Orson Welles' Citizen Kane will be making its debut on Blu-ray on September 13th to mark the film's 70th anniversary.  While folks can debate whether or not it's the best American movie ever made, its contribution to cinema is undeniable.  Welles devised both technological and narrative innovations for Citizen Kane and if you have a favorite director who was born after the film's release, he or she probably cites the film as one of their inspirations.

Warner Bros will be going back to the original nitrate for an HD restoration in 4K resolution.  I couldn't be happier that Warner Bros is handling the transfer.  Their Blu-ray for Casablanca is mind-blowing.  You watch it and you realize that no one who made the film ever saw the movie in the condition you're seeing it in, but it still has the quality of film.  Hit the jump to learn about the new extras that will be added to the Blu-ray package.

According to THR:

The collector's edition will come with a 48-page book part of which will be a 20-page reproduction of the original 1941 souvenir program, lobby cards plus facsimiles of memos and correspondence made during the movie's production.

The new edition will all the extras from the DVD two-disc special edition, including the Academy Award-nominated documentary The Battle Over Citizen Kane, and it will contain RKO 281, the Golden Globe- and Emmy-winning HBO docudrama movie that chronicled the clash between William Randolph Hearst and Hollywood and starred Liev Schrieber as Welles and James Cromwell as Hearst, whose life was the inspiration behind Kane and who tried to stop the movie from being made.

The 70th anniversary edition will also be released via iTunes, On Demand, VUDU and Amazon Instant Video.

I'm sure it will be expensive and worth every penny.