Ever since Bwana Devil hit in 1952, Hollywood has had an intermittent love affair with Three-Dimensional filmmaking. House of Wax, Hondo, Jaws 3-D - several films over the decades have fought to become the champion 3-D Film of all time. But without any irony or sarcasm, there really is only one champion - Phil Tucker's Robot Monster. After being absent from home video, the great team at 3-D Film Archive has launched a Kickster to initiate a full 4K restoration of this film to produce new 3-D Blu-ray and DVD and you can pre-order your copy now!
A film shot on a small budget in the depths of Bronson Canyon Robot Monster is a science fiction delight telling the tall tale of the last family on earth struggling to survive after the intergalactic menace Ro-Man has decimated the world's population for the all-powerful GreatGuidance. Famous for its gorilla suit and fishbowl creature and the automatic billion bubble machine - Robot Monster features pretty damned impressive three-dimensional photography as well as a score by some random guy named Elmer Bernstein who really never amounted to much as a composer. Sadly, it's been absent on home video in anything resembling a quality presentation, let alone in proper 3-D. - I've held onto this VHS tape in the hopes that one day a good and proper 3-D Blu-ray would one day appear!
Now the experts at 3-D Film Archive are hard at work restoring this film to its full and proper glory. The Blu-ray will offer full 3D Blu-ray as well as the film in Anaglyph 3D (red/blue) for those folks without a 3-D television or projector! But that's not all, they're assembling a terrific assortment of bonus features including vintage 3-D shorts, as well as an interview and audio commentary with actor Greg Moffett who played little ruffian Johnny in the film!
But this being a Kickstarter campaign, 3-D Film Archive has pulled out the stops for extra add-ons!
$30 + $5 for shipping guarantees you a Blu-ray copy (3D Blu-ray Including Polarized and Anaglyph (red/blue) 3D)
$15 more nets you a new lenticular cover from artist Stewart McKissick (In Development)
$50 more gets you a Retro3D Viewer similar to the one they offered for 3-D Rarities II and September Storm 3-D, these are a lot of fun, and work with old View-Master reels if you have any of those lying around from your childhood.
Perhaps most exciting - 3-D Film Archive is offering up a limited variety of 35-mm film cells sourced from original theatrical prints from 1953! Again, these are very limited and as of this writing a number of the available cells have already sold out - hopefully, they'll offer up some more but these are very cool! I had to go for one myself:
The Kickstarter is only a day old as of this writing so you have plenty of time to jump into the mix and secure your copy. Considering how fast this one hit its base funding goal, I hope the team at 3-D Film Archive has some stretch goals or more add-ons planned! Hopefully, this also means Cat-Women of the Moon is on deck! Probably not, but one can hope. I mean, hell if we can get Flesh For Frankenstein AND Robot Monster restored to glorious 3-D on Blu-ray, anything is possible!
Check out the rest of 3-D Film Archive's amazing 3D Blu-rays
Dragonfly Squadron
The Bubble
3-D Rarities
The Mask
Gog
It Came From Outer Space
September Storm
The Stewardesses 3-D
Ape 3-D
Those Redheads From Seattle
Cease Fire
The Maze
Revenge of the Creature
Sangaree
Jivaro
Parasite
The 3-D Nudie Cuties Collection
3-D Rarities II
Taza Son of Cochise
Wings of the Hawk
Silent Madness 3-D
Dynasty 3-D
And just like that, the last week of July is upon us. Where do we go from here?
Welcome to Volume 2 Episode 10 of our weekly release guide. A look at the highlights for this week's titles as well as a look at announcements from last week.
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray/Digital Releases-
Weekly 4K discs releases are still going strong. This week is primarily catalog titles, and there are some good ones.
Getting the new title out of the way first, A Quiet Place Part II, comes as a standard release and a rather boring, somewhat hideous looking Best Buy SteelBook release. When the cover was to be announced and I saw the hideous one on Zavvi UK, I said to myself, that one will be the U.S. cover, mark my words. Sure enough, it was.
Next, Dario Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage debuts as an Arrow Video 'Fat-pack' that is sure to appeal to many. I'm embarassed to say I never opened my Blu-ray 'Fat-pack' from a couple of years ago.
