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Wednesday, 19 February 2020 13:15

Disney & Lucasfilm set Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker for BD, DVD & 4K UHD on 3/31—UPDATED

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[Editor’s Note: This news post has been updated with final art for ALL of the Star Wars single-film 4K SKUs and Amazon.com pre-order links as available.]

All right, we expected it and now it’s finally here: Disney and Lucasfilm have just officially set JJ Abrams’ conclusion to the Star Wars saga, The Rise of Skywalker, for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 3/31—just as we thought—with the Digital release due via Movies Anywhere on 3/17. Audio will be Dolby Atmos on the 4K and 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio on Blu-ray. There’s no mention of HDR, so assume HDR10 only on the UHD disc.

The extras on the Blu-ray and DVD will include over two-hours worth of bonus content, starting with a feature-length documentary, The Skywalker Legacy.

Also included on all versions of the disc will be the featurettes Pasaana Pursuit: Creating the Speeder Chase, Aliens in the Desert, D-O: Key to the Past, Warwick & Son, and Cast of Creatures. There will also be the usual wide-release Digital exclusive featurette, The Maestro’s Finale, with composer John Williams reflecting back on his work for the saga. [Read on here...]

Unfortunately, an additional note on the press release suggests that “Digital bonus offerings may vary by retailer.” In other words, there could be additional digital exclusive content as well. And there is no mention of audio commentary, so it’s possible that there isn’t one planned, or that it’s also a retail exclusive.

We do know that the Target-exclusive 4K will include a Filmmaker Gallery Book and “Writers(s) JJ Abrams & Chris Terrio Exclusive” whatever that means.

Walmart has a 4K exclusive Limited Edition as well, that appears to include custom packaging and probably exclusive Digital content (but it doesn’t specify).

Best Buy has an exclusive 4K Steelbook, and probably exclusive Digital content as well (but again their listing doesn’t specify).

And the only Blu-ray 3D version we know of is available in the UK only (but appears to be ALL REGION).

Here’s a look at that cover artwork (starting with the wide release Blu-ray and 4K on top—which naturally Amazon isn’t letting you pre-order at the moment—along with the UK Blu-ray 3D, and the three US retail exclusive 4Ks on the bottom)…

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Blu-ray Disc) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (4K Ultra HD) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (UK Blu-ray 3D)

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Best Buy exclusive 4K Steelbook) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Target exclusive 4K) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Walmart exclusive 4K)

Interestingly, there’s still no mention of the Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga 9-Movie Collection in 4K. We know that in the U.S. this will be a Best Buy exclusive due on 3/31 as well. But Disney’s press release doesn’t mention it. (That’s not surprising: The official studio press releases frequently don’t mention or offer details about retail exclusives.) But here is the link to that at Best Buy (SRP $249.99)...

Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (4K Ultra HD)

The box set is also available widely in the UK with a street date of 4/20 and it appears the set is ALL REGION (£199.99 at the moment, which is about $257 USD—though this doesn’t include any kind of a sale price, which may be added later)...

Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (UK 4K Ultra HD)

Note that this collection is also available widely on Blu-ray Disc in the UK and again it will be ALL REGION (for £64.99—about $84 USD—street date 4/20 as well)...

Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (UK Blu-ray Disc)

We don’t know of ANY U.S. Blu-ray only release of this box set at the moment, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one. A DVD version of this set is available in the UK and one is also listed here on Amazon in the U.S., but you can’t pre-order it yet.

However, the press release DOES indicate: “On March 31, coinciding with the physical release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, eight Star Wars films are being released on 4K UHD for the first time: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars: A New Hope, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” Yet it doesn’t indicate what the features will be on any of those, so some of the mystery continues today.

Nevertheless, Amazon.com is now beginning to take pre-orders on all of those new Star Wars single SKU 4Ks, so here are those links. All are up but Empire, which should be up soon (and we expect the usual pre-order discounts to apply at some point too). We don’t yet have final cover art for any of the single SKU 4Ks, so we’re using yesterday’s Swedish artwork for now and we’ll replace it with the final art as it arrives (click on the covers to visit the relevant pre-order pages)...

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (4K Ultra HD) Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (4K Ultra HD) Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (4K Ultra HD)

Solo: A Star Wars Story (4K Ultra HD) Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (4K Ultra HD)

Star Wars: A New Hope (4K Ultra HD) Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (4K Ultra HD) Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (4K Ultra HD)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (4K Ultra HD) Star Wars: The Last Jedi (4K Ultra HD) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (4K Ultra HD)

Back later with more. Stay tuned...

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