Displaying items by tag: Patrick O'Brian

All right, folks... several weeks ago, we told you this was coming, and the announcement is finally here:

MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD SETS SAIL ON 4K ULTRA HD FOR THE FIRST TIME

Peter Weir’s Academy Award-Winning Naval Epic Arrives August 5 in Stunning 4K Ultra HD for the First Time Ever on Digital and Blu-ray Disc

BURBANK, CA (July 16, 2025) – The courage to do the impossible lies in the hearts of men! Peter Weir’s high-seas masterpiece set during the Napoleonic Wars, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, sets sail for the first time ever on 4K Ultra HD Digital and Blu-ray Disc August 5.

Adapted from the tenth novel in Patrick O’Brian’s legendary ‘Aubrey/Maturin’ series, the film stars Russell Crowe as Captain “Lucky Jack” Aubrey, the Royal Navy’s most daring and battle-tested commander, and Paul Bettany as his close friend, ship’s surgeon, and naturalist Stephen Maturin. When HMS Surprise is ambushed by a superior enemy vessel, Aubrey must confront the brutal challenges of war, the unforgiving sea, and the limits of leadership. With his ship damaged and crew wounded, he sets off on a relentless pursuit across two oceans—facing a choice between duty and loyalty, and a mission that could alter the fate of nations or destroy them all. [Read on here...]

Now here’s a title I’ve known about for a while, and that I’m very excited to finally share with all of you!

Longtime Bits readers will know that this film is another huge favorite of mine. And back in January of last year… not long before we first broke the exclusive news of the new Sony/Disney distribution deal here at The Digital Bits… I was invited by Disney reps to submit a list of films that I thought the studio should consider for release on physical 4K UHD.

I compiled a list of fifty titles, an A-list of twenty-five, and a B-list of twenty-five more.

Kevin Jarre, Kurt Russell, and George P. Cosmatos’ Tombstone (1993) was at the very top of that A-list.

The third film on that A-list was Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven: Director’s Cut (2005).

Both titles have now obviously been released on physical 4K Ultra HD from Disney/Touchstone and 20th Century Studios via Sony Pictures Home Entertainment—Tombstone on 4/22, and Kingdom of Heaven on 5/27. (Initial supplies of both titles are hard to come by, but I’m told that Sony is working hard to replicate more copies.)

Well… now I can confirm that the second title on the list I submitted is finally coming to 4K Ultra HD as well, and I couldn’t possibly be more excited. That title is none other than… [Read on here...]

All right, as many of you know, Thursday marks the official 50th Anniversary of the Star Trek franchise. Star Trek: The Original Series debuted on NBC TV way back on September 8, 1966.

As is probably true for many of you, Star Trek’s played an enormous role in my life. It was my first favorite TV show as a very young child, certainly my first exposure to science fiction of any kind, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that my moral compass – the very principles I believe in (a more optimistic future, the idea that we’re stronger working together, that exploration is one of the most noble things Humanity can do, that it’s our differences that make us greater, etc) – all come from classic Star Trek. The series certainly fostered my curious nature and lifelong interests in science, astronomy, writing, and spaceflight technology. Over the past decade, my love of the franchise led to the discovery of Patrick O’Brian’s “Aubrey-Maturin” series of historical novels, which begin with Master and Commander (upon which the 2003 Russell Crowe film was based) – they’re essentially Star Trek stories set in the 19th Century.  [Read on here…]