It seems this may be a Chinese pressing specifically for the U.S. (or at least region A) market.

According to a discussion on forum.blu-ray.com on this exact disc, there's a tiny sticker at the top of the plastic wrap suggesting such.  It fact, it's a really tiny sticker.  I missed it and promptly threw it away until I saw the blu-ray forum thread and dug it out of the trash and scanned it in.

I joined and posted on that forum hoping for further confirmation.

In the meantime, at least this version is the original U.S. DVD version.  It contains Hook's head-butt of Peter (at 50:21) which is missing from the UK/PAL-master (confirming it's one of the two U.S. versions) as well as the bare bottom scene removed from the U.S. VHS version (confirming it's the U.S. DVD version, not U.S. VHS version).  See forum.blu-ray.com.
and IMDB under Alternate Versions.

Quote:
Unfortunately I had to find out that all European versions are censored.
I then purchased the Japanese version, believing a country so far away wouldn't deal with European censorship. I was wrong, the version is identical to German, UK, NL, ...

...It's like new, I just unwrapped it and looked at the one cut scene, which is the head nut by Hook to Peter in the Black Castle. It's only half a second, so someone not as crazy as me wouldn't care or even notice.

And Schittberichte.com

Quote:
Wer dennoch die ungekürzte Fassung sehen möchte, muss zur US-Version greifen.

Verglichen wurde die gekürzte deutsche FSK 12 „Extended Version“ von Columbia TriStar (= UK DVD) mit der ungekürzten PG US DVD von Universal

Translated, referring to the missing head-butt between Hook and Peter: "Those who want to see the unedited version must get the US version"

"Compare the shortened FSK 12 ‘Extended Version’ from Columbia TriStar (=UK DVD) with the unedited PG US DVD from Universal."

And this may further confirm Grant12's assertion (on blu-ray.com) that this is Chinese:  At the beginning of the blue-ray, after the FBI warning, the Columbia logo appears before the movie - not the Universal logo as in the U.S. DVD (2004).  Depending on who has rights to distribute the movie in the U.S. (isn't it Universal?), this may, indeed, be a foreign (Import) pressing made for distribution to the U.S. market.

I posted high-res scans for those interested and for confirmation that this is an Asian pressing for the U.S. market.  Since these are on Flickr, you can view and download these at full resolution - just click 'All Sizes' at the top of the picture, then choose 'Original' for the original, full-resolution scan.


DVD Rear

DVD Front

Blu-ray Disc

Sneaky Sticker

Since I'm not sure if I can take this any further, I'm hoping for a final answer either here or on forums.blu-ray.com so I can be sure to get this right.

Quoting TheDarkKnight:

Quote:
That's what I said yesterday. I posted the link to the thread at blu-ray.com too. Look at my post from yesterday morning.

Yes - but the thread hadn't progressed as far as now which made it far more clear.

If this is all true, it sounds like I need to
[li]List this as a Chinese release
Fix/update the UPC
Clone (and confirm) every aspect of the cast
Enter all studio data
Submit this as a new item (with notes to ensure it's clear what's gone on here)[/li]

Still seems to be the question weather or not this is a legit release. To me it looks like it's highly questionable. Why? Because why would a Chinese release say on the back cover: "This product is authorized for sale only in the country where originally sold (i.e., only in the US or only in Canada, respectively)".

Again if you search on www.sonypictures.com/bluray (As printed on the back of the cover!) you won't find this disc. The US rights should be with Universal for Home Video.

A bootleg wouldn't be region locked. Also, I don't think anyone was bootleggign BVlu-rays back when this first appeared. To the best of my knowledge, you still don't really see those (unless it's a DVD in a Blu-ray package, you did see those kind of boots). That's why I think legit Korean release that's been repackaged.

...and it's definitely a blu-ray.  The quality is stunning (I'd give it a 9/9 for audio/video transfer) - including the fact that it's clearly different than the DVD in blu-ray-specific ways including the "P" icon that colors in as the 'please wait' icon, more stylized and attractive intro screen and menus.