Movies with wrong color grading *** UPDATED ***

(updated on 2015-04-01)

...or, the "Teal & Orange" syndrome has infected more directors than we could think of! (^^,)

(link to a couple blog entries: Into the Abyss - Not on Blu-Ray)

EDIT: some other interesting links to find out color grading differences:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1512231/xylons-comparison-pix-threads/0_50

http://www.caps-a-holic.com

http://www.screenshotcomparison.com

http://www.movie-censorship.com

Well, after I released my "The Thing [spoRv]" project, many users posted in that thread about the possibility to use the same technique to correct color grading of other movies - regarding the fact that some (many?) Blu-Ray new releases of old movies are affected...

So, I think a new thread is needed for this argument!

Here you are a list of Blu-Ray movies that (may) need a color grading correction

movie title: type of color grading problem (if known) - resolved?

• A.I. Artificial Intelligence
• Ace Ventura
• Ace Ventura 2
• Alien
• Alien vs. Predator Requiem: too dark - resolved (spoRv)
• Alien Resurrection
• Aliens: blue cast
• Army of Darkness: few differences
• Batman
• Batman Returns
• Beauty and the Beast - resolved (spoRv)
• Big Trouble In Little China
• Bravehearth
• A Clockwork Orange
• Contact
• Curse of Frankenstein
• The Day After Tomorrow: few differences
• The Deep
• Daylight: few differences
• Do the Right Thing: too "natural" look
• Duck You Sucker: very green/brownish and washed out
• Escape from New York: blue cast + warmed colors - resolved (spoRv)
• E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial: few differences
• Eyes Wide Shut
• The Exorcist: various type - resolved (Dr. Sapirstein)
• The Fifth Element: few differences
• The Fog
• The French Connection: "pastel" look - resolved (BestBuy exclusive BD)
• Gladiator: few differences
• Godzilla: few differences
• The Great Escape: Teal & Orange
• Halloween: too "natural" look Vs THX DVD - resolved (spoRv)
• Hellboy: few differences
• Horror of Dracula: too cold
• Jurassic Park: resolved (ruLes)
• Labyrinth
• Léon - The Professional
• Lord of The Rings extended edition: green cast
• Night of the Living Dead (1990)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street
• Mad Max 2 (a.k.a. The Road Warrior) - in progress (PDB)
• Minority Report: too "natural" look - almost resolved (spoRv)
• Mission: Impossible
• The Mask: too saturated
• The Matrix: green cast to match sequels - almost resolved (spoRv)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - few differences
• Raiders of the Lost Ark: gold - in progress (AntcuFaalb)
• The Searchers
• The Shining
• The Silence of the Lambs: colder than CC DVD
• Soylent Green: too green (^^,)
• Stargate: few differences
• Superman I
• Superman II
• Superman III
• Superman IV
• Superman V
• Suspiria
• The Ten Commandments
• Terminator 2: Judgement Day
• Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines
• The Thing: blue cast on whites + warmed colors - resolved (spoRv)
• Titanic
• Total Recall (1990) Mind Blowing Edition - will be resolved soon (spoRv)
• Waterworld: few differences

• modern Bond transfers (of old titles) are all wrong for color (I need titles)

notes: few differences = sometimes are barely noticeable, other times limited only to some scenes - it depends by the equipments used, the calibration made, and the eyes of the viewers...

The French Connection

that was resolved when Fox released a new BD under it's signature edition label that are exclusive to Bestbuy

it corrected the errors done my the director on the first BD 

bigrob said:

 

The French Connection

that was resolved when Fox released a new BD under it's signature edition label that are exclusive to Bestbuy

it corrected the errors done my the director on the first BD 

Correction done, thanks!

Aliens: Teal, teal & more Teal. :(

kk650 did a regraded version but it wasn't the theatrical cut and it was just a white-balancing of the colours rather than being based on any kind of reference. I'd love to see a regraded theatrical version that restores the steely blues of the older home video releases.

Turisu said:

Aliens: Teal, teal & more Teal. :(

kk650 did a regraded version but it wasn't the theatrical cut and it was just a white-balancing of the colours rather than being based on any kind of reference. I'd love to see a regraded theatrical version that restores the steely blues of the older home video releases.

Speaking of Aliens (Extended Edition, though)... what about a spoRved version?

Flexicon9 said:

Is Escape From New York really not right?  It looks really good on my plasma... I mean other than having to turn up the brightness on my display because they technically mastered it too dark.  The information is in the frame but you have to compensate for the transfer being so dark to begin with.  Other than that, I don't have a problem with it.

Take a look at this screenshot comparison...

I was sitting in the car today and it hit me: Andrea's process could be used to add colour to the b&w scenes in Kill Bill using the Japanese DVD as a source.

Brightening AvP:R would also be welcome, but I don't think using the spoRv process is the best way to go about it.

one more for discussion

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

The Infinifilm and Blu-ray editions were both redone colour wise

also I know the Blu-ray of Alien Resurrection got publicly disowned by it's director because he wasn't consulted on the transfer and was reportedly very angry with what it looked liked in HD

if you look at the back of the THX LD, there is a section about the transfer and it's "Silver Rendition" that strips the colour away using an additional film strip (IIRC)

http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/08260/0032585/Alien-Resurrection-(1997)

not sure how it sizes up to the BD version but couple that with the DTS cinema discs that our experts have and I reckon it would be worth looking at

An odd addition to the list would be Do the Right Thing, which is in a way the polar opposite of Raiders of the Lost Ark.  It's actually supposed to have a strong golden-yellow cast, but when they made the Blu-ray, they removed it, so the Blu-ray has much more natural colors than it did theatrically.

Just a reminder that color revisionism can work in all directions, not just making things look more unnatural.

EDIT: I'd also add that with Raiders, there's not very much teal shift at all, the big color shift is almost all in the direction of gold.

dvdmike said:

We have the 1080 hdtv version of aliens 

I've seen the HDTV version and it can't hold a candle to the amount of detail in the bluray transfer which would be amazing if the colour hadn't been so badly messed up.

Would love to see a spoRv version, though I hope you reconsider the special edition; the extra scenes kill the perfect pacing of the film and the theatrical version is Cameron's original director's cut since he had final cut of the movie on release.

penguinofgreatness said:

Turisu said:

I hope you reconsider the special edition; the extra scenes kill the perfect pacing of the film and the theatrical version is Cameron's original director's cut since he had final cut of the movie on release.

Actually, for Aliens, the Special edition is Cameron's director's cut. He prefers that cut of the film and the studio forcibly created the theatrical cut. (Of course it's up to you what cut you prefer.)

In the case of Alien, the theatrical cut is the director's final cut, and the so called "director's cut" is just an alternate cut Ridley Scott did for the dvd.

Can you link to your source? I have never heard of any studio intervention in the theatrical cut of Aliens. Cameron had final cut on all of his movies during this period and has only subsequently stated that he now prefers the special edition to the theatrical cut. He did the same thing with T2 on which he also had final cut.