It’s not technically physical release news, but friend of The Bits and soundtrack album producer Neil S. Bulk has brought it to our attention that James Cameron’s The Abyss: Special Edition is now available in 4K on iTunes and Apple TV. The only trick is that you have to search for it, but then it does come up. And if you’ve purchased The Abyss digitally, it should appear in 4K.
By the way, there’s still no sign yet of US Amazon pre-orders for the March 12th physical 4K UHD Cameron titles (The Abyss, True Lies, and Aliens) though we do expect them to appear in the next week or so.
Kino Lorber Studio Classics has just revealed a whole slew of classic Blu-ray releases that it’s working on for the coming months, including Patrice Leconte’s Half a Chance (1998), Charles Marquis Warren’s Back from the Dead (1957), Robert Enrico’s Ho! (1968), Charles Frend’s The Cruel Sea (1953), Jack Gold’s Aces High (1976), Gilles Grangier’s Gas-Oil (1955), and the Sci-Fi Chillers Collection which includes Charles Marquis Warren’s The Unknown Terror (1957), Eugene Lourie’s The Colossus of New York (1958), and Francis D. Lyon’s Destination Inner Space (1966). The company is also working on William Friedkin’s Rampage (1987), which features music by Ennio Morricone, for both Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD. All of these are listed as “coming soon” with street dates TBA.
It appears that Michael Mann’s Ferrari will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on 3/12 from Decal and Neon, at least if Amazon is to be believed (click here for the pre-order page). No sign yet of a 4K UHD release.
Also not yet officially announced but available for pre-order on Amazon is David Fincher’s Se7en (1995) in 4K Ultra HD. The strange thing is that Amazon US currently has the UK all-region box sets listed as streeting on 1/12/24—just ten days from now. This includes an Ultimate Collector’s Edition release and a more elaborate What’s in the Box? Ultimate Collector’s Edition. Either this is an error, or Warner is about to make their official announcement. But we wouldn’t be surprised if the title slips a few weeks (or even a month or two). We’ll have to wait and see. Meanwhile, here’s what they look like (and you can click on the images below to pre-order each of them)...
We’ve covered this recently, but as a reminder: Imprint’s February Blu-ray slate will include Ingmar Bergman’s Face to Face (1976), Peter Yates’ The Dresser (1983), Bob Rafelson’s Mountains of the Moon (1990), Diane Kurys’ A Man in Love (1987), Gabriele Salvatores’ I’m Not Scared (2003), and Majid Majidi’s Children of Heaven (1997). Street date is on or about 2/28. Also coming in February are “standard edition” Blu-ray reissues of Byron Haskin’s Conquest of Space (1955), Karel Reisz’s The Gambler (1974), John Schlesinger’s Day of the Locust (1975), John Frankenheimer’s Black Sunday (1977), and Gus Van Sant’s Drugstore Cowboy (1989).
Meanwhile, on the way to Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment in February and March are Robert Harmon’s The Hitcher (1986), Jon Avnet’s Red Corner (1997), Paul Verhoeven’s Flesh + Blood (1985), Robert Lynn’s Dr. Crippen (1963), Takashi Miike’s Auditon: 25th Anniversary Collector’s Edition (1999), Hammer Horror: Volume 2—including John Gilling’s Shadow of the Cat (1961), Peter Graham Scott’s Night Creatures (1962), and Terence Fisher’s Phantom of the Opera (1962)—and Edward Dmytryk’s Blue Beard (1972) all on 2/21, followed by Brian Trenchard-Smith’s Dead End Drive-In: Collector’s Edition (1986) (4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray), Na Hong-jin’s The Chaser (2008), David Moreau and Xavier Palud’s Them (Ils) (2006), and Larry Clark’s Bully (2001) all on 3/20.
On the TV front, CBS is releasing Gomer Pyle USMC: The Complete Series on Blu-ray on 2/13.
Paramount is also releasing Eddie Murphy: Raw on Blu-ray on 1/9.
Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment is reissuing Smallville: The Complete Series on Blu-ray on 2/27. Also coming that day from the BBC via Warner is a reissue of Orphan Black: The Complete Series on Blu-ray.
The Warner Archive Collection’s January slate is set to include James L. George and Bob Seeley’s animated Rover Dangerfield (1991), Vincente Minnelli’s Cabin in the Sky (1943), William Keighley’s The Prince and the Pauper (1937), Sam Wood’s Marx Brothers classic A Day at the Races (1937), John Payson’s Joe’s Apartment (1996), and Harry Beaumont’s Faithless (1932) on Blu-ray on 1/30.
Mill Creek Entertainment is releasing Brian Volk-Weiss’ Icons Unearthed: Star Wars on Blu-ray on 3/12.
ETR Media has set Jack Bennett’s Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary for Blu-ray release on 2/27.
Crunchyroll is releasing Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume (2022) on Blu-ray, DVD, and Limited Edition Blu-ray on 3/12, but there’s no sign of a 4K Ultra HD release yet.
VCI will release a 4K Ultra HD double feature of Frank De Felitta’s Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981) and J.D. Feigelson’s Dark Night of the Scarecrow 2 (2022) on 3/26.
Blue Underground will release Jess Franco’s Night of the Blood Monster (1970 (aka The Bloody Judge) on 4K Ultra HD on 3/26.
Severin Films will release Stephen Wallace’s Stir (1980) on Blu-ray on 3/26.
And Grindhouse Releasing has set William Grefé’s Impulse (1974) for release on Blu-ray on 3/12. The film stars William Shatner.
We’ll leave you with a look at the cover artwork for a few of the titles mentioned above and more, with Amazon.com pre-order links if available. Remember that when you click through one of our links before starting to shop at Amazon, you’re helping to support our work here at The Bits and we appreciate it!
Stay tuned...!
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