"StudioCanal have announced the UK Double Play release of Dracula - Prince of Darkness on 5th March 2012. This horror classic starring Christopher Lee and Barbara Shelley is the first title in a new joint restoration project between StudioCanal and Hammer Films which aims to restore and release some of Hammer's most iconic horror titles on DVD and Blu-ray. "

Here's the problem: these may all be Studio Canal releases in the UK since Studio Canal seems to be a driving force behind the project. Problem solved...in the U.K. But. in North America, the ownership may be divided among various studios. As I mentioned earlier, I know that a lot of Hammer stuff was handled here by Warner Brothers but some of it was owned by Paramount.

For example, there is actually is an old Hammer movie on Blu in North America. Paramount licensed THE MAN WHO CHEAT DEATH (1959) to Legend Films for Blu-ray release. The back cover says: "Paramount Pictures presents a Hammer Production...". Paramount licenses a lot of their "lesser" titles to smaller companies for Blu-ray release.

Warner has been very tight with old genre film on Blu-ray. They are ignoring most of it on BD and increasing using Manufactured on Demand for classic genre DVDs.

I'm not suggesting that these WON'T see Blu-ray release here. I'm just pointing out that the deal in the UK is already done...but we don't have any deal here yet.

Hammer got back to me.
It's not great news for you continentals but it's not terrible.

Hammer films wrote:

@Cap_howdy Plan is release most, if not all restored films RgnA Blu-ray in US in due course. Hoping to confirm US distrib. partner soon...

Nice

They do follow me on twitter after all

The BR regioning is better, but still dumb.  As for the studios and their various claims on the different films, who knows.  I'll just go with an optimistic attitude for now.  I was grumpy enough yesterday for 2 weeks worth of grump.

When talking to people about Region Codes, it helps if we know where  we live. That's why I carefully fill out my "From" portion of my personal info.

I'm not sure what region you guys are from when I see Land of CheeseSteaks or Zombieland.

Are you European?

^^
Hmm, interesting.  I guess I have just been lucky in my purchases.  I just went and looked at some of Criterion's Blu-rays, and Amazon has them listed as Region 1 (DVD regions), so it leaves me to wonder what the heck they are actually classified as.

Back to the point, it would seem silly if they limited these new releases just to Britain.

Well, Criterion DVDs would be Region 1 locked because North America is Region for DVDs. And that's why most of the DVDs on amazon are Region 1. But most UK DVD players can actually handle North American DVDs (unfortunately, it rarely works the other way).

North America is Blu-ray Region A. The Region system is a bit different for BD.

The problem is that the rights to these movies in North America is held by different companies. Warner own a lot. Paramount owns a few. MGM used to own a few.

Warner, Paramount and MGM aren't going to release a boxed set of anything. Warner may or may not decide to release some of these. Paramount might...or they could license them out as they do with many Blu-rays. We don't know.

Until we do know, I'll temper my enthusiasm.

Back to the point, it would seem silly if they limited these new releases just to Britain.  (And speaking of which, why is Britain in a different region from the US/Canada?  It practically a colony of ours!    But seriously, almost all movies are released at the same time between the continents now... ) 

Something just hit me- I was reading a bit back that the discs might be region locked, but not a whole lot of Blu-ray players actually enforce it.  Maybe that's what is happening (at least for me)? 

Hell, I don't know.  I wanna watch movies.  Gimme movies.  None of this studio bullshit.

I have yet to come across a Blu-Ray that was actually region locked, so I'm not too worried.

I'm stunned.

QUATERMASS AND THE PIT is just one of many Region B locked Blu-rays.

Oh and Criterion locks most of it's titles Region A.

These UK releases will almost certainly be Region B locked.

Over here, just about every major studio had rights to a Hammer film at one time or another. Things might not be pretty on this side of the pond. I can foresee a situation in which some films get released and not others.

There are still many unanswered questions.