If your movie buying habits are anything like mine, after making the upgrade to Blu-ray you constantly find yourself doing the "Is that out on Blu-ray yet?" dance. Since the cost of manufacturing has been declining in years in conjunction with a climbing hardware adoption rate, 2010 may be the first year that studios really begin to pump out new discs from their extensive back catalog of films. Obviously Blu-rays for older films have been around as long as the medium, but distributors always wait for the dust to settle on a format war before they break out their big guns. They have to know that consumers are going to be willing to pay for something a second time (or more, depending on how often you double dipped on DVDs in the early '00s), and if what's already on the docket for the coming year is any indication, it looks like the marketplace has finally created those conditions.

Now of course one can expect a Blu-ray release of an original film ahead of its big budget studio remake (here's looking at you, Clash of the Titans, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Piranha etc. etc.) or BDs for a director's older films around the time of the release of their newest work (here's hoping for The Abyss when Avatar hits home), but a good chunk of titles have already been announced for the year that have no marketing tie-in. So if you've been wondering if your favorite old movie has a Blu-ray on the horizon, give the list below a scan. Unfortunately there aren't specific street dates for most of these titles yet, though I've noted dates when applicable, but all should be arriving at some point this year.

  • 8 1/2 (Jan. 12. Criterion)
  • Absolute Power
  • The African Queen
  • Alien Quadrilogy (with promises of a ton of new bonus features exclusive to Blu-ray)
  • Back to the Future Trilogy
  • Ben-Hur
  • Bigger Than Life (Mar. 23. Criterion)
  • Cabin Fever (Feb 16.)
  • Clash of the Titans (1981)
  • Collateral
  • The Crazies (1973)
  • Days of Heaven (Mar. 23. Criterion)
  • Dr. Zhivago: 40th Anniversary - Ultimate Collector's Edition (One can expect the same lush treatment WB gave Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz in '09)
  • Excalibur
  • Gangs of New York (Remastered)
  • Indiana Jones Trilogy (I've not read whether or not this set includes Kingdom of the Crystal Skull)
  • Kelly's Heroes
  • The Ladykillers (1955. Feb 16)
  • Lola Montes (Feb 16th. Criterion)
  • Lord of the Rings, the Trilogy (April 6. Note these are the theatrical cuts, not the extended cuts.)
  • Lord of the Rings (1978. April 6.)
  • Mars Attacks
  • The Maltese Falcon
  • The Man From Earth
  • Moulin Rouge
  • Mystic River (Feb 2.)
  • National Lampoon's European Vacation
  • National Lampoon's Vacation
  • Paris, Texas (Jan. 26. Criterion)
  • Piranha
  • The Phantom
  • Poseidon
  • Ran (Feb. 16th)
  • The Rookie (1990)
  • The Running Man (Feb. 9)
  • Sanjuro (Mar. 23. Criterion)
  • Saving Private Ryan
  • Shrek
  • Shrek 2
  • Spiral (Feb 2.)
  • Stardust
  • Toy Story (Mar. 23)
  • Toy Story 2 (Mar. 23)
  • Tremors
  • Tromeo & Juliet (Mar. 30)
  • Walk the Line (Feb 2.)
  • War of the Worlds (2005)
  • Where Eagles Dare
  • Yojimbo (Mar. 23. Criterion)
Note: the above list was compiled from these various sources: The Digital Bits, High Def Digest, Criterion, VideoETA.