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Wednesday, 30 September 2020 14:46

Updates on Blade, Basic Instinct, Bill & Ted Face the Music, Lord of the Rings & Hobbit, all in 4K

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All right, we’ve got some very interesting ground to cover today...

First, we’ve posted a review of Richard Donner’s Timeline (2003), which has just been released on Blu-ray for the first time ever by Paramount. Our own Dr. Adam Jahnke reviewed the DVD way back in 2004, so I’ve revived his film review and added my own comments on the Blu-ray’s A/V quality. Timeline is cheesy and paper-thin to be sure (I would never call it a great film, or really even a very good one), but I still kind of enjoy it. So it’s nice to finally have it on Blu-ray, especially for just $9.99 SRP.

Also, later today or tomorrow morning I expect to finish my review of Zack Snyder’s 300 in 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros. So watch for that to be posted very soon.

Now then, in release news today, we’ve got a few things for you. None of this is yet official—as in no press releases have been issued, but we expect them to be shortly—but we’ve got updates today on a few new 4K catalog titles that we know many of you have been eagerly awaiting. [Read on here...]

First, as you can guess by the cover artwork above left, Warner (and their New Line studio-on-paper-only) are getting ready to announced the 4K Ultra HD release of Stephen Norrington’s Blade (1998). Audio is expected to be Dolby Atmos, with HDR10 high dynamic range. The existing Blu-ray extras will carry over (including the cast and crew audio commentary on both the 4K and BD discs). Based on our retail sources, the street date is expected to be 12/1 or thereabouts. This title is already listed (without a street date) on the Best Buy website. It’s also now listed for pre-order on Amazon.com and this is the official cover artwork (click on it to pre-order)...

Blade (4K Ultra HD) Basic Instinct (4K Ultra HD) Bill & Ted Face the Music (4K Ultra HD)

Now then, as you can see, we’ve also got what appears to be the official (or close to final) cover artwork for StudioCanal’s long-awaited restoration of Paul Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct (likely a Lionsgate title here in the States). We’ve known that was coming for a while, as StudioCanal teased it months ago. We expect it sometime in December as well, but again the street date and details are still TBA.

And no doubt you also noticed the cover artwork for Bill & Ted Face the Music in 4K Ultra HD. That is already up for pre-order on Zavvi (click here for Zavvi US and here for Zavvi UK). There’s no street date listed yet, but it’s a Warner Bros. title in the UK (we believe it will be here in the States as well). With luck, we should know more about the US release soon. (I have a feeling that all three Bill & Ted films will be coming to 4K here in the States sometime sooner than later.)

Finally this afternoon, our friends at the excellent 4KFilme.de website have discovered new pre-order listings from online retailers (including here and here from jPc in Germany) for The Lord of the Rings: Motion Picture Trilogy and The Hobbit: Motion Picture Trilogy in 4K Ultra HD. We expect the discs to include both the theatrical and extended versions. Note that these are distributed by Universal in Germany and the street date is listed as December 3.

Here’s a look at the cover artwork (we have no reason to believe it’s not the real thing)...

The Hobbit: The Motion Picture Trilogy (German 4K Ultra HD) The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (German 4K Ultra HD)

Given this leak, and the Blade information above, we expect all three of these titles to be officially announced by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment any time now. And no, we don’t have any more information than what’s listed above. But again, we expect to have official details very soon.

All right, that’s all for now. Back with more later, tomorrow, or as news breaks. Again, keep an eye on my Twitter feed here (and feel free to follow it), as that’s usually the place where I post breaking news first.

Stay tuned!

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