Recent Bluray News

The latest news on all things 4k Ultra HD, Blu-ray and Gear.
The Last Voyage of the Demeter Travels Oceans of Time to Blu-ray October 17th

The stylish creepy adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula middle chapter comes home in time for Halloween. 

Catching this in theaters, I thought it was a solid flick, a little unevenly paced -- especially leading into the third act -- but it was a damn fun creepy new take on Bram Stoker's classic vampire. Was Stoker's middle chapter enough to sustain a full two-hour movie? Maybe, maybe not, but we got one of the creepiest designs for our favorite blood-feeding beast ever committed to film. There's also some perfectly good nightmare fuel inside this stylish flick. Not perfect, but I enjoyed it, and now I can watch it again in the comfort of my own home. Sadly at this time, it's another Blu-ray-only release begging all collectors to wonder how long before the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray arrives? But hey, at least there's Atmos!

The Last Voyage of the Demeter - Blu-ray 

 

  

Here's everything that's coming in the package:

EXCLUSIVE BONUS FEATURES ON BLU-RAY™, DVD & DIGITAL: 

  • ALTERNATE OPENING - Commentary available with Director André Øvredal and Producer Bradley J. Fischer
  • DELETED SCENES - Commentary available with Director André Øvredal and Producer Bradley J. Fischer
    • o    Clemens Picking up a Stone in Varna
      o    Bosphorus and Constantinople
      o    Clemens Following Huck's Blood Trail
      o    Clemens and Anna Talk on Deck
      o    Crew Discuss Where the Beast Is Hiding
      o    Finding the Corpses in the Crate
      o    Wojchek Finds the Captain
      o    Clemens Visits His Father's Grave
  • FROM THE PITS OF HELL: DRACULA REIMAGINED - Learn how the creative team behind THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER conjured a new nightmare.
  • EVIL IS ABOARD: THE MAKING OF THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER - Set sail for an exclusive journey inside the making of the movie with the filmmakers and cast.
  • DRACULA & THE DIGITAL AGE - Visual effects supervisor Brad Parker leads a detailed look at the imaginative work that adds fresh layers of fear to Dracula, creates realistic water, and enhances scenery with bleeding-edge VFX.
  • FEATURE COMMENTARY WITH DIRECTOR ANDRÉ ØVREDAL AND PRODUCER BRADLEY J. FISCHER

Pre-orders are live - click the retailer buttons above to get your order in now, or if you're going to wait to see if a 4K UHD is announced - that's perfectly understandable.

Check out the full press release below:


       

THE LEGEND OF DRACULA IS BORN 

OWN ON DIGITAL, BLU-RAY™ & DVD ON OCTOBER 17
WITH NEW BONUS FEATURES INCLUDING DELETED SCENES
AND AN ALTERNATE OPENING
FROM UNIVERSAL PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT

"UNLIKE ANY DRACULA ADAPTATION YET" - Screen Rant

 

Universal City, California, October 10, 2023 – The gripping horror tale THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER will be available with revealing extras when you buy on Digital, Blu-rayTM and DVD October 17, 2023 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Based on a single iconic chapter from Bram Stoker’s classic novel, Dracula, the film tells the chilling story of the merchant ship Demeter and the strange events that befall the doomed crew as they attempt to survive an ocean voyage to London with a truly monstrous stowaway on board. THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER includes over 30 minutes of never-before-seen bonus content including an alternate opening, deleted scenes, and behind-the-scenes featurettes showcasing the making of the film.

Hailed as an “epic horror adventure” (Bloody Disgusting), THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER is directed by Norwegian horror virtuoso André Øvredal (Troll Hunter, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark), featuring a talented cast starring Corey Hawkins (Blackkklansman, In the Heights), Aisling Franciosi (“Game of Thrones”, The Nightingale, The Fall), Liam Cunningham ("Game of Thrones”, Hunger, The Wind that Shakes the Barley), David Dastmalchian (The Dark Knight, Dune, The Suicide Squad), Chris Walley (1917, The Young Offenders, Bloodlands), Jon Jon Briones (“Ratched”, “American Horror Stories), Stefan Kapicic (“Better Call Saul”), Martin Furuland (“The Last Kingdom”), Nikolai Nikolaeff (Mile 22, “Daredevil”), Woody Norman (C’mon C’mon), Javier Botet (It, Amigo).

A terrifying new addition to the Dracula legend, based on a single chilling chapter from Bram Stoker’s classic novel, THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER chronicles the doomed journey of a merchant ship ferrying 50 mysterious wooden crates from Carpathia to London. As they set sail, the crew soon discovers they are not alone on board: at night they are stalked by a hidden passenger whose monstrous thirst for blood turns the trip into a harrowing nightmare of tension, terror and unfathomable evil.

