Well, the 4K version of AVTAK (recently put online) undid the cropping from the Ultimate Editions. However, the master is otherwise the same. A few of the 4K versions are a bit better than the blu-ray, such as LALD and Goldeneye.
The MGM HD version of OHMSS surprisingly wasn’t used for the 4K version of that movie (from what I’ve heard), even though it also undoes the pillarbox titles. Did the MGM HD master have the same over-boosted contrast from the blu-ray?
Have they just been sitting on a bunch of decent non-Lowry 007 remasters? Like the one for TSWLM?
I’m honestly surprised that one improved as much as it did for blu-ray/4K. It’s like the home video crew took one look at how thoroughly awful that movie looked on home video (e.g., faded colors, severe edge enhancement artifacts on both SE and UE, and poor color timing on the UE), and figured that they should start from scratch for a new master. The added frame information, better color timing, and preservation of the soft-focus look lead me to believe that they either started from scratch with the video master or went back to the negatives/interpositive for a better source. Maybe they found the cinematographer/editor’s notes and redid the presentation to better match the original version.