Seventy years after it was first released, MGM's enduring The Wizard of Oz is receiving yet another facelift. An expensive one. Warner Bros. Home Video, which owns the rights to the classic, said that it has rescanned the original Technicolor negatives using 8K resolution -- twice that of the most recent DVD release. (The Technicolor process required three black-and-white camera reels of film running simultaneously behind colored filters. Using a dye-transfer process, the images from each of the reels was printed with ink -- not developed -- onto celluloid. The new process combines the three images digitally.) The Blu-ray 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition of the movie, to be released on September 29, will carry a retail price of $84.99. A DVD version will cost $69.92. The package will include about four hours of new extras plus a digital copy as well as souvenirs, including a coffee-table book and a crystal watch.

10/06/2009