With Universal Studios celebrating a big old centenary this year - it's a hundred years old on April 30 - the studio has delved into its illustrious library and fished out a clutch of classics to restore and re-release. There are 13 lined up, including The Birds, Schindler’s List, All Quiet On The Western Front, **Jaws **and Dracula.
Universal is also celebrating with a series of special events, a brand new logo (*the static version is *below; the animated version will accompany the release of The Lorax in March) and a planned extravaganza of theme park magic. Are we alone in hoping this involves the park's animatronic Jurassic Park T-Rex putting on a party hat and blowing up some balloon animals?
The list of films to get the restoration treatment includes anti-war classic All Quiet on the Western Front, Hitchcock's The Birds, Abbot and Costello's Buck Privates, 1931's **Dracula **with Bela Lugosi, the Spanish language version of the same release, Frankenstein, Jaws, Out of Africa, Doris Day starrer Pillow Talk, Bride of Frankenstein and The Sting. Plenty there to get your teeth into.
Gregor Peck's Oscar-winning turn in To Kill A Mockingbird gets the party started this month, with the film arriving on Blu-ray just in time for its 50th anniversary.
Look out, too, for E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. The iconic space critter is 30 years old this year and is getting his very own Blu-ray re-release, as well as, hopefully, a giant bag of Reese's Pieces.