My Two Cents
Monday, 06 May 2019 14:14

A big 4K update with Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, Toy Story, Wizard of Oz & more, plus They Shall Not Grow Old on BD

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All right, I’m back on Facebook finally and things seem to be settling back to some kind of normal. So today’s post is going to have a lot of 4K news, with a bit of Blu-ray too, and then we’ll have a big Blu-ray catch up post tomorrow...

First though, we’ve got a couple more new Blu-ray reviews for you: Tim has taken a look at Scared Stiff from Arrow Video, while Dennis has offered his thoughts on The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970) from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. Enjoy!

Now then, we have a bunch of great 4K Ultra HD release news for you, starting with confirmation that Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth is officially coming to the format from Warner and New Line in July. We don’t yet have a street date, but it’s already up for pre-order here on Amazon (you can see the cover artwork at left and also below). And I must say, of all the titles that could benefit from 4K, wide color gamut, and HDR, this is near the top of the list! Of course, we’ll post more details when they’re officially announced. [Read on here...]

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While we’re talking Guillermo del Toro, some of you may be wondering what happened to Sony’s original Hellboy 4K Ultra HD that we had listed for release several weeks ago. Per del Toro himself (via his Twitter page), it’s still coming – it was just delayed so that he can do a new audio commentary and create new special features for the release. Look for it to be released later in 2019. Thanks to Bits reader Holland P. for the heads-up!

Speaking of Warner Bros, you may have noticed that we’ve had The Wizard of Oz: 80th Anniversary Edition on our 4K Ultra HD Release List for a few months now. Well, our industry and retail sources are now suggesting that we may see it in July.

Meanwhile, on the regular Blu-ray front, Warner is releasing Peter Jackson’s WWI documentary They Shall Not Grow Old on Blu-ray and DVD... apparently tomorrow. It appears there was no official announcement, it just quietly showed up on Amazon over the weekend here. Again, you can see the cover artwork below.

Back to 4K, Best Buy is now taking pre-orders on a set of titles we first reported were coming to Ultra HD a few months ago, specifically Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and Toy Story 3. Street date is listed as 6/4. We expect more details soon, but look for them to be 2K upsamples, like all Pixar titles. Coco director Lee Unkrich has told us that Pixar tested native 4K renders and for this kind of animation it really wasn’t worth it. But like Coco in 4K (reviewed here at The Bits), also a 2K upsample, it should look absolutely terrific in HDR and with wide color gamut. As far as extras, the included Blu-rays will probably be the same as the last released versions, with most – but not all – of the classic extras.

Also, Mill Creek has revealed their next 4K Ultra HD title, which is set to be IMAX: Space Station on 7/9. It will be another IMAX Enhanced title with DTS-X object based audio, an included Blu-ray copy and a Digital copy as well.

And Well Go USA is releasing Zhang Yimou’s Shadow on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD on 8/13. It’s available for pre-order here on Amazon.

Other upcoming 4K Ultra HD titles include Universal’s The Scorpion King on 6/18, Universal’s Hulk (2003) and Waterworld on 7/9, Disney and Marvel’s Captain Marvel on 6/11, Disney’s live-action Dumbo on 6/25, Lionsgate’s The Doors in July, Warner’s Shazam! in July, and Disney and Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame and Iron Man 1-3 in August. It also appears that Universal will release Scarface and Casino in September or October.

We’ve naturally updated our 4K Ultra HD Release List accordingly with all these titles.

And here’s a look at what cover artwork we have, with Amazon pre-order links if available (you can help support The Bits by pre-ordering them through our links – and thank you!)…

Pan's Labyrinth (4K Ultra HD) They Shall Not Grow Old (Blu-ray) IMAX: Space Station (4K Ultra HD)

Toy Story (4K Ultra HD) Toy Story 2 (4K Ultra HD) Toy Story 3 (4K Ultra HD)

Back with more tomorrow. Stay tuned!

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

 

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