Blackhat

[therewillbeblus]

I'm happy they are including it, but if the DC is only getting a standard Blu-ray, I see no reason to get the UHD.

Yeah, seems like a Shout! Factory move

[dwk]

Yeah, seems like a Shout! Factory move

Funny, I was thinking of their Lifeforce UHD.

[Finch]

I don't know. The fact that they currently seem to be planning for the DC to be on a second BD instead of a UHD makes me think they've looked at the numbers and concluded there was enough of a demand to delay the release for the inclusion of the DC but that the market doesn't justify the additional production costs of including it on UHD. They could absolutely revise the specs once again but to me this feels like this is as good as it's going to get. But I am left wondering what the state of the materials for the DC is. We know scenes got removed, scenes got added. Presumably the new scenes would require re-scanning and clean up at 4k. Now, the DC is only 4 minutes longer than the theatrical, so in theory it wouldn't be that much more work, but again, maybe the commercial prospects set against the production costs just makes this not feasible for Arrow.

[Calvin]

With the social media reaction, you'd think that if budget demanded they only release one cut on UHD they'd choose the director's cut and relegate the theatrical. Mann apparently considers the theatrical to be an "aberration." There's enough ambiguity in the statement for the DC to be included on UHD but, annoyingly, the link to 'read more' in the e-mail just takes you to the Arrow blog homepage where there's nothing posted about it.

[chrisandy007]

I'm happy they are including it, but if the DC is only getting a standard Blu-ray, I see no reason to get the UHD.

You're not wrong. I'm sure someone might be inclined to merge them - use 4K footage for what exists in both cuts and then use the 1080 footage but it's not great.

[therewillbeblus]

Yeah, seems like a Shout! Factory move

Funny, I was thinking of their Lifeforce UHD.

Same, which is (somewhat-ironically, now) my most-wanted Arrow upgrade, since I always figured they'd be sure to upgrade the DC too to right Shout!'s wrong

[chrisandy007]

I don't know. The fact that they're currently planning for the DC to be on a second BD instead of a UHD makes me think they've looked at the numbers and concluded there was enough of a demand to delay the release for the inclusion of the DC but that the market doesn't justify the additional production costs of including it on UHD. They could absolutely revise the specs once again but to me this feels like this is as good as it's going to get. But I am left wondering what the state of the materials for the DC is. We know scenes got removed, scenes got added. Presumably the new scenes would require re-scanning and clean up at 4k. Now, the DC is only 4 minutes longer than the theatrical, so in theory it wouldn't be that much more work, but again, maybe the commercial prospects set against the production costs just makes this not feasible for Arrow.

The person who pushed for these said he's fairly sure that they provided Arrow with 4K files.. but who honestly knows. I hope we get clarity on this soon. I feel like a 4K DCP was likely projected in 2016 at BAM then from that a 720p version was made for broadcast. It's a little tricky because even scenes that appear in both versions are edited - a line is added or removed, so it's not as simple as just grading added elements.

[Finch]

I'd prefer a UHD of the DC myself if they had to favor one over the other.

The ideal scenario would be a 4k of the DC or both, and a separate Blu-Ray edition of all three cuts at a lower price than the 4k package.

Worst case scenario: they only produce a dual format package that has the TC on the UHD and the other two cuts on two Blu-Rays.

[rwiggum]

Great news, but this implies (contrary to online conjecture) that it was never a rights issue at all, but rather the availability of the digital files. Which honestly seems like a weird excuse for a cut that's not very old.

I think what's more likely is the reason was "Michael Mann was hard to get ahold of because he was shooting Ferrari when we were putting the disc together," but they wanted to be delicate and not seem like they were throwing the filmmaker under the bus.

[rapta]

Also got to please the studio to some extent, who will probably see their Theatrical and International Cuts as the versions they released, and Mann just being Mann with his Director's Cut (which obviously got sidelined, presumably due to certain producers and/or studio heads).

Either way, great news and I literally had the Blu-ray edition in my basket ready to pre-order. Now I don't have an excuse not to!

[chrisandy007]

Also got to please the studio to some extent, who will probably see their Theatrical and International Cuts as the versions they released, and Mann just being Mann with his Director's Cut (which obviously got sidelined, presumably due to certain producers and/or studio heads).

Either way, great news and I literally had the Blu-ray edition in my basket ready to pre-order. Now I don't have an excuse not to!