If you did not buy The Beastmaster direct from Vinegar Syndrome as a limited edition release, the standard edition release comes to us this week via Amazon. There are two additional titles from Vinegar Syndrome with a street date of the 27th, these two will be VS shop exclusives for a couple of months, Deadlock and Six-String Samurai.
HD Blu-ray/Digital releases-
This is the week that Paramount reissues a bunch of Miramax titles. Many of them went out of print and the prices shot up as a result. Also from Paramount, A Quiet Place Part II gets a blu-ray release and a double-feature release that includes both A Quiet Place movies.
From LionsGate, American Gods: Season Three, Every Breath You Take and Midnight in the Switchgrass.
Anime highlights this week include Arte - The Complete Season, Black Rock Shooter: The Complete TV Series, Chihayafuru: Season 3, City Hunter: Season 2 Set 1, Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater and MM! Complete Collection.
Warner Archive releases the animated series, The Herculoids: The Complete Original Series.
Under the various Shout! Factory labels, Brotherhood of the Wolf gets an extended/collector's edition release, The Dead Zone also gets a collector's edition release, and lastly, under the Shout Select Label look for State and Main.
From Arrow Video, Vengeance Trails: Four Classic Westerns.
Honorable mention of the week, Kino Lorber brings us Ken Jacobs Collection Volume 1, a collection of short films from an influential film maker. Volume 1 implies there will be a Volume 2 at some point.
Notable announcements from last week:
FUNimation's October batch has been revealed. Titles include Tamayomi: The Baseball Girls, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear - Season 1, Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-Chan: Complete Series (Essentials), Dragon Ball Z - Resurrection "F", Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina, Haibane Renmei - The Complete Series, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Seasons 1 and 2 (Essentials) and Higurashi: When They Cry GOU Season 1 Part 1.
Kino Lorber will be releasing The Silence of the Lambs on 4K disc on October 19th. When we had seen Hannibal as a 4K release we all asked about this one I'm sure. They also have Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) planned for 4K disc later this year as well. Go team Kino!
Paramount continues to add more catalog releases to its upcoming slate, as mentioned last week, Evolution was just listed on a major retailer's site, additional titles now include Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, The Time Machine, Crocodile Dundee: Triple Feature, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Ragtime and The Ten Commandments (1956) 4K in a SteelBook package.
Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway has a confirmed street date of August 24th as a 4K disc, blu-ray disc and a double feature blu-ray set.
Which titles are you buying this week? Which ones are on your wishlist, be it to buy as an impulse buy or to wait for the right price?
Just in time for the Halloween season - Sony Pictures is bringing Underworld Limited Edition 5-Movie Collection to 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray. The already available 4K releases of Underworld and Underworld: Blood Wars will be included - so those waiting for single releases of the other three films may have to wait a bit longer or just jump in on this limited edition 10-disc 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital set. Each film gets an HDR10 presentation with a Dolby Atmos audio mix to match.
So far we haven't had any word of any retailer exclusives, and as of this writing the set isn't up for preorder but as soon as we get that info we'll update the listing.
Here's the full press release from Sony:
4K ULTRA HD
BLU-RAY
UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION BONUS FEATURES
4K ULTRA HD
BLU-RAY
UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE LYCANS BONUS FEATURES
4K ULTRA HD
BLU-RAY
UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING BONUS FEATURES
4K ULTRA HD
BLU-RAY
UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS BONUS FEATURES
4K ULTRA HD
BLU-RAY
4K Ultra HD: All films presented in 2160p Ultra High Definition with HDR 10 and Dolby Atmos immersive audio + DTS-HD MA 5.1 original theatrical audio tracks (DTS-HD MA 7.1 for UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING); aspect ratios vary
Blu-ray: All films presented at 1080p High Definition resolution; aspect ratios and audio configurations vary
Ratings:
Release announcements have been huge this month. We have added over 200 so far as of the 17th and there's two weeks left to the month! (An average month consists of around 225 titles added.) This is great news for physical media, let's just remember to buy the titles we have been waiting for to arrive on disc.
Welcome to Volume 2 Episode 9 of our weekly release guide.
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray/Digital Releases-
This week's 4K list could break the bank, let's take a look.
Import Monday brings us two movie choices. First, Akira Kurosawa's 'final masterpiece' Ran. There is still hope that LionsGate or similar will do a 4K disc for this, send them a friendly email to [email protected]. For imports though, you can opt for Zavvi or Amazon UK.
