My Two Cents
Thursday, 02 March 2023 19:33

The Rocky Knockout Collection 4K set may have audio issues, plus Aronofsky’s Pi returns & Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon turns 50

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We’re tracking a bunch of things today here at The Bits, so let me just give you a quick rundown.

First of all, Shudder and RLJE Films have set Rebekah McKendry’s Glorious for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 3/14.

For you UK readers, Eureka is releasing a new Masters of Cinema Blu-ray edition on May 22nd... Andrzej Żuławski: Three Films. Żuławski was a Polish filmmaker with a reputation as maverick. The three titles will include his debut film, The Third Part of the Night (1971), The Devil (1972), which was banned for 16 years in Poland, and the unfinished science fiction On the Silver Globe (1988), which the Polish government actually ordered destroyed, but the negatives survived and the film finally premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1988. Having all three of these preserved and released on Blu-ray is a minor miracle, so this should be a fantastic box set.

Meanwhile, 88 Films has revealed three more Italian deep catalog 4K Ultra HD titles for release in the months ahead, including Antonio Margheriti’s The Ark of the Sun God (1984) on 3/10, followed by Andrea Bianchi’s Burial Ground (1981) on 5/29, and Marino Girolami’s Zombie Holocaust (1980) on 6/26. [Read on here...]

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Also today, filmmaker Darren Aronofsky has revealed on Instagram that he’s regained the rights to Pi (1998) and that he’s working with A24 to remaster the film and release it back into theaters and (presumably) on videodisc. The original 16 mm black and white reversal negative has been scanned in 8K and the film’s score and soundtrack have been remixed in Dolby Atmos. One would imagine a Blu-ray and 4K release is coming later this year. You can learn more about this here.

Music Box Films has set Leonor Will Never Die for Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital release on 3/14, with Full Time expected to follow on DVD on 4/19 (and Digital on 3/14), and Rodeo set to arrive in theaters on 3/17 and Digital on 4/18.

And we have some discouraging news to report today as well. While we don’t yet have 4K Ultra HD review product in hand, numerous Bits readers are reporting that Warner and MGM’s new Rocky: The Knockout Collection box set may have a number of errors, including:

  1. The original theatrical audio on Rocky is actually a downmix of the 5.1, not the original mono.
  2. Rocky II has all of its audio tracks at the wrong pitch.
  3. Rocky III has all of the foreign language audio tracks at the wrong pitch.
  4. One shot in the theatrical cut of Rocky IV apparently opens up to 1.78:1 instead of 1.85:1 (the shot appears at about 10:17 into the film).

We informed Warner Bros. Home Entertainment about this first thing this morning, and they are currently investigating. When they get back to us with what they’ve learned, and any kind of official statement on it, we’ll let you know here.

And in music news today, yesterday marked the official 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s legendary album Dark Side of the Moon (you can read more on this here and here). It’s still one of the greatest pure audiophile albums of all time. For those among you too young to have discovered it in the 1970s and 80s, I highly recommend that you check out the multichannel SACD (available from Acoustic Sounds) or the 24-bit download (available from HD Tracks and other digital services) for a listen in your home theater or via headphones. (There is also a new mega box set release, but it’s outrageously expensive.) A lot of people forget: If you have a great home theater surround sound system, you’ve also got a great music listening space as well. So sometime over the next few days, be sure to pop in a lossless copy of Dark Side, pour yourself a drink, close your eyes, and marvel. It’s good for the soul.

Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon (album)

Don’t forget that The Mandalorian is back for its third season on Disney+ this week, and Star Trek: Picard – Season Three just dropped its third episode on Paramount+ the morning. Both are worth a look!

And that’s it for now—back with more tomorrow. Stay tuned...

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

 

 

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