EXCLUSIVE BONUS FEATURES ON BLU-RAY, DVD & DIGITAL: 

  • ALTERNATE OPENING - Commentary available with Director André Øvredal and Producer Bradley J. Fischer
  • DELETED SCENES - Commentary available with Director André Øvredal and Producer Bradley J. Fischer
    • o    Clemens Picking up a Stone in Varna
      o    Bosphorus and Constantinople
      o    Clemens Following Huck's Blood Trail
      o    Clemens and Anna Talk on Deck
      o    Crew Discuss Where the Beast Is Hiding
      o    Finding the Corpses in the Crate
      o    Wojchek Finds the Captain
      o    Clemens Visits His Father's Grave
  • FROM THE PITS OF HELL: DRACULA REIMAGINED - Learn how the creative team behind THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER conjured a new nightmare.
  • EVIL IS ABOARD: THE MAKING OF THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER - Set sail for an exclusive journey inside the making of the movie with the filmmakers and cast.
  • DRACULA & THE DIGITAL AGE - Visual effects supervisor Brad Parker leads a detailed look at the imaginative work that adds fresh layers of fear to Dracula, creates realistic water, and enhances scenery with bleeding-edge VFX.
  • FEATURE COMMENTARY WITH DIRECTOR ANDRÉ ØVREDAL AND PRODUCER BRADLEY J. FISCHER

FILMMAKERS 
Cast: Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, David Dastmalchian and Liam Cunningham
Casting By: Nina Gold, Martin Ware
Music By: Bear McCreary
Costume Designer: Carlo Poggioli
Edited By: Patrick Larsgaard
Production Designer: Edward Thomas
Director Of Photography: Tom Stern
Executive Producers: Matthew Hirsch, Chris Bender, Anne Rodman
Produced By: Bradley J. Fischer p.g.a. Mike Medavoy p.g.a. Arnold W. Messer
Based on the Log of the Demeter from Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”
Screen Story By:
 Bragi Schut, Jr. 
Screenplay By: Bragi Schut, Jr. and Zak Olkewicz
Directed By: André Øvredal


TECHNICAL INFORMATION BLU-RAY™: 
Street Date:
 October 17, 2023 
Selection Number: 1000829901 (US) / 1000829921 (CDN)
Layers: BD-50
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 2.39:1 Widescreen
Rating: Rated R for bloody violence
Subtitles: English, Latin American Spanish and French Canadian  
Languages/Sound: English (Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital 2.0 for Bonus Content), Latin American Spanish (Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 and French Canadian (Dolby Digital 5.1) 
Run Time: 01:58:30

The Devil is in the Details of the 4K UHD & Blu-ray Shopping Guide - October 8, 2023

 Let's call this the first one-two 4K assault of our wallets for the month of October. Last week, this week, a slight pause next week, repeat. On the 4K circuit we see Disney's Snow White, M3GAN, Pumpkinhead, Rosemary's Baby, Beast Wars and more!

 Welcome to Volume 4 Episode 19 of our weekly release guide. A look at the highlights of what's coming to disc the week of October 8th - October 14th, as well as a look at announcements from last week.

4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Releases-

 Import Monday first. From 88 Films, Hell of the Living Dead.

 From Arrow Video, The House by the Cemetery. This film has been domestically by Blue Underground, so there is that option.

Domestic Tuesday normally begins with new releases, but this week (per the title of this guide) we kick off with Rosemary's Baby. Nowadays we take a lot of content of films for granted. When this one came out it was quite controversial for the boundaries it crossed. Each generation has a film that does just that. I remember the controversy around Silent Night, Deadly Night.

 

 We now return to our regular programming with the new release this week, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, which is available as a standard edition and as a limited edition SteelBook.

    

 

 M3GAN is the latest in Universal's wave of double-dip to 4K titles. This one is available as a standard edition and as a Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook. The UK is getting a spiffier edition in a couple of weeks which sold out pretty quickly.

    

 

 A Bronx Tale gets a 4K release from a small label named Tribeca Film.

 

 From Scream Factory, Pumpkinhead gets a standard edition release and a Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook. A couple of the sequels to this series got so bad they were good, but not available on blu-ray. How 'bout a set of the sequels Scream Factory, even if only on blu-ray?

    

 

From Disney, with no Movie Club Exclusive shenanigans, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is available as a standard edition and as a 'Disney 100' style Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook. Kind of hoped for a fancy SteelBook, but Disney is in their '100' mode.

 

Videodrome gets a Criterion Release this week. It was almost one year ago that the UK got several versions of Arrow Video releases of this film. It was assumed that Criterion would pick this up, afterall it's David Cronenberg, and here we are.

 The rest of the 4K category is more or less double-dips with SteelBook packaging. Titles included in this include Friday the 13th from Paramount, Halloween Trilogy (2018 - 2022) [Best Buy Exclusive] from Universal and Terrifier 2 from Cinedigm.

 Next week, living in a Barbie World (for real this time!), Haunted Mansion reboot, Wicker Man and more!

 

Blu-ray releases-

 Blu-ray counterparts of the above releases include Transformers: Rise of the Beasts from Paramount and A Bronx Tale from Tribeca Film.

