 4K.
[...]
It's not a movie home theater enthusiasts get excited to "see". It's a really prevalent favourite movie among the general populous.

I have no idea what that means. At the very least, you're speaking for yourself.

Roger Deakins was the DP on Shawshank. It was filmed very well and had some fantastic natural light scenes.

As a film buff, UHD home theater enthusiast, and a member of the general populous, I'm very much excited for this to be released on 4K.

Chris

[nick4Knight]

Being that it is an opinion, I would think it's obvious I'm speaking for myself... I think you're being obtuse about my meaning...

Seriously, though. A glaring refutation to your musing about Deakins is that he isn't in charge of financing in the home entertainment dept. of Warner bros. I think they're more interested in more visually dynamic catalog to pump out there first. Hence why I argued we'll be waiting, and the kicker is most people who love this title are not like us... and have a DVD already -- This can be said of TDK, too, however that movie is visually appealing to double dip for the average Joe for Warners investment.

[Ray_Rogers]

Would love this movie and The Green Mile on UHD. As long as the source is derived from a 4K source or remaster. Especially since IT: Chapter One has been such a huge hit, time for Stephen King adaptations to shine thoroughly.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by nick4amber

I want this. But I understand why it isn't and will take time to come to 4K.

The reason this movie is number #1 is because of the DVD age, the sales of that format were obviously vast and the internet drove it's built to that perch... People already own this twice in digital format now, if even twice... It's not a movie home theater enthusiasts get excited to "see". It's a really prevalent favourite movie among the general populous.

Since 4K UHD is niche and not for the general "people," none of this matters. Different studio and situation, but if Across the Universe can find a home on UHD, then Shawshank certainly can.

[NotASpeckOfCereal]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

Since 4K UHD is niche and not for the general "people," none of this matters.

Have you actually been to a Best Buy recently? Or pretty much any store that carries a wide variety of screens for general "people" (consumer) purchase?

You could have called it niche a year or two ago...

Chris
.

[nick4Knight]

I think Bates means UHD discs. Not 4K tech as a whole. Which, yes, is being pushed by consumer electronics as the new normal. 1080p panels are a minority now

[NotASpeckOfCereal]

I would be willing to bet that people in the business could show us graphs of increased sales of UHD media over the past year or two, and we would see increases in many areas: sales, number of new films coming out in 4K, number of legacy titles coming out in 4K, number of legacy titles remastered in 4K (whether sold yet in UHD or not), etc.

The UHD discs almost always having the BD is a general up-sale / future-proof technique.

But mostly, the 4K business would WANT to have such a popular title (still #1 on IMDb top 250) out there in UHD to help sell the format.
.

[Brad1963]

Warner loves this film. I think a UHD is inevitable.

[nick4Knight]

Inevitable is a given, prioritized, though? Questionable.

At this point they might just wait for 2019 and do the 25th anniversary And it's still not assured to be an invested release just because its high on IMDB and Deakins shot it well.. Nor should it be compared to other Warner titles I can see being more impacting for 4K

[OldPangYau]

So, I was VERY late to the party, but I finally got to see this last night... I finally get the hype.

Now, that being said, I would be surprised if WB doesn't jump on a 4K UHD release next year for the 25th anniversary. I mean, between Unforgiven's 25th anniversary last year and 2001's 50th anniversary this year, Warner Brothers seems to follow the "anniversary route" that Sony also goes through for 4K/UHD release.

Although I don't want to wait until 2023 for a 50th anniversary 4K of Enter the Dragon

[bradnoyes]

I just finished reading Different Seasons and man I wish this and Stand By Me (The Body) had UHD releases. The stories were great, and I'd say that Shawshank and SBM still hold up as the two best films based on Stephen King's writing. When I was reading the stories I could see everything so easily in my mind since the movies did such an amazing job of capturing the feel of the novellas. Morgan Freeman's casting in particular was a true stroke of genius.

[rezpekt]

My money is on 25th Anniversary Edition of The Shawshank Redemption, and 20th Anniversary Edition of The Green Mile both coming in 2019.

[nick4Knight]

I would put money on that, too! And that would be epic. We are seeing how good warner is getting with Blade Runner, Unforgiven, Matrix, and now 2001 behind them Bodes well for Superman soon, and hopefully 2019 is these Darabont films

[Mitchings]

I somehow never got round to getting this on Blu-ray, though I've seen it on VHS/DVD 3-4 times and TV probably more than 10 times. I saw it when I was about 8 and then again a couple years later; at which point it immediately became my favourite film...and has remained so.

ITV have the home video rights to it here in the UK though and their Blu-release features a lossy DD5.1 vs Warner's lossless Dolby TrueHD and its ~24mbps AVC encode somehow features a tiny-tiny bit less grain than the ~16mbps VC-1 Warner encode.

While all the releases don't appear to be offensive in any way, they're clearly sourced from a middle-of-the-road 2K scan; probably DVD-era, have a touch of filtering and are pretty bit-rate starved.

My plan was to import the US DigiBook but somehow it just never happened and at this point it's probably worth just waiting for a 4K release.

25th Anniversary next year and I can only assume this is a solid home video performer..??

It's certainly ripe for 4K scan, a high bitrate encode with the correct 1.85:1 AR and a new lossless track.

[taymo016]

TCM and Fathom Events will be bringing The Shawshank Redemption back to theaters for its 25th anniversary as part of their "Big Screen Classics" line.

As with the Godfathers, I wouldn't be surprised to see this released on 4K to coincide with this, as many have already speculated.