First up, Disney’s newly announced Beauty and the Beast: 25th Anniversary Edition will also include the “workprint” version from the previous Blu-ray release, but only as a digital copy. It’s replaced on the disc itself by the new sing-along version.
In actual announcement news, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release Jodie Foster’s Money Monster on Blu-ray and DVD on 9/6.
Image Entertainment has set The Commitments: 25th Anniversary Edition for Blu-ray release on 8/30.
Along similar lines, Anchor Bay has set Sing Street for Blu-ray and DVD release on 7/26. The film is about a young band trying to make their way in Dublin in the 1980s, directed by John Carney of Once fame. We hear the film is pretty good.
Magnolia Home Entertainment (via their Magnet label) is releasing Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise on Blu-ray and DVD on 8/2.
Starz and Anchor Bay have set limited series The Girlfriend Experience for Blu-ray and DVD release on 8/2 as well.
Here’s an interesting title: FilmRise has set Monster Hunt for Blu-ray and DVD release on 8/1, in two different versions: Dubbed English and the original Mandarin with English subtitles. This a combination live action/CG animation 3D film from 2015 that became China’s highest grossing film ever (before The Mermaid eclipsed it at the Chinese box office a few months later). There’s no indication that FilmRise’s Blu-ray will include 3D, but we’ll see.
Shout! Factory (via their Shout! Kids label) has set Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom for Blu-ray and DVD Combo release on 9/27.
Shout! has also set Fanny for Blu-ray release on 9/20.
I think we’ve mentioned this before, but Universal will officially release Hardcore Henry on Blu-ray and DVD on 7/26.
HBO will release Veep: The Complete Fifth Season on Blu-ray and DVD on 9/20.
Arrow Video has set Dead End Drive-In for Blu-ray release on 9/20.
Kino Lorber will release Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler on Blu-ray on 9/13 (with the DVD set for 8/23).
And Kino Lorber has announced that they’ve acquired the U.S. distribution rights to Sand Storm, which was the winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at Sundance this year. It will debut at the Film Forum in New York on 9/28.
In other news today, MGM has just renewed its home entertainment distribution deal with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. You can read more here at Home Media. The new deal extends to June 2020.
Twice is reporting that Amazon has begun to add Dolby Vision to some of their streaming titles. More on that here.
And finally, the BBC is apparently preparing to begin Ultra HD and HDR broadcasting according to Advanced Television.
We’ll leave you with a look at the Blu-ray cover art for a few of the titles mentioned above (with Bits-supporting Amazon.com pre-order links if they’re available)…
Stay tuned…
- Bill Hunt (@BillHuntBits)