Displaying items by tag: Shrek the Third 4K

Okay, folks... we’ve got a LOT of ground to cover today, and I’m seriously not kidding, so strap in and hold on tight...

First up, it broke last night on the Interwebs that a company called Manta Lab in Hong Kong, which is a legit Disney licensee, was taking pre-orders for a “disc-less” Steelbook Blu-ray package for Marvel’s Disney+ streaming series WandaVision. Now, as you can imagine, that’s caused a great deal of surprise and consternation.

Some context... Manta Lab creates deluxe and custom packaging for lots of legit studio home entertainment releases, which are extremely popular with collectors, especially in the Asian market. However, since Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment officially exited the Asian market (apart from Japan), all of these licensing deals are made with Disney Consumer Products. The problem with this WandaVision release is that this is a title for which no authorized Blu-ray release exists anywhere in the world. So outside of the Steelbook packaging’s value as an objet d’art in and of itself, there’s no practical use for this packaging apart from holding people’s bootleg Blu-rays. And unfortunately, the proliferation of bootleg copies of Disney+ streaming titles has exploded online. (Don’t believe me? Visit Etsy and search for “WandaVision Blu-ray”—or just click here.)

In any case, when this news broke last night, too many otherwise respectable geek and movie news outlets online reported it as “Marvel and Disney have announced...” when nothing of the sort was true. This is a product licensed by Disney Consumer Products, but it is not in any way shape or form a licensed Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment release. I immediately contacted my sources at Disney last night, who assured me that this was the case, and who have this morning provided us with this statement:

“While Manta Lab is a legit licensee of Disney, and does create custom Steelbooks for Disney Blu-ray titles through Disney Consumer Products, the pre-order for a disc-less WandaVision was a surprise to some and we are looking into it as well as speaking to our partners in market.”

I expect to hear more back from Disney in the next day or so, so be sure to check back here on The Bits, and you can also follow us @BillHuntBits and @thedigitalbits on Twitter/X for the latest updates as I get them. Suffice it to say, this has generated an enormous amount of confusion outside of Manta Lab’s usual collector customer base. I’ve gotten literally hundreds of emails and messages in the last 24 hours from readers asking why Disney and Marvel would be releasing Steelbook packaging for a title they don’t appear to have any plans to actually release on physical media. (They aren’t, and stay tuned for further information.) [Read on here...]

We’ve got just a few quick news items to report today to close out the week...

First, Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment has set the animated Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match for Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD release on 10/17.

Also, it looks like Warner is tentatively planning to drop the newly-released Barbie movie on at least Blu-ray and DVD on 10/3, based on the date Target briefly showed on their listing for the Blu-ray this morning.

Meanwhile, Universal has officially set the animated Shrek the Third for 4K UHD release on 9/12.

And for your Trek fans, we’ve now officially confirmed that CBS Studios will release Star Trek: Prodigy: Season 1, Episodes 11-20 on Blu-ray and DVD on 9/26. And we have a look at the final cover artwork at left and also below the break. [Read on here...]

We hope those of you here in the States are all enjoying the long Memorial Day weekend. As it is a work holiday here today, there’s not a lot of official news to report. But we do have some significant 4K news from retail and other sources.

And we have some new disc reviews for you today as well, including...

Stephen’s look at Robert Rossen’s WWII classic They Came to Cordura (1959) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Stuart’s take on the first season of a French TV title called Paris Police 1900 (2021) on DVD from Kino Lorber.

And Dennis’ review of Alexander Hall’s Little Miss Marker (1934) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

More reviews are forthcoming this all week, so be sure to stay tuned for them. [Read on here...]