Next, an import from Arrow Video, Tony Scott's action/romance/thriller True Romance. If I had to guess why Arrow could not do a U.S. version, it is likely that the rights of this one are now under the Sony label. Sony might opt to do this one themselves. A few years ago the rights fell under Warner Bros.
Moving on to Domestic Tuesday releases...
From independent Blue Underground, Dead and Buried gets a 4K disc release. There are three variant covers for this one, Variant A (Poster), Variant B (Burned), and Variant C (Needle).
Next, a tie-in to the upcoming movie, the original live-action G.I. Joe movies get a 4K release. If you didn't get these at your local Walmart two week ago at a crazy low price, we have the Amazon links for ya here, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
The last entry this week comes as we all pretty much figured the Saw franchise was completely done, but they keep finding ways to bring them back. Spiral: From the Book of Saw comes as a standard edition and as a SteelBook edition. LionsGate lately has been including a slipcover on their SteelBooks, similar to how Mondo X SteelBooks come.
HD Blu-ray/Digital releases-
Getting to the blu-ray for Spiral: From the Book of Saw first, in case you have not opted for the 4K release. Additionally from LionsGate, whom has been absent from the release calendar the past couple of week, Die in a Gunfight, Initiation, The Walking Dead: The Complete Tenth Season and The Wraith (Vestron Video Collector's Series).
Eight Legged Freaks finally sees (blue) light of day, from Shout Factory. Maybe the other silly movie Evolution will follow? (Update--It looks like Evolution should be due from Paramount around November.) Little Big League gets a Shout Select release.
From Warner Archive, in the film-noir category, look for I Wouldn’t Be in Your Shoes! as well as Step By Step, also a film-noir feature film. Comedy/Musical Take Me Out to the Ball Game also streets this week from Warner Archive. Probably not what Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly are best known for, but certainly worth a look.
If you've been waiting for the physical release of Star Trek: Discovery - Season Three, wait no more, but choose between a standard release or a SteelBook release.
This week's Criterion Collection release is La piscine, I will not even pretend to know what this one is, but I'm sure Criterion knows what they're doing.
This week's anime category is a little limited (again) but there are a lot of titles coming. Highlights this week are Listeners - The Complete Season, RahXephon - Complete Collection (SteelBook) and Uzaki-Chan Wants to Hang Out! The Complete Season available as a standard edition and as a limited edition.
In the special interest/honorable mention, The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story Of Cannon Films sounds like an interesting disc.
Aussie Label Imprint Films releases their July titles this week on Tuesday, although listed as July 21st, Amazon U.S. shows a Friday street date. Keep in mind Amazon erroneously lists them as Region B playback only. You can "report incorrect information" to Amazon a dozen times, they never fix it. Titles include:
And for Friday releases, music and arts release (of course, right?)
Notable announcements from last week:
Paramount's next Paramount Presents blu-ray title will be 1997's Breakdown starring Kurt Russell. This title is scheduled for release on September 21st and will be Spine number 26 among that label's releases. Under their standard label, Paramount is releasing a lot of catalog titles to blu-ray for the first time ever worldwide. Hats off to them and their media division for this! Recent additions to the list include Hardball, The Longest Yard, Blue Chips and Necessary Roughness. Combine all of this with the reissues of so many out of print Miramax titles and this studio is looking to make a huge impression with physical media.
It looks like F9: The Fast Saga will be released on September 21st as well. Official confirmation will be coming soon. This release will include a 4K standard edition, a Best Buy Exclusive 4K SteelBook, a Blu-ray and of course the entire series 1-9 in a 4K package and as a Blu-ray package.
As if September 21st wasn't already looking expensive enough, M. night Shyamalan's Unbreakable will be getting a 4K standard disc and 4K SteelBook release that day as well. Confirmation will be coming in the weeks to come, along with order links. This Disney/Fox release completes the trilogy.
Warner Bros will be releasing the third Conjuring movie, re-titled Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It on 4K and blu-ray discs on August 24th. Hope this means the first two movies will be candidates for 4K discs. Also from Warner, Shawshank Redemption will be getting two 4K discs to choose from, a standard edition and a Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook, with a street date of September 14th.
Kino Lorber will be releasing Misery (1990) on 4K disc on October 12th.