Important point of clarity -- Mann said in a pod interview that he takes "full responsibility" for the theatrical cut changes, and in an interview leading up to release he said the changes made the film much better. He has total control on every film so the decisions made for the initial and subsequent releases are all on him. The director's cut was screened in theaters then on broadcast television in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

[rapta]

Weird, just got the same email as yesterday from Arrow but with this paragraph instead regarding Blackhat:

We'd like to apologise as news about our Blackhat release was incorrectly shared on a previous newsletter. At this moment in time, we can confirm the release date has been moved to 4th September and we look forward to sharing more information about this exciting release soon. Apologies again and thanks for your patience and understanding.

What does that mean?! I placed my pre-order last night...

[oh yeah]

Any update on this? I was out of the loop until the other day that this release was even happening, but I just pre-ordered the Blu-ray edition (haven't upgraded to 4K yet). The Amazon page for both the 4K and the Blu releases says only that it includes the "theatrical and international cuts," but I assume that's just outdated information? If the Blu is gonna have the theatrical, international AND Director's cut, though, will they all really be on one disc as it says? I'll just be happy to finally be able to watch this Director's Cut, been waiting years for this...

Edit: Nevermind, just saw that Arrow did state in their May 11th update that the DC will be on a 2nd blu-ray disc. I really AM out of the loop. Super excited for this though. I can't help but find it preposterous that the "international cut" which is nearly identical to the theatrical would be given precedence over the DC that so many have been waiting for. Definitely would make much more sense to put the IC on the second disc and have the TC and DC both in 4K on the first disc.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Given Arrow's history, I'm sure the U.S. and international cuts will be handled via seamless branching, so there's no reason to split them across separate discs. I'd like to see the director's cut in 4k too, but we still don't have any solid confirmation that a 4k master even exists for that version.

[What A Disgrace]

It seems this release has been delayed until Halloween. Spooky.

[jazzo]

Starting to develop a Fear of a Blackhat?

[What A Disgrace]

At this rate, I'm hoping we get A Blackhat Before Christmas.

I had to contact DiabolikDVD to ask them to move this release to another pre-order because I was tired of waiting for everything else in the same order (which includes the Skolimowski double feature, Eo, and Laurin, all of which I've been very eagerly anticipating for about half a year now).

[Calvin]

Arrow have now (again) confirmed that the director's cut will be included. It does seem to confirm that it will be Blu-Ray only though.

[therewillbeblus]

What a Shout! move

[willoneill]

Also delayed again until Nov 27/28

[Finch]

Hope this means people get to choose between a dual format package that has the theatrical on 4k, DC on BD and a second version that has both cuts in 1080p at a lower price. I honestly have no interest in buying the 4k version of the theatrical and would be a bit annoyed if the DC was exclusive to the bundle containing the 4k theatrical.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Hope this means people get to choose between a dual format package that has the theatrical on 4k, DC on BD and a second version that has both cuts in 1080p at a lower price.

Isn't this what Arrow does with all of their LEs?

[tenia]

Hope this means people get to choose between a dual format package that has the theatrical on 4k, DC on BD and a second version that has both cuts in 1080p at a lower price.

Isn't this what Arrow does with all of their LEs?

Yes, I'm pretty sure that if the DC doesn't end up on a UHD, then the releases will be TC UHD + DC BD, and TC BD + DC BD.

[rapta]

Specs for both the UHD and Blu-ray have been updated on Amazon. Here are the UHD specs confirming the DC is regular Blu-ray:

2-DISC LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

Three cuts of the film, including the home video premiere of Michael Mann’s re-imagined director’s cut
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Doug John Miller
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Andrew Graves

DISC ONE – THE US AND INTERNATIONAL VERSIONS (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)

4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentations in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) of both the US and international versions of the film
Original lossless 5.1 audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Brand new audio commentary by critics Bryan Reesman and Max Evry
Firewall – brand new video interview with cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh
Zero Day Threat – brand new video interview with production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas
The Cyber Threat, On Location Around the World and Creating Reality – three archival behind-the-scenes featurettes on the making of the film
Image gallery

DISC TWO – THE DIRECTOR’S CUT (BLU-RAY) [LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE]

High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of Michael Mann’s director’s cut of the film
Original lossless 5.1 audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

[beamish14]

Is this the second release from Mann to not have a commentary from him? (The other being the horrible one that Kino Lorber commissioned for The Jericho Mile)