Posted Sun Sep 24, 2023 at 09:00 AM PDT by D. LaFontaine
Hope you got rather deep pockets because this week is ginornmous for both 4K and blu-ray categories. It's nearly the perfect storm. All that is missing are some large box-sets.
Welcome to Volume 4 Episode 17 of our weekly release guide. A look at the highlights of what's coming to disc the week of September 24th - September 30th, as well as a look at announcements from last week.
OK, let's kick off first with Import Monday. First from Arrow Video, The Psycho Collection. Where Universal released only the original film to 4K, Arrow has the three sequels in glorious 4K as well. Note: I took one for the team and imported this, so Universal will probably announce a similar set next week! My copy arrives Monday.
Next, although Kino Lorber did an excellent job with this title, we do get in import as part of Eureka's 'Masters of Cinema Series' for Touch of Evil. Right off the bat we see this edition has physical swag included, similar to an Arrow Video Fat-Pack. The on-disc features probably vary some, still worth a look.
Closing out Import Monday, StudioCanal offers up a 5-disc edition of The Wicker Man under their 'Vintage Classics' label. I took one for the team on this one too, but thus far LionsGate is only matching it with a SteelBook 2-disc swagless release in October, so the import is probably the most comprehensive (minus the digital code).
Domestic Tuesday begins with new releases, and first this week we have Disney Pixar's Elemental. And following their current unusual release pattern, the Standard 4K is currently only available via the Disney Movie Club, but there is a Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook and a Walmart Exclusive. Again, Target seems to have lost interest in physical media, no gallery book edition, no art card edition, nada.
Staying with Disney, their first of a recent wave of surprise Disney+ releases, Loki: The Complete First Season comes to SteelBook this week.
Paramount this week is offering Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Season Three to 4K disc.
On to catalog titles, Vinegar Syndrome's general release for A Blade in the Dark is available via Amazon (and other retailers).
Arrow Video offers up a fat-pack release of Carlito's Way. If you want the more traditional cover art, you can get the Arrow Store Limited Edition instead.
Teen horror sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is available via Sony Pictures.
Paramount has broken up the Scream Factory trilogy set and brought us Halloween H20: 20 Years Later as a single film SteelBook release. What this means for the other two movies is currently unknown.
Sony has Reprint SteelBooks in case you missed out the first go round, titles include Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, plus The Equalizer, The Fifth Element and Ghostbusters & Ghostbusters II.
Criterion Collectors can pick up Moonage Daydream starring the late David Bowie this week.
A label we don't see very often, Blue Underground releases The Girl from Rio this week, and our review says it is highly recommended.
Happy belated (or early) Valentines Day from Scream Factory with My Bloody Valentine.
Under their Shout Select label, Natural Born Killers is available as a Standard Edition and a Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook. This might be the first "Select" release I have seen with a slipcover.
How about a pair of great films from Kino Lorber? First a WWII masterpiece starring Burt Lancaster, The Train. And second, Clint Eastwood stars in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.
Next week no reprieve on your wallets, It Came from you know where, Hulu original Prey, more monsters, more 4K upgrades and more Disney 100 SteelBooks. Oh, and an appearance from Turbine Medien on Friday.
Blu-ray counterparts of the above 4K titles include Disney Pixar's Elemental, Disney+ original Loki: The Complete First Season, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Season Three and Moonage Daydream from Criterion.
Other TV on disc this week includes Interview with the Vampire: Season One, Mayfair Witches: Season One, Pennyworth: The Complete Third Season and Pennyworth: The Complete Series.
The Warner Archive has a majority of their September titles pushed back a month, but what is available this week is Cats Don’t Dance, Saratoga (1937) and Westward the Women.
Kino Lorber has Death Wish 4: The Crackdown and Death Wish V: The Face of Death. Completionists take note.
La Bamba gets a Criterion Collection release.
Let's call this one a double-tease because they're blu-ray releases and not 4K releases, and I have questions. Just a few weeks ago Sony gave us a 4K release for the original Insidious movie, this week they give us the newest movie in that series, Insidious: The Red Door on blu-ray. This week in the 4K section above, we get the first sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, but the next sequel, I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer is available on blu-ray only. Don't get me wrong, Sony has been a very good supporter of the 4K format, it's just cases like this that makes me scratch my head a bit.
From Universal, 2023 crime/drama A Thousand and One. Also look for Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken, which again, 4K buyers have an insatiable appetite, and this one would probably look very good in that format.
If you were waiting for the next release, wait no more, Star Trek: Prodigy: Season 1 - Episodes 11 - 20 comes this week via Paramount.
LionsGate's action/thriller this week is The Engineer.
Anime highlights this week include Gatchaman Complete Collection, Lonely Castle in the Mirror, Rent-A-Girlfriend: Season 2 and Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon - Season 2, Part 2, which is available as a Standard Edition and as a Limited Edition.
Warner Bros has announced thelatest DCU film Blue Beetle will be available October 31 in all the various formats and retailer exclusives. I dig the Walmart SteelBook and the Target Exclusives the best, but unfortunately neither of them include a 4K release.
Criterion Collection's December slate has been announced. It doesn't have a large quantity of releases, but there might be something that interests you!
Hey, act fast if you want an upgraded 4K SteelBook release for M3GAN. The UK has it and supplies are very limited.
Which titles are you buying this week? Which ones are on your wishlist, be it to buy as an impulse buy or to wait for the right price?
The latest news on all things 4K Ultra HD, blu-ray and Gear.