My Two Cents
Afternoon, all. We’ve got a couple interesting items for you today...
First, Tim has posted a new review of Powerhouse Films and Indicator’s outstanding William Castle at Columbia: Volume Two Blu-ray box set, which streeted late last month and includes Zotz!, The Old Dark House, 13 Frightened Girls!, and Strait-Jacket. Do check it out and if you haven’t seen these films, they’re a hoot.
Also today, we have a new History, Legacy & Showmanship column from our own Michael Coate featuring a look back at the James Bond film Quantum of Solace in honor of its 10th anniversary. The column features another terrific roundtable discussion, this time with historians Robert A. Caplen, John Cork, and Lisa Funnell. Enjoy!
And we’ve also posted the weekly update of the Release Dates & Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, whenever 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 greatly appreciate it. [Read on here...]
Heads-up: Disney and Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger appears to be coming to 4K Ultra HD on 2/26, per Best Buy pre-order listings. The retailer currently has listings for the title in SKUs with regular and Steelbook packaging.
The film has a 2K DI. It’s possible there could be a new Dolby Atmos audio mix, but as has recently been the case with Disney 4K releases, look for Dolby Vision HDR on the digital version only.
It should be noted that 2/26 is the same street date as their already announced The Little Mermaid and Ralph Breaks the Internet 4K releases, both of which will also have Steelbook SKUs at Best Buy.
Meanwhile, we have one other 4K-related item to report today: Some of you have noticed that there’s been an image circulating around the Internet over the past few days purporting to show an exclusive 4K release of the Indiana Jones films in China. Our studio sources tell us this is bogus. There are no plans at this time. We take that to mean not never, but not anytime soon. Adjust your plans accordingly.
Have a great weekend and we’ll see you with a full news update on Monday.
Stay tuned...!
(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)
All right, we’ve checked in with our retail and industry sources and have learned that Marvel and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s wildly popular animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is likely to street on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 3/19.
As you know, the film has just been nominated for an Oscar in the Best Animated Feature Film category (and is very likely to be the leading contender). We haven’t been able to confirm the production and finish resolution of the film, so we don’t know if the animation was rendered natively at 2K or 4K. Either way, with its bright color palette and unique comic-panel texturing, it should look amazing on both Blu-ray and 4K UHD.
It’s reasonable to assume you’ll get at least Dolby Atmos audio. Sony doesn’t typically include Dolby Vision HDR on their 4K releases though, so expect HDR10.
Amazon is showing Blu-ray, Blu-ray “Limited Edition”, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD SKUs. We don’t know of any other retailer-exclusive versions, but we’ll have to wait until the title is officially announced.
FYI, it appears that Universal’s planned street date for M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K is 4/16.
And we believe Pet Sematary (1989) is coming to 4K from Paramount on 3/26.
Both of those dates are yet to be confirmed with our sources.
Stay tuned...!
(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)
We may have more of an update later if news and time permit, but I just wanted to check in early here at The Digital Bits to share word we’ve just gotten from our retail and industry sources that suggests 3/26 is likely to be the street date for Warner and DC’s massively-successful Aquaman, from director James Wan.
The film has a 2K Digital Intermediate (per IMDB, and I haven’t confirmed this officially), but large portions were filmed in IMAX which should mean very high quality pixels. And the film should still look impressive in HDR on 4K. We have no word yet what the specs will be, but we would imagine Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos audio at the least.
Amazon.com is also suggesting that there will be a Blu-ray 3D SKU in addition to Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD. Watch for the official announcement in the next few weeks.
Stay tuned…
(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)
Today is obviously the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday here in the States, but we do have a couple things for you.
Also, we have a trio of new Blu-ray reviews for you. Tim has taken a look at J. Lee Thompson’s 10 to Midnight from Scream Factory, David Gordon Green’s Halloween (2018) from Universal, and Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak from Arrow Video.
And finally, we’ve posted the weekly update of the Release Dates & Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, whenever you order anything from Amazon after clicking through one of our links, you’re helping to support our work here at The Bits and we greatly appreciate it.
Back tomorrow! Stay tuned…
(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)