Ed Wood (1994)
Comedy, Drama, History • 2h 4m
Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Jeffrey Jones, G. D. Spradlin, Vincent D'Onofrio, Bill Murray, Mike Starr, Max Casella, Brent Hinkley, Jim Myers, Juliet Landau, Clive Rosengren, Norman Alden, Leonard Termo, Ned Bellamy, Danny Dayton, Ross Manarchy, Bill Cusack, Aaron Nelms, Biff Yeager, Joseph R. Gannascoli, Carmen Filpi, Lisa Malkiewicz, Melora Walters, Conrad Brooks, Don Amendolia, Tommy Bertelsen, Reid Cruickshanks, Stanley DeSantis, Lionel Decker, Edmund L. Shaff, Gene LeBell, Bobby Slayton, Gretchen Becker, John Rice, Catherine Butterfield, Mary Portser, King Cotton, Don Hood, Frank Echols, Matthew Barry, Ralph Monaco, Anthony Russell, Tommy Bush, Gregory Walcott, Charles C. Stevenson Jr., Rance Howard, Vasek Simek, Alan Martin, Salwa Ali, Rodney Kizziah, Korla Pandit, Hannah Eckstein, Luc De Schepper, Vinny Argiro, Patti Tippo, Ray Baker, Louis Lombardi, Jim Boyce, Ben Ryan Ganger, Ryan Holihan, Marc Revivo, Charlie Holliday, Adam Drescher, Ric Mancini, Daniel Riordan, Mickey Cottrell, Christopher George Simpson, Robert Binford, Herbert Boche, Linda Rae Brienza, Marlene Cook, Sylvia Coussa, Audrey Cuyler, Joseph Golightly, Carrie Starner Hummel, Ramona Kemp-Blair, Carolyn Kessinger, Nancy Longyear, Matthew Nelson, Robert Nuffer, William Michael Short, Susan Eileen Simpson, George F. Sterne, Charles Alan Stephenson, Cheri A. Williams, Cynthia Ann Wilson, Maurice LaMarche, Jesse Hernandez, Lena Banks, Ada Tai, Arlene Tai, Rayder Woods, Bill Blair, Bill Anderson, Eugenie Bondurant, Mike Breyer, Patrick Cranshaw, Ryal Haakenson, Zachary Keats, Susan Knego, Navya La Shay, Tanya Marten, Gorja Max, Johnny Meyer, John Michael Quinn, Michael Satterfield, Jeff Shrewsbury, Richard Yett
Best English-friendly release · updated 1 year ago
Overview
The mostly true story of the legendary "worst director of all time", who, with the help of his strange friends, filmed countless B-movies without ever becoming famous or successful.
Director: Tim Burton
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
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The compression is poor, but it still beats the previous Blu-ray. (Luminance plot)
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The 4K Blu-ray only has Atmos which is possibly the original mix, but the previous Blu-ray’s 4.0 sounds good too.
Director: Tim Burton
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray caps. The HDR10 base layer is bright, so I'd recommended to watch it in Dolby Vision.
4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray is missing the isolated score and Martian dub from the DVD
Directors: Tim Burton & Mike Johnson
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray caps. Original 1.85 framing restored, much better colors, image detail and a film stock-like tone curve was restored.
Warner Bros HD-DVD has the original 6.1 mix in a better format than the Blu-ray (Dolby Digital Plus instead of standard Dolby Digital), but is still lossy and a disc prone to disc rot. The Blu-ray is a good alternative.
Director: Tim Burton
WB 4K Blu-ray but has MAJOR Color Timing issues. All cold blues are rendered teal. WB Blu-ray despite issues is a purist visual option in this regard.
Dolby Stereo SR: WB LaserDisc PCM
Dolby Digital 5.1: 1997 DVD
2005 5.1 new transfer: WB DVD in Dolby and DTS, 2008 Blu-ray in TrueHD
First ever Dolby Digital 5.1 wide release film. 4K Blu-ray has new Atmos remix which replaces original sound effects and prioritizes music and bombast. A terrible audio experience to be avoided. 1997 WB DVD has open matte version on flipper disc. VHS also is open matte.
International Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
> US Paramount 4K Blu-ray for the US Cut.
International Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray, is significantly better than the US Paramount 4K Blu-ray (even with FEL Baked in and Dolby Vision), with more grain retention and detail
SDR Comparisons: International Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray vs US Paramount 4K Blu-ray: https://slow.pics/c/TEPHtKjl
HDR Comparisons: International Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray vs US Paramount 4K Blu-ray: https://slow.pics/c/hIFe11Hx
Comparisons in SDR using L8 Trim from CM v4.0 (both UHDs can use CM v4.0): Remux vs USA UHD: https://slow.pics/c/mkrhVtpl
The International Cut, which contains alternate, more violent shots in the final act, hasn't been released on home video to date.
International Cut contains alternate, more violent shots in the final act.
Director: Tim Burton
Sources: movie-censorship.com (opens in a new tab)
Theatrical Cut: Warner Bros US 2-disc Deluxe Edition DVD set
Extended Cut: Warner Bros Blu-ray
See cut information: https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=4167
Theatrical Cut: Cinema DTS
Extended Cut: Warner Bros Blu-ray
2014 Japan "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Blu-ray
Japan Studio Ghibli 4K Blu-ray announced for a November 25, 2026 release
Japanese audio: 2014 Japan "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Blu-ray/US GKIDS Blu-ray
English dub (Disney): 1998 US Disney VHS has better sounding vocals despite altered music and sound effects, the US Disney LaserDisc has limited audio, and 2003 DVD is a fake 5.1 upmix
Releases from 2010 onward have the original music and sound effects, but distorted vocals
English dub (Streamline): 1996 Japan remastered LaserDisc, available in Ghibli Ga Ippai Collection boxset
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
BD LPCM 5.1
The DTS-HD on the UHD has been dynamically compressed, has had its center channel boosted, and surrounds lowered (typical modern nearfield mix for soundbars). Very different from the BD and DVD tracks. The BD LPCM is basically just a lossless version of the DTS and AC3 from the original DVD (the AC3 actually being the superior mix on that particular release).
Video format: 4K Streaming
Director: Michael Bay
Video format: HD Streaming
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
4K possibly teased?
Directors: Bill Roberts & Paul Satterfield & Wilfred Jackson & Ben Sharpsteen & James Algar & T. Hee & Hamilton Luske & Samuel Armstrong & Jim Handley & Norman Ferguson & David Hand & Ford Beebe Jr.
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
1991 CAV LaserDisc includes an approximation of the original Fantasound mix in Dolby Surround using the surviving magnetic mixdown, using Stokowski's original mixing notes as a reference. Original aggressive pans and dynamic range are left in tact.
The 2000 DVD uses this same mix in discrete 5.0, but with some unnecessary dynamic range compression + a redub of all Deems Taylor audio with Corey Burton.
The 7.1 mix on the 2010 Blu-ray sounds poor, having been hit with excessive noise reduction, dynamic range compression, original aggressive pans no longer in tact, and the channel usage no longer resembles Stokowski's original intended sound design.
Director: Chris Columbus
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Disney 4K Blu-ray has encoding issues with bitrates dipping into 40mbps, and Kaleidescape has better encoding than Disney see caps
Old Fox Blu-ray master is stretched and sharpened
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
2014 "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Japan Blu-ray or US Disney Blu-ray
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · lddb.com (opens in a new tab)
2014 "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Japan Blu-ray
2014 "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Japan Blu-ray
Comparisons: https://slow.pics/c/6JWnlfit
All sources are within margin of error. Comparisons: Japanese, English
Alternate Streamline English dub is available only on 1994 Fox LD.
Video format: 4K Streaming
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Video format: 4K Streaming
More Comedy on Blu-ray
Director: Paul King
StudioCanal UK 4K Blu-ray minimal picture upgrade (2K upscale)
StudioCanal UK 4K Blu-ray has good new Atmos mix
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the Sony release without the filtering; Comparison between Sony and Criterion.
Mono: 1994 LaserDisc (marginally, unfiltered) or Criterion 4K Blu-ray (filtered)
5.1 Remix: Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Steve De Jarnatt
2024 Kino Lorber Blu-ray
UK Transmission 4K Blu-ray in January 2027
Either the 2015 Kino Lorber Blu-ray or the Arrow Blu-ray
The 2024 Kino Lorber Blu-ray is botched.
Director: Bruce Robinson
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray has stronger encode than Criterion
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· last reviewed 1 year ago
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