Back to the Future 35th Anniversary 4k Sets Announced

From backtothefuture.com:

In Honor of Back to the Future’s 35th Anniversary, One of the Biggest Motion Picture Trilogies Comes to 4K Ultra HD for the First Time Ever
BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE ULTIMATE TRILOGY
EXPERIENCE BACK TO THE FUTURE LIKE NEVER BEFORE — INCLUDES OVER AN HOUR OF NEW BONUS FEATURES WITH RARE CASTING AUDITIONS WITH CELEBRATED HOLLYWOOD STARS

OWN THE NEW 4K ULTRA HD COMBO PACK WITH NEWLY REMASTERED BLU-RAY™ AND DIGITAL CODE ON OCTOBER 20, 2020 — FROM UNIVERSAL PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT

Universal City, California, July 27, 2020 – Great Scott! In 1985, Director Robert Zemeckis, Executive Producer Steven Spielberg and Producer/Screenwriter Bob Gale embarked on a three-part journey through time that broke box-office records worldwide and catapulted BACK TO THE FUTURE into one of the most beloved trilogies in motion picture history. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment celebrates the 35th Anniversary of the groundbreaking first film with BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE ULTIMATE TRILOGY available on 4K Ultra HD for the first time ever on October 20, 2020 - just in time to celebrate “Back to the Future Day” on October 21! This collection is loaded with bonus material including a bonus disc that comes with over an hour of brand-new content such as rare audition footage from Hollywood stars Ben Stiller, Kyra Sedgwick, Jon Cryer, Billy Zane, Peter DeLuise and C. Thomas Howell, a tour of the film’s props and memorabilia hosted by co-writer/producer Bob Gale, a sneak peek at the new musical show, and a special episode of the popular YouTube Series “Could You Survive The Movies?” Join Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and a time traveling DeLorean for the adventure of a lifetime as they travel to the past, present and future, setting off a time-shattering chain reaction that disrupts the space-time continuum!

BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE ULTIMATE TRILOGY will include all three movies in collectible discbook packaging plus a bonus disc including all-new bonus content. For the first time, the past, present and future collide in eye-popping Ultra HD resolution for a time-traveling celebration. New 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray™ deliver the highest quality picture, more colors than ever before, and immersive, multi-dimensional sound. From filmmakers Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, this unforgettable 35th anniversary collection features hours of bonus features and is an unrivaled trilogy that stands the test of time making this a must-own for everyone’s movie library. All three BACK TO THE FUTURE films will also be available on 4K Ultra HD digitally for the first time ever and BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE COMPLETE TRILOGY will also be available on DVD.

Three premium collections will be available at select retailers for a limited time only:

• BACK TO THE FUTURE 35TH ANNIVERSARY TRILOGY LIMITED EDITION GIFT SET (4K UHD): Includes exclusive levitating Hoverboard replica (Amazon Exclusive)
  
  
• BACK TO THE FUTURE 35TH ANNIVERSARY TRILOGY LIMITED EDITION GIFT SET (Blu-ray™): Includes exclusive levitating Hoverboard replica (Target Exclusive)
  
  
• BACK TO THE FUTURE 35TH ANNIVERSARY LIMITED EDITION TRILOGY (4K UHD): Includes three newly designed steelbooks (Best Buy Exclusive)
  
  
• For more information on these exclusives, please visit the individual retailer's stores and websites.

 

Is this a new scan or just new packaging?

 

New scan, I think. It says "newly remastered."

 

What’s with the weird faux airbrushing on Marty? His neck also looks artificially extended.

 

Meh. I have the HD version. The first film is severely oversharpened, so I prefer watching the first one off a DVD, and the second and the third off a BD. I really do not think there is any resolution left in the source film for 4K remaster. As much as I am a fan, I will not be running to get one.

 

What format is the HD version on?

 

Blu-ray.

 

I'm going to pick up a copy but none of the local online retailers have put up a pre-order yet. They seem to slack off a bit on these things and I'm not 100% confident about ordering it on Amazon in case the blu-ray discs are region coded and I won't be able to watch them. I've got the Blu-ray set at the moment and the DVD set with the framing error on I think Back to the Future 2 however I'd like to see what sort of improvements can be made over the current Blu-ray and Back to the Future is one of my favorite films so I've got to have a copy on UHD.

 

I have both DVD and BD versions too. I had the DVD with the framing error replaced.

 

I think I knew about the framing error a while ago but for whatever reason, I never bothered to check if I did indeed have the error until I saw actual images of what it looked like. It's been such a long time since the recall and I have the Blu-ray now so I just can't be bothered to get it replaced. Especially when I could probably just buy the trilogy again for $10 or maybe even less if I were desperate.

 

The AVC encoded 'US Digital Cinema Package HDTV' looks a lot nicer than the current Blu-ray. Caps-A-Holic have some good comparisons for the first movie.

Not sure what this 4K edition will bring but I'm quite happy with my LD.

 

I preordered the set from Amazon with the little hoverboard desk toy before I even made this thread and now my order is delayed until the 31st. What the hell

 

I noticed that Apple has implemented the 4k transfers for their Apple TV versions and I'm slightly tempted to buy it and watch them on my Apple TV but I also want to wait for the UHD discs I preordered but they won't ship until next week I think.

 

Oops, scratch that. Comes tomorrow apparently!

 

Seems like they didn't go overboard with noise reduction. I see some nice grain here!

 

Although you can't really tell the nitty-gritty based on a Youtube compressed SDR version of a 4K HDR Blu-ray scan. But I noticed a few things immediately.

• The colors look far more grounded than their blu-ray counterparts. The blu-ray had some really overbearing colors but it looks like they really nailed it for this release
• There seems to be less noise reduction and edge enhancement. The lack of halos and an increase in facial detail is immediately noticeable.

Overall, I'll be happy to pick these up when I get a 4K player

 

I had the DVD box set then upgraded to the BR box set which is good enough for me. Can't afford to upgrade everything to 4K.
The Digital Bits give the 4K set a good review as does Home Theater Forum for those interested.

 

I got my set in today and watched BttF 1 and it looks fantastic. Easily the best this film has ever looked.

 

The Blu-ray.com page is up... and it looks like its performed exceptionally. Back to the Future: The Ultimate Trilogy 4K Blu-ray Release Date October 20, 2020

 

So far I'm really enjoying the image quality of the UHD disc, granted I'm watching it on a 1080p display it's still an HDR10 display so I should be getting the colors at least. The difference between this and the previous Blu-ray kind of reminds me of the difference between the old Blu-ray and the Hi-Vision laserdisc which was quite heavily saturated and had a harsh contrasty look to it which may have looked okay on HD CRTs of the era but not that great in Techmoan's youtube video. This new transfer is also a lot easier on the eyes, probably because the old transfer was aimed at becoming an SD DVD for CRT displays much like the 2011 Blu-ray of Star Wars.
Bonus features a little bit of a letdown, nothing really all that new over what was offered on the blu-ray. I think there was a youtube original and some other stuff like that but I prefer Behind the Scenes content to promotional fluff.

 

I watched the first two films last night. They looked excellent and the Atmos audio really shined. I'm going back to the old west tonight.

 

Good to know. They've screwed up every single version of this film since the first DVD. If they finally did it right, it will only have taken them 20 years.