Displaying items by tag: Media Play News

As always, we’re rounding out the week with more new disc reviews here at The Bits, including...

Tim’s take on producer Roy Huggins’s Colt .45: The Complete Series (1957-60) and Hanna-Barbera’s Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose (1987), both on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

Dennis’ look at Dorothy Davenport and Melville Shyer’s The Road to Ruin (1934) on Blu-ray from Kino Classics and Something Weird.

And Stuart’s thoughts on Paolo and Vittorio Taviani’s Allonsanfàn (1974), Pietro Germi’s The Facts of Murder (1959), and Damiano Damiani’s Goodbye & Amen (1977), all on Blu-ray from Radiance Films.

I’ve also just received Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two (2024) in 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros., so watch for my in-depth review of that here at The Bits tomorrow sometime. [Read on here...]

We’ve got a big new disc review for you all today here at The Bits, and it’s a title that a lot of you have been waiting for: My look at Tony Gilroy’s Andor: The Complete First Season (2023) in 4K Ultra HD Steelbook from Lucasfilm and Disney! All the details are in the review, but suffice it to say that the release absolutely does not disappoint. The video quality is stunning.

We’ve also got a bunch of recent reviews that our staffers have shared over the last few days that I need to round up here for you guys, including...

Stephen’s reviews of Sergio Martino’s The Great Alligator (1979) in 4K Ultra HD from Severin Films, Rod Lurie’s The Last Castle (2001) in 4K Ultra HD from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, John Ford’s 3 Godfathers (1948) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection, and Walter Hill’s The Long Riders (1980) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Tim’s reviews of Frank Henenlotter’s Basket Case (1982) in 4K Ultra HD from Arrow Video, Michael Laughlin’s Strange Invaders (1983) on Blu-ray from Imprint, and Hanna-Barbera’s animated Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers (1987) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

And finally, Dennis’ review of Nancy Savoca’s Dogfight (1991) on Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection.

Meanwhile, we have a couple or housekeeping items to report here at The Bits today... [Read on here...]

All right, it’s been a week and a half now since we first broke the news here at The Digital Bits that Disney had signed a new deal with Sony for the latter to take over Disney’s physical media production and distribution.

In that time, there’s been a lot of speculation as to what this might mean for Disney’s physical media releases going forward. And there are certainly many questions that it’s natural for disc consumers to ask about the deal.

Does this mean that Disney will continue releasing Blu-ray and 4K discs? Will they perhaps even increase their title output? Will more Disney, Fox, Touchstone, and Hollywood Pictures deep catalog content finally come to 4K UHD? Does Sony taking over distribution from Disney mean that their product will return to markets the studio has pulled out of recently?

One thing we can safely say for sure is that Sony is a lot more efficient at producing and distributing titles on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD.

So streamlining this process and reducing unnecessary bureaucracy can only be a good thing in the sense of making Disney’s physical media titles more profitable for the studio.

But to answer those larger questions, I’ve continued to check in with our many industry sources over the last week or two. And I have learned a couple of things that should help to clarify the picture a bit for consumers. [Read on here...]

Happy Leap Day, Bits readers! February 29th only comes around once every four years, so enjoy it while you can.

I want to take a moment to thank all of you for your patience. We haven’t done a news update here for a couple days, and the reason is that I’ve been doing a lot more digging about that Disney and Sony physical media distribution deal, and I have in fact learned a little bit more information that will put the deal in better context. So after having a few last conversations with sources tonight, I’ll have a bit more to share on that front in tomorrow’s news update here at The Bits.

In the meantime, we’ve posted a bunch more new disc reviews here at the site as follows...

Dennis has posted his thoughts on Raoul Walsh’s The Roaring Twenties (1939) on Blu-ray from our friends at The Criterion Collection, as well as Ralph Murphy’s The Man in Half Moon Street (1945) on Blu-ray from Imprint, Robin Spry’s One Man (1977) and Elly Kenner and Norman Thaddeus Vane’s The Black Room (1982) on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome, and Damien LeVeck’s A Creature Was Stirring (2023) on Blu-ray from Well Go USA.

