Warner Bros. releasing James Bond on 4K
A couple of years ago, although Warner Bros. was sluggish on releasing their titles in 4K, it was announced that a number of films from their library would be getting notable ultra-high definition Blu-ray upgrades. The titles for last year’s physical media releases included Lethal Weapon, Amadeus, Constantine and David Fincher’s Seven. It would also be announced that a collection of the Sean Connery James Bond films was to be sold in a new set. However, this Connery set may be the last of the James Bond films in 4K coming from Warner Bros.
Amazon MGM makes a new alliance
According to The Digital Bits, a new report has been released, which states that Warner Bros. will no longer be releasing MGM titles, including James Bond movies, on 4K as Amazon MGM Studios has now signed a new exclusive packaged media distribution deal with Alliance Entertainment. Per The Digital Bits, “The new Alliance deal covers both new releases and catalog titles on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray Disc, and it includes TV titles as well as feature films.” As far as Bond goes, more films from the franchise have already been in the works to be released in 4K, but they will now be distributed under the Alliance Entertainment banner.
The future with Alliance
Amazon MGM isn’t the only studio that inked a deal with Alliance. Paramount reportedly also partnered with the company for the distribution of the titles. Since then, the studio has not been releasing very much of their library in 4K. Both Paramount and Warner (who are dealing with bigger fish right now) are more likely to start veering away from physical media, however, this may actually be a good thing for movie fans as a third party distributor can start releasing titles from both their libraries at a faster rate since the companies will no longer have to do it in-house.
Last year saw the releases of the Spielberg films Minority Report and Catch Me If You Can, and titles like Dances with Wolves, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Stargate and more may see a physical media upgrade now that Alliance is now in charge.