Even though the other players are churning out 4K discs left and right, Criterion still remains on the sidelines. Their October releases (Blu-ray) will be Devi, High Sierra, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Onibaba, Ratcatcher and Uncut Gems.
Which titles are you buying this week? Which ones are on your wishlist, be it to buy as an impulse buy or to wait for the right price?
The second week of July, no major theatrical releases, did you see Black Widow yet or do you eagerly await home options?
Welcome to Volume 2 Episode 8 of our weekly release guide. Our weekly look at the highlights of what's coming out this week as well as the top announcements from the week before.
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray/Digital Releases-
Another decent week for 4K disc releases. First from Paramount, Almost Famous, available for the first time on 4K disc and in a SteelBook package. Fun Fact: I almost saw this movie when it first came out. It has some decent reviews so I might pick it up.
Next on the docket, this years reboot of Mortal Kombat. This one's available as a standard release and as a Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook. Just like the original movie, this one reviewed better with audiences than it did with critics.
And, the last 4K disc release this week, Snatch, and (you guessed it) available as a standard release and as a SteelBook release. Just like the Universal Pictures SteelBooks, seems available only at Best Buy but is not dubbed an exclusive.
HD Blu-ray/Digital releases-
Almost Famous also gets a blu-ray release this week, but under the 'Paramount Presents' label. Another PP release that also has a 4K release the same day, what are they expecting us to do here?
Also just like above, Mortal Kombat (2021) gets a Blu-ray release this week from Warner Bros. Objective, Burma! starring Errol Flynn gets resurrected and released on the Warner Archive label. Also via Warner Archive, Pennyworth: The Complete Second Season.
The latest Guy Ritchie/Jason Statham collaboration titled Wrath of Man his blu-ray this week. Our theatrical review rated it 3.5/5.0, but if you're a Statham fan you will no doubt enjoy this one too.
Criterion Collection releases Deep Cover this week, you either remember this film or never heard of it. No doubt we will have a review soon. And just like the previous 4 weeks, we get a second Criterion release for the week, this one is titled Working Girls. Um yeah, it is about that subject.
Finally on blu-ray after being an HD-DVD exclusive, The Pianist sees light of day via the Shout Select label. If you missed the Imprint Films release of The Two Worlds of Jennie Logan, Shout Factory has your back this week.
Animated/Anime releases of interest, Ernest & Célestine, Isekai Quartet2 - Season 2, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run and The Spongebob 3-Movie Collection.
Arts releases are on the docket for Friday.
>John Neumeier: Ein Sommernachts Traum (A Midsummer Night's Dream)
Notable announcements from last week:
Vinegar Syndrome and its partner labels have the next batch of titles in the works, they are available direct from VS's web site on July 27th, and typically 6-8 weeks later elsewhere. Titles include Awaken 4K, Deadlock 4K, Golden Arm, Killer's Delight, The Lamp, Rancho Deluxe, Sound and Fury and Through the Fire.
Severin also has its next batch of titles listed as well, titles include A Day of Judgment, Drop Dead Fred, The Fourth Victim and Midnight. These titles are listed under September 28th and order links will come soon.
Shout Factory is starting to reveal their next batch. So far we have Blithe Spirit and Elvira's Haunted Hills coming in September.
Paramount Pictures will be releasing the first four classic Star Trek movies on 4K disc as a single set on September 7th. This one was spotted online in Europe recently but then pulled, most likely by request of the studio. These releases are most likely the theatrical releases for The Motion Picture, The Wrath of Khan, The Search For Spock and The Voyage Home.
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome is being teased for a 4K disc release as well. Cover Art has been circulating online and it looks pretty authentic, keep your eyes peeled.
One final note for this section, it appears that John Carpenter's The Thing will indeed get a 4K disc release. Sources are indicating a September 7th release and this will be a Universal Pictures release. Official studio PR most likely will happen this week.
Which titles are you buying this week? Which ones are on your wishlist, be it to buy as an impulse buy or to wait for the right price?
[Update 2:30 EST] - the Star Trek: The Original 4-Movie Collection 4K UHD Blu-ray set is now up for Pre-order.
