Starting on 7/7, look for David Lynch’s The Elephant Man (1980) (Spine #1051 – 4K UHD + Blu-ray and Blu-ray). On 7/14, you’ll get Neil Jordan’s The Crying Game (1992) (Spine #1320 – 4K UHD + Blu-ray and Blu-ray), Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1963) (Spine #1319 – 4K UHD + Blu-ray and Blu-ray), and Martin Ritt’s Hud (1963) (Spine #1319 – 4K UHD + Blu-ray and Blu-ray). On 7/21, look for Hlynur Pálmason’s The Love That Remains (2025) as a new Criterion Premieres title (Blu-ray and DVD), and Nagisa Oshima’s Cruel Story of Youth (1960) (Spine #1321 – 4K UHD + Blu-ray and Blu-ray). And finally, on 7/28 you’ll get I’ll Remind You of Everything: The Films of Mike Mills (Spine #1322 – 4K UHD + Blu-ray and Blu-ray), which includes Beginners (2010), 20th Century Women (2016), and C’mon C’mon (2021).
You can read more about all of these here, and here’s a look at the cover artwork…
Now then, we also have some not so positive news to cover here at The Bits today…
Per The Wrap yesterday, Disney has just laid off 1,000 people, including their entire home entertainment marketing and publicity team.
Yes, you read that right: Everyone at Disney in charge of spreading the word about upcoming Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD releases has just been let go, including someone I’ve known for a good 20+ years.
And I’m going to tell you right now, the only conclusion I can draw from this is somewhat grim: It sure as hell seems to me like Disney, as a corporate entity, no longer gives a shit about physical media and home entertainment anymore.
Now... if I’m wrong, I would be very happy to listen if someone in charge of home entertainment at Disney wants to reach out to me to explain why: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
But let me take a moment to explain my thinking…
Last year, Disney released Master and Commander, Tombstone, Kingdom of Heaven, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Edward Scissorhands, The Sound of Music, Lilo & Stitch, TRON, TRON: Legacy, and The Emperor’s New Groove in 4K Ultra HD.
Ten 4K catalog titles. That seemed pretty good right? It looked like a sign of genuine progress at the studio in terms of catalog 4K. But then a funny thing happened...
Again and again, Disney failed to order sufficient units of each title to meet consumer demand. So lots of people who wanted to buy copies couldn’t get their hands on one.
Retailers were unable to keep the 4K titles in stock. Worse yet, many customers who’d pre-ordered the titles, and thus thought they’d secured their copies, had their orders cancelled. Again and again this happened!
The result was a great deal of anger and frustration among 4K disc enthusiasts. I mean, a LOT of it—I hear from these people every single day.
And my guess is that Disney home entertainment leadership probably has no idea, because they certainly don’t expose themselves to enthusiast consumer feedback—beyond polling soccer moms in shopping malls (who are most certainly not the mainstream 4K disc consumer)—and they don’t make themselves much available to the press either.
In fact, the one conduit that members of the press have had to Disney home entertainment executives, Disney just eliminated!
Now here we are in 2026. So far this year, Disney has released zero 4K catalog titles. ZERO.
And they’ve announced only two: David Fincher’s Fight Club (which streets on 5/12) and Alice in Wonderland (which streets on 5/5).
That’s appalling.
Especially for a company that’s currently sitting on a vast untapped library of Disney classic animated and live action titles, the entire 20th Century Fox library, the Touchstone library, the Hollywood Pictures library!
By the way—even as I say this, Disney’s archive restoration team is still going gangbusters remastering lots of these films in 4K. Disney, as a company, is just not releasing any of them on disc. Many of these remasters aren’t even available in 4K Digital or via 4K streaming on Disney+!
Again, that’s appalling.
What’s so strange about this, is Disney is the company that in many ways invented the home entertainment industry back in the 1980s and 90s! They pioneered the release of great films on VHS, LaserDisc, DVD, and Blu-ray! They even invented the “vault” strategy that drove consumer interest and created a strong and evergreen perception of value for these films in the minds of fans!
But now, Disney can barely be bothered to release their beloved films in 4K Ultra HD, even as other studios are increasing their 4K catalog output! Disney also seems oddly averse to licensing out titles to boutique labels—beyond a few here and there to Criterion—even as other studios are dramatically increasing their 4K licensing.
Now… my current understanding is that Disney does have at least a few more 4K catalog titles coming later this year. Keep in mind, Disney does still have their recent distribution deal with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. But we’re already into April, and nothing is currently on the radar.
Meanwhile, by comparison, Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment is releasing a dozen major 4K catalog titles a year, plus half as many more again from their own in-house boutique label, the Warner Archive Collection! What’s more, Warner Bros. has recently licensed out more than 150 of their most beloved and fan favorite genre and deep catalog titles to boutique labels for 4K release!
Yet Disney does almost nothing. As far as I can tell, they’ve even stopped releasing their best Disney+ original series titles on Blu-ray and 4K—think Marvel titles, Star Wars titles, etc.
Bottom line: The current situation with regard to home entertainment and physical media—particularly 4K catalog—at Disney is appalling.
TELL ME I’M WRONG, DISNEY.
Please! Because I want to believe.
But right now I don’t, and nor does anyone else who buys 4K Ultra HD discs.
So my message to Disney today is this: You need to decide that you actually want to be in the 4K catalog business, then do more than just dabble—you need to get serious about it. You need to do better and just as importantly tell us how you’re doing better!
Or just be honest about your current stance and stop.
Because the status quo is absolutely maddening for 4K disc fans.
Speaking from experience, I’ve now spent THIRTY YEARS covering the home entertainment industry. And I have never encountered a situation more frustrating for physical media consumers—including TWO format wars—than this.
And I am really sick of writing about how Disney is dropping the ball and underserving some of their best and most loyal customers who still love, buy, and want to buy discs.
Do better, Disney.
DO BETTER.
- Bill Hunt
(You can follow Bill on social media on Twitter/X, BlueSky, and Facebook, and also here on Patreon)