Lionsgate to release Ran blu-ray

Lionsgate has announced the upcoming release of Ran on Region A Blu-ray, scheduled for February 16th 2010. The film is among the first three works put out as part of their new “StudioCanal Collection” line.

The Blu-ray disc is presented in 1080p High Definition Widescreen format with Japanese, English, Spanish, French, German and Italian DTS master audio. Special features seem interesting, and include Chris Marker’s making-of documentary “A.K.”, a documentary on Kurosawa called “Akira Kurosawa: The Epic and the Intimate”, a Portrait of Kurosawa by Japanese cinema expert and interpreter Catherine Cadou, a documentary on Samurai art called simply “The Samurai”, an interview with a Japanese art of war expert, and a 20-page collectible booklet. BD-Live features are also advertised.

Suggested retail price is currently rumoured to be $39.99.

Some of you may remember that Criterion was to release Ran on Blu-ray last year, but cancelled the release only weeks before the advertised date. As their DVD release also quickly went out of print, it became clear that Criterion had lost rights to the film. At least based on the list of extras, it seems like Lionsgate is now doing its very best to convince cinephiles that the Criterion release that never was should not be missed, and that they can do the job just as well as Criterion. Whether this is true will be revealed in February, when we get to see what Lionsgate’s transfer looks like — especially, how the colours come across.