Warner Home Video, a division of the Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, has announced that two of the Oscar-winning mega-classics from their vast film library will be put on moratorium this year in the North American market. Beginning on May 10, the studio will be suspending its sales of Orson Welles' masterpiece Citizen Kane. "The greatest film ever made" (sorry, Miss March) was released in 2001 as a 60th Anniversary special edition DVD, with various repackagings over the years since. And then, on July 12, bid "farewell" to Ben-Hur, last seen in a 2005 Four-Disc Collector's Edition DVD. Ben-Hur won a record 11 Academy Awards (one statue shy of a clean sweep), a feat unmatched until 1997's Titanic.
No, Warner isn't trying to drive up prices on the secondary market, rather this surprising move is being made for a terrific reason: Preparation for the lead-up to future Blu-ray editions of both films.
2011 will mark the 70th anniversary of Citizen Kane's theatrical premiere (we know how Warner likes their 70th Anniversary special editions), although I haven't quite figured out the timing tie-in with 1959's Ben-Hur, if in fact there is one. No specifics regarding bonus features have been made public yet, but according to Theatrical Catalog Executive Vice President and General Manager Jeff Baker, "significant content additions are being developed, and Ben-Hur, in particular, has been selected to receive the Ultimate Collectors Edition treatment."
Both films are being seriously restored and of course remastered for their high definition debuts, currently scheduled for "late 2011."
Can't wait? Catch 'em on DVD (while you can):
