With 2011 being the year that Citizen Kane celebrates its 70th Anniversary, you knew Warner Bros. would get around to releasing the classic film on Blu-ray. Well, it appears that Amazon.com has the inside track on the release, as the retailer has unveiled three images of WB’s upcoming Citizen Kane: 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition Blu-ray. While there’s been no formal announcement with street date included, Amazon.com is already taking pre-orders. As a bonus, the site has an exclusive offer where the BD set is bundled with a DVD release of Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons. Sadly, the DVD included is just the existing 88-minute version (The original length of the film was 148 minutes. The studio cut more than an hour of footage from Welles’ original release and tacked on a happy ending. Sadly, those cut scenes will never be recovered.)
In addition to Citizen Kane on Blu-ray and The Magnificent Ambersons DVD release, the UCE set also includes the film RKO 281 starring Liev Schreiber, lots of paperwork (including replica documents and poster art cards) and a collector’s book. The set carries a list price of $79.89, but Amazon is currently has it at the pre-order price of $55.99.