In announcement news today, Lionsgate has set Daybreakers for 4K Ultra HD release on 9/10, with Dolby Atmos audio and Dolby Vision HDR. The film stars Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, and Sam Neill. SRP is $22.99 and the previous Blu-ray extras will carry over.
Speaking of 4K, we have new street dates for you on some major upcoming titles, both new and catalog on the format. Keep in mind, these dates are tentative until officially announced (most come from retail sources). Look for Sony’s Men in Black International on 9/3, Spider-Man: Far From Home on 10/1. And we’re still hearing that a 007: The Daniel Craig Collection is coming in later September or early October (the US date we have at the moment is 9/24 and it’s already up for pre-order on some European retail sites). From Universal, look for Yesterday on 9/24, with Scarface and American Gangster due to arrive in October. Disney’s live action Aladdin looks to be set for release on 9/10, with Toy Story 4 following on 9/24. And Warner’s DC Universe: The Death and Return of Superman – The Complete Film Collection is due on 10/1. We’ve updated our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits accordingly.
Here’s a little bit of a surprise: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is teasing the release of some kind of new Stanley Kubrick Collection box set. We don’t have any details whatsoever, other than this picture of the outer box (see below). The details are apparently going to be unveiled at 10am Thursday (BST) here at: https://www.stanleykubrickcollection.com/
I’d love to think this is a full 4K box, but something tells me it’s not. We’ll see.
Meanwhile, Network in the UK is teasing a week to go until you can pre-order Monty Python’s Flying Circus: The Complete Series on Blu-ray. You can sign up for details here: https://montypython.networkonair.com/flyingcircushd
Now then... fans have noticed that the 5.1 sound on Shout! Factory’s Space: 1999 – The Complete Series Blu-ray set (reviewed here) is markedly different (much less pronounced) than the original Network and A&E Blu-rays. Essentially, it appears that Shout! created their own 5.1 mixes rather than using the Network ones. Going back and comparing all the existing Blu-ray versions, there’s no doubt they’re different. Shout! Factory has issued the following statement on the matter:
“As Space 1999 was originally produced and aired in mono, we have made the mono track the default audio option for experiencing our Blu-ray release. We also created a 5.1 track for our release as an alternative for fans who want more of a surround-like experience. The surround track was created from the best sources made available to us and in some instances differs slightly from the original composition of the mono track. We believe that this will not markedly affect the experience of the show to people viewing it in this mode.”
Your own mileage will vary as to the impact of this on your viewing enjoyment, but I’ve knocked the Audio grade down to a ‘C’ in my review accordingly.
All right, we’re going to leave you with a look at the cover artwork for Criterion’s recently-announced October slate and more, with Amazon pre-order links if available. And rest assured, we’ll add post all the new Pixar 4K pre-order links when they go live on Amazon...
Stay tuned...
-Bill Hunt
(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)