It's time to crack open that bottle of Romulan Ale! After years of quiet teases and rumors on top of a failed celebration of the series 50th Anniversary, Paramount Home Entertainment beamed aboard a massive consignment of Star Trek news. Celebrating the 55th Anniversary of the Original Series, Paramount has officially announced the original cast crew will be going where no original cast crew has gone before - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray!
Star Trek: The Original 4-Movie Collection 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
All of this was late-breaking news from Paramount and StarTrek.com. After years of rumors, a digital-only release of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan on 4K, this is finally official. All of this broke late last evening. With a number of online retailers jumping the gun with their product listings and posting official artwork only to have said listings pulled, it's great to get official confirmation that this is all really happening! The box set is going to be an 8-Disc 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital set with each format getting it's own case - think of how Fox/MGM did the Daniel Craig Bond set a couple years ago.
Now for reasons unknown, this set is for only the first four films - V and VI are not included here. We can only speculate as to the reason why, but it's likely Paramount being cautious with their releases of Trek after fans largely shied away from the Star Trek: The Next Generation individual seasons on Blu-ray. They printed a lot of discs that did not sell, so I don't blame them for being cautious.
The good news is each disc (including the Blu-rays) is sourced from new restorations. The 4K UHD discs will offer up Dolby Vision and HDR10. There's a rumor that each film will get an Atmos audio mix as well, but that hasn't been pinned down 100% yet.
Here's what's going to be in the package:
As of this writing, this set is not up for pre-order yet and we don't know if there'll be any kind of retailer exclusives yet, but as soon as we know more, we'll update our listings accordingly
What 55th Anniversary celebration of the crew of the Enterprise would be complete without a new release of Star Trek: The Complete Original Series? Sadly these are not in 4K - although wouldn't that be something! Instead, Paramount Home Entertainment is repackaging the existing discs in a fancy SteelBook set - each season gets its own SteelBook. Now if you already own the set, this may be a bit pricy to simply upgrade your packaging, but - it looks pretty slick and if you haven't already picked it up, it's an attractive bundle.
Star Trek: The Complete Original Series SteelBook
Yes, I'm aware I'm starting to sound like Billy Mays, but there's A LOT to cover here. Not only will we be getting the first four films in 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, but Paramount has confirmed they have greenlit the complete restoration of Robert Wise's Star Trek: The Motion Picture Director's Edition to 4K Ultra HD with Dolby Vision (and HDR10)! The reason this isn't in this set is simple - all of the additional VFX work done for the old DVD sets was completed in SD - I've heard HD by some but either way not at a resolution that was appropriate for 1080p Blu-ray let alone for 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray. This is going to be a 6-8 month restoration project so it's nice to hear that Paramount isn't shortchanging it. Supposedly there's going to be some theatrical screenings of this restoration along with an exclusive release window on Paramount+. This project was JUST announced yesterday as well so no release date disc or otherwise has been hinted. But a late Spring early Summer 2022 appearance is likely.
And that is all the news that's fit to reprint. Again I'm like most of you and would have loved to get a complete Original Cast 1-6 4K UHD Blu-ray Boxset, but at the same time - I'm willing to take what I can get. The current state of the home media business is a numbers game; if you don't buy it, they won't make it. Obviously, we want high-quality A/V presentations, that goes without saying, but at this point we can't get too stuck on the packaging or artwork quibbles. If buying this 1-4 set now means I'll get V and VI later with Generations and the TNG films in 4K later - I'm all in.
[Updated 7/28] - these five films have now been pushed back to October 5th
We figured these movies would be coming to 4K eventually, but we didn't expect them to stack up all of a sudden like this! Scream Factory is getting Michael Myers fans pumped for Halloween Kills by unleashing Halloween, Halloween II, Halloween III: The Season of the Witch, Halloween IV: The Return of Michael Myers, AND Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers to 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on September 28th, October, 5th 2021.
Now, you may be asking yourself, "Why do I need to buy Halloween again on 4K Ultra HD? I already have it." Well, there's the ticket - Halloween, Halloween II, Halloween III: The Season of the Witch are each getting new 2021 4K scans approved by cinematographer Dean Cundy, plus every film will offer Dolby Vision HDR, Dolby Atmos audio, and each set comes with a remastered Blu-ray sourced from new 2021 scans of the original camera negative.
