My Blu-ray Wishlist

2011 was a big year in blu-ray releases: the Star Wars trilogy, the Jurassic Park trilogy, the LOTR extended editions, and many more great releases came to us last year.  2012 also looks to be a great year for blu.  So I decided to make a list of the ten movies I most want to see released on blu-ray.
10. Spartacus (Criterion Collection)

Yes, Universal already has a blu-ray of Spartacus released.  But from everything I’ve read about it, the transfer is an atrocity.  Digital noise reduction appears to have taken all of the detain out of the images.  This post will tell you why.  Now, a while back Criterion released a version of Spartacus on DVD, and it was excellent.  It was everything you could ask for in a classic film release.  Now, I don’t know if Criterion still has the rights to Spartacus anymore or if they lost it, but I would really like to see them put their restoration skills towards a blu-ray release as well.

Other releases I’d like to see Criterion takes charge of: Akira Kurisawa’s Ran and Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights.

9. The Birds

I always planned to buy The Birds on DVD, but then I got a blu-ray player and stopped buying standard dvds anymore.  Yet if this comes out on blu-ray I will definitely be snatching it up.  And it sounds like it will be soon.  I watched a feature on Universal’s restoration process for their 100th anniversary, and The Birds was one of the movies they showed for a near future release.

8. Titanic

This would look fantastic in high definition on a big screen TV, wouldn’t it?   And though nothing has been officially announced, you know its going to be coming soon, what with this being the 100th anniversary of BOTH paramount pictures and the actual voyage of Titanic itself.  not to mention that the 3D moneygrab version of the film is presently in theaters.

7. Rear Window

Now, even though I saw The Birds as a part of Universal’s 100th anniversary catalogue, I also noticed the absence of Rear Window, another Universal Hitchcock film.  Whats up with that??This is a great movie which could really benefit from HD, especially with all of the details to be seen through the lens of J.J. Jeffreys.  Other Hitchcock fans will also be wondering where a Vertigo release is as well.

6. Schindler’s List

Another Universal film I haven’t heard much about for its 100th anniversary.  Mind you, the 20th anniversary of the film itself is in 2013, so chances are likely that it won’t be out until then.  After all, it was the last of Spielberg’s films to be released on DVD so I suppose it makes sense that it would be the last in this format as well.

5. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

Spielberg is a big champion of the blu-ray format, yet a lot of his big films are still absent.  However, with my To Kill a Mockingbird blu-ray came an advertisement for two of his biggest to be released on blu-ray this year.  One of them was indeed E.T. .  Excellent.

4. Lawrence of Arabia

If any movie is begging for a high definition treatment, its this grand epic.  I really want to see them go all out with this release, making it the best it can be.  Many people say the only way to see Lawrence is in theaters.  Well, blu-ray will make the experience as close to that as it can, I am sure.  I haven’t heard anything official yet, but since this year marks the 50th anniversary of the movie I imagine something will be announced shortly.

3. The Indiana Jones Trilogy

Last week was abuzz with the official announcement that the Indiana Jones movie collection will be released on blu-ray!  Unfortunately this means all four films instead of the original three.  Oh well.  But regardless, this is definitely going to be the most anticipated release this whole year.

2. Jaws

Remember up at E.T. when I said I saw an advertisement from Universal for two films released this year?  Well, E.T. was one, Jaws was the other.  Yes, expect Jaws in the next few months,  I also saw some footage during that Universal restoration special I talked about.  Its going to look pretty sweet I think.

1. The Original Star Wars Trilogy

I decided to put the least likely to happen at the top of this list.  What I am talking about here is the original, unadulterated trilogy with no CGI Ronto’s added, no extra scenes, and no ridiculous song-and-dance numbers in Jabba’s palace.  I want the three movies released with beautiful new transfers without any of Lucas’ obsessive tinkering.  The driving force behind blu-ray has become film preservation; allowing films to be released in their pure form as they were meant to be seen.  So why not Star Wars too?