Criterion’s June has Sorcerer & Brazil in 4K, plus new WB, Imprint & boutique titles, KLSC’s Dante’s Peak & Daylight delayed, Sony bows a new UHD player & more!

Friday, 14 March 2025 16:47

Criterion’s June has Sorcerer & Brazil in 4K, plus new WB, Imprint & boutique titles, KLSC’s Dante’s Peak & Daylight delayed, Sony bows a new UHD player & more!

by Bill Hunt

We’ve got one more new disc review to round out the week here at The Bits this afternoon...

Dennis has taken a look at Robert Day’s Two-Way Stretch (1960) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, a classic heist caper starring Peter Sellers.

The big release news today is that our friends at The Criterion Collection have just announced their June slate, which is absolutely fantastic! Look for 4K Ultra HD upgrades of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil (1985) (Spine #51) and Paul Schrader’s Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) (Spine #432) on 6/3, followed by Sidney Lumet’s The Wiz (1978) (Spine #1264) in 4K UHD and Blu-ray on 6/10, Charlotte Zwerin’s Thelonious Monk Straight, No Chaser (1988) (Spine #1265) and Mitchell Leisen’s Midnight (1939) (Spine #1266) both on Blu-ray on 6/17, and François Girard’s Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993) (Spine #1268) and William Friedkin’s Sorcerer (1977) (Spine #1267) in 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray on 6/24. Of these, Brazil, The Wiz, and Sorcerer will have Dolby Vision HDR. You can read more here and you can see the cover art for these above left and also below the break. [Read on here...]

Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment has set Steven Soderbergh’s The Good German (2006) and The Informant! (2009) for 4K Ultra HD release on 4/15.

Our friends at Imprint have announced their May release slate, which includes a trio of Blu-ray box sets: Laurence Olivier’s Shakespeare Trilogy (1944–1955), Film Focus: Carroll Baker (1961–1965), and Directed By… David Lean – Volume One (1942–1948). All are due on 5/28. Laurence Olivier’s Shakespeare Trilogy will include Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948), and Richard III (1955). Film Focus: Carroll Baker will include Something Wild (1961), Sylvia (1965), and Harlow (1965). And Directed By… David Lean – Volume One will include In Which We Serve (1942), This Happy Breed (1944), Blithe Spirit (1945), Brief Encounter (1945), Great Expectations (1946), and Oliver Twist (1948). You can read more here.

Grindhouse Releasing has just set Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond (1981) for Deluxe “Eye of Ebion” Special Edition 4K UHD release in April. The title will be limited to 3500 units. You can pre-order it here.

Fun City Editions has announced that it’s working on a 45th anniversary Blu-ray release of Brian Gibson’s Breaking Glass (1980). The film will be released in its original UK cut, from a restoration by the Paramount Archive.

Also today... I’ve reached out to our friends at Kino Lorber Studio Classics about their previously-announced 4K Ultra HD releases of Daylight (1996) and Dante’s Peak (1997). As some of you may know, pre-orders of both titles have been cancelled and both titles have been pulled from the KLSC website. Customers who had pre-ordered them have received emails saying that those orders have been suspended. Daylight had actually already streeted this week (on Tuesday), but how many copies have actually shipped to customers is unknown. (A number of readers are reporting that they have indeed received their copies, and I have a review copy in hand as well.) In any case, what I’ve learned is that both titles are officially delayed indefinitely, however they are not cancelled. So stay tuned. With a little luck, they’ll both be back on the schedule at some point later this year. And before you ask: No, Daylight is NOT defective. If you have a copy in hand, enjoy and count yourself lucky to have it early.

In hardware news, here’s a nice surprise: Sony has just announced a new 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player: the UBP-X700/K, which is an update of their existing UBP-X700. It supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, as well as Atmos and DTS:X. However, it will not include the X700’s network and streaming features, nor does it have built-in Wi-Fi capability. Expect it to be released in April or May. You can see the details here on Sony’s UK website.

And in streaming news, Disney has recently upgraded its digital versions of Simon West’s Con Air (1997) to the recent 4K remaster, which was produced from a new scan of the original camera negative and features remixed audio. It should be available via all the usual Digital services. There’s no word on a physical 4K release yet.

In other news today, Apple has just announced that it’s renewed their popular dramedy Ted Lasso for a fourth season. You can read more here at Variety.

Apple has also dropped a new trailer for their forthcoming Jerry Bruckheimer-produced racing film F1 (2025), directed by Joseph Kosinski and starring Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Damson Idris, and Kerry Condon. The film hits theaters on 6/27 and it looks pretty great. See for yourself...

I love every bit of that. It’s like Ford v Ferrari (2019) and Rush (2013) meets Speed Racer (2008). Bring it on. (And I sure as hell hope there’s a 4K disc release somewhere on the planet.)

All right, we’ll leave you with a look at the cover art for the new Criterion titles. We’ll add the Amazon pre-order links as they appear...

Midnight (Criterion Blu-ray Disc) Straight No Chaser (Criterion Blu-ray Disc) Mishima (Criterion 4K Ultra HD)

Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (Criterion 4K Ultra HD)

For you Patreon supporters, watch for a new My Two Cents video update later this afternoon. If you’re not a Bits supporter on Patreon, now’s a great time to join—it’s very affordable and it’s a great way to support our work here at The Bits. We appreciate it!

Have a great weekend and stay tuned…

- Bill Hunt

(You can follow Bill on social media on Twitter, BlueSky, and Facebook, and also here on Patreon)

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Criterion’s June has Sorcerer & Brazil in 4K, plus new WB, Imprint & boutique titles, KLSC’s Dante’s Peak & Daylight delayed, Sony bows a new UHD player & more!

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