First up, Shout Factory has just unveiled their August Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD slate, which is set to include Peter Hewitt’s Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991), Dean Parisot’s Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020), and the Bill & Ted’s Most Triumphant Trilogy box set (which includes both of those plus the original film) all in 4K Ultra HD on 8/6. Also coming on 8/6 are 4K Steelbook editions of Rob Cohen’s Dragonheart (1996) and Iain Softley’s Hackers (1995). Following on 8/13 is Menahem Golan’s The Delta Force (1986) in 4K as well as Jody Hill’s Observe & Report (2009) on Blu-ray. On 8/20, look for a 4K Steelbook of Fede Álvarez’s Evil Dead (2013) as well as Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr.’s animated The Last Unicorn (1982) in 4K Ultra HD, along with Danny DeVito’s Death to Smoochy (2002) on Blu-ray. And finally, Shout! will release Pee-wee’s Playhouse: The Complete Series (1986-1990) on Blu-ray on 8/27, along with Brian Gibson’s Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) in 4K Ultra HD. You can see the cover artwork for many of these below.
Kino Lorber Studio Classics has set Roger Donaldson’s No Way Out (1987) in 4K for release on 7/30, and they’ve also revealed that William Friedkin’s Rules of Engagement (2000) is coming soon to 4K Ultra HD, while Ron Howard’s Gung Ho (1986) is coming soon to Blu-ray.
Powerhouse Films has announced their August Indicator Blu-ray slate for release in the UK on 8/19, including The Complete Confessions (1974-1977) Blu-ray box set—which offers Val Guest’s Confessions of a Window Cleaner (1974) and Norman Cohen’s Confessions of a Pop Performer (1975), Confessions of a Driving Instructor (1976), and Confessions from a Holiday Camp (1977), as well as Justin Cartwright’s Rosie Dixon – Night Nurse (1978)—Adrian Edmondson’s Guest House Paradiso (1999), and standard editions of David Lowell Rich’s Eye of the Cat (1969), Stanley Kramer’s R.P.M. (1970), Jack Smight’s Midway (1976), Gerry O’Hara’s The Brute (1977), Joseph Sargent’s MacArthur (1977), Jeremy Paul Kagan’s The Big Fix (1978), Terence Young’s The Valachi Papers (1972), Jamil Dehlavi’s Immaculate Conception (1992), and Peter Mullan’s Orphans (1998).
Here’s something interesting: Music Box Selects will release Giuseppe Tornatore’s Ennio Morricone documentary Ennio (2024) on Blu-ray on 7/30.
Are there any fans of Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One (2024) in the house? Well, while there’s still no word of a US physical media release on Blu-ray, DVD or 4K, you can now buy or rent the film on 4K or HD Digital from Toho. And it’s also streaming on Netflix.
And here’s something very exciting: We’ve had Miloš Forman’s Amadeus (1984) on our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits (click here for that) since early in 2021, when we first learned that the title was being tentatively targeted for 4K release by Warner Bros. The film has since indeed been restored in 4K by The Academy Film Archive and The Saul Zaentz Company, with funding provided by Teatro Della Pace Films. A world premiere screening of the 158-minute theatrical cut was held last Friday night at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles, and Bits reader John Zaozirny (Thanks John!) was on hand to see it. After the screening, John asked producer Paul Zaentz if the film would be coming out on 4K disc, and Paul confirmed that Warner Bros. is planning to release it later this year. Here’s a link to the relevant post on Twitter/X (click here). Great news indeed!
We’ll be back in a couple of hours with another news update, but in the meantime we’ll leave you with a look at the cover artwork for several of the titles mentioned above. Amazon pre-order links have been included if available...
Back with more soon. Stay tuned…
(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)