Items filtered by date: March 2024

We’ve got some great release news for you today to start out the new week.

And we’ve also got more new disc reviews for you, so let’s get to the latter first...

Over the weekend, Stephen posted his thoughts on Disney+ and Marvel’s new release of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: The Complete First Season (2024) in 4K Ultra HD. He’s also given Riccardo Freda’s The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962) a review in 4K Ultra HD from Vinegar Syndrome.

Not to be outdone, Tim has reviewed Hanna-Barbera’s animated The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones (1987) on Blu-ray from our friends at the Warner Archive Collection, as well as Paul Leni’s The Cat and the Canary (1927) on Blu-ray from Eureka Entertainment.

Lots more reviews are on the way this week, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for them!

Now then, in announcement news, let’s start with the big one first... GKids and Shout Factory have officially set Hayao Miyazaki’s animated The Boy and the Heron (2023) for release on Blu-ray + DVD, 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray, and 4K UHD + BD Steelbook on 7/9! The Digital release expected on 6/25. [Read on here...]

We’ve got just a few items for you this evening to round out the week of release news...

First, Arrow Video has announced their July 2024 slate of Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD titles, which is set to include...

Thomas Sainsbury’s Loop Track (2023) on Blu-ray in the UK only.

Nick Castle’s The Last Starfighter (1984) on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD in the UK only.

Howard Hawks’ Red Line 7000 (1965) on Blu-ray in the US and Canada only.

The Nico Mastorakis Collection on Blu-ray in the UK, US, and Canada, including The Time Traveller (1984) (aka The Next One), Sky High (1985), Terminal Exposure (1987), Glitch! (1988), Ninja Academy (1989), and The Naked Truth (1992).

And Guy Ritchie’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) in both Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD in the UK, US, and Canada.

All of these titles are expected to street on or around 7/30, with the exception of The Last Starfighter which is due on 7/15. [Read on here...]

We’ve got a big new disc review for you all today here at The Bits, and it’s a title that a lot of you have been waiting for: My look at Tony Gilroy’s Andor: The Complete First Season (2023) in 4K Ultra HD Steelbook from Lucasfilm and Disney! All the details are in the review, but suffice it to say that the release absolutely does not disappoint. The video quality is stunning.

We’ve also got a bunch of recent reviews that our staffers have shared over the last few days that I need to round up here for you guys, including...

Stephen’s reviews of Sergio Martino’s The Great Alligator (1979) in 4K Ultra HD from Severin Films, Rod Lurie’s The Last Castle (2001) in 4K Ultra HD from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, John Ford’s 3 Godfathers (1948) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection, and Walter Hill’s The Long Riders (1980) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Tim’s reviews of Frank Henenlotter’s Basket Case (1982) in 4K Ultra HD from Arrow Video, Michael Laughlin’s Strange Invaders (1983) on Blu-ray from Imprint, and Hanna-Barbera’s animated Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers (1987) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

And finally, Dennis’ review of Nancy Savoca’s Dogfight (1991) on Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection.

Meanwhile, we have a couple or housekeeping items to report here at The Bits today... [Read on here...]

This is a quick post to let you all know that our Release Dates & Cover Artwork section here at The Digital Bits has just been updated with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. Don’t forget that you can select to see just the Blu-ray, DVD, or 4K Ultra HD titles seperately if you like, to help you find exactly the ones you’re looking for. Just click on COVER 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 and don’t forget that anytime you order from Amazon through our links, you’re helping to support our work here at The Bits and we really appreciate it! And thanks to our own Russell Hammond for the update work!

- Bill Hunt

Morning, folks!

All right, Tim is going to have a couple of new disc reviews posted here at the site shortly, and I’ll be back tomorrow with more release news, plus my own in-depth review of Andor: The Complete First Season in 4K Ultra HD.

I’ve actually been working on that over the weekend, but my father-in-law has also been visiting with us here for the past week or so, and he’s headed off to the airport this evening for his return flight home. So, real life calls.

In the meantime, we do have a few pieces of release news that are kind of important to share with you all this morning. So let’s get right to them...

The first comes to us by way of the Warner Bros. Shop in the UK, which has now revealed that Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959) is finally coming to 4K Ultra HD later this year in honor of the film’s 65th anniversary! We don’t yet have a street date, but you can see the expanded packaging mock-up below the break. [Read on here...]

Afternoon, folks! We’ve got a few new disc reviews, some great release news, and a fine bit of streaming TV news for you today as well! First as always, those reviews...

Kicking things off, Stephen has turned in his thoughts on Michael Mann’s Ferrari (2023), as released in 4K Ultra HD by Eagle Pictures in Italy. It’s a great little film, and here’s hoping that Neon and Decal will see fit to release it here in the States in 4K soon as well.

Stephen has also reviewed Lucio Fulci’s City of the Living Dead (1980) in 4K Ultra HD from our friends at Arrow Video.

Not to be outdone, Tim has turned in his thoughts on Jesús Franco’s Night of the Blood Monster (1970), aka The Bloody Judge, in 4K Ultra HD from the good people over at Blue Underground.

Dennis has offered his take on Theodore J. Flicker’s The President’s Analyst (1967) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

And Stuart rounds things out today with his review of Yasuharu Hasebe’s Black Tight Killers (1966) on Blu-ray from the team at Radiance Films.

As always, more reviews are on the way so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for them!

Now then, a quick follow up. As many of you know, we’ve been running an interactive poll on our Patreon and Twitter/X pages over the past week on behalf of Lionsgate Home Entertainment. The question was: For the studio’s new 4K catalog Steelbook line, would you prefer new custom artwork or original poster artwork? Nearly three thousand of you voted in all (2,959 to be exact), with 1,166 votes (38.41%) for new custom artwork and 1,793 votes (60.59%) for original poster artwork. [Read on here...]

