On Thursday (7/18) at 3 PM in Room 5AB, look for him as a guest on the Inglorious Treksperts panel with producer Mark A. Altman (creator of the new Pandora series on CW), VFX marvel Daren Dochterman, screenwriter Ashley Edward Miller, and director Robert Meyer Burnett as they discuss 40 years of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Here’s the con schedule link for it.
And on Saturday at 8 PM in Room 23ABC, Bill will be moderating the Inside an Indie Studio: Shout! Factory panel with Jeff Nelson (Sr. Director Marketing, Scream Factory and Shout! Factory) and Brian Ward (Sr. Director of Production, Shout! Factory). We’ll be giving you an inside look at the process of how Shout! finds and licenses titles and produces great Blu-ray special editions of them. We’ll also be announcing a TON of great new titles for the year ahead (and I’m not kidding here – these are goodies!), so you do NOT want to miss this. Here’s the con schedule link for this one too.
Both panels are going to be a lot of fun, so we hope to see you there!
In announcement news, let’s start with the 4K titles first... Lionsgate has just set Rambo (2008) for release on 4K Ultra HD and Digital on 9/3. As you may recall, this is the only catalog film in the Rambo franchise not yet available on the format (the others came out last November). It was finished as a 2K DI, but shot on film. So this could still be a full 4K release. It will definitely feature Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos audio. It will also include both the Theatrical Cut and the Unrated Extended Cut. Extras will carry over from the previous Blu-ray edition. We’ll add the pre-order links when available, but you can see the cover art below.
Meanwhile, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has just set director David Yarovesky’s Brightburn for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 8/20, with the Digital release expected on 8/6. We’re awaiting confirmation of its HDR and audio formats (watch for an update here), but you can expect the Blu-rays to include audio commentary (with director David Yarovesky, DP Michael Dallatorre, and costume designer Autumn Steed), 3 Quick Burns vignettes (hosted by actor Elizabeth Banks, producer James Gunn, and Yarovesky), and 2 featurettes (Hero-Horror! and Nature vs. Nurture). You can see the cover artwork above and also below.
Well Go USA has just announced the Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD release of Zhang Yimou’s Shadow on 8/13. Extras will include behind the scenes footage and a “making of” featurette. We’re attempting to confirm the HDR and audio formats and will post an update here when we do. It’s worth noting that this is Well Go USA’s first foray into the UHD format. We’re certainly looking forward to seeing it. [Editor’s Note: Audio is Dolby Atmos. Still awaiting HDR details.]
And here’s some other great 4K catalog news...
Universal will finally release Martin Scorsese’s Casino (1995) on 4K on 9/10. We’ve had that on our 4K Ultra HD Release List for a while now.
Also coming that same day (9/10) from Universal is Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg’s Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World’s End) in 4K. Shaun of the Dead was shot and finished on film, and so should be native 4K. The other two were finished as 2K DIs but were shot on film as well, so they could be scanned in native 4K. We’ll have to wait and see.
Retail sources suggest to us that Brian De Palma’s Scarface is on tap for 4K from Universal in October, as is McG’s Charlie’s Angels (2000) from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Note that Rambo (mentioned above) and Charlie’s Angels are both positioned to promote the upcoming release of theatrical sequels/reboots later this year.
It appears that Disney’s live action Aladdin will be streeting on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K on 9/10.
Meanwhile, Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 4 looks likely for Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K on 9/24.
And Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Far From Home appears to be coming to all three formats on 10/1.
Finally, we have word from legendary anime director Katsuhiro Otomo (via Anime Expo and Polygon) that his classic animated Akira (1988) is getting a brand new 4K remaster with HDR. It’s unclear from the article whether the remaster is set to happen in April 2020, or whether that’s when it will be released, but it’s definitely coming on disc to both the U.S. and Japan. This is tied to news that Otomo is teaming up with the Japanese animation studio Sunrise to create a new anime TV series sequel to the film. Both pieces of news are super exciting, so watch for more information in the months ahead. In the meantime, you can read more at Polygon here.
All of this 4K news has been added to our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits accordingly, with Amazon links as they become available.
All right, we’ll leave you for now with a look at the cover artwork for a few of the titles we’ve mentioned above, with Amazon.com pre-order links if available (and again, ordering through our links helps keep The Bits alive, and we appreciate it!)...
We’ll be back first thing tomorrow AM with another big update, this one featuring lots of new regular Blu-ray and DVD news, so stay tuned...!
-Bill Hunt
(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)