All right, a quick update with some big breaking news...

It should surprise no one, as we’ve been talking about it (and we’ve had it in our 4K Ultra HD Release List) for a couple months now. But Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has just officially set Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 3/19, with the Digital release expected on 2/26.

It does not appear that at Blu-ray 3D release is planned. You can see the cover artwork at left and also below.

Both the Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD release will include Dolby Atmos audio. HDR10 is likely for the 4K (the press release makes no mention of Dolby Vision). [Read on here...]

This is a quick post to let you all know that Russell Hammond has just posted the weekly update of our Release Dates & Cover Artwork section here at The Digital Bits with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. As a NEW feature, the section now lets you search for upcoming Blu-ray titles, DVD titles, AND 4K Ultra HD titles seperately to help you find exactly the ones you’re looking for. Just click on RELEASE DATES & ART on the menu bar above to visit the page, and use the search options in the red bar (at the top) to sort by format and date. Once you find a title you like, just click on the cover art and you’ll be taken right to the Amazon.com pre-order page. Thank you for shopping through our links!

- Bill Hunt

There’s some new release news to report today, and then we’re going to return to the topic of physical media in the wake of the news about Samsung on Friday.

But first, late on Friday afternoon, Criterion announced their May Blu-ray release slate, which is set to include William Wyler’s The Heiress (Cat #974 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 5/7, an updating of David Mamet’s House of Games (Cat #399 – Blu-ray and DVD) and Michael Haneke’s Funny Games (Cat #975 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 5/14, Claire Denis’ Let the Sunshine In (Cat #976 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 5/21, and Agnès Varda’s One Sings, the Other Doesn’t (Cat #978 – Blu-ray and DVD) and David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (Cat #977 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 5/28. We’ve updated our Criterion Spines Project page here at The Bits to include these titles and you can read more about them here.

Speaking of Criterion, we also learned on Friday that the Russian film studio Mosfilm has completed a new 2K restoration of Sergei Bondarchuk’s epic 1966-67 film adaptation of War and Peace. The 7-hour/4-part series is legendary in cinema history as the biggest production ever mounted, besting even David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia by having an essentially unlimited budget, a bottomless supply of props and costumes from the country’s state museums, and a cast of thousands. The film was shot on Russian Sovscope 70mm film stock, but unfortunately it’s suffered from preservation issues over the years. That’s meant the only good options available for viewing in recent years have been DVD versions of modest quality. [Read on here...]

All right, today’s Bits update offers 4K Ultra HD news, some of it good and some of it bad, as well as some good standard Blu-ray news...

The good news first: We’ve learned from our studio and industry sources that Disney is bringing Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War to physical 4K Ultra HD in April. Our retail sources suggest the street date is likely to be 4/23. This makes sense as it’s the same week that Avengers: Endgame hits theaters. Keep in mind, Captain America: The First Avenger hits the format next Tuesday, 2/26. It appears that Best Buy will have exclusive Steelbook packaging and Zavvi is already taking pre-orders on a Captain America Trilogy 4K set.

We’ve also learned from our sources that essentially all of the other Marvel Cinematic Universe titles not yet released on physical 4K are coming over the next year or so. This includes Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), Iron Man 3 (2013), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Ant-Man (2015), and Doctor Strange (2016). We would expect the next batch to arrive with the home release of Captain Marvel, somewhere around Q2 2019. [Read on here...]

Let’s start with the big news first: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has just set Clint Eastwood’s The Mule for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 4/2, with the Digital release expected on 3/19. There’s no indication of Dolby Vision in the press release, so I would assume HDR10. Audio on both the Blu-ray and 4K is expected to be DTS-HD MA. Extras will include the Nobody Runs Forever: The Making of The Mule featurette and a Toby Keith music video. You can see the cover artwork at left and also below.

Also today, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has just announced the Blu-ray and DVD release of Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk on 3/26, with the Digital release expected on 3/12. No physical 4K UHD release is currently planned. Audio on the Blu-ray is DTS-HD MA with extras including audio commentary by Barry Jenkins, the If Beale Street Could Talk: Poetry in Motion featurette, and deleted scenes. Again, you can see the cover artwork below. [Read on here...]

We’ve got some more interesting 4K Ultra HD release news for you today, and some Blu-ray news as well...

First up, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has just officially set Roland Emmerich’s Godzilla (1998) for release on 4K Ultra HD on 5/14, complete with Dolby Atmos audio. The film has been remastered in 4K from the original camera negative. The 4K disc will include a trio of trailers. You’ll also get the film on Blu-ray with all of its legacy extras, and a Digital copy will be included as well. You can see the cover artwork at left.

While we’re on the subject of Sony, this is both good news and bad news: Sony has recently made Sir David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia available in 4K... as a digital exclusive (on iTunes, Amazon Prime, and elsewhere). To which we reply: WHAT THE HELL?! The download reportedly doesn’t have HDR, but so what? Sony... what the hell are you waiting for?! [Read on here...]

All right, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has officially set director James Wan’s Aquaman for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 3/26, with the Digital release expected on 3/5. Amazon and a couple of other retailers (including Zavvi and Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, etc) are currently listing a Blu-ray 3D SKU, but one wasn’t not mentioned in the studio’s official press release. So we’ll have to wait and see if it actually appears. US Retail exclusives including book packaging at Target, Steelbook packaging at Best Buy. Note that the 4K will feature Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos audio (the Blu-ray will also include Atmos).

Extras will include 12 featurettes (Going Deep Into the World of Aquaman, Becoming Aquaman, James Wan: World Builder, Aqua Tech, Atlantis Warfare, The Dark Depths of Black Manta, Heroines of Atlantis, Villainous Training, Kingdoms of the Seven Seas, Creating Undersea Creatures, A Match Made in Atlantis, and Scene Study Breakdowns) and an Exclusive Sneak Peek of Shazam!

Now then... before we get into more release news, we have some new Blu-ray reviews for you here at The Bits today. Tim has checked in with his thoughts on Severin Film’s All the Colors of Giallo and Dread Central Presents’ Dry Blood. Enjoy! [Read on here...]

All right, it’s not officially announced yet but we expect it to be at any time. At left you can see the official final cover artwork for Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse on 4K Ultra HD. It’s available for pre-order now on Amazon (see this link) and the street date is listed as 3/19 (SRP $38.99 but Amazon has it listed for just $22.95, which is a whopping 41% off). We don’t know yet what the HDR will be, but you can certainly expect Dolby Atmos audio. You can also bet that this film is going to look amazing in high dynamic range.

We don’t yet know if there will be a Blu-ray 3D release in the States, but stay tuned. We’ll post the official details as soon as they come in.

Before we continue, we’ve got three new Blu-ray reviews for you today, including Tim’s look at the Out of Time: Special Edition from MVD and All the Colors of the Dark (1972) from Severin Films. Dennis has also checked in with his thoughts on So Dark the Night (1946) from Arrow Academy. Enjoy! [Read on here...]