We’ve updated both our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at the site as well as our Release Dates and Cover Artwork section. The latter features all kinds of new Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links, so be sure to check it out. Tons of newly-announced titles are now available for pre-order, and doing so through our Amazon links helps to support our work here at The Bits and we really do appreciate it.

Now then, our friends over at Media Play News have announced the results of their annual Home Entertainment Media Play Awards. Once again, I was honored to participate as a judge for this year’s voting. As one might expect, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer took top honors as Title of the Year, as well as Blu-ray of the Year, Best 4K Ultra HD Disc, Best Audio/Video Quality, Best New Movie Home Release, and also Fan-Favorite Title of the Year. Other winners include: Lionsgate’s The Walking Dead: The Complete Collection for both TV on Disc of the Year and Best TV Series Boxed Set; Paramount’s Dragonslayer 4K for Best Disc Upgrade, Best Steelbook and Best Fantasy Release; Lionsgate’s The Mist 4K for Best Catalog Movie on Disc, and Severin Films’ The Sensual World of Black Emanuelle for Best Movie Boxed Set. You can see the complete list of winners by clicking here or on the logo below. Congrats to all of them!

In release news, Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Amazon, and MGM Studio’s Orion Pictures have officially set Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction (2023) for Blu-ray release on 6/18.

Kino Lorber Studio Classics has set Étienne Périer’s When Eight Bells Toll (1971) for Blu-ray release on 6/25, from a script by Alistair MacLean. The film stars a young Anthony Hopkins. The company has also set the Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XIX (1950-52) Blu-ray box set for release on 6/18, featuring the films Dark City (1950), No Man of Her Own (1950) and Beware, My Lovely (1952).

Shout Factory has announced a couple more Blu-ray catalog titles for release next week on 4/30, including Roman Polanski’s Death and the Maiden (1994) and Roger Donaldson’s The Getaway (1994).

Amazon.com is now taking pre-orders on the 4K Ultra HD Steelbook release of John G. Avildsen’s Rocky V (1990) and Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa (2006) from MGM via Warner Bros. The latter will feature both the original Theatrical Version of the film and a new Director’s Cut. We don’t have an official street date yet, but you can see the cover artwork below.

In addition to its recently-announced 4K releases of the South Park movie and Team America: World Police, Paramount has set Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) for release on 4K Ultra HD on 7/2 as well. And the studio is re-releasing Forrest Gump in 4K on 6/2 as a Limited Edition 30th Anniversary Edition Steelbook exclusively at Walmart. But note that this will be the exact same disc as before, just in the new packaging.

And Blue Underground has set Bob Clark’s Deathdream (1974) for 4K Ultra HD and remastered Blu-ray release on 5/21 in honor of the film’s 50th anniversary. Special features will include audio commentaries Clark, writer/make-up artist Alan Ormsby, and others, cast and crew retrospective interviews, the restored theatrical trailer, extensive still galleries, and more.

Before we go today, we need to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of the great documentary filmmaker Eleanor Coppola, whose fantastic 1991 documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse set the early standard for filmmaking behind-the-scenes special features. She passed away on April 12th at the age of 87, and our condolences goes out to her husband Francis and the entire Coppola family. You can read more about her life and career here.

Also, we want to acknowledge the passing of actor Terry Carter, who died on Tuesday at the age of 95. You may know him for having played sergeant Joe Broadhurst on the 1970s TV series McCloud, as well as Colonel Tigh on the original Battlestar Galactica. You’ll find more on Carter here.

We’ll leave you with a look at the cover artwork for a few titles announced titles that are now available for pre-order on Amazon...

Stay tuned...

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