The good news about all of these, it looks like Scream Factory is including all of the excellent bonus features of their long out of print complete (at the time) collection set. The only downside of these releases is there isn't a box set bundle option for all 5 films. Scream Factory is offering some interesting swag options with vinyl soundtracks and pins, and posters. So there is that option too. Also due to rights issues, all of the Dimension Films owned films, Halloween 6, H20, and Rob Zombie's Halloween and Halloween II aren't included or getting any kind of 4K update (at the moment). Those are in a release right quagmire and I imagine would be quite the ordeal to untangle.
Below are all of the specs per the press release from Scream Factory. What do you think? Is this worth it, or are you going to pass.
Here is the complete press release from Scream Factory
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As we melt from the record-breaking temperatures across the country, retreating into the cool loving embrace of our air-conditioned screening rooms is more and more appealing. Whether you avoid the hot weather with a nice big screen flat panel or a fully decked out 4K projector, July has some impressive 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray releases hitting store shelves or your favorite online retailer. From old childhood 90s classics to deep-cut fan favorites, there's something for everyone this month!
Right after the 4th of July celebrations, the month starts off with a bang. Warner Brothers and Universal crowd the plate with Sony finally starting to break up their Columbia Classics 4K UHD Blu-ray vol 1 set.
The second week of the month may not have a ton of titles coming out, but what we're getting is pretty exciting - the best movie Cameron Crowe has ever made, one of the better video game movies to come around AND one of Guy Ritchie's best movies of his pre-Madonna marriage career.
The action and horror pick up for this third week in July. A fan-favorite horror franchise returns with a new entry, a pair of action-figure movies finally get their U.S. domestic releases, and Blue Underground gives an 80s horror favorite the full treatment with three different lenticular slipcovers!
For the final week of July, a terrific sci-fi horror sequel, an Italian horror classic, and a couple of great releases from Vinegar Syndrom round out the 4K UHD Blu-rays for the month.
There's always interesting titles coming out overseas and we do our best to cover them. The U.K. is getting a number of greats including most of the solo Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Vol 1 titles as well as Looper in 4K from Sony. We'll do our best to get a hold of those, but we'll absolutely be covering True Romance and Ran. As new titles are announced we'll be jumping on those too.
That's it for July. Now, most of these street dates are tentative so changes can happen. If any title gets rescheduled we'll update our listings and this guide accordingly.
The next milestone marker is upon us for the Summer Movie Season. The scene is still a bit tepid as life slowly gets back to normal, but it is moving forward. Those of our readers in the states, how did you survive the heat wave last week?
Volume 2 Episode 7 of our weekly release guide begins now.
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray/Digital Releases-
This week's 4K release schedule might look daunting but it's actually not too overwhelming.
Getting the double-dip titles out of the way first, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb comes as a single movie release now instead being part of the Columbia Classics I set. Mortal Engines gets a decent looking Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook.
Moving on to new stuff now, from Universal Pictures comes two catalog movies with a total of four skus. Howard the Duck gets a standard release and a SteelBook release.
Lastly from Universal, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, again as a standard release and as a SteelBook release. Just like previous Universal Studios SteelBooks, only available at Best Buy but yet not listed as a Best Buy Exclusive?
From Warner Bros., look for Space Jam to debut on 4K disc, and with the common theme here, available as a standard release and (this time though) as a Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook.
If streaming is your thing, Ran (1985) will be available in 4K on Tuesday. Otherwise wait a couple weeks to import the StudioCanal disc. It's still not too late to tell LionsGate you want this title in 4K on disc in the U.S., hopefully they see this column and have gotten feedback already to make a decision to bring it here.
HD Blu-ray/Digital releases-
Semi-average week for number of Blu-ray releases.
From Paramount, under the Paramount Presents label comes 48 Hrs. and Another 48 Hrs. I see a lot of people wishing (myself included) that the original was on 4K disc. Can't wait to see the reviews on these either way.
Under their standard label, look for 2020's Defending Jacob.
Criterion Collection releases two titles this week, Bringing Up Baby is the first one, starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and directed by Howard Hanks. Russian film Mirror would be the second. Barnes and Noble has their 50% off sale this week and Amazon is matching a lot of these deals.
Somewhat average week for 'new' anime releases. Highlights include Gleipnir - The Complete Season, Knights of Sidonia - Complete Series Collection, One Piece: Season Eleven - Voyage Three and Shironeko Project ZERO Chronicle - The Complete Season.
