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James Bond blu-rays: What happened?

M

Mr. Sin

Commander
It's been nearly a year since the last set of blu-rays, and there's still plenty to go:

The "Blofeld" trilogy of films: You Only Live Twice, On Her Majest'ys Secret Service and Diamonds Are Forever.


A few Moores: Spy Who Loved Me, Octopussy and View To A Kill....


Dalton's debut: The Living Daylights...

And Brosnan's first two, Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies.


That makes nine movies unreleased. Plus there's suppossed to be material that was made for a Quantum of Solace 2-disc set (As the disc that came out had nothing but the film, really).

I suppose it could be due to the same reason that Bond 23 has been delayed: MGM being sold. (But isn't Fox in charge of distribution on these?) It could also be that whole SPECTRE court mess, but Blofeld/Spectre appear in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE and THUNDERBALL (Which are on blu-ray) so I don't see how that fits-Or perhaps it's because that so many of the Bond blu-rays had some compatability issues with certain blu-ray players.

They could be waiting for the next Bond film to better market the blu-rays, but it's obvious there's going to be a bit of a delay for that film (Won't start filming until 2011, I think). I don't think it's because of the quality of the films either-many of the most maligned Bond films-MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, MOONRAKER, LICENSE TO KILL and THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH-were released with the first set! And at least SPY WHO LOVED ME and GOLDENEYE are well-regarded...
 
The way they released these (or didn't) has annoyed the hell out of me. I don't know if the releases are being hurt by MGM's finances or not, but the random ass sets are not cool. I don't know why they can't just release all of them at regular intervals. Maybe the remastering is problematic. That said, the quality of the BDs is amazing. They're well worth the upgrade.
 
And then after the sale they'll release the missing movies in new packaging and re-release the previous titles in that same packaging in hopes to get people to buy them again if they want them to match. :)
 
Mr. Sin said:
Plus there's suppossed to be material that was made for a Quantum of Solace 2-disc set (As the disc that came out had nothing but the film, really).
Click to expand...

I assume you must be referring to just the Blu-Ray because I have a 2-disc DVD if QoS with plenty of extras, as well as the beautifully done velvet-box Casino Royale special edition that came out around the time Quantum was released to theatres. I like Blu-Ray fine, but I continue to be annoyed that many releases are still coming out with extras-laden DVDs, but vanilla Blu-Ray. Exhibit A: Fifth Element, Exhibit B: Planet of the Apes (Burton version), both of which are vanilla in their Blu-Ray but filled with stuff on the DVD version, so I'm less inclined to "upgrade" those two.

Fortunately the Bond films that have been released to Blu-Ray seem to have the same extras as the slimline DVD versions that were released in the 4 boxes a few years ago. And maybe that's it - people spent their money on those sets and aren't that interested in buying the Blu-Ray, so MGM didn't have an incentive to reissue the rest right now.

My guess is we'll get a big-ass Blu-Ray collection of all the films either in 2011 when Bond 23 comes out, or in 2012 for the 50th anniversary of Dr. No...

Alex
 
23skidoo said:
I assume you must be referring to just the Blu-Ray because I have a 2-disc DVD if QoS with plenty of extras, as well as the beautifully done velvet-box Casino Royale special edition that came out around the time Quantum was released to theatres.
Click to expand...
IIRC, the two disc DVD's content was all on the one Blu-ray disc. And Casino Royale was rereleased with extra extras at that time too.

23skidoo said:
I like Blu-Ray fine, but I continue to be annoyed that many releases are still coming out with extras-laden DVDs, but vanilla Blu-Ray. Exhibit A: Fifth Element, Exhibit B: Planet of the Apes (Burton version), both of which are vanilla in their Blu-Ray but filled with stuff on the DVD version, so I'm less inclined to "upgrade" those two.
Click to expand...
I don't think that citing two three-year-old releases is the best way to make that case. ;)
 
Aragorn said:
And then after the sale they'll release the missing movies in new packaging and re-release the previous titles in that same packaging in hopes to get people to buy them again if they want them to match. :)
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God I hope people still dont fall for that type of crap.
 
