Items filtered by date: June 2019

We’re working on couple of things here at The Bits today...

But first, Tim has posted a few Blu-ray reviews in the meantime, including his own take on the Universal Horror Collection: Volume 2 from Scream Factory, BoJack Horseman: Seasons One & Two from Shout! Factory, and a double feature of Day of the Panther and Strike of the Panther from Aussie distributor Umbrella Entertainment, as well as Dennis’ take on Robin Bissel’s The Best of Enemies from Universal and Grace Quigley from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

All are well worth a look, so do take a look and enjoy! [Read on here...]

It’s finally available for pre-order and we have the details for you here, Bits readers...

Network Distributing is now officially taking pre-orders for its long-awaited Monty Python’s Flying Circus: The Norwegian Blu-ray Edition box set, with a street date of October 7. [Editor’s Note: This set has been delayed to 11/4. Adjust your plans accordingly.]

The 7-disc set includes all 45 episodes plus extras in the original 1.33:1, restored in 1080 HD, with the original mono audio. The set will be coded for Regions A, B, and C, it’s available in 50i and 60i versions (which you get will be determined by your shipping address), and subtitles will be included in English, French, German, Spanish, Polish, and Portuguese.

Here’s more information on the set, straight from Network themselves... [Read on here...]

All right, we have a quick post for you this morning with breaking release news...

First, Disney has just officially announced not only the Blu-ray, DVD, 4K Ultra HD, and Digital release of Guy Ritchie’s live-action Aladdin, but also the Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD, and Digital release of the original 1992 animated Aladdin as a new Walt Disney Signature Collection release, both on 9/10. Note that the Digital releases are due on 8/17. Let’s break it down...

Aladdin (2019) will include Dolby Atmos audio and the following extras: Aladdin’s Video Journal: A Fantastic New Point of View, Guy Ritchie: A Cinematic Genie, A Friend Like Genie, the Desert Moon deleted song, 6 deleted scenes (Falling Petals Into OJ, Jafar’s Magic Orrery, Anders’ Gift, Wrong Wishes, Silly Old Fool, and Post Yam Jam Debrief), bloopers, and 3 music videos (Speechless, A Whole New World, and Un Mundo Ideal).

Aladdin (1992) will include Dolby Atmos audio, most of the classic extras (from the previous Blu-ray release) and the following new extras: Sing Along with the Movie, Aladdin on Aladdin, Let’s Not Be Too Hasty: The Voices of Aladdin, and Alternate Endings. [Read on here...]

We’ve got some quick but interesting release news for you today, but first...

Our own Michael Coate has posted his History, Legacy and Showmanship retrospective on the James Bond film Licence to Kill, in honor of its recent 30th anniversary. The piece includes a roundtable discussion with film historians Thomas A. Christie, John Cork, and Andrew McNess. Enjoy!

Now, let’s get right to that news...

It appears that Criterion is about to announce their long-awaited Godzilla: The Showa Era Blu-ray box set, based on a leaked listing that appeared on Target.com (see link here). SRP for the set is expected to be $149.99. The Showa Era (1954-1975) would include essentially the first 15 films in the series, including Godzilla, Godzilla Raids Again, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Mothra vs. Godzilla, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Invasion of Astro-Monster, Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, Son of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, All Monsters Attack, Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Godzilla vs. Gigan, Godzilla vs. Megalon, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, and Terror of Mechagodzilla. This could be Spine #1000, but we’ll have to wait and see when Criterion makes their official announcement. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got more interesting news for you today...

But first, Tim Salmons has posted some new Blu-ray reviews here at the site (yesterday and this afternoon), including his own thoughts on Weird Science from Arrow Video and Quartermass and the Pit from Scream Factory, as well as Dennis’ take on Michael Radford’s 1984 from the Criterion Collection.

We’ve also updated the Release Dates & Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, anytime you order literally anything from Amazon after clicking through one of our links, you’re helping to support our work here at The Bits and we really do appreciate it.

And tomorrow morning, be sure to watch for a new History, Legacy and Showmanship column from Michael Coate here at The Bits, this one honoring the recent 30th anniversary of the James Bond film License to Kill. [Read on here...]

We’ve got a quick but terrific update for you today…

As you know, Jeff Nelson, Brian Ward, and I held the Inside an Indie Studio: Shout! Factory panel at Comic-Con in San Diego on Saturday night, and we announced a ton of great titles that Shout! and Scream are working on for release in the months ahead (through March 2020).

From Shout!, you can expect The Anne Bancroft Collection (includes Don’t Bother to Knock, The Miracle Worker, The Pumpkin Eater, The Graduate, Fatso, To Be or Not to Be, Agnes of God, and 84 Charing Cross Road), Twins (1988), The Wizard: Collector’s Edition (1989), Brewster’s Millions: Collector’s Edition (1985), and a vinyl re-issue of Mystery Science Theater 3000: Clouds in the Sky. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover today...

