Now, I’ve spoken about this film many times—I think it’s one of the most cinematically groundbreaking and underappreciated films of the 21st century.

With this film, the Wachowskis reinvented the language of cinema to incorporate hyper-realism, Cubism, the pop art style of Roy Lichtenstein, the modern narrative experimentation of James Joyce, and ultra-dense, high-bandwidth visual storytelling.

Speed Racer was the logical extension of everything Lana and Lilly had achieved with The Matrix Trilogy, and it pioneered a style embraced by films like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Mad Max: Fury Road, Barbie, and Everything Everywhere All at Once years later (in some cases over a decade later).

But back in 2008, the film was released into theaters at the same time as Iron Man and The Dark Knight, so you can understand why audiences didn’t really know what to make of it.

Was Speed Racer a kids film? An experimental art film? An action film? A live action cartoon?

In truth, it was all of these things. But it was also a nearly perfect big screen adaptation of the iconic Japanese animated TV series from the 1960s, which was effectively Generation X’s first experience with the anime medium itself.

And yet the Warner Bros. marketing department had absolutely no idea how to market the film!

I first saw Speed Racer at a studio employee screening in the Steven J. Ross Theater on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank before the film opened, and the moment I walked out of the theater, I knew it was a brilliant piece of work.

And as a lifelong fan of the 1960s Speed Racer—it was literally the first TV series I ever fell in love with, even before Star Trek—I adored the film for its pitch-perfect update.

Trust me when I say that the Wachowskis’ love of the original Speed Racer shines in nearly every frame.

But more than that, I was transported by the film’s emotional journey. The characters are the beating heart of its narrative. And the film’s innovative use of live action elements as if they were layers of 2-D multi-planar animation, not to mention the fact that very few of its transitions are actual cuts or traditional edits, was both dizzying and dazzling.

I love Speed Racer (2008) with every fiber of my being. I think it’s pretty close to a masterpiece… and yes, I will die on that hill.

Speed Racer is to 21st century cinema what the Sparks Brothers were to late 20th century pop music—wildly creative, hugely influential, and way ahead of their time.

So while I was disappointed that this film didn’t get the appreciation it so richly deserved at the time, I’ve been very encouraged in recent years to see cinephiles giving it a second look… and more importantly, a critical reappraisal.

Indeed, Speed Racer has now achieved cult film status, complete with a passionate legion of online fans.

Unfortunately, when the film was released on home video back in 2008, the Blu-ray experience was… well, it left much to be desired. The compression was poor (rather than release the film on a BD-50, WBHE squeezed it onto a BD-25) and the film’s aggressive soundtrack didn’t even get a lossless encode—it was lossy 5.1 Dolby Digital only.

Yes, the film was shot using Phantom Flex and V-series HD cameras and it was only finished as a 1080p/60 Digital Intermediate. But with proper 4K up-sampling, true 10-bit color (with 4:4:4 chroma subsampling), and very high bitrates, the HDR image could really shine in Ultra HD. And with a proper Dolby Atmos mix, or at the very least a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio or Dolby TrueHD encode, the audio experience could improve as well.

Suffice it to say, I’ve been pushing the powers that be at WBDHE for years to give this film a proper 4K remastering. I’m not kidding—YEARS.

So I’m incredibly thrilled to say that it’s finally happening in 2026. And yes, the Wachowskis are involved.

I would love to see some new special features created for this release, because the Blu-ray was lacking in this respect. At the very least, a new retrospective featurette with the filmmakers and cast would be appreciated. What I’d really love would be for either Lana or Lilly (or both) to record an audio commentary for the film, though that may be a pipe dream.

But they did record a commentary for Bound (1996), so never say never!

In any case, I know that Speed Racer (2008) is—for many of you—as much of a holy grail 4K title as it is for me. So here’s to finally being able to hold the disc in your hands in 2026.

Go Speed go!

By the way, for those of you who haven’t yet seen the light on Speed Racer, I recommend checking out Patrick (H) Willems’ great YouTube video on the film, as well as Corridor Crew’s appreciation of it, and also this fine analysis. There are a number of critical essays worth reading online as well, including this one, this one, this one, and this one. (To list but a few.)

All right, that’s all I wanted to share with you today.

Except this…

From all of us here at The Digital Bits, we wish you a very safe and Happy New Year!

May 2026 bring every one of you (and all those you love) good health, great 4K Ultra HD titles, and all the happiness you could wish for.

We love you guys, and we sure appreciate having each of you as Bits readers.

See you next year! (Read: Monday.)

Peace out!

- Bill Hunt

(You can follow Bill on social media on Twitter, BlueSky, and Facebook, and also here on Patreon)