We may never get Aliens on 4K.
It now seems increasingly unlikely that we will ever see Aliens, Alien 3 or Alien Resurrection on 4K Blu-Ray. A new report coming out this week says that Disney has halted production of future physical 4K Ultra HD Blu-Rays of films in its back catalogue including films from Disney and the recently acquired 20th Century Fox.
The Digital Bits reports that Disney will continue to release physical media for the likes of Star Wars, Marvel and animated Disney and Pixar films. The exception to this might be James Cameron’s Avatar and you never know, he might push them to get Aliens released in 4K.
Some of the decision is down to the recent pandemic but probably down to Disney pushing it’s streaming platform Disney+ even further. The problem is a lot of films in 20th Century Fox’s back catalogue are not exactly family-friendly and not what you’d find on Disney+. So for those films like Fight Club and Aliens, not only will we never see them in physical 4K but they may never be released in 4K digitally either.
Disney are currently testing the waters with the recent Mulan film by releasing it on their Disney+ platform for a premium fee rather than theatrically. It’s due to be released in September on their streaming platform while for territories without Disney+ like China, it will still get a theatrical release there. I guess if it’s successful, more films may go straight to Disney+.
I guess we were fortunate to receive Alien in 4K in 2019 as well as all the Predator films in 2018 but I always hoped they would release a special 4K Set compromising of all the Alien films. Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection were always going to be longshots but I would have thought Aliens was popular enough to warrant a 4K release. There are some rumours circulating that Disney may be open to licensing its back catalogue to independent studios like Criterion, Shout! Factory, and Arrow. Those studios are producing some great sets like the recently announced 16-Disc Friday 13th set from Shout! Factory.
Update 13/08/20: In a statement issued to Forbes, Disney has said they have no plans to stop releasing physical 4K films:
“There are no plans to discontinue releases in a particular format. We evaluate each release on a case by case basis and pursue the best strategy to bring our content into consumer homes across platforms that meet a variety of demands.”
Don't make us throw you out the back of a speeding van Bobby.
Spoiler
Film sets and props were built as good back then as they are today. Actually they were often superior back then. Compare for example the Space Jockey prop from Alien that was partially sculpted and painted by Giger himself to the plasticity looking monotone Jockey prop from Prometheus. Or Giger's hand-sculpted and airbrushed Alien eggs to the 3D printed ones from Alien Covenant.
And Blade Runner's sets still blows anything else from today completely out of the water.
Alien looks great in 4k and loses no charm.
You keep mentioning props and sets. I remember when TV was transitioning from standard definition to HD, there were many TV makeup and hair, wardrobe, art directors, props persons, etc that were worried about the increase in detail that was required of their work.
But I don't believe the advent of 4K video caused the same concern among feature film workers, mainly because 35mm film has always been an equivalent 4K (and HDR) format.
TC
Seen some in 4K,others in 1080 and that jazz.
The only one that I though benefitted from it where documentaries and actual on-site footage productions, with little to none props and sets. (thats the stuff that ages most badly in higer quality) Like Baraka.
I am a little curious on Apocalypse Now though, as that movie utilized a lot of unsimulated locations.
I have not yet seen ALIEN in 4k, however, as it was made in 79, I assume I wont apriciate it.
English is not my first anguage, but I hope I have conveyed my train of thought.
It was shot on 35mm film and displayed in both 35mm and 70mm. The resolution of 35mm is approximately 6K, 70mm is enormous and requires special projectors. It 100% was meant to be seen in that level of detail -- and more.
The "Soap opera" look is from the TV, not the film. It's a setting trying to replicate a higher frame rate and is what most shops switch the displays to in-store. Switch it off for a proper cinematic look.
I've noticed some movies suddenly look like than have very obvious sets or blue screens on some TVs (Star Trek 3 was one and one of the Harry Potter movies was another), but on other TVs look perfectly fine.
I think it is, The light looks very artifical all of a sudden, the sets looks fake and the alien suit looks more rubery.
Like the film wasn't intended to be shown in that level of detail. I loathe the soap opera effect you see sometimes. I never go higher than DVD format in movies made before 2000.
I guess, he means movie loses part of its charm - it doesn't look like movie from 70s when you can make out all the shapes and lines and letters
same, though i'm timing a 4k tv purchase for whenever the ps5 launches
Agreed. Alien and Predator 2, unequivocally high recommend on 4K.
Could always start...
#Alien3FincherCut
I certainly hope the rumour is BS, but we'll see.
Completely kills the movie magic.
4K Blu-Ray sales sagging?
Drop rumour that physical media releases will be halted and then a few days later officially deny it.
Watch 4K Blu-Ray sales spike in the interim.
Spoiler
Sad
And the way it's going right now, I don't see a new Alien film happening anytime soon.
Maybe they will release 4K alien films ( as well as AvPs - I hope ) when the next Alien film hits the theaters.
But even without (before) Disney - Alien 4K is reality. Aliens 4K - a probable reality. But Alien 3 / Resurrection are not. These films are simply not popular enough. As a last resort, we could get a lazy 4K upscale. Nobody will bother with these two.
20th Television is a profoundly moronic title I hope they change. The fanfare is still there in both.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53747270