To kick off a new week today, we have some interesting release news and a new disc review to share as well. Let’s get to the latter first...

Tim has offered his thoughts on Michele Soavi’s The Church (1989) in 4K Ultra HD from our friends at Severin Films.

More reviews are forthcoming this week, so be sure to stay tuned for them.

Also today here at The Bits, we’ve expanded our Patreon poll about Lionsgate 4K catalog Steelbooks to our Twitter/X page with just a day and a half left. The question is: Lionsgate Home Entertainment is developing a new line of 4K Ultra HD catalog Steelbooks, including many titles released previously as Best Buy exclusives, and they’d like your opinion: Would you prefer the covers to 1) feature newly-created custom artwork, or 2) the film’s original poster artwork? You can vote right now here on Patreon or here on Twitter/X and please take a moment to do so before the polls end on Wednesday. Thank you!

Now then, the big release news today is that Criterion has just announced its July 2024 slate of Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD titles, and this batch has some real gems as well as a couple of surprises. [Read on here...]

Before we get to today’s release news, we’ve got a few new disc reviews for you to enjoy here at The Bits...

Tim has reviewed the Looney Tunes: Collector’s Choice – Volume 2 Blu-ray set from the Warner Archive Collection.

Dennis has reviewed R.O. Blechman and Christian Blackwood’s The Soldier’s Tale (1984) on Blu-ray from Kino Classics, along with Jerry London’s Rent-a-Cop (1988) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

And Stuart has offered his thoughts on Édouard Molinaro’s The Road to Shame (1959) on Blu-ray from Kino Classics, as well as Guy Green’s Diamond Head (1962) on Blu-ray from our friends at Imprint Films.

More reviews are on the way, as always, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for them!

Now then... the big news today is that Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment has officially set Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two (2024) for release on Blu-ray, DVD, 4K Ultra HD, and 4K UHD + Blu-ray Steelbook on 5/14, just as we expected. The Digital release is due on 4/16, which is just a week away.

Look for the 4K disc to include Dolby Vision and HDR10 high dynamic range and Dolby Atmos audio. Unfortunately, we’ve confirmed with the studio that the aspect ratio for all of these SKUs will be 2.39:1 only, matching the previous release of Dune: Part One (2021) on disc. These discs will not replicate the variable IMAX aspect ratio in 1.78:1, like the studio’s past 4K releases of Christopher Nolan’s films do (including TENET, Dunkirk, The Dark Knight, etc).

This is something that a LOT of Dune and 4K fans very much want. Since the discs went up for pre-order a few weeks ago, I’ve gotten many hundreds of questions about it. And since I shared the 2.39 confirmation on Twitter yesterday, the post has been seen by more than 1 million people! So there is clearly very keen interest in a disc release that does have the IMAX ratio. Hopefully, Warner is planning an IMAX 4K and BD disc re-release in the future. [Read on here...]

All right, I hope all of you guys here in the States checked out the solar eclipse this morning! Here in Southern California, the Moon only covered about 54% of the Sun at maximum, but I took the scope out this morning anyway and got a couple good pictures that I’ll share below the break.

In the meantime, the big news today is unofficial, but it comes from enough retail sources now that I’m confident it’s accurate: Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment will release Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two (2024) on Blu-ray, DVD, 4K Ultra HD, and 4K UHD Steelbook on 5/14. And while we’ll have to wait for the official press release (expected anytime now) to be sure, based on the promo images the studio is sharing with some of the pre-order listings, it looks like the aspect ratio for the title may be full 1.78:1. This would replicate the maximum IMAX image area for home viewing. Again, that’s not certain yet. So fingers crossed, we’ll know more very soon. You can see the 4K Steelbook art at left and also below the break.

[Editor’s Note: The 5/14 date is now official per WBHE, but we’ve confirmed that the aspect ratio will be 2.39:1 only. Don’t attack the messenger please; we’re only passing on what we’ve learned.]

Also newly announced today by Lionsgate is Francis Ford Coppola’s One from the Heart: Reprise (1982), which will finally arrive here in the States in 4K Ultra HD on 5/7. The entire film has been restored from the original camera negative and six minutes of footage have been added back to the film by Coppola himself. The 4K package will include a UHD disc of the new cut plus the original 1982 Theatrical Version on Blu-ray, with all of its legacy special features. [Read on here...]

We have a new disc review for all of you to enjoy today here at The Bits...

Our own Tim Salmons has just weighed in on the Warner Archive Collection’s Looney Tunes: Collector’s Choice – Volume 1 Blu-ray, which includes 20 classic animated shorts from 1945 to 1959, among them some real rarities. Tim will be reviewing Volume 2 and Volume 3 on Blu-ray soon as well, so watch for those to follow in the coming days.

We’ve also updated our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits today with some new titles and Amazon.com pre-order links, so you’ll definitely want to check that out here.

And over on our Patreon page today, I’ve shared a feature entitled Steelbooks (And Why Hollywood Loves Them)! that looks back at the origins and history of Steelbook packaging, and why it’s become so popular with both the Hollywood studios and retailers. This post is free and open to everyone for a couple of reasons.

First, we want to give you all a taste of the kinds of content we’re creating exclusively for our paying supporters on Patreon. And second, we’re going to be running a poll on our Patreon page on behalf of a major Hollywood studio that wants your opinion on a Steelbook project they’re considering. That will appear in the next couple days there and it too will be free and available to all. [Read on here...]