My Two Cents
All right, we’ve got a few good bits of news and such to wrap up the week...
First up though, we’ve just updated our Release Dates & Artwork section with tons of new Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, whenever you pre-order literally anything from our links here at The Bits, you’re helping to support our work and we surely do appreciate it.
Now then, we have word that Mamoru Oshii’s much-loved 1995 anime Ghost in the Shell will indeed street on 4K Ultra HD from Lionsgate on 9/8 (though do keep in mind that this date—while leaked by multiple retail sources now—is not yet officially announced by the studio). What’s more, it’s now available for pre-order on Amazon (here and also by clicking on the art below the break).
Also up for pre-order in 4K from Lionsgate is Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream. No street date is yet listed, but sources tell us it’s likely to arrive on 10/13. Again, you can see the cover artwork below. [Read on here...]
Today’s big release news...
Our friends at the Criterion Collection have just officially announced their October Blu-ray and DVD release slate, which is set to include a new edition of Jean-Luc Godard’s Pierrot le fou (Spine #421 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 10/6, John Berry’s Claudine (Spine #1052 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 10/13, Henry King’s The Gunfighter (Spine #1053 – Blu-ray and DVD) and an updated version of Stephen Frears’ The Hit (Spine #469 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 10/20, and finally Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite (Spine #1054 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 10/27.
We’ve updated our Criterion Spines Project page here at The Bits accordingly.
You can see the cover artwork for Parasite at left, and all the others are down below the break. [Read on here...]
We’ve got still more release news to report today, though much if it we’ve already talked about here at The Bits. The point is, it’s all now official.
First up, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has just set four catalog titles for release on 4K Ultra HD (with Blu-ray and Digital Copy) on 9/1...
These include Richard Donner’s The Goonies (1985), Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice (1988), and Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes (2009) and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011). All four were shot on film, so appear to have been mastered from new 4K scans of the original camera negatives (the two Sherlock Holmes titles were shot on film but finished as 2K DIs, so it’s possible new 4K DIs were built from scans of the camera neg and VFX film outs).
All four titles will include the previous Blu-ray extras. In addition, Beetlejuice will offer a new English Dolby Atmos sound mix. There’s no indication of Dolby Vision HDR in Warner’s press release, so assume HDR10 for the time being. Both The Goonies and Beetlejuice will also be available in new Deluxe 4K Giftsets exclusive to Amazon.com. [Read on here...]
All right, we’re kicking off the new week with more Blu-ray reviews and some GREAT release news too...
First, Tim has offered his thoughts on a pair of new Blu-ray releases, including Bert I. Gordon’s The Spider (1958 – aka Earth vs. the Spider) as well as Freddie Francis’ 1964 Hammer Films classic The Evil of Frankenstein, both available from our friends at Scream Factory.
Speaking of Scream Factory, they’re starting us off with the release news today as well...
Scream has just officially announced that they’re going to be releasing a definitive 16-disc Blu-ray collection of the Friday the 13th series. The Friday the 13th Collection: Deluxe Edition box set will arrive on October 13 and will include all 12 original films from Paramount and New Line Cinema. [Read on here...]
This is just a quick update to let you all know that there are some great sales on now for Blu-ray and DVD releases…
The Criterion Collection has just kicked off their annual Summer 50% off sale at Barnes and Noble. So if there are Criterion Blu-ray titles that you’ve been looking for, now is the time to snag them at a great price. Be aware though, titles are going in and out of stock (and then back in stock) by the hour. So if there’s a title you’re looking for and it shows as out of stock the first time you check, check back often—it will become available again fairly quickly. And that sale will run until August 2nd, so there’s plenty of time to take advantage.
Also today, the Warner Archive Collection is running its popular 4 titles for $44 sale on WB Shop, with more than 2800 titles to choose from. That sale runs until Monday, July 13 at 11:59 PM PST.
And not to be outdone, Arrow Video is running their own Summer sale with titles up to 70%. That sale will run until July 21 at 12 PM BST. (FYI, that’s British Summer Time for my fellow Americans film enthusiasts).
So stock up, happy disc shopping… and have a great weekend!
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