Paramount has also set Yellowstone: Season Two for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 11/5. The set will include all 10 episodes. Extras will include Behind the Story and Stories from the Bunkhouse clips for each episode, 5 featurettes (Inside Yellowstone: Season 2, Costner on Yellowstone: Season 2, Working the Yellowstone: Fight Choreography, Only Devils Left – Making Yellowstone: Season 2, and Yellowstone Tintype Photography Behind the Scenes), and deleted scenes.
Universal has announced a new box set, The House of Hitchcock, for release on Blu-ray on 10/1 (SRP $99.98, but Amazon has it for $87). The set will include 15 films (Saboteur, Shadow of a Doubt, Rope, Rear Window, The Trouble with Harry, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, The Birds, Marnie, Torn Curtain, Topaz, Frenzy, and Family Plot, along with 7 episodes of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV series, and 3 episodes from The Alfred Hitchcock Hour TV series. The set will also include multiple documentaries, audio commentaries, interviews, screen tests, and more, plus a large collection of swag that includes blueprints of the Psycho house, a booklet, letters, film poster art cards, a Bates Motel notepad and door hangar, and more. You can see some of the contents here...
Speaking of boxed sets, Eureka Entertainment is releasing a new Fuller at Fox: Five Films (1951-1957) set in the UK on 28 October. It will include director Sam Fuller’s Fixed Bayonets! (1951), Pickup on South Street (1953), Hell and High Water (1954), House of Bamboo (1955), and Forty Guns (1957), along with the 2013 documentary A Fuller Life, and extras that include audio commentaries and more. The set is limited to 2K copies and comes with a 100-page collector’s book.
On the 4K Ultra HD front, it appears that Warner’s Shaft may still be coming in 4K from Best Buy. At least it’s still available for pre-order on the Best Buy website. A 4K SKU was recently removed from the Amazon site (and wasn’t mentioned in the studio’s press release), so it could be a retail exclusive.
Also on the 4K front, it appears that Luc Besson’s Anna is coming to Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K on 9/24, likely from Lionsgate (distributing for Summit Entertainment).
Kino Lorber Studio Classics has announced that Jack Clayton’s Room at the Top (1959), Fred Coe’s A Thousand Clowns (1965), John Gilling’s The Flesh and the Fiends (1960), and Bert I. Gordon’s Picture Mommy Dead (1966) are all coming to Blu-ray in 2020.
Powerhouse Films and Indicator will release Joseph Losey’s Time Without Pity (1957), Richard Attenborough’s Young Winston (1972), Howard W Koch’s Badge 373 (1973), and Alan Parker’s Birdy (1984) on Blu-ray in the UK on 28 October. Also coming on 23 September are Alberto Cavalcanti’s They Made Me a Fugitive (1947), Michael Winner’s The System (1964), Jiří Weiss’s 90° in the Shade (1965), and Matthew Chapman’s Hussy (1980).
Here at the site today, we’ve updated our Release Dates & Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, whenever you order literally anything after clicking to Amazon through one of our affiliate links (like this one), you’re helping to support our work here at The Bits and we greatly appreciate it.
In news from around the Net today, Gizmodo has a good piece on the long Disney/Amazon conflict, the latest salvo of which is that Disney is making their Disney+ streaming service available on just about every platform except for Amazon Prime. I guess this is what happens when you slow roll Disney and Marvel home video pre-orders. Note that the service launches in the US, Canada, and the Netherlands on 11/12, followed a week later by launches in Australia and New Zealand. The studio says it expects to have its service available in all major global markets in the next two years. You can read more on the launch itself here on Variety.
Speaking of Disney, the D23 Expo kicks off this Friday in Anaheim. That means you can expect major updates on Disney+, future Star Wars plans (including the next trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and The Mandalorian), Marvel theme park plans, Pixar, Disney Animation, and more. I attended the last D23 (though I won’t be going this year) and I can tell you that the studio certainly pulls out all the stops for attendees. It will be interesting to see what happens at the show this year.
Finally today, the acclaimed filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker passed away on August 1st. He advanced the documentary form tremendously over his long career, delivering such classics as Bob Dylan: Don’t Look Back (1967), Monterey Pop (1968), Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1973), and The War Room (1993). In his honor, the online magazine Aeon is allowing you to watch his very first film, Daybreak Express (1953), for free on their website. If you’re a cinephile, the film is a bold debut and well worth your time. You can find it here.
Back with reviews and more tomorrow. Stay tuned...
-Bill Hunt
(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)