If you’re at Comic-Con in San Diego this evening, don’t forget to check out Shout! Factory’s panel for What We Left Behind: A Star Trek Deep Space Nine Documentary (7-8 PM, Room 32AB). It should be WELL worth your time, especially if you’re a Star Trek fan.

Also, my friend Kevin Grazier (science advisor to Hollywood films and TV shows including Battlestar Galactica, Gravity, and the new Another Life) is holding a Hollyweird Science panel this afternoon (3-4 PM at the Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park).

Tomorrow morning at the Con, Warner Archive is having a panel with animation historian Jerry Beck about The Jetsons (including the upcoming Blu-ray release (10-11 AM, Room 6A).

And of course, I’ll be moderating the Inside an Indie Studio: Shout! Factory panel with Jeff Nelson (Sr. Director Marketing, Scream Factory and Shout! Factory) and Brian Ward (Sr. Director of Production, Shout! Factory) tomorrow night (8-9 PM in Room 23ABC). We’ll take you through the process of how Shout! licenses and produces great catalog special editions on Blu-ray. And we’re going to announce a TON of great news titles coming from Shout! and Scream – this may be their best slate yet! So don’t miss it and we hope to see you there! You can follow the title announcements on Twitter (@ShoutFactory @BillHuntBits @TheDigitalBits) and I believe there may be a video version that gets shown on the Shout! Factory website blog in the weeks after the Con. [Read on here...]

Heads-up, folks. I’ll have another post later today – I’m back in the office after a day at Comic-Con to appear on the Inglorious Treksperts panel there – and we have some good news for you therefrom.

First up, the panel was great. Mark A. Altman, Daren Dochterman, Ashley Edward Miller, Rob Burnett and I a blast talking about Star Trek: The Motion Picture, a movie near and dear to each of us, which turns 40 this year.

The panel room at the Con was absolutely packed – a good full house – which was awesome to see. We showed rare clips related to the film, told interesting stories, and made a lot of people (including ourselves) laugh.

You will all be able to hear the panel for yourselves in the next few weeks, as it will be released as an official Inglorious Treksperts podcast (listen here or wherever your great podcasts are found). [Read on here...]

Morning folks! This is just a quick post to let you all know that I’m on my way to San Diego Comic-Con today to appear with the Inglorious Treksperts on their excellent panel at 3 PM in Room 5AB, where Mark A. Altman, Daren R. Dochterman, Ashley Edward Miller, Robert Meyer Burnett and Bill Hunt (yours truly) are going to be talking about the 40th anniversary of Robert Wise’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It’s going to be a great time, so we hope to see you there!

Meanwhile, a couple of quick housekeeping items: I posted my in-depth review of HBO’s long-awaited and HD-remastered release of From the Earth to the Moon miniseries on Blu-ray, from Tom Hanks and Imagine Entertainment. I think mostly, fans of the series will be pleased with the release, with a few caveats. Read on here.

Also, our friends over at the Home Theater Forum have learned that Disney is finally going to be releasing The Black Hole on Blu-ray later this year... but unfortunately, like the recent 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, as a barebones Disney Movie Club exclusive release. So... yay? Ugh? I guess at least it’s coming.

All right, that’s it for now. Back tomorrow with more news and for those of you in San Diego, we’ll see you at the Con later today. Cheers!

-Bill Hunt

(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)

All right, we have another big day of Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K title announcements for you, so stand by for that.

First, Tim has posted new reviews of Scream Factory’s Quartermass II on Blu-ray, as well as Dennis’ thoughts on Mother Wore Tights on Blu-ray from Twilight Time. I’m also going to be working on a review of HBO’s From the Earth to the Moon on Blu-ray later today – I’ll try to have that up for tomorrow. And more are coming.

Now then... let’s dive right into the announcement news...

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has just officially set director Michael Dougherty’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 8/27, with the Digital release expected on 8/6. Note that the 4K disc will include HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision high dynamic range. The 4K disc will also feature an object-based Dolby Atmos soundtrack. Extras will include audio commentary by the director, deleted scenes, and 17 behind-the-scenes featurettes (including Godzilla: Nature’s Fearsome Guardian, Mothra: Queen of the Monsters, King Ghidorah: The Living Extinction Machine, Rodan: Airborne God of Fire, Godzilla 2.0, Making Morthra, Creating Ghidorah, Reimagining Rodan, The Yunnan Temple, Castle Bravo, The Antarctic Base, The Isla de Mara Volcano, The Undersea Lair, Millie Bobby Brown: Force of Nature, Monster Tech: Monarch Joins the Fight, Monsters Are Real, and Welcome to the Monsterverse). You can see the cover artwork above left and also below. [Read on here...]