Disney has just announced that Lucasfilm’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, directed by Ron Howard, will arrive on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 9/25 (just as we first predicted here on The Bits way back when), with the Digital release due on 9/14.

The Digital 4K offering will offer Dolby Vision HDR, but it appears that the physical 4K disc will feature HDR10 only. This would seem to be a reversal for Disney (and it’s one that appears to be the case with Avengers: Infinity War in 4K as well). Aspect ratio is 2.39:1 on all SKUs.

The 4K SKUs will feature Dolby Atmos object-based audio. There’s no 3D SKU planned for the US, but as usual it appears there will be an all-region Blu-ray 3D SKU available in the UK (click here) for those who wish to import. [Read on here...]

All right, today is kind of a big day on the 4K Ultra HD announcement front, so let’s get right to it...

First up, Disney and Marvel have just officially confirmed that Avengers: Infinity War will street on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 8/14 – just as we predicted – with the Digital release planned for 7/31. You’ll get over two hours worth of extras, including featurettes, a gag reel, deleted scenes, and audio commentary with the filmmakers. The Digital edition will include an exclusive 30-minute roundtable with MCU directors Joe and Anthony Russo, James Gunn, Ryan Coogler, Peyton Reed, Jon Favreau, Joss Whedon, and Taika Waititi. You can see the official cover artwork at left and also below.

Also, you know how we’ve been telling you since April that Disney and Marvel would be releasing The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron on 4K Ultra HD concurrently with Infinity War on 8/14? Sure enough... both Zavvi and Best Buy have now begun taking pre-orders for them. Consider them confirmed and you can see the official cover artwork below. [Editor’s Note: Disney has now officially confirmed the 8/14 4K Ultra HD release of The Avengers and The Avengers: Age of Ultron with The Avengers: Infinity War. Audio is confirmed to be Dolby Atmos on all three. Waiting to hear back on HDR.] [Read on here...]

We’re kicking off the new week with more new Blu-ray reviews. And we’re very pleased today to add a pair of new reviewers to The Bits staff: David Steigman and Dennis Seuling!

Dennis checks in with a look at John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place on Blu-ray, which streets tomorrow from Paramount.

David has offered this thoughts on Irving Cummings’s My Gal Sal on Blu-ray from Twilight Time. That disc is now available.

And Tim has checked in with a pair of new reviews today as well, including the Re-Animator: Collector’s Edition (Region B) and the Bride of Re-Animator & Beyond Re-Animator: Collector’s Edition double feature (all region) Blu-ray, both from Umbrella Entertainment. [Read on here...]

All right, just as we expected, Disney and Lucasfilm have just officially announced director Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi for Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release on 3/27, with the Digital/Movies Anywhere release set for 3/13.

Here’s something exciting for 4K fans from the press release: “This release will mark Disney’s first title available on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc in both Dolby Vision™ HDR and Dolby Atmos® immersive audio, delivering consumers a transformative viewing experience.” [Read on here...]

All right… today is the President’s Day holiday here in the States, but we do have a couple of announcements for you today...

First, if our retail, industry, and studio sources are correct, Disney and Lucasfilm are expected to announce the Blu-ray, DVD, 4K Ultra HD, and Digital release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi this week, possibly as soon as tomorrow. If and when that happens, we’ll have all the official details and cover artwork for you ASAP. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a couple good items of business for you today, the first of which is a new 4K review…

I’ve just given Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar a look on 4K Ultra HD from Paramount. The disc streets next Tuesday, 12/19. It’s a full native 4K transfer and of course the film was shot in a combination of 35 mm and 65 mm IMAX, so it’s variable aspect ratio and looks tremendous. The disc will also appear in Warner’s Christopher Nolan Collection 4K box set which streets next Tuesday as well. We don’t yet have the whole box, but as soon as we do, rest assured we’ll get the other films reviewed for you guys as soon as possible.

FYI, Tim has also just posted his review of Captain from Castile on Blu-ray from Twilight Time. Enjoy! [Read on here…]

All right, first things first today: We have a quick bit of follow-up for you this morning on those annual original Star Wars release rumors, the latest appearance of which caused a bit of a stir yesterday (and which we commented on in yesterday’s post). I know... we’re getting tired of talking about it too, but we have what seems to be rather definitive new information.

We’ve essentially confirmed that Disney’s current 4K scan of the film is the most recent revised version (essentially the latest “special edition”), not the original theatrical edition. What’s more, Disney’s director of Library Restoration and Preservation, Theo Gluck, held a special event at Ohio State University’s Wexner Center for the Arts last night, a presentation called Animation Restoration at Walt Disney Studios. Gluck was asked there about Star Wars and reported that the original cut negative for the film currently exists in its “SE” configuration only. (There’s more info, so do continue on past the jump.) [Read on here…]

“It’s hard to tell who the movie is for. It’s too childish for adults and too provocative and snarky for kids.” — Film historian/author Caseen Gaines

The History, Legacy & Showmanship column here at The Digital Bits typically celebrates popular and significant motion pictures and TV series. Periodically, though, we will look back at unpopular or maligned productions to examine if the passage of time warrants a reevaluation. So with this in mind, The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective for Howard the Duck on the occasion of its 30th anniversary.

Howard the Duck, based upon the 1970s Marvel comic book series, starred Lea Thompson (Back to the Future, All the Right Moves), Tim Robbins (Bull Durham, The Shawshank Redemption) and Jeffrey Jones (Amadeus, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) and featured a talking, cigar-chomping duck from another planet that is zapped across the galaxy to Cleveland where he meets a musician who attempts to help him return home.  [Read on here...]

All right, in case you thought we missed posting content yesterday…

There was no Friday news post, but we did post no less than four Blu-ray reviews, including my detailed thoughts on Disney and Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray 3D format! The short of it is that the 3D presentation is pretty good, the J.J. Abrams commentary is pretty great, and the set definitely better than the original release. But I do wish that they’d create a truly comprehensive special edition look at the making of this film.  [Read on here…]

All right, we’ve got a bunch of interesting announcement news and other bits of Blu-ray-related information for you today, so let’s get right to it…

FUNimation has announced that they’ve gotten the rights to release the new Shin Godzilla film here in the States, both in theaters and on disc. Watch for more news on that soon. The company has also announced the forthcoming Blu-ray release of Ergo Proxy for the first time in the U.S. and Canada, as well as Attack on Titan live action movie releases on Blu-ray and DVD – Part One on 10/6 and Part Two TBA. They’re also releasing a Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign – Collector’s Edition and Season One, Part Two on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD on 9/27. There’s still no word on Speed Racer/Mach GoGoGo, but we know they’re planned for release on Blu-ray by FUNimation in 2017, which is the series’ 50th anniversary. [Read on here…]