In announcement news today, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is about to officially announce the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day: 20th Anniversary Edition. The street date for the 4K version will be 6/7. (Note that the regular Blu-ray and Digital HD release arrive a month earlier, on 5/3). We’ve confirmed that both the theatrical and extended cuts will be included in 4K, with English DTS:X audio (plus additional audio in Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, and French 5.1 DTS, and subtitles in English, French, and Spanish). Also included will be the regular 2-disc Blu-ray edition (with all of its extras, including both cuts of the film and the new 30-minute Independence Day: A Legacy Surging Forward documentary), and a code for a Digital HD version. You can see the final 4K cover artwork to the left and below.
Also today, we’d like to let you know that Paramount’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan – The Director’s Cut Blu-ray is now officially available for pre-order on Amazon.com (street date 6/7 – SRP $22.98). Click on the cover artwork below to pre-order. (Remember that doing so helps to support The Bits, which we appreciate!)
Sony has officially set The Brothers Grimsby for Blu-ray and DVD release on 6/21.
And BBC Home Entertainment has set Orphan Black: Season Four for Blu-ray and DVD release on 7/19.
In other news, Netflix has just quietly added its first streaming content with High Dynamic Range, starting with Marco Polo: Season One over the weekend. Netflix is making HDR content available in both 1080p HD and 4K where possible. You just need a display compatible with HDR in either HDR10 or Dolby Vision. More HDR content will be added by the service in the weeks and months ahead. Read more here at Flat Panels HD.
We’ll leave you with a look at the cover art for several of the titles listed above (and more). We’ve included the clickable Amazon.com pre-order links if available (we’ll add the ones that aren’t yet as they come online)…
Stay tuned...
- Bill Hunt (@BillHuntBits)