Re: Warner Brothers Archive Collection Blu-rays
Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2026 12:23 am
SanCarolina59 over at bluray.com...
Here's some of the major highlights of the podcast I've heard so far:
George gives a somewhat detailed overview of what you can expect from WAC in 2026. There will be a lot of titles coming out with the same "marquee value" of Mogambo and Tarzan And His Mate, well known classics. Why weren't these released on Blu-ray 15, 17 years ago? At that time, unfortunately, most of the early adopters for Blu-ray were not interested in classics, and when the moment finally came where that could have happened, there were people there at the time that were more interested in taking that money and pouring it into "sleazy made for video slasher movies". That really put a crimp in their ability then to do catalog releases and these more interesting projects.
WAC has now since taken the lead on catalog releases at WB, with new masters and highest quality being the goal. George has mentioned the "100 releases currently in development" before, now he gives an overview of sorts of what these releases will entail. Feature films spanning from the 1930s to "a little bit" in the 2000s, with the majority of the films from WAC in 2026 being considered "core classics". People who said "finally!" to Mogambo and Tarzan And His Mate can expect a lot more where that came from in 2026. It was hard to get approval, especially for some films where they had previously said the existing older master was good enough, to get approval to do a new master, but those approvals have been made and "many exciting projects have been approved". If you're a serious film collector, 2026 will be a very satisfying year.
Outside of feature films, expect more live action television releases as well, and more animated releases - both theatrical and television animation releases.
How many releases can you expect a month after February? Expect 6-8 releases a month in 2026, potentially even more than that depending on the circumstances. WAC has skipped February in the past multiple times due to the usual clog after the holidays, but George released a lighter slate this February, as he wanted to make sure they did something this year for February.
February was lighter than normal due to two big TV related projects going on at MPI, which have pushed everything out a bit so these could get done. George will not say what the big project is, but he can say it will be a WAC Blu-ray release when it's done.
Thankfully, the whole "things not being out on street date curse" seems to be lifting, and things will hopefully now be out on time.
Tarzan And His Mate contains a minute more of extra footage that has never been on any previous release before - nothing significant but a minute more of what the censors had snipped out after the code came into effect. Thank M-G-M's thorough preservation program in the 1960s for preserving both the original pre-code and the altered post-code version of Tarzan And His Mate. This is the first time work has been done on the film since 1994 for an SD master, with this new work being from a 4K scan of the best preservation elements.
Red Dust and Mogambo were not intended to be released so close together. George had intended there to be a few months in between the releases, but right after Red Dust was completed, Mogambo ended up being ready to go, and George doesn't want to hold any completed projects back - when it's done, it'll be released to the public that wants it.