Displaying items by tag: Scream Factory

We certainly hope you’re all enjoying the long Labor Day weekend here in the States. And Happy Monday for the rest of you!

Given the holiday, we’re taking a much needed break today. But we do have a couple of new Blu-ray reviews for you to enjoy...

Tim has just turned in his in-depth thoughts on the long-awaited Scooby-Doo: Where Are You? Complete Series Blu-ray set from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. The package streets tomorrow, and it sounds like it’s pretty good. You can read that review here.

Also, Tim has posted his thoughts on Gary Sherman’s Vice Squad (1982) from Scream Factory, as well as the Akio Jissôji: The Buddhist Trilogy box set from Arrow Academy, both on Blu-ray.

And Dennis rounds things out with his thoughts on A Dog’s Journey on Blu-ray from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

So enjoy those and we’ll be back tomorrow with our regular news update and more. Stay tuned!

-Bill Hunt

(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)

All right, a quick update today...

First, we’ve just posted a trio of new Blu-ray reviews, including my thoughts on Dome Karukoski’s Tolkien from Fox, Tim’s take on Leszek Burzynski’s Trapped Alive from Arrow Video, and Dennis’ look at Michael Chaves’ The Curse of La Llorona from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

And I’m just finishing a review of Zhang Yimou’s Shadow in 4K Ultra HD from Well Go USA and should have that up before the end of the day.

Speaking of reviews, several of you have asked if we’re going to cover the new Disney and Marvel MCU titles that street tomorrow in 4K, including Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, Thor, and Thor: The Dark World. We would love to, but unfortunately Disney isn’t making them available to reviewers, which means we’d have to go out and buy them. That puts indie sites like The Bits in a pickle. So the answer is, I don’t know. Maybe. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got more interesting news for you today...

But first, Tim Salmons has posted some new Blu-ray reviews here at the site (yesterday and this afternoon), including his own thoughts on Weird Science from Arrow Video and Quartermass and the Pit from Scream Factory, as well as Dennis’ take on Michael Radford’s 1984 from the Criterion Collection.

We’ve also updated the Release Dates & Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, anytime 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 really do appreciate it.

And tomorrow morning, be sure to watch for a new History, Legacy and Showmanship column from Michael Coate here at The Bits, this one honoring the recent 30th anniversary of the James Bond film License to Kill. [Read on here...]

We’ve got a quick but terrific update for you today…

As you know, Jeff Nelson, Brian Ward, and I held the Inside an Indie Studio: Shout! Factory panel at Comic-Con in San Diego on Saturday night, and we announced a ton of great titles that Shout! and Scream are working on for release in the months ahead (through March 2020).

From Shout!, you can expect The Anne Bancroft Collection (includes Don’t Bother to Knock, The Miracle Worker, The Pumpkin Eater, The Graduate, Fatso, To Be or Not to Be, Agnes of God, and 84 Charing Cross Road), Twins (1988), The Wizard: Collector’s Edition (1989), Brewster’s Millions: Collector’s Edition (1985), and a vinyl re-issue of Mystery Science Theater 3000: Clouds in the Sky. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover today...

If you’re at Comic-Con in San Diego this evening, don’t forget to check out Shout! Factory’s panel for What We Left Behind: A Star Trek Deep Space Nine Documentary (7-8 PM, Room 32AB). It should be WELL worth your time, especially if you’re a Star Trek fan.

Also, my friend Kevin Grazier (science advisor to Hollywood films and TV shows including Battlestar Galactica, Gravity, and the new Another Life) is holding a Hollyweird Science panel this afternoon (3-4 PM at the Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park).

Tomorrow morning at the Con, Warner Archive is having a panel with animation historian Jerry Beck about The Jetsons (including the upcoming Blu-ray release (10-11 AM, Room 6A).

And of course, I’ll be moderating the Inside an Indie Studio: Shout! Factory panel with Jeff Nelson (Sr. Director Marketing, Scream Factory and Shout! Factory) and Brian Ward (Sr. Director of Production, Shout! Factory) tomorrow night (8-9 PM in Room 23ABC). We’ll take you through the process of how Shout! licenses and produces great catalog special editions on Blu-ray. And we’re going to announce a TON of great news titles coming from Shout! and Scream – this may be their best slate yet! So don’t miss it and we hope to see you there! You can follow the title announcements on Twitter (@ShoutFactory @BillHuntBits @TheDigitalBits) and I believe there may be a video version that gets shown on the Shout! Factory website blog in the weeks after the Con. [Read on here...]

All right, we have another big day of Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K title announcements for you, so stand by for that.

First, Tim has posted new reviews of Scream Factory’s Quartermass II on Blu-ray, as well as Dennis’ thoughts on Mother Wore Tights on Blu-ray from Twilight Time. I’m also going to be working on a review of HBO’s From the Earth to the Moon on Blu-ray later today – I’ll try to have that up for tomorrow. And more are coming.

Now then... let’s dive right into the announcement news...

