Displaying items by tag: Warner Bros

I’m happy to say that we have a little bit of late-breaking announcement news today, and it’s one we’ve all been waiting for. Here’s the full text of Warner’s press release...

THE EXORCIST COMES TO 4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY AND DIGITAL

TO CELEBRATE THE ICONIC SUPERNATURAL FILM’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY, THE EXORCIST WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 4K RESOLUTION WITH HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE (HDR)

Purchase the film on 4K Ultra HD Disc and Digital on September 19

Burbank, Calif., August 1, 2023 – As part of the year-long centennial celebration for the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros. Studio, the iconic supernatural film The Exorcist from Academy Award-winning director William Friedkin (The French Connection) will be available for purchase on 4K Ultra HD Disc and Digital for the first time this September.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of its 1973 release, on September 19 The Exorcist will be available to purchase on Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc from online and in-store at major retailers and available for purchase Digitally from Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu and more.

The Ultra HD Blu-ray Discs include both the 1973 theatrical version of the film and the 2000 Extended Director’s Cut of the film which features eleven additional minutes of footage not seen in theaters. [Read on here...]

All right, there hasn’t been a lot of release news to report over the last couple of days, but we do have a bunch of new disc reviews for you to enjoy...

I’ve taken a look at the Criterion Collection’s new 4K Ultra HD release of Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (1957), which streets next week.

Tim has reviewed the DreamWorks animated spin-off/sequel Puss in Boots: The Last Wish in 4K Ultra HD from Universal.

Dennis has checked in with his thoughts on Elliott Nugent’s Never Say Die (1939) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Stuart has offered his take on Fernando Trueba’s Memories of My Father (2020) on Blu-ray from the Cohen Media Group via Kino Lorber.

And finally, Stephen has reviewed Christopher Berkeley and Sam Liu animated Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham in 4K Ultra HD from DC and Warner Bros., as well as Adrian Lyne’s Flashdance (1983) in 4K Ultra HD from Paramount.

As always, more reviews are forthcoming, so be sure to keep checking back for them. [Read on here...]

We start today with four more new disc reviews...

Stephen has taken a look at Calin Cazan, Dan Chisovski, and Mircea Toia’s animated The Son of the Stars (1985) on Blu-ray from Deaf Crocodile and Vinegar Syndrome.

Dennis has checked in with his thoughts on Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale (2022) on Blu-ray from Lionsgate, a film that just netted star Brendan Fraser the Academy Award for Best Actor.

And Stuart has taken a look at Vincente Minelli’s The Long, Long Trailer (1954) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection, along with Ulli Lommel’s The Devonsville Terror (1983) on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.

More reviews are forthcoming, so be sure to stay tuned for them.

Also today, we’ve posted our latest update of the Release Dates & Artwork section (see the Cover Art link at the top of the website), which includes all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, a portion of anything you order after clicking to Amazon from one of our links goes to help support our work here at The Bits and we really do appreciate it. [Read on here...]

We’re checking in today with a rare weekend My Two Cents update to bring you a little bit of new Blu-ray and 4K UHD release news that broke on Friday afternoon.

First though, a reminder... if you haven’t seen our New Year’s Eve post, I spent a little bit of time reflecting back on 25 Years of The Digital Bits, a landmark we officially crossed last month. So whether you’re a longtime reader who’s been with us from the start, or a newcomer to the site who’s curious about how we got started and where we came from, I think you’ll find it a quick and enjoyable read.

And once again, let me just say that I’m very glad to have all of you as readers of The Digital Bits. We appreciate all your support and thanks for sticking with us for two and a half decades now. Here’s to more great years ahead!

Now then, our friends at Shout! and Scream Factory have officially announced their March catalog release slate, and there are some gems in there for both Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD fans alike. [Read on here...]

We start with two more new disc reviews today (and there might be one more from me later this evening, but it should certainly be up by tomorrow morning)...

Tim has reviewed Crane Wilbur’s The Bat (1959), which is available in a fine new Blu-ray edition from our friends at The Film Detective.

And Dennis has offered his thoughts on Lynne Littman’s Testament (1983), a post-apocalyptic drama from PBS’ American Playhouse and Paramount Pictures that includes William Devane, Jane Alexander, Kevin Costner, Rebecca De Mornay, and Lukas Haas. That’s new on Blu-ray from the good folks at Imprint Films.

Now then, the big announcement news today is that Disney has just officially set Don Hall and Qui Nguyen’s animated Strange World for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 2/14. Look for the Digital and Disney+ streaming release to happen on 12/23. Audio will be Dolby Atmos on the 4K and DTS-HD MA on Blu-ray, as always. Extras will include 4 featurettes (Anatomy of a Scene: Creating A Strange World, Strange Science, Creature Feature, and The Hidden Secrets of Strange World), outtakes, and 4 deleted scenes (The Ballad of Jaeger Clade, Lightning Lynx, Funerals and Promises, and Ethan and Searcher). You can see the cover artwork at left and also below. [Read on here...]

Today’s My Two Cents update begins as always with more new disc reviews...

