World Trade Center (2006)
Drama, History, Thriller • 2h 9m
Director: Oliver Stone
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Maria Bello, Connor Paolo, Anthony Piccininni, Alexa Gerasimovich, Morgan Flynn, Michael Peña, Armando Riesco, Jay Hernandez, Joe Starr, Jon Bernthal, William Jimeno, Nick Damici, Jude Ciccolella, Martin Pfefferkorn, Razame de la Crackers, Nelson Peña, Marcos Palma, Andre Ward, Cliff Bemis, Harmonica Sunbeam, Ned Eisenberg, Nicholas Turturro, Danny Nucci, Tyree Michael Simpson, Kevin Feely, Mark Elliot Wilson, Tawny Cypress, Robert Blanche, Tom Wright, Terry Quinn, Ed Jewett, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Maria Helan, Brad William Henke, Patti D'Arbanville, Donna Murphy, Nicky Katt, Lucia Brawley, Kimberly Scott, Dara Coleman, Tiffany Romano, Gregory Jbara, Michael Shannon, Jordan Lage, Wass Stevens, Peter McRobbie, Dorothy Lyman, Julie Adams, Tony Genaro, Aixa Maldonado, Jay Acovone, Howard Samuelsohn, David H. Ahl, Arthur J. Nascarella, Thom Prin Jr., Steve Chappell, William Mapother, Thomas F. Duffy, Stephen Dorff, Frank Whaley, Stoney Westmoreland, Tommy Asher, Charles A. Gargano, Thomas McHale, Lalanya Masters, Greg Collins, Scott Fox, Louis Raimondi, Victor Spadaro, John Kiernan, Liz A. Randall, Roger Cross, Jossara Jinaro, Joseph Esposito, Gary Stretch, Viola Davis, Kurt Caceres, Lola Cook, Nick Rey Angelus, Ethan Aronoff, Michael Arthur, Amanda Saphire Billingham, Yuki Bird, David Boston, Barry Brisco, Basilina Butler, Luna Rocio Cantale, Francesca Casale, Michael Devine, Jonathon Downs, Barbra Dunn, LynNita Ellis, Benjamin Fitch, Dennis Jay Funny, Paul Grace, S.A. Griffin, Jay Gutierrez, Sean Hampton, Frank Hopf, Lou Irizarry, Edward M. Kelahan, Chad Knorr, Katia Louise, John C. McDonnell, John C. McGinley, John McLoughlin, Franco Moscon, Robert Myers, J. Woodward Palmer, Jelani Quinn, Lalo Reyes, Brieann Rich, Nicholas Rich, Vincent James Russo, Sahlima, Maz Siam, Klatann Thomas, Pete Turner
Best audio release
Atmos remix: 2025 Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray
Original 5.1 surround mix: 2007 Paramount Blu-ray (lossy AC-3 640k)
The original mix has better dynamics range. The 5.1 tracks on the SF release are downmixes.
Additional info
Target exclusive 3 disc DVD have extras omitted from the Shout! Factory release
About the film
Two police officers struggle to survive when they become trapped beneath the rubble of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Director: Oliver Stone
Theatrical Cut 4K Blu-ray in August
Director's Cut: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray
Theatrical Cut: Shout! Factory Blu-ray (included with collector's edition)
Theatrical Cut: The Shout UHD DTS-HD 2.0
Theatrical Cut: The Shout UHD DTS-HD 2.0 seems to be the same mix overall as the 1992 laserdisc PCM 2.0 but its not a straight port. Even though there are some minor differences, it does not seem to be a downmix of the 5.1. It could possibly be a new mastering. It has just a tiny bit more dynamic range than the laserdisc, but the laserdisc has a bit more presence in the lower and midrange frequencies.
Director: Oliver Stone
Sources: hometheaterforum.com (opens in a new tab) · x.com (opens in a new tab)
A improved Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray teased by Oliver Stone
Better than 2022 Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray due to poor encode and heavy DNR (review)
Director: Oliver Stone
Sources: lddb.com (opens in a new tab)
Twilight Time Blu-ray or MGM NTSC DVD for the original mono mix
Shout! Factory 4K only has a stereo downmix (which sounds muffled, as do the surround tracks)
Twilight Time Blu-ray has the mono track with seemingly the best fidelity, but its dynamic range has been heavily compressed
MoC UK Blu-ray has a proper dynamics and good fidelity, but bizzarely, everything is repeated after a few miliseconds, rendering echoey and metallic
MGM NTSC DVD has been denoised and has had a strong EQ applied and sounds muffled as a result, but it retains proper dynamics
Koch Media DE BD had poor dynamics and wrong pitch
Perhaps the digital JP LD would be better.
Director: Oliver Stone
Director: Oliver Stone
Director's Cut: WB Director's Cut DVD
Final Cut: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray > Paramount US and Capelight DE, same black crush on all three but the Arrow is encoded by FiM and has very good new supplements, the Capelight looks slightly low-passed, but in motion it probably looks about the same as the Paramount, see caps comparison for all three.
Arrow and Paramount basically sound the same, the Arrow has a slightly higher bitrate. Capelight is probably the same too but for now it's TBA.
