Displaying items by tag: Studio Distribution Services

We’ve got two more new disc reviews to share with you this afternoon, plus a bunch of exciting announcement news. But first as always, those reviews...

Stuart has taken a look at Bruce David Klein’s Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story (2024) on Blu-ray from Atlas Media and Zeitgeist Films via Kino Lorber.

And Stephen has offered his thoughts on John Erick Dowdle’s As Above, So Below (2014) on limited edition Blu-ray from our friends down at Via Vision Entertainment.

Also today, we’ve posted the weekly update of our Release Dates & Artwork Section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD covers and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, whenever you order literally anything from Amazon after clicking to them through one of our links, you’re helping to support our work here at The Bits and we really do appreciate it!

Now then... today is the day that many of your are finally going to get your hands on George P. Cosmatos’ Tombstone (1993) on 4K Ultra HD Steelbook from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. We’ve reviewed the disc here as you know, and it’s fantastic. But don’t worry if you haven’t been able to order a copy yet—more product is being replicated as we speak and the title should come back in stock online soon. [Read on here...]

We’re starting the new week here at The Bits, as always, with more new disc reviews...

Stephen has turned in his thoughts on Albert Magnoli’s celebration of all things Prince, Purple Rain (1984), in 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros. Discover Home Entertainment. The film celebrates its 40th anniversary this summer, and the city of Minneapolis has been partying all weekend in honor of it (more on that here).

Also, I’ve shared my thoughts on Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) in 4K Ultra HD from Paramount Home Entertainment. I’m not sure the title actually needed a 4K upgrade, but what the heck—blame Canada. You can read all the details here.

And Dennis has shared his perspective on The Wachowskis’ Bound (1996), which is new on Blu-ray (and 4K UHD) from our friends at The Criterion Collection.

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

Now then... we’ve got a pretty significant piece of industry news to share with you today. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has completed an “umbrella” distribution deal with Studio Distribution Services (SDS) that covers not only their own Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD product, but also titles from Lionsgate and Disney (along with 20th Century Studios, Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures, and the other Disney-owned labels), which Sony produces for those studios. We first broke the news of this for our Patreon subscribers over the weekend.

The reason this deal is important is that it guarantees Sony, Disney, 20th Century Studios, and Lionsgate a direct and stable distribution channel for their physical media product into Walmart stores. And as we’ve reported previously, Walmart is the biggest disc retailer in North America with a whopping 45% share of the disc sales market (as of earlier this year—that number may have grown a bit with the recent exit of Best Buy, which had approximately 4% of the business). [Read on here...]

As always, we’re rounding out the week with more new disc reviews here at The Bits, including...

Tim’s take on producer Roy Huggins’s Colt .45: The Complete Series (1957-60) and Hanna-Barbera’s Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose (1987), both on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

Dennis’ look at Dorothy Davenport and Melville Shyer’s The Road to Ruin (1934) on Blu-ray from Kino Classics and Something Weird.

And Stuart’s thoughts on Paolo and Vittorio Taviani’s Allonsanfàn (1974), Pietro Germi’s The Facts of Murder (1959), and Damiano Damiani’s Goodbye & Amen (1977), all on Blu-ray from Radiance Films.

I’ve also just received Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two (2024) in 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros., so watch for my in-depth review of that here at The Bits tomorrow sometime. [Read on here...]

All right, we have a few key items to discuss here at The Bits today...

First, Tim has posted his thoughts on Nico Mastorakis’ Death Has Blue Eyes (1976), newly-released on Blu-ray by Arrow Video. Do give it a look if you’re interested.

Also for those of you might be interested, I had the great pleasure of joining our friends Sam Posten & Brian Dobbs from the Home Theater Forum to talk Blu-ray, 4K, and the state of the home entertainment industry in general on their excellent Home Theater United podcast! The discussion was a lot of fun, and you longtime Bits readers especially should find it an interesting listen. We definitely get into the topic of where the industry is and where it’s going, so do give it a listen here. [Read on here...]