Displaying items by tag: Brad Bird

All right, the big news today is that, as we first revealed here at The Bits several weeks ago, Disney and Pixar are indeed releasing Brad Bird’s The Incredibles on 4K Ultra HD on 6/12, in support of the theatrical release of The Incredibles 2 that same week. It looks like the 4K release will include Dolby Atmos audio and will also include the Blu-ray edition with all its special features. Note that Best Buy is going to have an exclusive Steelbook version of the title. [Update: It appears that Best Buy is listing the Steelbook 4K version as streeting on 6/5. It’s possible that the wide release will be 6/5 as well, and not 6/12 as currently listed. We expect official details soon from the studio and we’ll update this information then.]

This would mark the very first time that Disney has gone back to release a deeper catalog title on the 4K format (not just a new theatrical release). Here’s hoping we see many more Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars catalog titles released in 4K soon.

Meanwhile this afternoon, our friends at The Criterion Collection have now officially announced their August slate of Blu-ray and DVD titles as follows… [Read on here...]

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All right, first up today we have two more Blu-ray reviews from Tim for you, including his thoughts on Warner Archive’s Doc Hollywood and also Dragonwyck from Twilight Time. Both are worth a look. And a little later today I’ll be back with my review of Sony’s The Dark Crystal on 4K Ultra HD (I’ll add the link here when it’s up).

Now then, the BIG news this afternoon (weren’t we just talking about this yesterday?) is that Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has now officially announced the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of the Wachowskis’ 1999 sci-fi/cyberpunk classic The Matrix on 5/22 (SRP $41.99). The 4K release has been produced from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative, a remaster supervised by the film’s director of photography, Bill Pope. The resulting image has been given HDR color grades in both HDR10 and Dolby Vision, both of which will be featured on this 4K UHD release. Furthermore, the 4K release will feature Dolby Atmos object-based audio. The actual 4K disc will also include a written introduction by the Wachowskis, along with all four previously-available audio commentaries (including the Philosopher, Critics, Cast & Crew, and Composer tracks). [Read on here...]

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All right, today’s post is going to be a quick one, as I’m celebrating my 26th wedding anniversary with my lovely wife, Sarah. But we do have a couple bits of very good news for you…

The first big announcement today is that CBS, Paramount, and the estate of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry are officially releasing a 3-disc Blu-ray collection on 12/13 called Star Trek: The Original Series – The Roddenberry Vault. Produced by our old friend Roger Lay, Jr., who created many of the amazing features for the recent Star Trek: Enterprise and Star Trek: The Next Generation Blu-rays, this set will contain 12 classic Original Series episodes (specifically The Corbomite Maneuver, Arena, Space Seed, This Side of Paradise, The Devil in the Dark, The City on the Edge of Forever, Operation – Annihilate!, Metamorphosis, Who Mourns for Adonais?, Mirror, Mirror, The Trouble with Tribbles, and Return to Tomorrow) along with 3 new documentaries, including Inside the Roddenberry Vault (featuring Rod Roddenberry looking at long-lost film reels), Star Trek: Revisiting a Classic (a retrospective look at back at the making of the series), and Strange New Worlds: Visualizing the Fantastic (a look at the series’ visual effects and futuristic technology).  [Read on here…]

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We hope you all had a nice holiday/WonderCon weekend... or just a weekend for the rest of you.

We’ve got a couple of new Blu-ray Disc reviews for you today. Our own Jim Hemphill has offered up his thoughts on Richard Brooks’ 1969 drama The Happy Ending, which is now available from Twilight Time. And, in case you missed it when I first posted it on Friday evening, I’ve completed my in-depth look at Disney and Lucasfilm’s forthcoming Blu-ray release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The film looks fantastic and, let me tell you, Laurent Bouzereau’s new Secrets of The Force Awakens behind-the-scenes documentary is terrific. The Happy Ending is now available, while The Force Awakens arrives in stores here in the States next Tuesday. [Read on here…]

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It’s official… sort of: Warner Home Video has just announced that Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant: Signature Edition is NOW AVAILABLE for purchase on streaming, digital HD, and UltraViolet (you can watch it here on Amazon now). Before you get bent out of shape about that, however, the press release also says that the film will be available on Blu-ray Disc in 2016. As many of you know, Bird has been lobbying WB hard for the film to be released as a really good special edition on Blu-ray. It’s possible that he needs the extra time to work on the special features. So while it’s not quite the news we’ve been waiting for, it’s good to know that a Blu-ray release is coming… even if fans will have to be patient a little while longer for it.  [Read on here…]

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All right, sorry for the lack of an update yesterday. As it happens, I was up at bustling Ares Studios, where pre-production on the Axanar feature film is well underway. As some of you may know, I’m the co-writer of the film’s screenplay, so we were having script and production meetings, and then producer Alec Peters, director Robert Meyer Burnett and I recorded a podcast in which we discussed the script and the writing process, and then talked about what makes a great Star Trek film. That should be up in the next day or two, so I’ll be sure to post a link when you can all listen.

Anyway, the big news today is that Criterion has just announced their December slate of Blu-ray and DVD titles, which is set to include Michael Ritchie’s Downhill Racer (Spine #494 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 12/1, Ted Wilde’s Speedy (Spine #788 – Blu-ray, DVD and Hulu) and Takashi Murakami’s Jellyfish Eyes (Spine #787 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 12/8, and finally Howard Brookner’s Burroughs: The Movie (Spine #789 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 12/15. You can see the cover artwork below.  [Read on here…]

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All right, this is our last post until Friday, as we’re off to Comic-Con. A couple things first…

We’ve posted a couple more Blu-ray reviews for you to enjoy today, featuring Joe Marchese’s thoughts on Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964) and Jim Hemphill’s take on War-Gods of the Deep (1965), both new on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.

Also, we’re going to have a new Inside Cinema column from Mario Boucher looking at The Terminator films tomorrow. Watch for that to appear in the Latest Column area on the left side of the page there.  [Read on here…]

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Slow news day today, but we do have a couple of things for you...

First, Universal has revealed a few more catalog titles coming to Blu-ray on 7/1, including Bring It On, Cry Baby, Kindergarten Cop and The Little Rascals.

Universal has also set Non-Stop, starring Liam Neeson, for Blu-ray Combo and DVD release on 6/10. Does anyone else keep mixing this film up with 3 Days to Kill, or is it just me? “Old Guys Kicking Ass” seems to be a real growth genre these days. [Read on here…]

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