Stewart has taken a look at Norman Jewison’s The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, Nigel Cole’s Saving Grace (2000) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection, and Alan Rudolph’s Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) on Blu-ray from Imprint.

And finally, Stephen has check in with his take on David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (1999) on 4K Ultra HD from Vinegar Syndrome. All are well worth a look (both the films and the discs). [Read on here...]

[10/13/23 Update: Variety and Media Play News have now confirmed my reporting that Best Buy is phasing out physical media in the new year, following the 2023 holiday shopping season. The company will apparently still continue to sell videogames. A Best Buy spokesperson provided this statement to Variety: “To state the obvious, the way we watch movies and TV shows is much different today than it was decades ago. Making this change gives us more space and opportunity to bring customers new and innovative tech for them to explore, discover and enjoy.” So... there you have it. Longtime readers of The Digital Bits can rest assured of two things: First, no this does not spell the end of physical media. And second, I’ll have a great deal more to say on this topic here at The Bits on Monday and all next week. See you back here then.]

All right, folks... we’ve got a little bit of a whopper for you today. And so as not to bury the lede, let’s get right to it...

The Digital Bits has learned from industry sources—and we’ve confirmed it with multiple sources now—that Best Buy plans to exit the physical media business for good next year, possibly as soon as the end of Q1 2024.

This includes not just their in-store Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD sales, which the retailer has been gradually phasing out for a couple of years now in their many store locations nationwide, but online sales as well. This means no more Best Buy-exclusive Steelbook titles, and no more titles from Best Buy period.

The fact that Best Buy is discontinuing physical media sales in their retail locations should come as no surprise; anyone who’s visited a Best Buy store location on a Tuesday recently will be all too aware that the retailer’s disc sections keep getting moved around and have gotten smaller and smaller. Our own experience here at The Bits is that some store locations don’t even bother to stock new-release titles on the sales floor anymore—even their exclusive ones. More than once, in their Southern California locations, I’ve had to ask for the titles and wait while a clerk checks the storeroom.

But the idea that Best Buy would discontinue online sales too comes as a bit of a surprise... though perhaps it shouldn’t. We’ve noted in recent months that Paramount has quietly shifted their Blu-ray and 4K Steelbook exclusive titles—titles that would normally have been released at Best Buy—to Amazon instead. And it seems very likely that other studios will follow Paramount’s lead in the months ahead. [Read on here...]

All right, as mentioned earlier, we’ve got more release news to cover today here at The Bits. But first some new disc reviews...

Stephen has checked out Paul Verhoeven’s cult classic Showgirls (1995) on 4K Ultra HD from Vinegar Syndrome, which features the film in 4K UHD and Blu-ray, along with an additional Blu-ray full of special features. Stephen has also reviewed Peter Greenaway’s The Draughtsman’s Contract (1982) on Blu-ray from Zeitgeist Films and Kino Lorber.

Also today, Dennis has offered his thoughts on George Cukor’s Little Women (1955) and Abe Levitow’s animated Gay Purr-ee (1962), both new on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

And Stuart has taken a look at the Norwegian legal drama Aber Bergen: Complete Series from MHz Networks and Kino Lorber, as well as Inés Toharia Terán’s Film: The Living Record of Our Memory (2021) documentary from Kino Lorber, both of them on DVD, along with the Warner Archive Collection’s Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece (1961) and Tintin and the Blue Oranges (1964) double feature Blu-ray.

Now then, speaking of Warner, Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment and DC Studios have announced the Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD release of the Netflix original series The Sandman: The Complete First Season on 11/18, with a Digital release expected on 9/18. Note that a second season of the series is already on the way from Netflix. The set will include all 11 episodes, along with a pair of featurettes (The Sandman: Behind the Scenes Sneak Peek and The World of The Endless). You can see the cover artwork at left and also below. [Read on here...]

Morning, everyone! We start today with no less than three new disc reviews, including...