 Look for fresh horror from 20th Century Studios with The Boogeyman.

 

 Sticking with a horror theme, Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey gets a blu-ray this week, but only as a Walmart Exclusive SteelBook.

 

 Anime highlights include The Eminence In Shadow (Season 1) Complete Collection, Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! Ultimate Collection and Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club Season 2.

 

 After multiple pushbacks, Hard Boiled II - The Last Blood might actually be releasing this week.

 LionsGate's action/thriller this week is King of Killers. They certainly keep em going.

 

 Yellowjackets: Season Two comes to us this week via Showtime Entertainment.

 

 Honorable mention this week goes out to Shout Factory for the release of Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Cracking Collection.

 

Notable announcements from last week:

 Shout Factory's various labels have a large slew of upcoming titles and I am pretty stoked about a lot of them. In no particular order, they are Spirited Away: Live on Stage, Shaw Brothers Classics: Vol. Four, Shaun The Sheep: The Complete Series, Showdown At The Grand, Clue (1985) 4K, Masaaki Yuasa: Five Films, The Man In The Iron Mask 4K, Last Man Standing, The Dead Zone 4K, Point Break (1991) 4K, The Kill Room, The Kill Room 4K, JFK 4K and The Ring Collection 4K. You can thank me for The Ring Collection coming to 4K because I bought a German import of this on blu-ray not that long ago.

4K Release Calendar

2K/BD Release Calendar

Which titles are you buying this week? Which ones are on your wishlist, be it to buy as an impulse buy or to wait for the right price?



If It Bleeds In 4K, We Can Watch It - 4K UHD & Blu-ray Shopping Guide - October 1, 2023

If you shop 4K releases, this week could be just as painful to our wallets as last week. From HuluTV's Prey, Stephen King's The Mist, a new take on Universal Monsters, Disney 100 Steels and more, there is no doubt a lot of something for everyone.

Welcome to Volume 4 Episode 18 of our weekly release guide. A look at the highlights of what's coming to disc the week of October 1st - October 7th, as well as a look at announcements from last week.

4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Releases -

Nothing actually shouts New Release this week, but there are a few recent films getting 4K upgrades. This week we get to build a sandwich, which is a rare event actually.

First up and considered our first slice of bread, Import Monday brings us the next two "Vault Series" releases from Warner Bros/Universal.

Vault 007 is Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and Vault 008 is Apollo 13, with all kinds of well-knowns on both sides of the lens. Both of those releases are quite nice, do check it out. Universal is now releasing other collector-type sets in the US, dubbed Essentials Collection releases, they're not nearly as extensive or as pretty but it is a start. Warner Bros has yet to step it up, instead, we get barebones releases with hideous cover art.

Now for the filling on our sandwich. Disney's Fox division (20th Century Studios) is first on our docket. The 2022 Hulu TV Original movie Prey comes to physical media as a Standard Edition and as a Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook. To those out of the loop, this is a prequel film to the Predator franchise.

      

 The next ingredient is Universal Pictures. Recent Blu-ray release The Black Phone gets a 4K upgrade.

 

Next up from Universal, It Came from Outer Space, with two different buying options. A standard 4K/3D/Blu-ray option and a similar but different release, but as part of the Essentials Collection line.

 These Essentials releases seem to come in pairs, we also have the opportunity to purchase The Sting with Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

A Limited Edition Collection of Universal Classic Monsters also streets this week. Amazon is currently showing unavailable, other merchants are likely to see limited shipments as it is not an Amazon Exclusive. Also being broken up from the last monsters set as singles releases, The Bride of FrankensteinCreature from the Black Lagoon, The Mummy (1932) and Phantom of the Opera (1943).

Done with Universal and moving to Criterion, the Criterion Collection release this week is Don't Look Now. It took awhile from the StudioCanal UK release date, but we finally get it here in the end.

 

New horror/thriller from Lionsgate Talk to Me, which comes as a standard edition and an Amazon Exclusive. (Bet ya thought I was gonna mention a retailer exclusive SteelBook.)

 

Let's also eke out a pair of catalog skus from LionsGate, Stephen King's The Mist is available as a standard release and as a Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook. On my video wall this get's filed under M, how 'bout yours?

 

 The next batch of Disney 100 SteelBook at Best Buy also release this week, they are Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), The Little Mermaid (1989) and Moana.

 From Scream Factory, Night Of The Demons gets that 4K with Dolby Vision upgrade.

 

 Paramount keeps the momentum this week with Scream 3, available as a standard edition and as a limited edition SteelBook. You can also get the Scream: The Original Trilogy if you haven't been keeping up individually. To those other studios out there, this is how you do it. For a major/semi-major franchise, you don't release the original film, or a random sequel of that film to 4K and then decide to call it quits. We want to see the rest too.

 

 Warner Bros releases a Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook of Evil Dead Rise in a similar style as was the European release. I cannot confirm it but I believe this release actually has some extras on disc this time.

 Now for that other slice of bread on the opposite side. Imports towards the end of the week include FOUR different editions of The Black Phone from Turbine Medien group.