I hate to break this to you, but the Bond movies may be the king of the re-dip. Army of Darkness may hold the record for most editions on DVD, but the Bond franchise gets to re-release over 20 titles now!

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The last two were released at the same time, but the second one has a second disc with all the special features.
 
Aragorn said:
The last two were released at the same time, but the second one has a second disc with all the special features.
Click to expand...

Then there is no difference, except the artwork. My copies of all the movies are the third picture, and they are all 2-disks.
 
Mr. Laser Beam said:
^ What's the difference between the last two (apart from cover of course)?
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The first was released in the "ultimate editon" boxed sets as a 2-disc, and released individually as a 1-disc. The second is the 2-disc from the box set only released individually. :)
 
It should be noted that only selected films were released individually as the 2-disc ultimate edition.
 
All the more why I have never tried to finish my collection, and probably never will. Aside from this retarded limited time shit they always have, they give you certain features then release a new version with better features. Bah. I have a few movies in the second cover art version posted, good set.
 
They certainly know how to rip their fans a new one don't they? The vhs, the bare bones dvds, the ultimate sets, the blu rays. I agree they rip and over charge, and the timing and the collection packages make no sense.

Release them every quarter in sets by Bond and be done with it!
 
KB24 said:
They certainly know how to rip their fans a new one don't they? The vhs, the bare bones dvds, the ultimate sets, the blu rays. I agree they rip and over charge, and the timing and the collection packages make no sense.
Click to expand...

I don't see how reissuing in Blu-Ray counts as ripping. Ideally every film will be reissued in that format (especially if later-generation BD players aren't backwards compatible to DVD).

I actually thought something similar (being ripped off) when I saw new DVD editions of a number of films I've bought before ... until I realized I'd bought those DVDs nearly a decade ago. Every few years you can expect reissues, and it's only a rip off if someone buys it without realizing it's a reissue of something they already own. There is absolutely no ripping-off of fans who have never bought the material before. And there's no one holding a Walther PPK to anyone's head forcing others to double- or triple-dip.

And as for over-charge, I have never seen that. In fact I've seen the individual films available for as cheap as $10 on DVD, and maybe $15 on Blu-Ray. The sets aren't that bad either. I paid about $60 for each of the 4 DVD box set collections when they first came out, which amortized over 5-6 films and all the extras was a bargain.

I understood the rationale of mixing and matching the Bonds, too. More people would be interested in buying Goldfinger than A View to a Kill, so by putting less-popular Bonds together with the more popular ones, they were assured of sales.

That said, they could probably do sets for Connery/Lazenby, Moore, and Dalton/Brosnan. (We'll assume they'll keep the Craig Bonds separate since they're the going concern.)

Personally I'm in no rush. The slimline DVD sets look great on my plasma, and have all the extras I'm interested in. I still think we'll have a big Blu-Ray full-series collection of some sort out for 2012 or 2013 at which point I'll consider upgrading. Only exception is I might get a BR of Casino Royale if I find one, though it'll be a double dip because I like the deluxe DVD velvet case edition I already have.

Alex
 
It should be mentioned that the first few Bond DVDs were not anamorphic, and that the recent Ultimate editions/blu-rays were both restored.
 
I was watching Moonraker the other night and i have to admit HD really does add dimensions, depth and scale to the movies, when the helicopter lands at Drax chateau you really get a sense of the immense scale and detail of the building, something i have never noticed with the DVD versions before.
 
Mr. Sin said:
It's been nearly a year since the last set of blu-rays, and there's still plenty to go:

The "Blofeld" trilogy of films: You Only Live Twice, On Her Majest'ys Secret Service and Diamonds Are Forever.
Click to expand...

The legal wrangling with Kevin McClory's estate isn't holding that up, is it?
 
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