2010's Most Wanted Blu-rays

Here's the thing: A few of us are slow to drink the Blu-ray Kool-Aid because some of our favorite films and fanboy must-owns are not yet available on the format.

But the movie gods seem to be smiling on 2010 as the year we make contact (see what we did thar?) with our wallets and purchase BD players, as most of our top-tier favorite movies are rumored to be in the running for release this year. We've got a roundup of what will most likely be released this year and what we want to see. (Keep in mind, kids: All of this is speculation until confirmmed by the films' respective studios.) And sound off in the comments as you're most excited to have in 1080p.

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The Indiana Jones Series

The good news? The Man with the Hat is this close to bringing his boxset of adventures to Blu. The bad news? Crystal Skull's coming with it. Le sigh.

Based on information gathered from scores of industry sources over the last few months, our friends at TheDigitalBits.com, using the map room in Tanis, believe that Lucasfilm and Paramount are planning a 2010 bow for the series. So set your calendars to Winter 2010 for the set's arrival, as no doubt Paramount will want to take advantage of the holiday shoppers.

For movie fans, this is kind of a big deal. Spielberg's been keeping his top shelf films close to the vest when it comes to bringing them to Blu-ray. So far, Shia LeBeouf and the army of vine-swinging monkeys are all the director has on Blu currently. To make this release a worthwhile double dip, we hope The Beard changes his mind about being averse to commentaries and gives us anecdote-filled tracks on all three of the original films. Bonus points if they come in Ark or Shankara stone special edition packaging.

The Alien Quadrilogy

With Fox recently getting it's S together in regards to the Alien and Predator franchises on the big screen (the former has a prequel on the way and the latter has a sequel in the works), the home entertainment division is upping the ante on the collection of Alien films for their first Blu-ray release.

Firstly, the mega DVD boxset came in nine discs, and if you don't own it, you are officially some kind of wrong person. It was a Sulaco full of retrospective interviews and feature length docs, along with extended and alternate cuts of the films. So what possibly could Fox do to entice buyers to follow Ripley in 1080p? They are bringing in Ripley herself to record commentaries for all four Alien films, as recently reported by the Los Angeles Times.

The set will also include new HD featurettes exclusive to the box set. We hope one of them is a roundtable of sorts with the series' best contributors, Ridley Scott and James Cameron, discussing the merits and production trials for each of their respective films. Alien on Blu – finally, we get to hear and see Hudson spaz in glorious high def. (High fives to the reader who comes up with the most creative way to package this set.)

Apollo 13

With the 40th anniversary of the real Apollo 13 mission coming in 2010, you can bet dollars to donuts that Universal will bring Ron Howard's Oscar-nominated film to Blu to coincide with the milestone.

The movie was one of the better big-screen experiences of the year it was released. The special effects alongside Howard's inspired direction should hold up well on the next-gen format.

Expect a DTS Master Audio track that will be reference quality, given the previous care the studio has given the film's previous DVD releases over the years. A new commentary with principle cast and crew will be the selling point for us to shell out for the upgrade.