From Arrow Video, indie horror film Threshold.
The House on Sorority Row this time gets an MVD Rewind Collection release, as well as the 1983 release of Mortuary. I'm curious what's different.
Honorable mention of the week, Screen Media brings us Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street. I've seen this mentioned on multiple sites, perhaps some nostalgia here.
Friday releases, in addition to the usual music or arts releases, check out our review of the theatrical release of Black Widow.
>The Rolling Stones: A Bigger Bang
Notable announcements from last week:
From Warner Bros, Zack Snyder's Justice League now has a blu-ray SKU added to the release calendar.
Synapse Films has revealed they are releasing Demons I & II (double feature) on 4K discs. One site out there indicates an October 19th release date.
Sentai Filmworks has its September release schedule posted, the titles include Heaven's Memo Pad - Complete Collection, Girls und Panzer das Finale - Part 1, Magical Girl Site - Complete Collection, Dusk maiden of Amnesia - Complete Collection, Made In Abyss - Theatrical Collection and To Love Ru Darkness 2 - Complete Collection.
Which titles are you buying this week? Which ones are on your wishlist, be it to buy as an impulse buy or to wait for the right price?
Where oh where did the month of June go? Did you overspend last week on the various sales, including Prime Day and a few other retailer events?
Welcome Volume 2 Episode 6 of our weekly release guide, a look at the highlights of what's coming out for the week, as well as a sneak peek at what was just announced the previous week.
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray/Digital Releases-
Just a single 4K release to consider this week.
Warner Bros brings us a most memorable family film titled Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. This one celebrates 50 years this year and stars the late Gene Wilder.
HD Blu-ray/Digital releases-
From Warner Bros and BBC Television, His Dark Materials: The Complete Second Season debuts in the U.S. Wish they released this series on 4K disc, the show itself is produced in that format. Also, The Watch: Season One releases this week from the same cooperative.
If you're a Mae West fan, be happy this week in that Kino is releasing a bunch of her films. They include Belle of the Nineties, Every Day's a Holiday, Go West Young Man, Goin' to Town, I'm No Angel, Klondike Annie, My Little Chickadee, Night After Night and She Done Him Wrong.
TV Series The Purge: Season Two finally sees the blue light of day.
In the Anime category, there are many more choices than there were last week. Highlights include Assassins Pride: Complete Collection (SteelBook), Bleach: Set 11, A Certain Scientific Railgun T - Part 2, Dear Brother TV Series, Dororo - Complete Collection, Hatena Illusion - The Complete Series, Lady Oscar: The Rose of Versailles - Collection 2, Memories and SWORDGAI - Seasons 1 & 2 Complete Collection.
Battle Beyond the Stars gets a SteelBook release this week from Shout! Factory.
Paramount has a couple of catalog titles that come to blu-ray for the first time, they are Flight of the Intruder, The General's Daughter, In Harm's Way and Le Mans.
Criterion Collection releases two titles again in one week, Pariah and Pickup on South Street.
Notable announcements from last week:
Dario Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and the follow up film, The Cat o'Nine Tails have both been pushed back a month. They were slated for release on June 29th and July 27th respectively. I'm kind of glad about this after Prime Day and all!
While on the subject of Arrow Video, it looks like Children of the Corn will be hitting 4K in September as well. So far though it looks like the U.S. will get more of a regular edition and the UK will be getting a fat-pack with swag and more content, including blu-rays for parts 2 and 3 of the series. The blu-rays in the region B set will most likely be region locked. Other September blu-ray releases from Arrow include Cold War Creatures: Four Films from Sam Katzman, Death Screams, Legend (Ridley Scott/Tom Cruise) available as a fat-pack and The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch.
Those awaiting to see Zack Snyder's Justice League officially hit the U.S. market, it's happening September 7th. There will also be a trilogy option as well. Do check out the article for more details.
Paramount has also added more titles to its upcoming Miramax reissues, the next next batch will come out on September 7th. The next batch is slated for July 27th.
You may recall when I mentioned the next Vestron Collector's Series release was coming that I mentioned these always seem to come intwos. Well, Lionsgate has officially made Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat the second title. Did you expect Academy Award material here when I led you into this?
Which titles are you buying this week? Which ones are on your wishlist, be it to buy as an impulse buy or to wait for the right price?
