'Blade Runner' replicated on DVD again
'Blade Runner' back
May 26, 2006
Warner Home Video has acquired worldwide rights to Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" and is preparing two DVD editions of the landmark 1982 science fiction classic.
In September, Warner will release a restored and remastered version of the film's 1992 director's cut, which debuted on DVD in 1997 as one of the first movies to appear on the format. This version of "Runner" will only be available for four months.
Next year, to celebrate the film's 25th anniversary, Warner will release "Blade Runner: The Final Cut," which it is billing as Scott's "definitive new version" of the film. After a limited theatrical release, the newly spruced-up "Runner" will be released in a multidisc special edition DVD that also will include the original theatrical cut, the expanded international theatrical cut and the 1992 director's cut.
"This is clearly Ridley's signature film, and we are thrilled to have it back," Warner senior vp and general manager of theatrical catalog Jeff Baker said.
He said that while specifics about the two DVD editions will be announced later, Warner wanted to announce its release plans early "to get this great news to the many serious film buffs and ardent 'Blade Runner' fans who have been so patient, despite besieging us with thousands of annual requests in recent years for new 'Blade Runner' DVDs."
" 'Blade Runner: The Director's Cut' was one of the very first titles to be released on DVD, and so it came out before optimal formatting standards had been established," said Doug Pratt, editor of the DVD-LaserDisc Newsletter. "Shortly afterwards, it went into moratorium. The early adopters who bought the title have long since wished to see it upgraded, while other fans, who came into DVDs later on, have been unable to find it at all. It is the only 'big' sci-fi spectacle currently unavailable on DVD."
"Runner" stars Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos and Daryl Hannah and won plaudits -- as well as two Oscar nominations -- for its dark, bleak vision of the future. Ford heads the cast as Rick Deckard, a futuristic cop -- the film is set in 2019 Los Angeles -- who needs to kill four errant human clones who hijack a space ship back to Earth after escaping from exile in an off-world colony.
The film bowed in theaters in summer 1982, and while it only grossed $26.2 million, it quickly became a cult classic. The film is based on the novel by late science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, whose prose also led to such films as "Total Recall," "Minority Report" and "Paycheck."
In September, Warner will release a restored and remastered version of the film's 1992 director's cut, which debuted on DVD in 1997 as one of the first movies to appear on the format. This version of "Runner" will only be available for four months.
Next year, to celebrate the film's 25th anniversary, Warner will release "Blade Runner: The Final Cut," which it is billing as Scott's "definitive new version" of the film. After a limited theatrical release, the newly spruced-up "Runner" will be released in a multidisc special edition DVD that also will include the original theatrical cut, the expanded international theatrical cut and the 1992 director's cut.
"This is clearly Ridley's signature film, and we are thrilled to have it back," Warner senior vp and general manager of theatrical catalog Jeff Baker said.
He said that while specifics about the two DVD editions will be announced later, Warner wanted to announce its release plans early "to get this great news to the many serious film buffs and ardent 'Blade Runner' fans who have been so patient, despite besieging us with thousands of annual requests in recent years for new 'Blade Runner' DVDs."
" 'Blade Runner: The Director's Cut' was one of the very first titles to be released on DVD, and so it came out before optimal formatting standards had been established," said Doug Pratt, editor of the DVD-LaserDisc Newsletter. "Shortly afterwards, it went into moratorium. The early adopters who bought the title have long since wished to see it upgraded, while other fans, who came into DVDs later on, have been unable to find it at all. It is the only 'big' sci-fi spectacle currently unavailable on DVD."
"Runner" stars Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos and Daryl Hannah and won plaudits -- as well as two Oscar nominations -- for its dark, bleak vision of the future. Ford heads the cast as Rick Deckard, a futuristic cop -- the film is set in 2019 Los Angeles -- who needs to kill four errant human clones who hijack a space ship back to Earth after escaping from exile in an off-world colony.
The film bowed in theaters in summer 1982, and while it only grossed $26.2 million, it quickly became a cult classic. The film is based on the novel by late science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, whose prose also led to such films as "Total Recall," "Minority Report" and "Paycheck."
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