Criterion’s January includes more Kurosawa 4K, plus Babe & Pig in the City Ultra HDs from KLSC, The Hitchcock 9 on Blu-ray, Stir of Echoes & Toho buys GKids!

Tuesday, 15 October 2024 17:36

Criterion’s January includes more Kurosawa 4K, plus Babe & Pig in the City Ultra HDs from KLSC, The Hitchcock 9 on Blu-ray, Stir of Echoes & Toho buys GKids!

by Bill Hunt

Yojimbo/Sanjuro: Two Samurai Films by Akira Kurosawa (4K Ultra HD)

All right, we’ve got some big announcement news to report today, as well as some very interesting industry news. But first, more new disc reviews...

Stuart has turned in his thoughts on Franco Zeffirelli’s The Taming of the Shrew (1967) on Blu-ray from Via Vision’s Imprint Films label, as well as Robert Clouse’s Black Belt Jones (1974) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

And Dennis has turned in a look at Todd Solondz’s Happiness (1998) on Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection.

Also here at The Bits today, we’ve posted major updates of our 4K Ultra HD Release List, as well as our Release Dates & Cover Art section, both of which feature all the latest Amazon pre-order links. So be sure to check those out, and remember that we’re an Amazon Affiliate which means that clicking through one of our links (like this one) before shopping for literally anything from Amazon is a great way to help support our work here at the site. It makes a BIG difference. So thank you!

Now then, speaking of Criterion, let’s get right to today’s big release news: Criterion has just announced their January 2025 release slate, and every single title will include 4K UHD! On 1/7, look for Yojimbo/Sanjuro: Two Samurai Films by Akira Kurosawa, which itself has no Spine # but which includes 4K UHD upgrades of Yojimbo (1961) (Spine #52 – 4K+BD) and Sanjuro (1962) (Spine #53 – 4K UHD + BD). Following on 1/14, you’ll get Jean Eustache’s The Mother and the Whore (1973) (Spine #1245 – 4K+BD, BD & DVD) and Richard Pryor’s Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986) (Spine #1247 – 4K+BD & BD). On 1/21, look for Stephen Frears’ The Grifters (1990) (Spine #1246 – 4K+BD & BD). And finally, 1/28 will bring Anthony Mann’s Winchester ‘73 (1950) (Spine #1247 – 4K+BD & BD). You can see the cover artwork at left and below the break. [Read on here...]

Universal has just set the Alfred Hitchcock: The Iconic Film Collection for 4K Ultra HD release on 11/26. The set will include Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, and The Birds in 4K, North by Northwest and To Catch a Thief by partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment. The packaging will be an oversized book with original artwork.

Universal has also set Paul Feig’s Last Christmas (2019) for release on 4K Ultra HD on 11/12.

Meanwhile, Imprint Films has hinted that they’re going to be releasing The Hitchcock 9 on Blu-ray in the near future. This would be a Blu-ray edition of the British Film Institute’s recent restorations of Alfred Hitchcock’s nine earliest surviving films: The Lodger (1926), The Pleasure Garden (1926), The Ring (1927), Easy Virtue (1927), Downhill (1927), Champagne (1928), The Farmer’s Wife (1928), The Manxman (1929), and Blackmail (1929). Watch for more details soon.

Back to Warner for a moment: Amazon is now taking pre-orders for the long-awaited Looney Tunes Collector’s Choice: Volume 4 Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection. The street date is 11/26, and you can see the cover artwork below.

Kino Lorber Studio Classics let it be known over the weekend that they’re working on new 4K UHD releases of Chris Noonan’s Babe (1995) and George Miller’s Babe: Pig in the City (1998). The street date is TBA.

Our friends at Lionsgate have just set David Koepp’s Stir of Echoes (1999) for release on Amazon-exclusive 4K Ultra HD Steelbook on 12/20. Lots of legacy extras should be included, along with Dolby Vision HDR, Dolby Atmos audio, and a pair of newly-produced featurettes (Visions of the Past: Re-visiting Stir of Echoes and Establishing Shot with Fred Murphy). The cover artwork is available below (click on the images to pre-order on Amazon)...

Don’t forget that the studio is also releasing Mark DiSalle and David Worth’s Kickboxer (1989) on Amazon-exclusive 4K Steelbook on 12/3...

Kickboxer (Amazon-exclusive 4K Ultra HD Steelbook)

And in other news today, this is pretty significant: Per Deadline this afternoon, the Japanese media conglomerate and film studio Toho has just acquired the North American anime distributor GKids. Per the piece: “GKids will continue to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Los Angeles-based Toho International. GKids Founder Eric Beckman will remain as CEO, and Dave Jesteadt will remain as President.” We assume this also means that GKids titles will continue to be distributed by Shout! Studios. Whether Toho titles will eventually be available through this channel as well remains to be seen.

All right, we’ll leave you today with a look at the cover artwork for several of the titles mentioned above. All except the Criterion titles have Amazon pre-order links (and those will be added when they become live)...