Displaying items by tag: The Hobbit 4K

We have a bit more ground to cover today, news-wise (and just as expected), but first we have a few more disc reviews for you…

Stephen has taken a look at Robert Altman’s Nashville, as newly released on Blu-ray by Paramount as part of their Paramount Presents line. From Stephen’s review, it sounds like the title is pretty good.

And Tim has reviewed the animated Batman: The Long Halloween – Part One and Part Two on Blu-ray Disc. Part One came out in June from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and DC, while Part Two just came out last month. Both are apparently well worth a look.

As always, more reviews are on the way, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for them. [Read on here...]

All right, sorry for the lack of a post yesterday, but we’ve been swamped working on new disc reviews for you guys. And in fact, over the last few days, we’ve posted several of them, including...

My take on Paramount’s new Star Trek: The Original 4-Movie Collection which includes the theatrical edition of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, both versions of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home on both 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray Disc.

My in-depth look at David Lynch’s Dune: Limited Edition in 4K Ultra HD from Arrow Video, featuring a gorgeous remastered image and both new and legacy extras.

And also my look at Random Space Media’s recent Battlestar Galactica: The Definitive Collection 36-disc Blu-ray box set, which contains the original 1979 feature film, the original TV series, Galactica 1980, the more recent reboot TV series (plus its tie-in films), and—for the first time in Region A—Caprica: The Complete Series.

But that’s not all: Stephen has posted a review of Paul Morrissey’s Blood for Dracula in 4K Ultra HD from Severin Films.

And Tim has reviewed Smokey and the Bandit on 4K Ultra HD from Universal.

Tim’s also turned in his thoughts on Via Vision’s Hammer Horror: Four Gothic Horror Films box set, which includes Countess Dracula, Hands of the Ripper, Twins of Evil, and Vampire Circus on Blu-ray. [Read on here...]

We’ve got some reviews to catch up on here at The Bits this afternoon...

Over the past couple of days, we’ve posted a number of new Blu-ray reviews, including Stephen’s thoughts on Kensuke Sonomura’s Hydra (2019) from Well Go USA, Savage Steve Holland’s One Crazy Summer (1986) from the Warner Archive Collection, and Jacques Deray’s The Outsider (1983) and Harold Becker’s The Black Marble (1980) from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

And Tim has turned in his thoughts on Tom McLoughlin’s One Dark Night (1983) from the MVD Rewind Collection, the Friday the 13th: 8-Movie Collection from Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment, and Umbrella Entertainment’s Drive-In Delirium: The Final Conflict, which feature a whopping 181 classic film trailers. All of these titles are well worth a look, so do give the reviews a try.

In announcement news today, Criterion has revealed that they’re adding a physical 4K Ultra HD release of Uncut Gems to their November release slate. The Blu-ray and DVD release are moving to 11/23, which is the date the 4K will arrive as well. And all three are getting new cover artwork, which you can now here see on the left and also below. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a bit of breaking news to cover today, so let’s get right to it...

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is close to announcing their long-awaited Middle-Earth 31-Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition box set, which will include the Theatrical and Extended versions of all six Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films on both 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray (including the remastered Lord of the Rings films on Blu-ray) along with a Blu-ray bonus disc of new content that (per our sources) is expected to include the 26-minute presentation reel shown at Cannes in 2001, and the Alamo Drafthouse cast reunion in 3 parts. In total, we expect this to be about 90 minutes of new content in all. (Note that the existing audio commentaries will also carry over on the actual film discs.) You’ll also get a 64-page book of costume sketches, photography, and production notes, plus 7 “travel poster” artwork cards.

Please be advised that The Appendices will not be included in this new set (that was confirmed when WB first revealed the set last year) so don’t start selling your existing Blu-ray and 4K sets in anticipation of buying the new one assuming that everything will be included in it.