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has just officially set director Michael Dougherty’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 8/27, with the Digital release expected on 8/6. Note that the 4K disc will include HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision high dynamic range. The 4K disc will also feature an object-based Dolby Atmos soundtrack. Extras will include audio commentary by the director, deleted scenes, and 17 behind-the-scenes featurettes (including Godzilla: Nature’s Fearsome Guardian, Mothra: Queen of the Monsters, King Ghidorah: The Living Extinction Machine, Rodan: Airborne God of Fire, Godzilla 2.0, Making Morthra, Creating Ghidorah, Reimagining Rodan, The Yunnan Temple, Castle Bravo, The Antarctic Base, The Isla de Mara Volcano, The Undersea Lair, Millie Bobby Brown: Force of Nature, Monster Tech: Monarch Joins the Fight, Monsters Are Real, and Welcome to the Monsterverse). You can see the cover artwork above left and also below. [Read on here...]

We’re back! I have returned from North Dakota, rested, and am now going to be posting like gangbusters here at The Bits, with all kind of Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K release news, catch-up, and whatnot.

First up this morning, today is Amazon Prime Day! As you probably now if you’ve been following The Bits for any length of time, our Amazon affiliate links play a big part in helping us to keep the site going in lean Internet advertising times. So... if you’re planning to do any shopping from Amazon today (or any day), please consider clicking to them from one of our links first (like this one). It makes a huge difference for us. So thank you for doing so!

Now then, Tim and Dennis have been very busy posting Blu-ray reviews this past week here at The Bits and we want to direct your attention to them. We now have reviews up for Lionsgate’s The Evil Dead (1981) in 4K, Scream’s Night of the Creeps: Collector’s Edition, Silent Hill: Collector’s Edition, and Piranha: Limited Edition Steelbook, Arrow Video’s American Horror Project: Volume Two, The Andromeda Strain, and FM, Severin Films’ Robowar, and Grindhouse Releasing’s The Tough Ones (1976) from Tim, as well as Warner’s Shazam!, Arrow Academy’s The Big Clock (1948), and Twilight Time’s Stagecoach (1966) from Dennis. Do be sure to check them all out.

Also, San Diego Comic Con kicks off this week and if you’re going to be there, Bits editor and author Bill Hunt (yours truly) is on two panels at the Con... [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got some more regular Blu-ray news, and then I’m working on a review of Sony’s Black Hawk Down in 4K Ultra HD for posting in the next couple of days. Let me tell you, it’s terrific. It’s a major upgrade of the Blu-ray, both in picture and sound.

Also, our friend John Schuermann of The Screening Room AV in Colorado Springs has just issued the final results of their recent 4K UHD Projector Shootout and – if you’re a front projector fan like I am – they’re pretty fascinating. Do check them out here. Sounds like the JVCs did pretty well against more expensive Sony projectors.

Meanwhile, Epson just announced a new 4K PRO-UHD projector too... the Pro Cinema 6050UB (MSRP $3,999), with features geared toward home theater cinephiles. You can check out all the details here. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a good sized regular Blu-ray update for you all today here at The Bits.

First up though, we have a nice 4K Ultra HD surprise from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment… look for them to release a Moon: 10th Anniversary Edition on 7/16. Audio will be Dolby Atmos. In addition to the previous extras included on the Blu-ray in the package, look for three all-new items on the actual 4K disc: Retrospective Conversation with Duncan Jones and Joe Utichi, never-before-seen Deleted Scenes, and a Fan Art Poster Gallery. You can see the cover artwork to the left. We’ve updated our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits accordingly.

And Lionsgate’s Apocalypse Now: Final Cut, officially due on 4K Ultra HD on 8/27, will include all three versions of the film (the Theatrical Cut, the Extended Cut aka Redux, and the Final Cut) on BOTH Blu-ray and 4K on 4 discs. That’s not a typo, we’ve confirmed it with Lionsgate – all three versions fully-remastered in 4K. The 4K will offer Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos audio, while the Blu-rays will include 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. Note that, per the press release, the Final Cut audio has also been “enhanced with Meyer Sound Laboratories’ newly developed Sensual Sound a technology engineered to output audio below the limits of human hearing.” [Read on here...]

All right, let’s get right down to it. I’ve been reluctant to talk about the prospects of James Cameron’s The Abyss and True Lies arriving on Blu-ray (and dare we hope 4K) in 2019 because we’ve had SO many solid reports that these films were finally coming only to see them evaporate. And when I’ve tried to find out why, Fox always pointed at Cameron and Cameron always pointed back at Fox. What I finally figured out is that Cameron has just been too distracted with other projects to approve new transfers of these films, first with diving to the bottom of the ocean and more recently with his Avatar prequels.

As longtime Bits readers will be well aware, both films were expected for their last major anniversaries in 2014. We know for a fact that 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment had even prepared new Blu-ray releases (most recently rumored for release in 2017), but Cameron never got around to approving the new transfers, so the Blu-ray releases never happened. The transfers were quietly released to the pay cable movie channels only.

Well, now it’s five years later. 2019 officially marks the 30th anniversary of The Abyss and the 25th of True Lies. Naturally, that means Bits readers have been asking me for weeks about the prospects of finally seeing these films released on Blu-ray (and, again, dare we hope 4K). I’ve even spoken to studio sources about this recently. And again, what I learned was that the ball was still in James Cameron’s court. [Read on here...]