Tim and I have taken a look at Kino Lorber Studio Classics’ new 4K Ultra HD upgrade of the classic Joseph Sargent heist thriller The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), which stars Robert Shaw and Walter Matthau. Among other things, it’s a great New York City movie and if you’ve ever wondered where director Quentin Tarantino got the idea for his character names in Reservoir Dogs, look no further.

Also today, we’ve gone in-depth on Via Vision’s new Dirty Dancing: Limited Edition Steelbook 4K Ultra HD release, which takes Lionsgate’s already fine remastering work on the title and adds a few more extras via their own exclusive bonus Blu-ray Disc.

And Tim has also reviewed Bob Clark’s Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things: 50th Anniversary Edition in 4K Ultra HD from VCI Entertainment, which includes a new 4K scan and remaster but only Standard Dynamic Range, as well as Nico Mastorakis’s Nightmare at Noon (1988) on Blu-ray from our friends at Arrow Video.

More reviews are on the way tomorrow and beyond, so be sure to watch for them. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a bunch of ground to cover today, and the subject for today’s My Two Cents post is what we’re hearing from our industry and retail sources about forthcoming 4K Ultra HD catalog titles expected in the new year. But first, we have a pair of new reviews for you this afternoon...

Dennis has turned in his thoughts on Daniel Man’s 1952 drama Come Back, Little Sheba, which is now available on region-free Blu-ray from the Aussie label Imprint Films. The film stars Burt Lancaster and Shirley Booth.

And Stephen has delivered his in-depth take on AGFA and Something Weird Video’s nine-film, three-disc The Films of Doris Wishman: The Moonlight Years Blu-ray box set, distributed by Vinegar Syndrome.

As always, more new disc reviews are on the way over the coming days, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for them.

Now then, we’ve been circling back with our many industry and retail sources here at The Bits, and we’ve got an update on some interesting titles that are coming to 4K Ultra HD in the months ahead. [Read on here...]

Well, the big news this week is so big that we’re going to address it right off the top: In a sudden and unexpected move, Disney’s board of directors has ousted CEO Bob Chapek and re-hired Bob Iger. The news came out of the blue on Sunday night and seems to have taken everyone by surprise. Bob Iger of course was the company’s previous CEO, who took over for Michael Eisner—the man who’d served in that role for over two decades at that point—back in 2005. It was under Iger’s watch that Disney acquired Pixar, Marvel Entertainment, Lucasfilm, and the film division of 20th Century Fox. He also laid the groundwork for the launch of Disney+ in 2019.

Chapek was no stranger to Disney, having joined the company in 1993 as the director of marketing for Buena Vista Home Entertainment. In this capacity he helped steer Disney through the “Golden Age” of DVD and eventually the launch of Blu-ray, which is how I came to know him. He was so successful in that capacity that he was promoted to president of Home Entertainment in 2006, and eventually took over at Disney Consumer Products (in 2011) and Parks and Resorts (in 2015), which seemed to make him a natural fit to become CEO of Disney himself when Iger eventually stepped down.

But apparently, Iger and Chapek did not often see eye to eye. Iger, who could (and probably should) have worked more aggressively to groom a clear successor to lead the company in his own image, failed to do so, resulting in Chapek’s elevation to CEO in 2020. But Chapek’s reign was troubled from the very start, stricken first by the COVID-19 pandemic and next by a series of public “self-owns” and media missteps. [Read on here...]

All right, I’m still working on that Criterion WALL-E 4K review and hope to have it up this weekend. Real life got in the way a little bit here over the last couple of days, not to mention some necessary behind-the-scenes work here at the site. But I will say this: Both the 4K presentation and the accompanying Blu-ray presentation, are absolutely fantastic. As in best-ever image quality for this film.

In the meantime, Tim has posted his thoughts on Rod Serling’s Night Gallery: Season Three on Blu-ray from our friends over at Kino Lorber Studio Classics. Sounds like it’s another fabulous set with more great extras.

And we do have several good pieces of release news to report here at the site today...

First, Turbine Media in Germany has finally announced their planned 6-Disc 4K Ultra HD Ultimate Edition of Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners (1996) for release on 12/2 (Yes, that is a Friday—keep in mind, this is a German release). The film has been fully remastered from the original camera negative and graded for high dynamic range (including Dolby Vision) in a process supervised by the director. [Read on here...]

Yes, it’s true!

This is information I first heard from industry insiders about six months ago, but was asked to keep quiet about to allow the work to be completed. But retailers are just now starting to catch wind of it, so I can unofficially confirm it here:

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is planning to release Superman II, Superman III, and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace in 4K Ultra HD in early 2023!

Superman II will include both the original theatrical version and the Richard Donner Cut.

Our sources suggest that—like Superman: The Movie in 4K—all three of these will feature Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos audio, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Street date is still TBA on these officially, however we’ve been hearing Q2 2023, and Amazon UK has just leaked a 3 April street date for Superman III on their website (click here for that).

Do keep in mind that none of this should be considered 100% kosher and official until the studio makes their actual announcements in the weeks and months ahead. But Superman fans should be very happy around April of next year. [Read on here...]