Paramount Home Entertainment has announced plans to bring Frank Capra’s 1946 holiday classic It’s a Wonderful Life starring James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell and Henry Travers to 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray for the first time on November 20th.
For its 4K debut, Paramount went back to the original It’s a Wonderful Life film negative, which included 13 of the 14 original reels, as well as two fine grain masters. Over the course of roughly a year they restored the film with frame-by-frame digital scans to create the 4K image, complete with HDR.
In instances where there was deterioration on the original film negative, the best version of that frame from all three sources was selected. As a result of the meticulous restoration work, this release should mark the definitive It’s a Wonderful Life video presentation for many years to come.
Paramount is also including new bonus features such as, “interviews with contemporary filmmakers and restoration experts about the movie’s extraordinary sound, music, cinematography and visual effects, as well as the meticulous process of preserving and revitalizing this iconic masterpiece.”
Check out an It’s a Wonderful Life comparison trailer between the original film negative and the newly restored version.
