"It is a profit driver, so supporting the DVD/Blu-ray business is of great importance." Universal Studios President and COO Ron Meyer commented during celebrations of the studio’s centenary. The milestone, according to The Hollywood Reporter, will be marked by a new logo and the restoration of 13 of its iconic films, including The Birds, Frankenstein, Jaws, Schindler's List, Out of Africa, The Sting, and To Kill a Mockingbird (which will be available January 31 in a 50th-anniversary Blu-ray edition).
“There will be a number of films in collectible book style packaging with memorabilia,” added Meyer. “It's an area for us to frankly show off and give the audience something they've never seen before.”
The restorations, which will be released throughout the studio's year-long centennial celebration, took three to six months each and cost $250,000 to $600,000 per title, Universal SVP, Technical Operations Michael Daruty told THR and others at a sneak preview of the results.
The restoration effort, he told reporters, was not just about marketability and whether they would sell enough DVDs, but a commitment by the company to devote funding to try to preserve and restore the legacy of the company. Digital2Disc will be providing a 100-year retrospective of the studio in its May issue - watch this space.
“This is a proud moment for all of us who’ve had the privilege of working at Universal Pictures,” added Meyer. “Our centennial is designed to bring special memories back to longtime movie lovers and fans, and to engage new audiences with our extraordinary library of films for the first time. Our goal, a hundred years later, is to preserve, restore, and continue the iconic legacy of this studio for generations to come.”
