To capitalize on both the 40th anniversary of Raiders of the Lost Ark and the allegedly upcoming fifth movie, Paramount is reportedly planning a 4K Blu-ray box set of all four Indiana Jones movies in 2021. The Digital Fix has the scoop.
As you may know, while Disney owns the Indiana Jones IP these days, they only hold distribution rights to future films; the first four films remain in Paramount's control, which complicates the possibility of a five-film box set down the road. However, the companies both stand to benefit from the renewed relevance of the brand, and the article states that Lucasfilm has given Paramount access to the archives in order to produce new bonus material for this release -- including, it is hinted, deleted scenes, which fans know have never been made available before. Will we get to see the periscope ride, the singing on elephants, the death of Chatter Lal, Pat Roach's role in Last Crusade, the explosion in the Canyon of the Crescent moon, and the original tarantula version of the Name of God trial, among others? Only time will tell.
In the meantime, I need to save money for a 4K TV.
Source: The Digital Fix
If anyone is unaware, the original Raiders of the Lost Ark story conference transcripts were leaked online some years ago. They're AMAZING reading. George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Philip Kaufman had made a rough outline of the film and Lucas and Spielberg brief a young Lawrence Kasdan on what they want. This is literally the time that many legendary moments were conceived.
The original PDFs were pretty much impossible to read, so I converted them into an eBook format. If you're interested in reading them, this is the best way: http://www.thunderpeel2001.com/files/RaidersStoryConference.epub
I'm actually in the process of fixing more of the OCR typos and about to release a second version of the document. I'll post it here when it's done.
shuv-oohl
By then PS5 will be out, so people will actually own a UHD bluray player then too!
A UHD Blu-ray player is way less intimidating investment than a 4K television that would justify it.