• Disc News Round-up: Big George Foreman and Warner Archive's July, PLUS Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Cowboys & Aliens, and Kill Bill in 4K!

    Posted Mon Jun 12, 2023 at 08:33 AM PDT by
    Big George Foreman - coming to Blu-ray

    Sony's Big George Foreman on Blu-ray 06/27, Warner Archive's latest Blu-ray announcements for 07/25, Warner's Batman: Mask of the Phantasm 4K, Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Vol 1 4K, and Jon Favreau's Cowboys & Aliens in 4K from kino Lorber.

    The first bit of news that we have is George Tillman Jr.'s boxing biopic Big George Foreman starring Khris Davis and Forest Whitaker will be available on Blu-ray and DVD on June 27. Digital arrives on June 13.

    The miraculous story of the once and future heavyweight champion of the world. Fueled by an impoverished childhood, Foreman channels his anger into becoming the World Heavyweight Champion, followed by a near-death experience that takes him from the ring to the pulpit. But when he sees his community struggle, he reclaims his title, becoming the oldest and most improbable heavyweight champion ever.

    Big George Foreman

    Big George Foreman 

    The Blu-ray comes with English & Spanish 5.1 DTS-HD MA tracks, Movies Anywhere digital code, and the following supplements:

    BONUS MATERIALS

    BLU-RAY™, DIGITAL, AND DVD

    • Big George Foreman: A Look at the Making of the Film
    • Toe to Toe: Foreman & Ali
    • Gag Reel
    • Deleted Scenes

    Warner Brothers has also announced their July Warner Archive Blu-ray slate: Helen of Troy (1956), The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954), Du Barry Was a Lady (1943), The Broadway Melody (1929), The Fastest Gun Alive (1956) and Cimarron (1931). All six titles release on Blu-ray on July 25.

    Helen of Troy

    In an epic tale of passion, heroism, love, betrayal and war that has that has been passed from generation to generation since the dawn of civilization, one woman possesses a beauty that launches a thousand ships and sparks a war that destroys the greatest city of its age--Helen of Troy.

    1100 BCE. King Priam (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) of Troy, sends his son, Paris (Jack Sernas), to Sparta to negotiate a treaty to ensure peace between the two Greek city-states. But Paris falls in love with Spartan King Menelaus' (Niall MacGinnis) wife, Helen (Rossana Podesta). Paris kidnaps the willing Helen and her servant (Brigitte Bardot), starting a war that will kill thousands of brave warriors and spell the end of the city of Troy. Homer's Iliad provides the basis for this epic from the '50s heyday of big-screen blockbusters. Robert Wise (West Side Story, The Sound Of Music) directs this lavish epic capturing more than 30,000 people on screen at a then-huge production cost of $6 million.

    • NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
    • Three "Behind the Cameras" sequences from the Warner Bros. Presents TV series on the making of the film
    • Classic short:
    • Napoleon Bunny-Part
    • Original Theatrical Trailer
    • Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature

    The Last Time I Saw Paris

    Academy Award winners Elizabeth Taylor and Donna Reed star with Van Johnson in this sweeping romance loosely based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Babylon Revisited", a story of love and dreams found and lost in The City of Lights--The Last Time I Saw Paris.

    When reporter Charles Wills (Johnson) travels to Paris to cover the Allies' victory in World War II, he falls in love with and marries the stunningly beautiful Helen Ellswirth (Taylor). The young newlyweds choose to stay in Paris, where Charles tries to make his way as a writer. But years of struggle, rejection and poverty take their toll on the Wills' marriage, and the two drift into affairs with others as their love and dreams fade. Now, after years of disillusion and tragedy, Charles returns to Paris. But can he rediscover the passion and dreams that once came so easily?

    • NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM THE ORIGINAL TECHNICOLOR CAMERA NEGATIVES
    • Original Theatrical Trailer
    • Classic Tom & Jerry short:
    • Touche Pussycat
    • Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature

    Du Barry Was a Lady

    Hapless nightclub hatcheck boy Red Skelton loves glamorous chanteuse Lucille Ball. Handsome hoofer Gene Kelly loves her too. And Lucy? Lucy loves money. Then Red mistakenly gulps down a Mickey Finn and dreams he's in 18th-century France. Before you can powder your wig, a throng of suitors -- Red, Gene, King Louis XV, a dashing rebel, a sinister duke and just about everybody -- loves Lucy!

    This glittery, tune-filled bonbon features a supporting cast of wags and wits (including the inimitable Zero Mostel) and three Cole Porter songs from the original Broadway smash: "Friendship," "Katie Went to Haiti" and "Do I Love You?" Cherchez la Lucy for comedy, music and star power from Hollywood's golden era.

    • NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM THE ORIGINAL TECHNICOLOR CAMERA NEGATIVES
    • MGM short: Seeing Hands
    • Barney Bear cartoon: Bah, Wilderness
    • Original Theatrical Trailer
    • Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature

    The Broadway Melody: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer made every effort to impress with its first talking motion picture, setting a new standard for big-budget films and establishing an archetype for decades of movie musicals to follow in The Broadway Melody.

    The Great White Way truly becomes the Street of Broken Dreams when sisters Queenie and Hank Mahoney (Anita Page and Bessie Love) follow Hank's boyfriend, Eddie Kearns (Charles King), to Manhattan with visions of stardom. In New York, Eddie and Queenie are attracted to each other, but unwilling to betray her sister, Queenie dates a feckless cad. Now, Hank must sort out the tangle of aspirations and emotions that form this tragic love triangle. Filled with a memorable score of unforgettable songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed, this was the first sound film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture (1929-30).

    • NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM THE BEST PRESERVATION ELEMENTS
    • Metro Movietone Review Shorts, No. 1,2,3,4 & 7
    • Van and Schenck Metro Movietone Act, The Dogway Melody
    • Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature

    The Fastest Gun Alive

    Glenn Ford stars in this action-packed Western featuring a star-powered cast. Ford stars as a gunman gone good named George Temple, who with his wife Dora (Jeanne Crain) are trying to live a peaceful life. But George's gunslinging ways are legendary - and attract the attention of other gunmen who feel up for a challenge. The couple moves to a new town in the hopes of finally finding a normal life. When George gets drunk and spills the beans, can he and Dora trust the townfolk to keep their secret? A Western with a message that the whole family can enjoy.

    • NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
    • Original Theatrical Trailer
    • Classic Tom & Jerry shorts:
    • Blue Cat Blues
    • Down Beat Bear
    • Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature

    Cimarron

    This Academy Award -winning adaptation of Edna Ferber's novel traces the lives of two people who are in love with each other--but in love with life even more--as they struggle to bring civilization to the Western frontier in Cimarron!

    1898. The Oklahoma Land Rush. As thousands of would-be settlers race across a barren desert to be the first to stake their claim to a plot of land, Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix) is cheated out of his property by Dixie Lee (Estelle Taylor). Without the farm they had hoped to start, Yancey and his wife, Sabra (Irene Dunne), take over the local newspaper after the editor is assassinated. But as the newspaper helps bring order to a lawless land, Yancey feels the wanderlust to find new frontiers and new adventures, and Sabra stays to build a publishing empire. Always in love, frequently apart and destined for greatness, Yancey and Sabra lead lives as tempestuous as the land they have chosen for their home in this epic Western classic.

    • NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM THE BEST PRESERVATION ELEMENTS
    • Classic WB cartoons:
    • Lady, Play Your Mandolin (1931)
    • Red-Headed Baby (1931)
    • MGM short: The Devil's Cabaret (1931)
    • Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature

    According to Bill Hunt over at The Digital Bits, Warner Brothers seems to be prepping Batman: Mask of the Phantasm for 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray for a release likely this fall.

    Batman: Mask of the Phantasm: When the city's most feared gangsters are systematically eliminated, the Caped Crusader is blamed. But prowling the Gotham night is a shadowy new villain, the Phantasm, a sinister figure with some link to Batman's past. Can the Dark Knight elude the police, capture the Phantasm and clear his own name?

    Unmasking the Phantasm is just one of the twists in this dazzling animated feature. Discover revelations about Batman's past, his archrival the Joker and Batman's most grueling battle ever — the choice between his love for a beautiful woman and his vow to be the defender of right. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is "a mystery that is genuinely absorbing, suspenseful and moving" (Cincinnati Enquirer).

    Quentin Tarantino fans will also be pleased to know that The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Lionsgate will be re-releasing Jackie Brown, Kill Bill: Vo 1, and Kill Bill: Vol 2 in the near future with a newly remastered 4K Ultra HD of Kill Bill: Vol 1 leading the way to coincide with the film's 25th anniversary. It's probably safe to assume the others won't be far behind. We hope to be able to update those with official release news ASAP.

    Lastly, there is no release date yet, however, Kino Lorber Studio Classics is working on John Favreau's Cowboys & Aliens starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde for 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray sometime in 2023 or early 2024.  

    Cowboys & Aliens: Bearing a mysterious metal shackle on his wrist, an amnesiac gunslinger (Daniel Craig) wanders into a frontier town called Absolution. He quickly finds that strangers are unwelcome, and no one does anything without the approval of tyrannical Col. Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford). But when Absolution faces a threat from beyond Earth, the stranger finds that he is its only hope of salvation. He unites townspeople, outlaws and Apache warriors against the alien forces in an epic battle for survival.


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