Also, some of you may know that Clint Eastwood’s X account last week (on 1/27) revealed that Warner Bros. is bringing a number of Eastwood catalog films to 4K Steelbook “exclusively in the UK and France, with no availability in the US at this time.” The titles include Pale Rider (1985), Dirty Harry (1971), and The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976). Clicking on the Warner Bros UK shop links reveals that no street date is listed, and the X post has since been deleted. Here’s what it looked like...
We’ve checked in with our industry sources and we do believe that these titles are coming in the US as well, probably sometime later this year. But details are still TBD, which is probably why the post was removed. So watch for official announcements in the weeks and months ahead, and you can rest assured that we’ll report any news here as soon as it’s available.
In other news today, a number of Bits readers are reporting issues with a couple of new Arrow Video titles. Apparently, the Blu-ray included with their Inglourious Basterds 4K release is having functionality issues with Panasonic player models. And their new 4K and Blu-ray release of Tarsem Singh’s The Cell (2000) appears to have an error on The Director’s Cut (details here). Arrow is aware of both issues and is investigating them. Be sure to watch their social media for updates and any disc replacement options once they become available.
Also, Mercury Records’ street date for Hans Zimmer: Live in Prague in 4K has been moved from 3/21 to 7/18. Adjust your plans accordingly!
And finally today, a lot of you have been asking us on social media whether the recent news of new and higher tariffs on imported good from Canada, Mexico, and China are likely to have any impact on the cost of Blu-ray and 4K titles. The reason for this, of course, is that many discs intended for the US market are actually manufactured in a plant in Mexico City. I’ve been asking this question of my studio contacts, and it was certainly a topic of discussion at this weekend’s Saturn Awards. And the honest answer right now is that no one really knows for sure at the moment. If the tariffs are indeed enforced and they’re long lasting, there could very well be an impact. But there just isn’t enough information available yet to know for certain. We’ll be sure to post updates here as we learn more.
All right, that’s all for today. Back tomorrow.
Stay tuned!
- Bill Hunt
(You can follow Bill on social media on Twitter, BlueSky, and Facebook, and also here on Patreon)