First up, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has announced (or confirmed) some major 4K Ultra HD titles that we’ve talked about here at The Bits recently, including the Universal Classic Monsters: Icons of Horror Collection – Volume 2 and To Kill a Mockingbird: 60th Anniversary Edition on 10/11, a new E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: 40th Anniversary Edition that’s due on 10/18, and finally The Classic Christmas Specials Collection 4K on 11/1.
As we’ve reported previously, the Universal Classic Monsters: Icons of Horror Collection – Volume 2 box set will include The Mummy (1932), The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Phantom of the Opera (1943), and Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) on both 4K UHD and Blu-ray, along with all of their previous Blu-ray features. Note that—as was the case with the Volume 1 set—these are the same 4K remasters that the previous Blu-rays were created from, we’re just finally seeing them in actual 4K for the first time. Creature from the Black Lagoon will also include the 3D version of the film on regular Blu-ray (of course, you’ll need a 3D-capable display to view that).
To Kill a Mockingbird will also feature the recent 4K remaster (which was released on Blu-ray a few years ago). But not only will you get all of the legacy Blu-ray content, this new edition includes the all-new To Kill a Mockingbird: All Points of View documentary produced by longtime friend of The Bits, Constantine Nasr (along with Mark Nassief and Michael Fallavollita). It should be pretty terrific. This film is a favorite of mine, so I can’t wait to see both the new documentary and also the terrific remaster in actual 4K.
The E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: 40th Anniversary Edition is essentially the same presentation already released on 4K, but this time the package will include 45 minutes of new special features, including the 40 Years of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial retrospective documentary and the TCM Classic Film Festival: An Evening with Steven Spielberg discussion.
Finally, The Classic Christmas Specials Collection 4K set includes the classic Rankin/Bass animated titles Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town—TV specials that have entertained generations of children since their original release in the mid 1960s and early 70s. The previous Blu-ray features for each will carry over.
We’re not done yet, though: Kino Lorber Studio Classics has revealed that they’re working on a new 4K UHD release of Needful Things (1993). Promoted as “coming soon,” the release will include a new 4K scan of the original camera negative for the Theatrical Cut with Dolby Vision HDR, plus a new 2K scan of the Television Cut master interpositive.
Our friends at Vinegar Syndrome have announced the 10/25 release of Stuart Rosenberg’s The Amityville Horror (1979) on 4K Ultra HD. The film has been newly scanned and restored from the original 35 mm camera negative, and for the first time ever it will include its original unaltered theatrical surround mix (along with an optional stereo mix). You’ll also get a new “making of” documentary, My Amityville Diaries, in addition to the legacy special features.
While Paramount hasn’t officially announced them yet, retailers have confirmed the 11/15 4K Ultra HD release of the Wayne’s World: 30th Anniversary Edition and the Paramount Presents titles Blue Hawaii. And we have cover artwork that you can see below. For the record, I’ve asked the studio whether the new 4K presentation of the former finally restores the original Led Zeppelin/Stairway to Heaven moment from the film, which has been bogged down for years due to a music rights issue. When I hear back, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, both titles are now available for pre-order on Amazon below.
And Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced a new 11-film Sony Pictures Classics 30th Anniversary 4K Ultra HD Collection Limited Edition box set that includes a fresh presentation of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) with Dolby Vision HDR, as well as Orlando (1992), The Celluloid Closet (1995), The City of Lost Children (1995), Run Lola Run (1998), SLC Punk (1998), The Devil’s Backbone (2001), Volver (2006), Synecodoche, New York (2008), Still Alice (2014), and Call Me by Your Name (2017). Other than Crouching Tiger, which Sony has released previously on the format, all of these titles will be exclusive in 4K to this box set. The set will also include hours of new and archival special features, as well as a 24-page booklet. All of the films will feature Dolby Vision HDR with DTS-HD Master Audio (Crouching Tiger also features Dolby Atmos). You can see the cover artwork for that one here (click on the image to pre-order it on Amazon)...
And here’s the official trailer for this release...
Finally today, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has also announced the Blu-ray release of Better Call Saul: Season Six and Better Call Saul: The Complete Series on 12/6. Extras on Season Six will include behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, outtakes, audio commentary on each episode, training videos, and more.
We’ll be back tomorrow with word of more regular Blu-ray Disc release news, but in the meantime, here’s a look at the cover artwork for these 4K titles with Amazon.com pre-order links if available...
Stay tuned!
(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)