Displaying items by tag: Best Buy

All right, it’s been a week and a half now since we first broke the news here at The Digital Bits that Disney had signed a new deal with Sony for the latter to take over Disney’s physical media production and distribution.

In that time, there’s been a lot of speculation as to what this might mean for Disney’s physical media releases going forward. And there are certainly many questions that it’s natural for disc consumers to ask about the deal.

Does this mean that Disney will continue releasing Blu-ray and 4K discs? Will they perhaps even increase their title output? Will more Disney, Fox, Touchstone, and Hollywood Pictures deep catalog content finally come to 4K UHD? Does Sony taking over distribution from Disney mean that their product will return to markets the studio has pulled out of recently?

One thing we can safely say for sure is that Sony is a lot more efficient at producing and distributing titles on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD.

So streamlining this process and reducing unnecessary bureaucracy can only be a good thing in the sense of making Disney’s physical media titles more profitable for the studio.

But to answer those larger questions, I’ve continued to check in with our many industry sources over the last week or two. And I have learned a couple of things that should help to clarify the picture a bit for consumers. [Read on here...]

All right, today’s update is going to be brief, because of a couple factors. First, I’m talking with a number of sources about some forthcoming and exciting 4K Ultra HD catalog titles, which I’ll talk about here when I can. Second, I’m dealing with replacing my recently defunct Epson 5040ub projector. And more on that soon as well.

In the meantime, we have some very exciting 4K Ultra HD news today that I know a lot of you will be pleased about. And of course, we have more new disc reviews for you as well. So let’s start with those first...

Stephen has posted his thoughts on Warner’s long-awaited 4K Ultra HD release of Eric Radomski and Bruce W. Timm’s animated Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)! And it appears the title has been worth the wait.

Stuart has also weighed in with a look at Robert Mulligan’s The Spiral Road (1962) on Blu-ray from Imprint Films and Via Vision Entertainment.

Dennis has offered his two cents on Jacques Tourneur’s Wichita (1955) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection, as well as Charlotte Le Bon’s Falcon Lake (2022) on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.

And last but not least, Tim has shared a review of Luca Bercovici’s Ghoulies (1985) in 4K Ultra HD from the MVD Rewind Collection, as well as Ray Kellogg’s The Giant Gila Monster (1959) and The Killer Shrews (1959) in a new double-feature Blu-ray release from Film Masters.

More disc reviews are forthcoming, so be sure to stay tuned for them. Now then, let’s get to the big release news... [Read on here...]

Heads-up: Disney and Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger appears to be coming to 4K Ultra HD on 2/26, per Best Buy pre-order listings. The retailer currently has listings for the title in SKUs with regular and Steelbook packaging.

The film has a 2K DI. It’s possible there could be a new Dolby Atmos audio mix, but as has recently been the case with Disney 4K releases, look for Dolby Vision HDR on the digital version only.

It should be noted that 2/26 is the same street date as their already announced The Little Mermaid and Ralph Breaks the Internet 4K releases, both of which will also have Steelbook SKUs at Best Buy.

Meanwhile, we have one other 4K-related item to report today: Some of you have noticed that there’s been an image circulating around the Internet over the past few days purporting to show an exclusive 4K release of the Indiana Jones films in China. Our studio sources tell us this is bogus. There are no plans at this time. We take that to mean not never, but not anytime soon. Adjust your plans accordingly.

Have a great weekend and we’ll see you with a full news update on Monday.

Stay tuned...!

(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)

All right, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and DC have just officially announced the release of director Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman Blu-ray Combo, Blu-ray 3D Combo, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD formats on 9/19 (SRP $35.99, $44.95, $28.98, and $44.95 respectively).

There will be more than two hours worth of extras on the Blu-rays, including a 5-part A Director’s Vision behind-the-scenes documentary, extended scenes, a blooper reel, Epilogue: Etta’s Mission, and additional “bonus scenes”. Audio on both the Blu-ray and 4K versions will be Dolby Atmos. 4K High Dynamic Range appears to be HDR-10. You’ll find the cover artwork below... [Read on here…]

[Editor’s Note: Be sure to follow us on Twitter @thedigitalbits @BillHuntBits and on Facebook here and here. And you can help support The Bits by pre-ordering Blu-rays and other items from Amazon through this link.]

All right, folks... as predicted, Disney has just made their official announcement of the home video release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Extras are exactly as leaks predicted. So too are the different retailer exclusives. The good news for you Blu-ray 3D fans if that Disney has confirmed that a Blu-ray 3D version is coming later this year. That suggests that this first release of the film on Blu-ray is just the vanilla version, and that there could be a more elaborate special edition package (with 3D) coming in time to promote the theatrical release of Star Wars: Rogue One during the holiday season. There's no mention of a 4K UHD version, but our sources tell us that Disney isn’t planning to get into the 4K game until late 2016 or early 2017, so it’s possible there could be one then.

In any case, here’s the official press release, with all of the final cover artwork... [Read on here…]

[Editor’s Note: Be sure to follow us on Twitter @thedigitalbits @BillHuntBits and on Facebook here and here. And you can help support The Bits by pre-ordering Blu-rays and other items from Amazon through this link.]

All right, folks... it looks like we have more Internet-leaked Star Wars: The Force Awakens Blu-ray news for you this morning and the pace of the leaks is such that, again, we would expect the official announcement anytime now.

First, an image has leaked from a retail display in the UK suggesting that the official street date there for the DVD and Blu-ray is 4/18, which is a Monday.  [Read on here…]

All right Bits readers – this post I’ve wrestled with all night and all morning as well.

Yesterday afternoon, I received a Blu-ray review copy of Paramount’s Star Trek Into Darkness.  As regular readers will probably know, I actually liked the film.  But when it was finally announced for Blu-ray release, I was surprised at the list of bonus content in the press release, specifically the lack thereof – just seven featurettes.  I quickly sent an e-mail to the studio PR people, asking if this was indeed the complete list of bonus content, and was told that it was.  But somehow, I guess I just didn’t believe it.  So somehow, I was still excited to see and review the disc.  [Read on here...]