 And from Imprint Films, Cross of Iron starring James Coburn.

 Next week we get Pumpkinhead, another recent wave Universal double-dip 4K upgrade, more Disney 100, the latest in the Transformers franchise, and more.

 

Blu-ray releases -

 Can you say drought, as in Sahara Desert type of drought? That is what the Blu-ray category looks like this week. If you were a small label, this week would be the best week to get something out there.

 Blu-ray counterparts of the above titles include Prey from Disney/Fox, Don't Look Now from the Criterion Collection and Talk To Me from LionsGate.

 Great time to release new editions of Night Of The Demons 2 and Night Of The Demons 3, which come from Scream Factory by the way. My mini-rant above wasn't aimed at this series, carry on folks, nothing to see here except some decently produced sequels.

 

 Netflix Original animated movie Animal Crackers comes to disc this week.

 The LionsGate thriller of the week is Mob Land with John Travolta.

 

 The anime RWBY: Volume 9 comes to disc this week.

 

 Friday releases include Imprint Films editions of Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Film Focus: George Peppard and Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles.

 

Notable announcements from last week:

 Turbine medien group has announced 4K editions of Renfield and Pearl for December street dates.

 Arrow Video's December slate will incklude The Day of the Locust, Savage Guns: Four Classic Westerns Vol 3 and The Warriors. The Warriors will have a blu-ray edition, a 4K edition and an Arrow Store 4K edition. The UK market is also getting Child’s Play Collection in 4K. Just note that the original film is the 2012 MGM blu-ray, not a 4K. No doubt the original studio playing hardball and leaving Arrow with little choice what they can with this set. If I were to buy this set, it's pretty easy to swap out one disc, so it is still a viable option.

 Second Sight UK will be releasing High Tension to both fat-pack and standard 4K releases on November 27. These frequently come in pairs so I wonder if there is another title I have missed at this point (?)

 

4K Release Calendar

2K/BD Release Calendar

Which titles are you buying this week? Which ones are on your wishlist, be it to buy as an impulse buy or to wait for the right price?



Slight Change In Plan - Star Trek: The Picard Legacy Collection Blu-Ray Now Releasing November 7th

Now that the Paramount+ series is wrapped up and there's no chance of a new movie, Paramount's massive

Star Trek: Picard Legacy Collection gets an updated release date. 

I don't know about the rest of you, but October was already going to stretch the finances and the prospect of a huge multi-disc multi-series and multi-film collection with lots of swag was a bit daunting. No reason was given for the change in release slate, but I have to figure that Paramount saw how packed October was and decided to slide this one off closer to the holidays when gift-buying is at its highest and this sort of 54-disc set is a little more appealing. So if you already pre-ordered it, you only have to wait a month. If you haven't already ordered, well, now you've got some extra time to decide how best to finance it and where on your shelf you're going to store it. 

Star Trek: The Picard Legacy Collection

 

In this box you're getting Blu-rays of every season of The Next GenerationPicard, and all four of the Next Generation feature films. 4K's of the films would have been a nice touch, but this set also comes with some pretty slick swag items. Here's everything you can hope to find when you open the lid on that crimson box:

Star Trek: The Picard Legacy Collection
  • 35 hours of bonus features
  • Premium Packaging Containing 54 Blu-ray Discs and Exclusive Collectables 
  • All Series and Films Featuring Captain Jean-Luc Picard
    • Star Trek: The Next Generation® – Seasons 1-7
    • Star Trek: Picard – Seasons 1-3
    • Star Trek: Generations
    • Star Trek: First Contact
    • Star Trek: Nemesis
    • Star Trek: Insurrection 
  • Exclusive Collectables:
    • Magnetic Captain Picard Badges
    • 4 Custom Chateau Picard Drink Coasters 
    • Custom Deck of Playing Cards
    • Exclusive Version of The Wisdom of Picard, The Wisdom of Picard: The Legacy Collection Edition
      • Featuring New Cover Art
      • Including quotes from the latest seasons of Star Trek: Picard
How Deep Is Your Wallet? 4K UHD & Blu-ray Shopping Guide - September 24, 2023

 Hope you got rather deep pockets because this week is ginornmous for both 4K and blu-ray categories. It's nearly the perfect storm. All that is missing are some large box-sets.

 Welcome to Volume 4 Episode 17 of our weekly release guide. A look at the highlights of what's coming to disc the week of September 24th - September 30th, as well as a look at announcements from last week.

4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Releases-

 OK, let's kick off first with Import Monday. First from Arrow Video, The Psycho Collection. Where Universal released only the original film to 4K, Arrow has the three sequels in glorious 4K as well. Note: I took one for the team and imported this, so Universal will probably announce a similar set next week! My copy arrives Monday.

 

 Next, although Kino Lorber did an excellent job with this title, we do get in import as part of Eureka's 'Masters of Cinema Series' for Touch of Evil. Right off the bat we see this edition has physical swag included, similar to an Arrow Video Fat-Pack. The on-disc features probably vary some, still worth a look.

