Disney sets Snow White for 4K, plus Mann’s Blackhat: Director’s Cut, Oliver Stone’s Alexander in Ultra HD, Street Fighter II, Jack Ryan: S3 & more!

Wednesday, 30 August 2023 17:09

Disney sets Snow White for 4K, plus Mann’s Blackhat: Director’s Cut, Oliver Stone’s Alexander in Ultra HD, Street Fighter II, Jack Ryan: S3 & more!

by Bill Hunt

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (4K Ultra HD)

All right, we’ve got a bunch more great new 4K Ultra HD catalog news to report today, and more new disc reviews as well...

As expected, I posted my review of producer Glen A. Larson’s original Battlestar Galactica (1978) in 4K Ultra HD from Universal late last night, and it’s a pretty detailed look at the film and its history.

Also today, Tim has gone in-depth on Martin Scorsese’s Hugo (2011), which is now available in a terrific new 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray 3D package from the good people of Arrow Video.

Dennis has checked in today as well with a look at Robert Wise’s Helen of Troy (1956) on Blu-ray from the always excellent Warner Archive Collection.

And Stuart rounds things out this afternoon with his thoughts on Marcel Ophul’s fascinating documentary on the Nazi occupation of France during World War II, The Sorrow and the Pity (1969) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.

Back to Arrow briefly: The company has just revealed on their social media feed that—in response to customer requests—they’re going to be including Michael Mann’s excellent Blackhat: Director’s Cut on Blu-ray in their forthcoming 4K UHD and Blu-ray packages! Thus the street date is going to be pushed back from 10/31 to 11/28. But the Director’s Cut—which has never been released on home video—is significantly different that the other two cuts of the film already being included on the release, so this is a terrific and welcome addition. Tip of the hat to Arrow for going the extra mile on this one. [Read on here...]

All right, the big news today is actually something we first revealed was coming here at The Bits way back in March: Disney has officially announced the 4K Ultra HD release of Walt Disney’s original animated Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) on 10/10! You can see the final cover artwork above left and also below. And here’s the even better news: I’ve confirmed directly with studio sources that, like their recent Cinderella (1950) 4K UHD, this has been carefully remastered from a brand new 4K scan of the original camera negative! So it should look fantastic, and you can see a before-and-after restoration comparison here...

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) -- before restoration

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) -- after restoration

Also, I’ve confirmed that there was an error on the first version of the press release for this title that went out early this morning. The audio on the 4K will not be lossy Dolby Digital Plus but rather lossless 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, along with a 2.0 Dolby Digital mix that reflects the original mono sound experience. So this release is yet one more indication that Disney as a studio is really turning their physical media operation around in the right direction. (I’ll have more to say on that subject in the coming days.)

Now then, as I reported yesterday here at The Bits, Oliver Stone has said that JFK (1991) is coming to 4K Ultra HD before the end of the year. Well, I can now add that Alexander (2004) is being prepared for 4K UHD release as well. It remains to be seen whether they’ll actually be out by the end of the year or whether they’ll slip into early next year, because there are obviously a lot of components and moving parts to each release. These are not uncomplicated films. But rest assured, both films are in the works for the format.

Here’s a nice surprise for you fans of anime in 4K: Discotek Media has just listed the original Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (1994) for 4K Ultra HD release on 11/28.

CBS and Paramount have listed Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Season Two for release on 4K Ultra HD Steelbook in addition to regular Blu-ray and Blu-ray Steelbook, but the street date for all of them is still TBA.

Paramount has also just listed the Amazon original series title Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Season Three for 4K Ultra HD release on 9/26, in addition to the already listed Blu-ray SKU.

Meanwhile, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has set the Amazon original series title The Boys: Season Three for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 10/24. That likely means Season Four will debut on Amazon Prime in November or December (but this is still TBA).

And Decal and Bleeker have announced the DVD-only release of the hit indie alien comedy Jules (2023) on 10/10. We sincerely hope that a Blu-ray release is in the offing as well.

Also today, since we invoked the name of director Michael Mann earlier, Neon has just released the first teaser trailer for Mann’s Ferrari, which is set to arrive in theaters at Christmas. Here’s a look at that...

And with longtime Bits contributor Adam Jahnke’s expanded review of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas in 4K UHD up on the site, we wanted to take a moment to direct you all to his excellent Disney Plus-or-Minus column on Substack. It’s well worth checking out if you like Jahnke’s film writing.

We’ll leave you today with a look at the cover artwork for several of the titles mentioned above, with Amazon links if available...

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (4K Ultra HD)

Stay tuned!

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Disney sets Snow White for 4K, plus Mann’s Blackhat: Director’s Cut, Oliver Stone’s Alexander in Ultra HD, Street Fighter II, Jack Ryan: S3 & more!

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