Speaking of The Fugitive, our friend Adam Yeend has written a great feature on the film and its restoration, featuring an exclusive interview with director Andrew Davis. You’ll find that here on A.frame, the website of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. If you’re a fan of the film, it’s definitely worth a read.
Also, a fine young reporter named Palmer Haasch has written a great piece on physical media and streaming for Business Insider, for which I was interviewed. This too is well worth a read, featuring additional comments by physical media collectors. You’ll find that here at this link.
Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan has elaborated on his comments about physical media vs. streaming in a new piece from The Hollywood Reporter. Variety also features a take on the subject by Guillermo del Toro, who commented on Nolan’s quote by saying: “Physical media is almost a Fahrenheit 451 level of responsibility. If you own a great 4K HD, Blu-ray, DVD etc etc of a film or films you love… you are the custodian of those films for generations to come.”
In announcement news today, Universal has set Five Nights at Freddy’s for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 12/12, with the Digital version available on 11/28. The 4K will be released on a 100 GB disc, and will feature English Dolby Atmos audio. Extras on all SKUs will include 3 featurettes (Five Nights at Freddy’s: From Game to Big Screen, Killer Animatronics, and Five Nights in Three Dimensions).
Kino Lorber Studio Classics has just announced that James L. Conway’s The Boogens (1981) will arrive on 1/30 on both 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray. Also coming on 1/30 to Blu-ray only is Monk: The Complete Third Season (2004-05). The company is further working on new Blu-ray editions of Jerry Hopper’s Alaska Seas (1954) and James L. Conway’s The Lincoln Conspiracy (1977)—both are listed as “coming soon.”
The BBC has officially set their new Planet Earth III documentary series for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD here in the States on 2/13. And thank goodness, they haven’t replaced Sir David Attenborough as narrator for the US release. You can see the 4K cover art below.
And Film Masters has just announced that they’re working on a new Blu-ray and DVD release of Roger Corman’s The Devil’s Partner (1961), newly restored from a 4K scan of 16 mm archival elements. Also included is a new restoration of Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961). Both films will be presented in both 1.85 widescreen and 1.37 (as seen on TV over the years).
By the way, some of you have asked about the James Cameron 4K title pre-orders, which were expected to go live yesterday on Amazon and elsewhere. Apparently, per confirmation with Disney today—the 11/20 pre-order start date listed in the studio’s press release only applied to the new Avatar: Collector’s Edition and Avatar: The Way of Water – Collector’s Edition. We’ve included pre-order links for both titles below. Rest assured, as soon as the other titles go up for pre-order, we’ll share the links here.
And just a reminder: If you’re interested in supporting our work here at The Digital Bits, I’ve been making regular blog posts over on our new Patreon exclusively for our backers. They include comments on the 20th anniversary of Peter Weir’s Master and Commander, a look at the latest in AI upsampling technology, my take on the new Abyss restoration trailer with respect to the subject of DNR and film grain, and more. We’re currently up to 182 backers on Patreon, and we’d love to get to 200 before the end of the month. So please consider supporting us (for as low as $6 a month) and know that we appreciate it very much!
Now then, we’ll be back with one more Thanksgiving week post here tomorrow, so be sure to check back for it. In the meantime, we’ll leave you with a look at the cover artwork for a few of the titles mentioned above and more, including the available Cameron 4K title pre-order links (just click on the cover art)...
Back tomorrow! Stay tuned...
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