Warner’s official announcement should come at any time, but we’ve got a sneak peek at what the set looks like in the meantime from a new listing on the Wow HD UK webstore, which currently shows a street date of October 26 (click here for that, and you can see the packaging below)... [Read on here...]

All right, it’s FINALLY official.

As we’ve been expecting for weeks now, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has just issued their press release announcing the Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD release of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet on December 15th (SRP $44.95, $35.99, and $28.98 respectively).

You can see the 4K Ultra HD cover artwork at left and also below, along with the Blu-ray and DVD cover art.

In terms of special features, the 4K and Blu-ray versions will include an hour-long documentary on the production called Looking at the World in a New Way: The Making of Tenet. [Read on here...]

All right Bits readers, we’ve got a pretty significant news update for you today...

We’ve been tracking many of these titles, but a few of the 4K catalog titles we’re going to talk about today are breaking news, thanks to our old friends over at Media Play News.

They’ve just issued the September 2020 Digital edition of their magazine, which features an extensive look at the recent surge of 4K Ultra HD catalog releases. The publication’s editor, Stephanie Prange (who, full disclosure, I’ve known for many years), wrote a great longform piece for the issue called 4K Ultra HD: Into the Vaults about the process of preparing classic catalog films for release on the format.

Not only is it informative (and I should note that I was among the people interviewed therein), it includes some great news about forthcoming titles. [Read on here...]

As you can imagine, things are a little busy here at The Bits this week, and for good reason. As I mentioned yesterday, I’m continuing to dig pretty deep with studio and industry sources on a number of significant home video rumors that have been circulating over the past few days.

I covered the status of the Star Trek: The Motion Picture – Director’s Edition remaster yesterday, so let’s move on to another title.

Today I have an update for you on another of the rumors you’ve probably read about online: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment’s plans for The Middle Earth 4K Collection, the long-awaited release of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films on physical 4K Ultra HD.

Here’s the latest from our sources... [Read on here...]

Heads-up, folks!

This is just a quick news update (and a rare Saturday post) to let you all know that we’ve added or updated a number of titles in our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Digital Bits based on new information from our industry and retail sources.

Specifically...

Universal is apparently working on an Alfred Hitchcock 4K Collection that’s set to include Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds, and Rear Window. We’ve mentioned these titles before on The Bits, but European retail sources are now suggesting that they’ll arrive around September (and Psycho has just been listed on the Best Buy website). Also coming in September or October is the long awaited Back to the Future Trilogy: 35th Anniversary Edition Collection. [Read on here...]

All right, we’re starting the new week off with a new History, Legacy & Showmanship column from our own Michael Coate, who’s celebrating the 30th anniversary of John McTiernan’s The Hunt for Red October with a new film retrospective that features a look back at the original theatrical release, the 70mm engagements, and a new interview with author and film historian Eric Lichtenfeld. Enjoy!

Meanwhile, our friends at Kino Lorber have announced some fun new Studio Classics titles that are coming soon to Blu-ray, including Joe Dante, John Landis, Carl Gottlieb, Robert K. Weiss & Peter Horton’s Amazon Women on the Moon (1987) and Peter Hyams’ Narrow Margin (1990), along with a trio of titles newly announced for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 5/5—Fred Coe’s A Thousand Clowns (1965) and Me, Natalie (1969—featuring Al Pacino’s first screen role), and Guy Hamilton’s An Inspector Calls (1954). [Read on here...]

All right, many of you have asked about (or otherwise understandably bemoaned) the lack of big or significant announcements relating to catalog films on 4K Ultra HD lately. So today’s update here at The Digital Bits is about addressing that concern.

And while we still have little in the way of official announcements at the moment, I can confidently report that at least some of titles you’re waiting for are on the way in 2020.

The information in today’s post should be considered unofficial until the studios in question make their actual announcements. But we believe it to be a reliable gauge of titles currently in the production pipeline or planning stages.

First, we know for sure that Disney is going to be releasing Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga on 4K coinciding with the Blu-ray and 4K release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, likely in March. [Read on here...]