Here’s some good news: I’ve officially confirmed with the good people over at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment that their fantastic 4K Ultra HD Steelbook release of David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia (1962) will be coming back into stock at all your favorite retailers in the next month or two. I know a LOT of you out there have asked me about it. And in fact, it’s been popping in and out of stock on Amazon over the weekend (we expect that to continue) so keep checking this link to pre-order it over the coming days.
Also now up for pre-order in 4K Steelbook from Sony is David Anspaugh’s Rudy (1993), which is set to street on 11/14. Click here or on the cover art below for that.
Meanwhile, Kino Lorber Studio Classics and Kino Cult have announced a few more new titles they’re working on, including Jess Franco’s Sinner: The Secret Diary of a Nymphomaniac (1973) on Blu-ray—which will be Kino Cult #4—in December. They’ve also set John Boorman’s The Emerald Forest (1985) for release on Blu-ray on 11/28. And they’ve additionally revealed that Clint Eastwood’s The Eiger Sanction (1975) is “coming soon” to 4K Ultra HD.
And on the Rumor Mill front, here’s something very interesting for you giallo fans: We’re hearing from industry sources that Giuliano Carnimeo’s The Case of the Bloody Iris (1972) (aka Perchè quelle strane gocce di sungue sul corpo di Jennifer?) is currently being worked on for a new remastered Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD release! To our knowledge, the film hasn’t been released on disc since Blue Underground’s 2016 DVD release. Rest assured, we’ll post more details on this as they come in.
In case you missed it here at The Bits on Friday evening, our own Michael Coate has turned in a great new History, Legacy & Showmanship column featuring a look back at Star Trek: The Animated Series on the occasion of Star Trek Day and in honor of the series’ 50th anniversary. The piece features a roundtable chat with a host of Star Trek luminaries, including (but not limited to) animation historian Jerry Beck, our friends Michael and Denise Okuda, and original TOS and TAS writer David Gerrold, who is also a friend of The Bits. You can find that here—it’s well worth a look.
And in other industry news today, Media Play News editor TK Arnold is reporting that Ingram Entertainment, which was once the largest physical media home entertainment distributor in the industry, is officially exiting the DVD and Blu-ray business. And the reason is simple, per Ingram chairman and CEO David Ingram: “Expenses are exceeding sales.” You can read more on this here.
The only takeaway I can add to this, is that it’s not surprising. Disc sales as a percentage of all entertainment spending have been in decline for many years now. But that doesn’t mean the business is going away. On the contrary (and as many of you know), a few of the major Hollywood studios have been ramping up their disc releases in the last couple years—and Disney seems to be gearing up to do the same—as the pandemic, the decline of the theatrical business, franchise fatigue, and overspending on streaming have depressed the entertainment business overall. With luck, it’s easy to imagine a profitable market for physical media lasting at least through the end of this decade.
One last thing we’d like to leave you with here at The Bits today: GKids has finally released the first actual trailer for Hayao Miyazaki’s final film, The Boy and the Huron (2023) (aka How Do You Live?), which will be released into theaters and IMAX here in the States on 12/8. A physical media release is expected to follow early in 2024. Here’s the trailer, and as you might expect it’s breathtaking...
All right, we’ll leave you today with a look at the cover artwork for a few of the titles mentioned above and more, with Amazon.com pre-order links if available. And remember to keep checking back on Lawrence of Arabia, because pre-orders keep appearing and disappearing regularly...
Back tomorrow with more. Stay tuned...!
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