Stephen’s in-depth look at Stuart Rosenberg’s Cool Hand Luke (1967) in 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, as well as his thoughts on John Frankenheimer’s Black Sunday (1977) on Blu-ray from Arrow Video.

We’ve also got my take on Paramount’s new Star Trek: The Next Generation 4-Movie Collection box set in 4K Ultra HD—just an overall summary to go along with my detailed reviews of each of the individual films in 4K.

Now then, we’ve got a bunch of great announcement news today, and some updates on titles we’ve mentioned previously here at The Bits, starting with news from the Warner Archive Collection!

On the latest installment of Tim Millard’s excellent The Extras podcast, our friend George Feltenstein has revealed more of Warner Archive’s May Blu-ray titles, which will include Rouben Mamoulian’s Queen Christina (1933), Joseph Losey’s The Boy with Green Hair (1948), Compton Bennett and Andrew Marton’s King Solomon’s Mines (1950), Vincente Minnelli’s The Courtship of Eddie’s Father (1963), and Joseph Barbera and William Hanna’s Hey There, It’s Yogi Bear! (1964). All of these are new negative scans (The Boy with Green Hair and King Solomon’s Mines from the original Technicolor negatives).

Also coming later this year are Howard Hawks’ Land of the Pharaohs (1955) and Robert Wise’s Helen of Troy (1956). [Read on here...]

Our friends at Media Play News have officially announced the winners of their 2022 Home Entertainment Media Play Awards, and you can find the full details here.

“Warner Bros. Home Entertainment’s Middle-Earth Ultimate Collector’s Edition earned the top prize in the annual Home Entertainment Media Play Awards, which honor the best home packaged-media, digital and streaming releases of 2021, taking Title of the Year, Blu-ray Disc of the Year, Best Movie Collection and Best Packaging.

Funimation’s Robotech: Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Disc won TV on Disc of the Year, as well as Best Disc Release of a Vintage TV Series.”

Here’s the partial list of winners: [Read on here...]

We’ve got more new disc reviews for you to enjoy today, including a couple that we posted over the weekend...

First up, Tim and Dennis have taken a look at Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot (1959) in 4K Ultra HD from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

I’ve also posted my thoughts on Steven Spielberg’s new West Side Story on 4K Ultra HD from 20th Century Studios.

And Tim has offered his thoughts on Philip Marshak’s Dracula Sucks (1978) in 4K Ultra HD as well, an infamous adult genre title available from Vinegar Syndrome.

Finally, Dennis has posted his take on Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci on regular Blu-ray too.

More new disc reviews are on the way soon, so be sure to check back for them in the coming days, including my in-depth look at Paramount’s The Godfather Trilogy in 4K. I had the chance to watch the films over the weekend, and let me tell you: They’ve simply never looked better. The new 2020 restoration is a night and day improvement upon the already fine 2007 restoration that was released previously on Blu-ray, so you’re definitely not going to want to miss this new set. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a few odds and ends to report on for you today...

First up, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will be releasing a new Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: Anniversary 8-Film Collector’s Edition on 11/2, featuring all 8 films in the series in both 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray, packaged in a cardboard replica of the Hogwarts Express (SRP $139.99). The box will also include a replica train ticket and a photo book featuring a look at props and other items from the films. You can see the open packaging below the break. Before you get too excited, these are the exact same discs released previously. But if you’re a fan and you haven’t yet upgraded to 4K, this might be just the thing.

Also in 4K Ultra HD news today, we’ve learned that Koch Media in Germany has delayed their wide release of David Lynch’s Dune on Blu-ray and 4K (as well as their web store exclusive Dune: Ultimate Edition 4K/Blu-ray set) to 10/14. (It was previously set to street on 8/26). The reason is that this will now be the only place you’ll be able to see Ballyhoo Motion Pictures’ feature-length documentary The Sleeper Must Awaken: Making Dune. As we’ve reported previously, the Arrow Video 4K and Blu-ray release will street on 8/31 as originally planned, but it will no longer include the documentary. Adjust your plans accordingly. [Read on here...]