 Closing out Import Monday, StudioCanal offers up a 5-disc edition of The Wicker Man under their 'Vintage Classics' label. I took one for the team on this one too, but thus far LionsGate is only matching it with a SteelBook 2-disc swagless release in October, so the import is probably the most comprehensive (minus the digital code).

 

 Domestic Tuesday begins with new releases, and first this week we have Disney Pixar's Elemental. And following their current unusual release pattern, the Standard 4K is currently only available via the Disney Movie Club, but there is a Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook and a Walmart Exclusive.  Again, Target seems to have lost interest in physical media, no gallery book edition, no art card edition, nada.

     

 

 Staying with Disney, their first of a recent wave of surprise Disney+ releases, Loki: The Complete First Season comes to SteelBook this week.

 

 Paramount this week is offering Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Season Three to 4K disc.

 On to catalog titles, Vinegar Syndrome's general release for A Blade in the Dark is available via Amazon (and other retailers).

 Arrow Video offers up a fat-pack release of Carlito's Way. If you want the more traditional cover art, you can get the Arrow Store Limited Edition instead.

 

 Teen horror sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is available via Sony Pictures.

 

 Paramount has broken up the Scream Factory trilogy set and brought us Halloween H20: 20 Years Later as a single film SteelBook release. What this means for the other two movies is currently unknown.

 Sony has Reprint SteelBooks in case you missed out the first go round, titles include Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, plus The Equalizer, The Fifth Element and Ghostbusters & Ghostbusters II.

 Criterion Collectors can pick up Moonage Daydream starring the late David Bowie this week.

 

 A label we don't see very often, Blue Underground releases The Girl from Rio this week, and our review says it is highly recommended.

 Happy belated (or early) Valentines Day from Scream Factory with My Bloody Valentine.

 

 Under their Shout Select label, Natural Born Killers is available as a Standard Edition and a Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook. This might be the first "Select" release I have seen with a slipcover.

 

 How about a pair of great films from Kino Lorber? First a WWII masterpiece starring Burt Lancaster, The Train. And second, Clint Eastwood stars in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.

 

 Next week no reprieve on your wallets,  It Came from you know where, Hulu original Prey, more monsters, more 4K upgrades and more Disney 100 SteelBooks. Oh, and an appearance from Turbine Medien on Friday.

 

Blu-ray releases-

 Blu-ray counterparts of the above 4K titles include Disney Pixar's Elemental, Disney+ original Loki: The Complete First Season, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Season Three and Moonage Daydream from Criterion.

 Other TV on disc this week includes Interview with the Vampire: Season One, Mayfair Witches: Season One, Pennyworth: The Complete Third Season and Pennyworth: The Complete Series.

 

 The Warner Archive has a majority of their September titles pushed back a month, but what is available this week is Cats Don’t Dance, Saratoga (1937) and Westward the Women.

 

 Kino Lorber has Death Wish 4: The Crackdown and Death Wish V: The Face of Death. Completionists take note.

 La Bamba gets a Criterion Collection release.

 

 Let's call this one a double-tease because they're blu-ray releases and not 4K releases, and I have questions. Just a few weeks ago Sony gave us a 4K release for the original Insidious movie, this week they give us the newest movie in that series,  Insidious: The Red Door on blu-ray. This week in the 4K section above, we get the first sequel,  I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, but the next sequel, I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer is available on blu-ray only. Don't get me wrong, Sony has been a very good supporter of the 4K format, it's just cases like this that makes me scratch my head a bit.

 From Universal, 2023 crime/drama A Thousand and One. Also look for Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken, which again, 4K buyers have an insatiable appetite, and this one would probably look very good in that format.

 

 If you were waiting for the next release, wait no more, Star Trek: Prodigy: Season 1 - Episodes 11 - 20 comes this week via Paramount.

 

 LionsGate's action/thriller this week is The Engineer.

 Anime highlights this week include Gatchaman Complete Collection, Lonely Castle in the Mirror, Rent-A-Girlfriend: Season 2 and Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon - Season 2, Part 2, which is available as a Standard Edition and as a Limited Edition.

 

 

Notable announcements from last week:

 Warner Bros has announced thelatest DCU film Blue Beetle will be available October 31 in all the various formats and retailer exclusives. I dig the Walmart SteelBook and the Target Exclusives the best, but unfortunately neither of them include a 4K release.

 Criterion Collection's December slate has been announced. It doesn't have a large quantity of releases, but there might be something that interests you!

 Hey, act fast if you want an upgraded 4K SteelBook release for M3GAN. The UK has it and supplies are very limited.

4K Release Calendar

2K/BD Release Calendar

Which titles are you buying this week? Which ones are on your wishlist, be it to buy as an impulse buy or to wait for the right price?



Blu-ray Comes to the Motor City in Justified: City Primeval Season One November 14th

You can't keep a good lawman down for long. After the thrilling and satisfying conclusion of Justified, Timothy Olyphant dusts off the white hat for one last rodeo. 