Paramount US 4K Blu-ray has FEL Dolby Vision
Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray and Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray have MEL Dolby Vision
Paramount 4K Blu-ray Purist choice: Blu-ray
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)
Paramount 4K Blu-ray new improved master with color grading and slight issues. Blu-ray is old master with original color grading
Blu-ray 5.1
The Paramount 4K Blu-ray has a much better new scan that removes the original extremely dated color grading. This is an improvement on one hand but a definite revisionist change on the other. There is the expected grain management and slight HDR issues in addition to encoding quirks from Paramount. It is a giant improvement over the original Blu-ray but the color change and other issues means that the Blu-ray is one to keep for purists to have the as-is original iteration of the film's presentation. Audio wise the film has been remixed into Atmos but it merely seems like a slightly tweaked and frankly tamed version of the original 5.1. Of the two I prefer the Blu-ray 5.1. The original Blu-ray was Dolby TrueHD and the reissue Blu-ray in the four film Blu-ray collection boxset was DTS-HDMA.
DFIC extensive review: https://youtu.be/evsrJOTIjdA?si=wtdWGxZBfhPYTIeW
Director: Tony Scott
The 70mm 6-track mix has a higher bitrate on the Paramount 1998 DVD, but is more limited than on the THX LaserDisc The Paramount 1998 DVD also has open matte versions in fullscreen 1.33:1 and widescreen 2.00:1 instead of the theatrical aspect ratio of 2.39:1, but the 2.00:1 widescreen presentation is non-anamorphic. The THX LaserDisc is available in both fullscreen 1.33:1 and widescreen 2.00:1 variants.
Director: Terrence Malick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Lovely underlying remaster by Criterion and Resillion but encode is sadly low-pass filtered by Pixelogic, and even then, the encode is still less than ideal. Still easily obliterates any prior disc release, but certainly wouldn't hurt to have a UK or German label take a crack at this same master.
Director: Peter Faiman
Australia Cut: Australia Fox DVD
International Cut: Paramount Blu-ray
Encore Cut: Germany Winkler Film 4K Blu-ray, censored but good encoding
Sources: movie-censorship.com (opens in a new tab)
US Paramount 4K Blu-ray, is the International US Cut and not the Encore Cut
Australia Cut: Laserdisc
The film exists in three versions:
- the original Australian cut (~104 minutes at 24fps/~100 minutes at 25fps);
- the American/international version (~98 minutes at 24fps/~94 minutes at 25fps) trimming some exposition in the Outback first half of the film and some shorter extensions of a few seconds in the New York section, altering some of the dialogue – including censoring a "fuck" to "screw" – but featuring one additional dialogue extension not in the Australian version (a comparison of the two cuts can be found at Movie Censorship);
- the Australian Encore Cut (~95 minutes at 24fps/~91 minutes at 25fps) which uses the international version source so it already has those alterations but also removes approximately three minutes consisting of parts of two scenes featuring Mick grabbing the crotch of a cross-dressing prostitute and a later sequence when he does the same thing at a party to a woman with a deep voice (a comparison of the international version and the Encore Cut can be found at Movie Censorship).
3D version: Paramount 3D Blu-ray
Paramount 4K Blu-ray on October 26 2026
Director: Billy Wilder
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Paramount 4K Blu-ray. See caps
HDR/grading: nice, but some blown out
Encoding: inconsistent, smeared motion
DNR: inconsistent, frozen
Old Paramount Blu-ray is arguably a solid alternative choice
Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono
Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono is different version of the Blu-ray mono from the same old 2000 DVD transfer.
The 5.1 remix on the 4K Blu-ray is an appalling remix done by going wild with artificially generated stems from Park Road Post who were given the surviving mono to separate. The experience is jarring and fidelity to original mix in terms of level balance, directionality and impact is nonexistent. Not only does this sound painfully weird, but the Paramount mixers then did whatever they wanted in terms of LFE, sound pans and effect changes.
The original mono mix was not restored and still needs it badly. The 4K master is filled with frozen grain examples coming and going plus some HDR issues in addition to the usual Paramount problems. It is simultaneously better and worse than the Blu-ray master.
More Drama on Blu-ray
Director: Robert Altman
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Cinematrographe's HDR grading is overcooked, which is a known VinSyn tendency. Additionally, their booklet mis-credits the encode to FiM.
YMMV, but for some, the included BD encoded by Marcus Johnson—ironically may make for a more pleasing experience.
Director: Roman Polanski
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
UK 4K teased by 88 Films https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=24252379
Carlotta France 4K Blu-ray > Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray (better encode on Carlotta without any low-pass filtering, more extras and English subtitles on Vinegar Syndrome)
Director: John Woo
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Arrow has a different grade and a better encode than the Shout! Factory, though the difference in either is not major. Imprint release, which leaves Shout! Factory's master and subtitles as is, is encoded by FiM. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24473097&postcount=56
Original mix: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray
Alternate mix: Scanbox Nordic PAL DVD
Surround remix: HK Video France 4K Blu-ray (5.0)
Original mix: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray (similar to Criterion LaserDisc, but less distorted)
Alternate mix: Scanbox Nordic PAL DVD
Surround remix: HK Video France 4K Blu-ray (5.0)
Arrow used the alternate mix, but with extra filtering and lowered dynamic range. The alternate mix has much better fidelity.
Imprint presumably used the Shout! Factory original mix and left it as is, though no official confirmation.
Director: Richard Brooks
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Vincent Sherman
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray > Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
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