Posted Mon Aug 26, 2024 at 06:00 AM PDT by D. LaFontaine
Among all the doom and gloom talk on how "streaming has replaced disc", this week again offers up a huge selection of physical titles to pick from, both in the 4K and blu-ray categories, so that statement that doesn't exactly ring as entirely true.
Welcome to Volume 5 Episode 13 of our weekly release guide. A look at the highlights of what's coming to disc the week of August 25th - August 31st, as well as a look at announcements from last week.
Import Monday begins with a couple of boutique label releases.
First from 88 Films, Jet Li action/thriller The Bodyguard from Beijing.
And next, from Arrow Films UK, The Silence of the Lambs. This one also has an Arrow UK Store exclusive cover. Both editions come with a little bit of swag as well.
Moving on to Domestic Tuesday, Warner Bros starts out in the New Releases section. Produced by M. Night Shyamalan and directed by Ishana Shyamalan comes the suspense/thriller The Watchers.
From DC Animation and Warner Bros, a similarly named title as our domestic opener, Watchmen Chapter 1. But that's were the similarities end.
Next up from 20th Century Studios, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which comes as a Standard Edition and as a Limited Edition SteelBook. The frustration remains as, if there was a film that needs to break away from their standard BD66 HDR10 mold, it's this one, which runs 145 minutes for starters. And has a Dolby Vision release out there ever been worse than HDR10?
Moving to catalog releases, this week is pretty big for Arrow Video, who frequently only has one title on any given week. Double Feature The Woman & Offspring, which offers both films in 4K.
Next up, a triple feature, The Mexico Trilogy: El Mariachi, Desperado & Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Note: Only Desperado is presented in 4K. And speaking of Desperado, it is also available as a Limited SteelBook. Amazon seems to still not have that listing up, so we have a Walmart link in its place.
Just like Arrow Video, Criterion has more than one release this week. Both of them are comedies and both are directed by Albert Brooks. The two films are Mother (1996) and Real Life.
Kino Lorber has a trio of titles this week. First a pair of French cinema releases, award winning drama/romance Last Year at Marienbad and Jean-Luc Godard’s sci-fi-noir classic Alphaville.
And of course a film that really needs no introduction, JCVD's Sudden Death.
Warner Bros wants us to Focus on a film with Will Smith. Note: There is no digital code with this one. On a week with lots of titles and where one has to weigh the pros and cons, that might be a con to some.
From Shout! Factory, Poltergeist II: The Other Side. Warner Bros of course released the original film that started it all to disc a few months back.
Those that imported this one after seeing multiple editions and waiting for what seemed like forever, Sony Pictures now offers Drive, in a Limited SteelBook.
NOPE, not the Morgan Freeman film, Italian film High Crime (not plural) comes via Blue Underground.
Severin Films releases Castle of Blood to general special edition disc this week.
Vinegar Syndrome distributed standard editions (via Amazon US) this week are Reptilicus and Goin' South, and their August Limited Edition titles only available direct are Devil Times Five and Thieves Like Us. Standard editions usually follow in a month or so.
Former Paramount Presents title Double Jeopardy gets a standard release this week.
On to double-dips of sort.
Joker (2019) gets a Walmart Exclusive SteelBook.
Classic Movie Monster films Dracula and Frankenstein get different, more classic cover art SteelBooks from Universal. These do not appear to be Walmart Exclusives, but the only place to apparently get them is from Walmart. Yup, call me confused a little.
Next week gives us a chance to recharge our wallets just a little bit.
Blu-ray counterparts of the above 4K releases, both imports (likely region B locked) for The Bodyguard from Beijing and The Silence of the Lambs, and domestic region A (or region free) releases of The Watchers, Watchmen Chapter 1, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Mother (1996), Real Life, High Crime and Castle of Blood.
As with the 4K category, the blu-ray category this week is absolutely monstrous. There are close to 100 titles this week. Excluding the boutique label site exclusives, it is still pretty busy.
In a classic, announce it literally the week before street date, The Garfield Movie comes to blu-ray this week from Sony Pictures. I know there are some that might ask where the 4K is, and I am probably right there with you.
Anime highlights include Am I Actually the Strongest? - The Complete Season, Berserk - The Golden Age Arc - Blu-ray - Memorial Edition, Feast of Amrita, Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku: Season 1, which is also available as an Amazon Exclusive Limited Edition and My Hero Academia: Season 6 Part 2, which is also available as a Limited Edition.
TV on disc this week, The Alaskans: The Complete Series (1959-60)(maybe), Pee-wee's Playhouse: The Complete Series, which is also available as a Shout Exclusive Deluxe Edition, Resident Alien: Season Three, Sonic Prime: Season Two, Star Trek: Discovery - The Final Season, also available as a Limited Edition SteelBook, Star Trek: Discovery - The Complete Series and Vikings: Valhalla: Season One. I insert the maybe on The Alaskans because a bunch of their titles have changed dates after the last second. You read that right, I said AFTER the last second.
BBC documentary Mammals, narrated by Sir David Attenborough is available Tuesday.
Previously available from Shout! Factory, but now part of Kino Lorber's Cult Series, this week the next 5 are available, Empire of the Ants, Frogs, The Food of the Gods, Kingdom of the Spiders and Squirm.
Lots of onesie twosie announcements.
First, (and you know how much I love these sets) Second Sight UK has a couple more Limited Edition swag-filled releases to mention for the fall. Late Night With the Devil will be getting a 4K release, and The Blair Witch Project a limited edition blu-ray. The latter of course will be region B locked.
If you have followed my comments, you know that I often times express frustration that the studios seem to have it in for the US market, in that they seem to releases these gorgeous gift sets anywhere but here. Warner Bros will be releasing a swag-filled set for Wizard of Oz on November 5th. Maybe not the most elaborate gift set out there, it is still quite nice.
Severin Films has revealed their next folk horror set, All The Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium Of Folk Horror Volume 2 will be coming October 15th.
There are many more smaller titles to announce, and by the time you read this, Vinegar Syndrome will also have revealed their September batch.
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 latest news on all things 4K Ultra HD, blu-ray and Gear.