With just about every series or film getting some sort of legacy revival, Olyphant and friends returns for FX's Justified: City Primeval, based on the unrelated but excellent novel from Elmore Leonard. What's most intriguing about this announcement is that what was apparently supposed to be a limited series event may be getting another spin with this Blu-ray being dubbed "Season one." Considering the breadth of Leonard's novels and characters, Kentecky's finest Rayland Givens could pop up in any of them. If we're going to keep bringing back Michael Keaton, I say we bring back his Ray Nicolette from Jackie Brown and Out of Sight. "Givens and Nicolette - they're cops!" 

Justified: City Primeval Season One - Blu-ray

 

We don't have a list of bonus features yet, and the Amazon listing is up but not yet up for pre-order. Here's the disc specs as we know 'em from the press release:
Having left the hollers of Kentucky 15 years ago, Raylan Givens now lives in Miami, a walking anachronism balancing his life as a U.S. Marshal and part-time father of a 15-year-old girl. His hair is greyer, his hat is dirtier, and the road in front of him is suddenly a lot shorter than the road behind.
 
A chance encounter on a desolate Florida highway sends him to Detroit. There he crosses paths with Clement Mansell, aka The Oklahoma Wildman, a violent, sociopathic desperado who’s already slipped through the fingers of Detroit’s finest once and aims to do so again. Mansell’s lawyer, formidable Motor City native Carolyn Wilder, has every intention of representing her client, even as she finds herself caught in between cop and criminal, with her own game afoot as well. These three characters set out on a collision course in classic Elmore Leonard fashion, to see who makes it out of the City Primeval alive.

CAST AND CREW
Executive Producers: Dave Andron, Michael Dinner, Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, Graham Yost, Peter Leonard, Timothy Olyphant, Taylor Elmore, Chris Provenzano, VJ Boyd

Cast: Timothy Olyphant, Aunjanue Ellis, Vondie Curtis Hall, Adelaide Clemens, Marin Ireland, Victor Williams, with Norbert Leo Butz, and Boyd Holbrook
Developed for Television by: Dave Andron & Michael Dinner
Based on: “City Primeval” and “Fire in the Hole” by Elmore Leonard

SPECS

Run Time: Approx. 372 Mins.
Rating: Not Rated

Blu-ray™: 1080p High Definition / 2.00:1 • Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA  • Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish • Mastered in High Definition • Color
DVD: 2.00:1 Anamorphic Widescreen • Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital • Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish • Color

Apple TV's For All Mankind: Season One Enters Blu-ray's Orbit on November 14

The first season of the Apple TV original science fiction series created by Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedivi comes to Blu-ray via Sony in a 4-Disc set on November 14.

Imagine a world where the global space race never ended. This thrilling “what if” take on history spotlights the high-stakes lives of NASA astronauts and their families.

For All Mankind: Season One 

For All Mankind: Season One 

For All Mankind: Season One Blu-ray includes 10 episodes on four discs and has a English 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack.  No supplements have been revealed at this time.  

Pre-orders for For All Mankind: Season One should be available in the coming days and here is the full press release:


THE FIRST SEASON OF THE ACCLAIMED SERIES
DEBUTS ON BLU-RAY DISC™
SEASON ONE
4-DISC SET AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 14TH 
SYNOPSIS
Imagine a world where the global space race never ended. This thrilling “what if” take on history spotlights the high-stakes lives of NASA astronauts and their families.

DISC DETAILS
BLU-RAY DISCS
  • 10 episodes presented in High Definition, split across 4 discs
  • 5.1 English audio on each episode
CAST AND CREW
Cast: Joel Kinnaman, Michael Dorman, Sarah Jones, Shantel VanSanten, Jodi Balfour, Wrenn Schmidt
Executive Producers: Ronald D. Moore, Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert, Maril Davis, Naren Shankar, Seth Gordon
Created by: Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, Ben Nedivi
 
SPECS
Run Time: Approx. 612 minutes 
Rating: Not Rated
Blu-ray Picture: 1080p Ultra High Definition, 2.00:1
Blu-ray Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA
 FOR MORE INFORMATION
Twitter: @SonyPicsHomeEnt
Instagram: @SonyPicturesHomeEntertainment 
Facebook: 
facebook.com/SonyPicturesHomeEntertainment 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/sonypictures 
Criterion's December Releases Announced Including Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and Blu-ray

December is a quiet month for The Criterion Collection with Allen Baron's Blast of Silence and The Red Balloon and Other Stories: Five Films by Albert Lamorisse hitting Blu-ray, as well as Guillermo Del Toro's Oscar-winning Pinocchio on both 4K and Blu-ray formats.

On December 5, Allen Baron's 1961 crime noir Blast of Silence will arrive on Blu-ray.

