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Mill Creek Entertainment Announces First 4K Blu-ray Releases
Posted October 19, 2018 08:42 PM by
Mill Creek Entertainment has officially announced its first two 4K Blu-ray releases: Toni Myers' A Beautiful Planet (2016) and Stephen Judson and Greg MacGillivray's Journey to the South Pacific (2013). The two releases will be available for purchase on December 11.
Synopsis: Narrated by Academy Award-winner Jennifer Lawrence, A Beautiful Planet is a breathtaking portrait of Earth from space, providing a unique perspective and increased understanding of our planet and galaxy as never seen before. Made in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the film features stunning footage of our magnificent blue planet – and the effects humanity has had on it over time – captured by the astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS). From space, Earth blazes at night with the electric intensity of human expansion – a direct visualization of our changing world. But it is within our power to protect the planet. As we continue to explore and gain knowledge of our galaxy, we also develop a deeper connection to the place we all call home.
Synopsis: Narrated by Academy Award-winner Cate Blanchett, Journey to the South Pacific will take moviegoers on a breathtaking IMAX adventure to the lush tropical islands of remote West Papua, where life flourishes above and below the sea. Join Jawi, a young island boy as he takes us on a journey of discovery to this magical place where we encounter whale sharks, sea turtles, manta rays, and other iconic creatures of the sea. Home to more than 2,000 species of sea life, this exotic locale features the most diverse marine ecosystem on Earth. An uplifting story of hope and celebration, Journey to the South Pacific highlights the importance of living in balance with the ocean planet we all call home.
I'll probably pick these up if they are the right price. But my question is any idea what 'IMAX enhanced' means? I'll assume it's a Mill Creek quality HDR encode?
IMAX Enhanced is a new “THX Certified” type of thing for TVs, and receivers that’s supposed to make titles such as these look better. They use DTS:X and HDR10+ for the IMAX Enhanced titles.
@BrowncoatJedi: Many of these nature documentaries are shot "large format"--the financing and production at least contemplates some kind of "premium" home video presentation. It's a different calculus with Criterion insofar as they're a licensee that is much less in any kind of "driver's seat" position on what they release and in what format. I'd opine that the absence of UHD BDs from Criterion is less a Criterion issue than a licensor studio one: If the studios aren't interested in licensing 4K masters to Criterion (because, for instance, they're waiting to see how robust that market might become to exploit directly instead of via licensure), then there's little Criterion can do about that. (There's also the messy issue of the studios likely wanting to charge licensees more for 4K masters than 1080, which likely means higher MSRPs for the licensor's product.)
It's a different scenario than for a, say, MacGillivray Films.
That Earth from space documentary would be amazing for 4k. I'd probably just get it and play with the volume off, or with music playing, so as not to ruin it with the narration.
@Paul.R.S Another reason might be that 4K UHD discs are region free. Criterion has normally the rights for North America only and their discs are region A locked (except for a few Criterion UK releases which are also not region free but region B locked). They would have to acquire more expensive world wide rights to release region free 4K UHD discs.
Unfortunately, all the Imax documentary films that have been released on blu-ray have not been in the original aspect ratio. Funny the original DVDs were in original aspect ratio. Now that we have a format, 4K, that can do justice to the imax format they are going to crop these as well. Look at the DVD versions and see home much of the image is missing. I hated watching shuttle launches that were perfectly framed for Imax film but on blu-ray the top of the rocket is missing and much of the launch platform. As bad as the resolution is, I guess I still need to keep my Imax DVDs.
You'd lose so much horizontal resolution though by doing 1.43:1 on disc no? I agree it would be cool to have the option though, of a 16:9 version and a 1.43:1 version.
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