In the US and Canada only, they’ve got John Badham’s Blue Thunder (1983) coming in 4K Ultra HD on 5/5, along with Kōsei Saitō’s G.I. Samurai (1979) on Blu-ray that same day, followed by Kevin Reynolds’ Robin Hood: Price of Thieves (1991) in 4K UHD on 5/26.
And in the UK only, they’ve revealed Neil Jordan’s Mona Lisa (1986) in 4K Ultra HD for 5/11, followed by Sergio Leone’s The Dollars Trilogy (1964-66) in 4K UHD on 5/18, and Clive Barker’s Nightbreed (1990) in 4K on 5/25.
Blue Thunder in 4K is a terrific surprise. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves appears to be the exact same release that came out from Arrow a couple years ago in the UK only. And The Dollars Trilogy is a 4K repackage of Arrow’s recent Limited Editions, just without all of the fancier packaging and swag—it appears that all of the disc-based content will be there (they’ll essentially be the exact same discs). We’re very happy to see that last one in particular, because a lot of people missed out on one or more of the Limited Edition 4Ks—and scalpers have been ruthless on the secondary market. So if you missed out, get your pre-order in from Arrow UK directly or from a great US boutique shop (like Diabolik DVD) to get one last bite at the apple and secure your copy. And act fast!
Anyway, here’s what all of these titles look like...
In other news today, Shout! Studios has revealed more new Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD catalog titles for release in May, including Kevin Connor’s Hotel Hell (1980) in 4K Steelbook on 5/12, Lewis Teague’s Alligator (1980) in 4K Steelbook on 5/19, and both David Chung’s I Love Maria (1988) in 4K Ultra HD (part of the Hong Kong Cinema Classics line) and Robert Wise’s The Haunting (1963) in 4K Ultra HD on 5/26. Shout! Studios is also releasing Deathsport (1978), School Spirit (1985), The Terror Within/The Terror Within II (1989/1991), Big Bad Mama/Big Bad Mama II (1974/1987), Demon of Paradise (1987), and The Warrior and the Sorceress (1984) on Blu-ray on 5/5, as well as Snowpiercer: The Complete Series (2020-24) on Blu-ray on 5/19.
In terms of new pre-orders that don’t yet have street dates, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has listed Mamoru Hosoda’s anime Scarlet (2025) for release on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD. And Paramount has Scream 7 (2026) up for pre-order on DVD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD, Amazon-exclusive 4K (with “Handmade by Robots” Ghostface vinyl figure), and 4K Steelbook. Again, both titles have street dates TBA.
Now then, a bunch of you have asked: What’s happened to Disney’s 4K Steelbook release of the animated Zootopia 2 (2025)? It appears to have either disappeared, or pre-orders have been paused, in spite of the fact that the title is supposed to street tomorrow. Well, here’s the answer: Apparently, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (which distributes Disney product) has struggled to make enough copies to meet demand. The 4K is still “officially” expected to street tomorrow, but it might be several weeks before people are going to be able to get their hands on it. Keep watching various online retailers for orders to open up again in the coming weeks. Just know that the title has NOT been cancelled.
Also, Severin Films has set Gutter Auteur: The Lost Legacy of Andy Milligan for release on Blu-ray on 4/28. The set will include The Degenerate documentary, The Degenerates, House of Seven Bells, Compass Rose, and Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me!
And Kino Lorber Studio Classics has set Stone Cold (1991) and The House of Seven Corpses (1974) for 4K release on 4/21, followed by Hold That Ghost (1941), Ilsa, the Wicked Warden (1977), and Throw Momma from the Train (1987) all in 4K on 4/28.
Finally today, obviously the news broke on Thursday night that Netflix had backed out of the bidding to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery, essentially handing the takeover win to Paramount/Skydance. We’ve covered the news on our Patreon (for subscribers) here and here, and way back in December I did a big editorial here on The Bits as to why I felt that Netflix was the least bad option.
Interestingly, after I posted that piece, I got some pushback from non-industry readers. And there were folks within the industry who were dead set against Netflix too, including some on the Burbank lot. But over the last few months, Netflix leadership (including co-CEO Ted Sarandos) had visited the lot a number a times and spoken to employees directly. WB CEO David Zaslav had also repeatedly made the case to his employees that was Netflix as the ideal partner for the studio. And you know what? They won people over; rank and file WB studio employees were convinced by their argument. So after all that, when the WB board suddenly declared that Paramount Skydance’s last ditch bid the better offer last week, and Netflix officially dropped out of the running, folks on the Burbank lot were stunned to say the least. And when Zaslav spoke to studio employees in a hastily arranged “all hands” call after all of this went down, the mood was not good. Folks in Burbank are definitely suffering from whiplash today.
Obviously, the situation is what it is. There are some folks out there who are convinced that the best potential owner won the bidding. But I am not one of them. In the same way that Skydance leadership gutted Paramount in the wake of that purchase, the same is almost certainly going to happen at Warner Bros. Only this time, the situation will be worse—because Skydance and the Ellisons now control not one but two Hollywood studios—and two studio lots and associated infrastructure—and they don’t need both.
Keep in mind, Skydance also essentially gutted Paramount Home Entertainment, the result of which has been over a 90% decline in new 4K catalog titles from the studio. In fact, there hasn’t been one since Minority Report and Catch Me If You Can in December. So make of that what you will. I do believe that Paramount’s recent distribution deal with Alliance Entertainment will improve the situation in the latter half of 2026, but the fact remains that there’s been a pretty significant disruption.
Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment already has a solid slate of 4K catalog titles planned for release in 2026. And the studio has recently licensed more than 200 catalog titles for 4K release by boutique labels. But it’s not impossible that some of these plans could be delayed or disrupted should Paramount Skydance leadership parachute into Burbank and start cutting staff, as they did on the Melrose lot. I certainly hope that is not the case. But we’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, rest assured we will be monitoring the situation very closely.
One bright spot in terms of Warner’s 4K catalog plans: The studio has officially revealed a title we first told you was coming back in December, specifically that Gone with the Wind is coming on 4K disc later this year. So there’s that.
In any case, you can read more on this news here, here, and here from Variety, here, here, and here from Deadline, and here and here from the Hollywood Reporter.
All right, that’s all for today. Back soon with more!
Stay tuned…
- Bill Hunt
(You can follow Bill on social media on Twitter/X, BlueSky, and Facebook, and also here on Patreon)