Blast of Silence - The Criterion Collection 

Blast of Silence - The Criterion Collection 

Swift, brutal, and blackhearted, Allen Baron’s New York City noir Blast of Silence is a sensational surprise. This low-budget, carefully crafted portrait of a hit man on assignment in Manhattan during Christmastime follows its stripped-down narrative with mechanical precision, yet also with an eye and ear for the oddball details of urban living and the imposing beauty of the city. At once visually ragged and artfully composed, and featuring rough, poetic narration performed by Lionel Stander and written by Waldo Salt (both uncredited), Blast of Silence is a stylish triumph.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 4K digital restoration presented in two aspect ratios, 1.85:1 (widescreen) and 1.33:1 (full-screen), with uncompressed monaural soundtrack

  • Requiem for a Killer: The Making of “Blast of Silence”

  • Rare on-set Polaroids

  • Photos of locations from the film in 2008

  • Trailer

  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

  • PLUS: An essay by film critic Terrence Rafferty and a graphic-novel adaptation of the film by acclaimed artist Sean Phillips (Criminal, Reckless, Fatale)

    Cover by Sean Phillips

After that on December 12 comes The Red Balloon and Other Stories: Five Films by Albert Lamorisse to the Blu-ray format.

The Red Balloon and Other Stories: Five Films by Albert Lamorisse - The Criterion Collection 

The Red Balloon and Other Stories: Five Films by Albert Lamorisse - The Criterion Collection 

Everyday life becomes an adventure in the wide-eyed fables and fantasies of Albert Lamorisse. Balancing imaginative whimsy with documentary-like authenticity, his beloved short films Bim, the Little Donkey; White Mane; and the Academy Award–winning The Red Balloon find unforgettable emotional, spiritual, and moral resonance in the realms of children and animals, while his captivating but now rarely seen features Stowaway in the Sky and Circus Angel exult in the glories of two of his greatest loves: nature and flight. With their astonishing cinematography and purity of spirit, these five enchanting works invite viewers of all ages to experience the wonder, mystery, and poignancy of the world anew.

SPECIAL FEATURES

  • New 4K digital restorations of The Red Balloon and White Mane and new 2K digital restorations of Bim, the Little Donkey; Stowaway in the Sky; and Circus Angel, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-rays

  • U.S. English-language version of Bim, the Little Donkey

  • New interview with actor Pascal Lamorisse, director Albert Lamorisse’s son

  • My Father Was a Red Balloon, a 2008 documentary featuring Pascal Lamorisse and his daughter Lysa

  • French television interviews with Albert Lamorisse from 1957 and 1959

  • English narrations for White Mane, by Peter Strauss, and Stowaway in the Sky, by Jack Lemmon

  • English-dubbed track for Circus Angel

  • New English subtitle translation and English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

  • PLUS: An essay by critic David Cairns

    New cover by F. Ron Miller

After that on the same date Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio arrives on 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio - The Criterion Collection 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio - The Criterion Collection - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 

A classic tale is reborn through the inspired imagination of cinematic dream-weaver Guillermo del Toro, directing alongside Mark Gustafson. Realized through boundary-pushing, breathtakingly intricate stop-motion animation, this dark rendering of the fable of the puppet boy and his maker—which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature—daringly transfers the story to Fascist Italy, where the irrepressible Pinocchio gradually learns what it means to be human through his experiences of war, death, and sacrifice. Featuring the voices of Ewan McGregor, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, and Christoph Waltz, this Pinocchio imbues the oft-told tale with a bold new resonance about living with courage and compassion.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • 4K digital master, supervised by directors Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson, with Dolby Atmos

  • One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features

  • Handcarved Cinema, a new documentary featuring del Toro, Gustafson, and cast and crew, including the film’s puppet creators, production designers, and animation supervisor

  • Directing Stop-Motion, a new program featuring del Toro and Gustafson

  • New conversation between del Toro and film critic Farran Smith Nehme

  • New interview with curator Ron Magliozzi on The Museum of Modern Art’s 2022 exhibition devoted to the film

  • New program on the eight rules of animation that informed the film's production

  • Panel discussion featuring del Toro, Gustafson, production designer Guy Davis, composer Alexandre Desplat, and sound designer Scott Martin Gershin, moderated by filmmaker James Cameron

  • Conversation among del Toro, Gustafson, and author Neil Gaiman

  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing and English descriptive audio

  • PLUS: Essays by film critic Matt Zoller Seitz and author Cornelia Funke

    Cover by James Jean

Pre-orders for The Criterion Collection's December releases should be available soon!

Check the cove, men! Over here! It's the 4K UHD & Blu-ray Shopping Guide - September 17, 2023

 There is little doubt that Disney's live-action release of The Little Mermaid will dominate the charts this week, but there are plenty of other catalog and semi-new release upgraded titles to choose from as well.

 Welcome to Volume 4 Episode 16 of our weekly release guide. A look at the highlights of what's coming to disc the week of September 17th - September 23rd, as well as a look at announcements from last week.

