jiggyblau

I had placed an order for these two and just canceled it. In the comments box, I told Amazon to tell Warner that these releases are ridiculous.

RobLutter

Hopefully they'll also get a disc-only release in the UK so I can import them over without all the junk. I think this has happened with everything minus Casablanca thus far.

critterdvd

These prices are insanity. I would happily spend $30 on "Wizard of Oz," "Gone with the Wind," or "Casablanca" but I don't really need to spend $60 to get the movie in a huge ass box with a bunch of trinkets I'll never touch...

Overpar

Okay, usually not a big fan of these deluxe releases with all the crap, but I'm kinda diggin this. (except for the watch) Still too expensive, though.

InstantKarma

To anybody who doesn't even want the gift set can still get the 2 disc edition regular disc but yeah, it really sucks to get the gift set if you want the Blu-Ray but I am a big fan of the Wizard of Oz so I will get the Blu-Ray version anyway

Drexl

Well, I don't think the new DVD would be that much improved over the 2005 version I already have.

Besides, Blu-ray is "regular" now.

TheJoker

If they are using the new print transfer that is being placed on the blu-ray, then there may be some improvement.

NoirFan

Your posted photo is just the DVD Active banner. Here's the link to the actual cover art.

NoirFan

Wizard of Oz has been moved forward to 9/29.

TheJoker

So blu-ray people are getting the full 6 hour MGM Documentary! Im glad I preordered this set. The extras are well worth it (at least to me)

pinata242

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JimRochester

These are both movies I'd love to have in my collection but I have no interest in these monstrosities. Just give me the movie with a couple interesting extras for $29.99 and I'd be happy.

No widescreen = no sale

J/K

BuckNaked2k

+1

I don't want/need all that extra junk. Space is limited and a standard 2-discer would have sufficed.

The Monkees

I can see why people are upset over the gift set being the only way to get them, but I am looking forward to getting these sets. Both films are some of my favorite movies.

Inhumans99

I never did receive an order confirmation from Warner's for the LOTR trilogy, Gone With The Wind, and The Wizard Of Oz blu rays purchased during that great sale they had a few months back (buy two get one free, and stacked with a 25% off coupon, I believe). Should give them a call and find out what's up.

The Monkees

I'm still a bit confused, GWTW is going to be identical to the 4 disc?

Is this also the case with Wizard of Oz? Is it identical to the 3 disc?

Steve Phillips

You can get the UK version for $25.00 on Amazon UK in regular packaging. Not sure if the extras will be PAL though.

Giles

and Fathom will be projecting this in HiDef as a One-Night event on September 23rd to 440 theatres nationwide:

The Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary

TheJoker

Looks like Bestbuy has their own exclusives.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....p=1&id=2015558

Looks to be just extra postcards as well, like Amazons

doctorthodt

WB will inevitably release these in a regular keepcase like they're doing with Casablanca. I'll wait til then to give them my money.

Adam Tyner

That's the $64,000 question. The extras on the Blu-ray discs shouldn't be in PAL -- WB never does that -- but if the one or more of the other discs in these sets are standard definition DVDs, then there could definitely be some PAL concerns there. I think I'd rather import anyway and deal with PAL DVDs than pay the obnoxious sticker price of the bloated U.S. releases.

ctyankee

Ditto. I pre-ordered the Casablanca regular edition Blu-Ray.

If it had been a few years ago, I think WB's strategy might have worked. But Blu-Ray hasn't really taken off and many a film lover has reached the point that they realize that they are not their DVD collection. So, The Wizard of Oz Blu-Ray is in my Netflix queue (9/29 release). I can deal quite nicely with that until WB wises up.

madlost1

I'll get Wizard if they release it without all that extra crap.

marknyc

Using a pin-registered Northlight film scanner, Warner Bros. employees were able to scan the three separate camera negatives at 8K, a much-higher resolution than was possible only a few years ago, Price noted. The 8K scan would have about 16 times the pixel resolution of an HD image.

Color-registration techniques for matching up the three separate camera negatives have also dramatically improved. During the 2005 restoration,colors were registered with a 16-block grid. "We were basically cutting up the image into 16 parts and registering it," Price said. "This time we were able to register it to the pixel at4K. So that is a quantum leap for us."

Better scanning resolution, color-registration techniques and color-correction technologies also "rendered sharper grain," which meant they had to do less processing to the image, Price added. "In the past we didn't have sharp grain so we had to degrain, which means youbasically have to soften everything. When you do that, then you have to artificially resharpen the picture. This time the grain was not an issuefor us."

A recently discovered nitrate print manufactured by Technicolor in 1939also gave them a better insight into the way the film should look. "We had reference Technicolor prints in the past but we weren't sure of their pedigree," Price said. This print showed that "there was more grey curve in the film, meaning that the mid-range was more open," he explained. "It wasn't so contrasty in places and the colors were more muted. The early Technicolor films were not so much about primary colors. They had more earthy tones, which is not to say that they weren't vivid. It's just that the colors were more complex than previously seen in photo chemical printing. So we went and made the picture less contrast-y and toned down the color palate."

The improved visual quality is particularly apparent in a number of scenes in the film. "One of the most difficult opticals in the picture is Glinda's entrance," Price noted. "When you first see her, you have those round bubbles, which are supposed to be pink, but unfortunately there is a lot of color breathing within that optical. [In the past,] it was impossible for us to keep the bubble pink but this time we were able to track it and get it right." Viewers will also get a better look at Dorothy's little dog, Toto. "Toto isn't just a little blob anymore," Price said. "You have much better definition and can see into his face," as well as some additional shades of color in his fur.

When Dorothy is captured in the wicked witch's castle, it is now possible to see more of the set and the witch. "The witch has hair coming out of the mole on her chin -- a very coarse hair that is very funny," Price said. Even with these advances, the remastered version took over 18 months to complete.

A particularly involved aspect of the restoration was removing evidence of dust, dirt and grim from the image. Even though the negative was "in extremely good condition," and despite the fact that the George Eastman House has done "a marvelous job of storing and protecting the negative,"Price noted that Warner Bros. still needed to clean up the image manually, frame by frame. "We had 25 to 50 people at any one time working for three months on this," he said. "You can't apply automated dirt cleaning because it would create artifacts. So you have people literally sitting with styluses, isolating the dirt, taking it out and then doing a preview to see what it would look like."

JimRochester

^ Probably will now be able to see how hokey the sets were.