In announcement news today, Paramount has confirmed a title that we first mentioned was coming to 4K Ultra HD a few weeks ago: John Hughes’ Planes, Trains and Automobiles! Look for it to arrive on physical 4K UHD on 11/22, just in time for Thanksgiving! And here’s the kicker: It will include over an hour of never-before-seen deleted and extended scenes on a Lost Luggage bonus Blu-ray Disc! The bonus disc will also include Dylan Baker’s original audition for the character of Owen. And the 4K disc itself will include Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10, along with the previous legacy content: Getting There is Half the Fun: The Story of Planes, Trains and Automobiles, the 2-part John Hughes: Live Moves Pretty Fast documentary, John Hughes for Adults, and A Tribute to John Candy. You can see the cover artwork at left and also below.
But we have a lot more 4K Ultra HD release news to report today as well...
Shout! Factory and Laika Studios have officially announced the 4K and 4K Steelbook release of the stop-motion animated films Coraline and ParaNorman on 12/13. Both will feature Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos audio, with presentations remastered by the Laika team. And it seems likely that if these titles do well, the rest of the Laika animated catalog will follow in 4K in 2023. All of the legacy extras will be included.
Shout! and Scream Factory have also revealed the rest of their December Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD release slate today, which is set to include Operation Seawolf (BD) and Black Christmas (4K/BD and 4K/BD Deluxe Edition) on 12/6, A Walk to Remember: Shout Select (BD) and Carrie (4K/BD, 4K/BD Steelbook, and 4K/BD Deluxe Editions with swag) on 12/13, WarGames (4K/BD) on 12/20, and Goodbye Don Glees! (BD) on 12/27. You can see some of this cover art below, and you can learn more here on the Shout! Factory website.
Not to be outdone, Arrow Video has revealed their full December slate, which is set to include Mike Hodges’ The Croupier on both Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD (12/5, in the UK only). Douglas Trumbull’s Silent Running (1972) is coming on Blu-ray (12/12, UK only), Blu-ray Deluxe Steelbook (12/13, US and UK), 4K Ultra HD (12/13, US, UK, and Canada), and 4K Ultra HD Deluxe Steelbook (12/13, US and UK). Nico Mastorakis’ Nightmare at Noon (1987) is coming to Blu-ray as well (in the US, UK, and Canada), as is Eric Pennycoff’s The Leech (2022) (both on 12/6). And finally, they’re bringing Takashi Shimizu’s Ju-On: The Grudge (2002) to Blu-ray (on 12/19, in the UK only). Don’t forget too that David Cronenberg’s Videodrome (1983) is coming from Arrow in the UK only later this month (on 10/24) in 4K Ultra HD and 4K Ultra HD Limited Edition. Here’s a look at the packaging for the December titles (click here or on the image to visit the Arrow US web shop)...
Also on the 4K front today, Best Buy sources have informed us that Lionsgate will release The Limey on 4K UHD Steelbook as a retailer exclusive on 10/11. And they also now have Paramount’s 4K UHD of Pulp Fiction in their system. The tentative street date for that title is 12/6, as we’ve reported previously, and it appears that there will be both wide release and Steelbook versions of the title. You can see what we believe is the 4K Steelbook artwork below.
Not done with 4K yet! Over the weekend, Amazon UK inadvertently revealed tentative 2023 UK street dates for several Warner-distributed 4K Ultra HD titles. Most of them are new releases, but there are a few catalog surprises in there too. We’ve converted them to US date format, but do keep in mind that all of these are still unofficial and very much subject to change. Many of these listings are starting to disappear on Amazon UK as they’re hidden in its public database, but the specific titles and dates in question that have briefly appeared thus far are as follows...
- Halloween Ends – 1/16/23
- Black Adam – 1/16/23
- Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV – 2/13/23
- Training Day – 2/27/23
- Magic Mike’s Last Dance – 4/24/23
- Shazam! Fury of the Gods – 5/29/23
- The Flash – 9/18/23
- Barbie – 10/2/23
- Meg 2: The Trench – 10/16/23
- Blue Beetle – 10/30/23
We suspect that Rocky IV is Stallone’s new Director’s Cut, and word is that he’s also working on new 4K remasters of Rocky V and Rocky Balboa, so we could expect those to be forthcoming as well.
And in regular Blu-ray news, Imprint Films in Australia has revealed their December release slate too, which is officially set to include The Killer Elite (1975), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Burn! (aka Queimada!) (1969), Fear Is the Key (1972), Pork Chop Hill (1959), and A Rage to Live (1965). The anticipated street date for all is 12/28. Here’s a look at those (click here or on the image to visit the Imprint shop)...
Finally, one more quick note: We’ve received word that Dazzler Media’s planned Blu-ray release of the first two seasons of Apple TV’s For All Mankind have been pushed back a couple of months. Look for Season One now on 12/5 (delayed from 10/10) and Season Two on 1/3/23 (delayed from 11/14). Adjust your plans accordingly.
We’ll leave you with a look at the cover artwork for some of the titles mentioned above, with Amazon.com pre-order links if available...
Stay tuned...!
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