4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Releases-

 As mentioned on the lead-in, Disney's live-action release of The Little Mermaid will dominate the charts this week, where will you be buying yours? Disney is following their strange Strange World model on this one again, which means the standard edition release is presently a Disney Movie Club Exclusive until some date further out, Cinderella was a DMC exclusive for four months, Strange World still is. Fret not though, there are other options available (just like Strange World had), look for either/both a Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook Edition as well as a Walmart Exclusive Edition. Once again, absent from this category is a Target Exclusive Edition. Back in the day, their gallery books and art cards were something to look forward to. Hello, Target, are you listening?

      

 

 4K upgrades for somewhat new titles, first from Universal Cocaine Bear gets 4K physical release. You're welcome by the way! I did not think this would get a domestic release so I imported it. Based on the source material, your biggest bang will come from the HDR aspect of it.

 

 And LionsGate and A24's Fall gets a Best Buy Exclusive 4K SteelBook as well.

 

 Whether you file this under B or under L on your video wall, Sony releases a SteelBook of Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon. I go with L, there was no Bruce Lee movie or any other film to be confused with here.

 

 From Warner Bros, William Friedkin's The Exorcist gets two minimalist releases with a Standard Edition and a Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook Edition. Again, the UK gets far superior editions with much better cover arts. Can someone from Warner Bros please explain the US strategy here? Hideous covers, minimal special features, no swag.

 From Shout! Factory, The Lost City of Z.

 

 Before The Ring, there was Ringu (Japan), and Arrow Video has it in 4K this week. You can also opt for an Arrow Store Exclusive Edition if you wish.

 

 And in closing the 4K category this week, The Trial (1962) gets a Criterion Collection release this week.

 

 Next week, another Disney repeat with Elemental getting the same type 4K releases as Strange World and The Little Mermaid, Natural Born, Jack Ryan, Carlito, Psycho and Wicker Man imports and more.

 

Blu-ray releases-

 Blu-ray counterparts of the 4K titles above includes The Little Mermaid, available as a standard edition, a two-film collection, and Criterion also offers up a blu-ray of The Trial (1962).

 We get to recharge our wallets in the blu-ray category this week, next week though is a very different story.

 A drama/romance from LionsGate titled Past Lives is available this week.

 

 Anime highlights include AMAIM Warrior at the Borderline: The Complete Season, Girls Und Panzer (TV Series + OVA) Collection and Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World - Season 2, available as a Standard Edition and a Limited Edition.

 

 Is this one so bad it's good? Gravitas Ventures is releasing Slotherhouse to audiences this week. Am I steering you wrong to even consider this one?

 Honorable Mention: Mill Creek offers Director Spotlight: Kevin MacDonald which includes State of Play and Black Sea. Both these films have been out of print for awhile and considerably more expensive to purchase.

 Next week, look out, a very active week for the blu-ray category.

 

Notable announcements from last week:

 No major announcements per se, but we do have something to cover. Check out our disc round up summary for more fun stuff.

 The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection Vol. 3 will be released October 31.

 StudioCanal (UK) will have Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai in 4K on October 23rd. No word on a US release yet but it's likely coming, just from which label?

 

4K Release Calendar

2K/BD Release Calendar

Which titles are you buying this week? Which ones are on your wishlist, be it to buy as an impulse buy or to wait for the right price?



Turbine Scares Up The World Premiere Blu-ray Release of Repossessed on 9/29/23!

Did you think William Friedkin's The Exorcist just wasn't funny enough?
Turbine is set to unleash the world-first Blu-ray of Bob Logan's hilarious Repossessed! 

The king of spoof comedy Leslie Nielson took a break in between Naked Gun films to compel audiences to check out this hilarious satire of The Exorcist and its sequels and point a few fingers at shilling televangelists at the same time. Not a huge hit at release but it steadily grew a cult following and now after enduring years of a crappy DVD release, it's finally coming to Blu-ray with a two-disc Mediabook from German label Turbine Medien with four limited edition covers! 

It's time for a Blu-ray world premiere: REPOSSESSED! Bob Logan's 1990 parody will be released on September 29 as an exclusive special edition in four limited mediabooks with Blu-ray and DVD. After her milestone performance in THE EXORCIST Linda Blair plays the role of the possessed again. However, this time around the devil will have to deal with none other than THE NAKED GUN legend Leslie Nielsen as the exorcist. What could possibly go wrong?

Bonus Features

  • Truly honest audio commentary by writer and director Bob Logan*
  • New interviews with writer/director Bob Logan, editor Jeff Freeman and actors Anthony Starke, Benj Thall and Dove Dellos*
  • Retrofassung (SD, 4:3 Open Matte)*/**
  • Trailer from Germany and USA
  • Part of the book by Christoph N. Kellerbach with photos from the archive of actor Benj Thall

Repossessed - Mediabook Cover A
Limited to 750 Units

 

Repossessed - Mediabook Cover B
Limited to 250 Units 

Repossessed - Mediabook Cover C
Limited to 750 Units 

Repossessed - Mediabook Cover D
Limited to 250 Units

 

Pre-orders are live - so get your order in while you can! 

Reviews

The latest news on all things 4K Ultra HD, blu-ray and Gear.