My Two Cents
Friday, 04 August 2017 16:30

Guardians Vol 2 4K/HDR Disney update, Men in Black Trilogy 4K, Captain Underpants, Walking Dead: S7 & more

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All right... let’s have a release news update today, shall we?

First though, I have an update for you on the forthcoming 4K Ultra HD release of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (due on 8/22), directly from Disney. I attended a press event for the title yesterday at Disney Studios in Burbank, and was able to ask some technical questions. First of all, Disney seems fairly bullish on the 4K Ultra HD format. As we’ve already reported, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales will be their second release on the format on 10/5. The studio is currently evaluating future releases in 4K and is likely to release most new release titles day and date on the format going forward, though there may be the occasional exception. Yes, of course I asked about the prospect of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story being released on the format in the months ahead, and no, they haven’t made a decision on this yet. Personally, I think there’s a decent chance we’ll see them in 4K in the next twelve months, but that’s just my own opinion... we’ll have to wait and see as Disney makes future announcements. We do expect Disney to announce more 4K titles in the next month or two. [Read on here…]

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As to the question some of you may be wanting an answer to, the reason there’s no Dolby Vision on the actual 4K Ultra HD disc for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is that Disney simply wasn’t ready (from a technical standpoint) to commit to it on this first title. It’s not unlike the situation with Fox and object-based audio on their early 4K titles; the studio wants to make sure the experience they offer on the disc works well, is bug-free, and provides the viewer with the best quality. Disney is still evaluating Dolby Vision for inclusion on their discs and does intend to do so as soon as possible. Privately (and separately, from other industry sources, not from Disney), we’ve heard that there are still some bugs with regard to authoring and encoding Dolby Vision on 4K discs that are being sorted out. As the authoring tool set improves, this will become a non-issue. Nevertheless, I had the chance to see demos of an actual Guardians 2 4K disc with HDR-10 playing on an LG flagship OLED 4K display (via the Oppo UDP-203) and, rest assured, it looks flat-out spectacular. In the meantime, I’ve learned from Disney that the VUDU digital 4K version of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will have Dolby Vision for those who want to experience it that way.

Now then... while we’re talking 4K, Amazon.com just added a database product listing for a 4K Ultra HD box set of Men in Black, Men in Black II, and Men in Black 3 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Tentative street date is listed as 12/5, but it’s not up for pre-order yet. Look for A Few Good Men and Jumanji in 4K from the studio probably in November.

Meanwhile, we’re hearing from retail sources that Ron Howard’s Apollo 13 is likely to be an October 4K Ultra HD release from Universal.

And 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has set Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 9/12, with the Digital HD release due on 8/29.

Back to Sony a moment... look for Fallen to arrive on DVD on 10/10. It’s based on the book by Lauren Kate.

In other release news today, Lionsgate and Anchor Bay have made The Walking Dead: The Complete Seventh Season official for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD on 8/22 (SRP $80.99 and $70.98 respectively for the discs). Extras on the discs will include audio commentaries, deleted and alternate scenes, and 9 featurettes (including Inside The Walking Dead, The Making of The Walking Dead, In Memoriam, A Larger World, Breaking & Rebuilding, A New Chapter of Fear, Top Walkers, Warrior Women, and The Writers of The Walking Dead).

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has set Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life for release on DVD and Digital on 11/28 [Editor’s Note: The Blu-ray is available from Warner Archive directly]. The studio has also set Everything, Everything for release on Blu-ray on 8/15.

Paramount is releasing a new Blu-ray Combo Gift Set edition of Bill Condon’s Dreamgirls on 10/10, featuring a new Director’s Extended Edition of the film with 10 minutes of additional footage. The theatrical version will also be included via seamless branching. Audio will be DTS:X.

Shout! Factory has set Just Shoot Me!: The Complete Series for DVD release on 9/5. The box will include audio commentary on 4 episodes, a gallery of Blush covers, and the Always in Fashion: A Conversation with Steven Levitan and the Cast of Just Shoot Me! featurette.

Scream Factory is releasing The Paul Naschy Collection II on Blu-ray on 11/14, featuring Hunchback of the Morgue, The Devil’s Possessed, The Werewolf and the Yeti, Exorcism, and A Dragonfly for Each Corpse. They’ve also officially set Darkman II: The Return of Durant and Darkman III: Die Darkman Die for Blu-ray release on 11/7, along with Darkness Rising and Killing Ground.

GKids has set Studio Ghibli’s The Secret World of Arrietty and Porco Rosso for re-issued Blu-ray release on 11/21.

The Cinema Guild will release Albert Serra’s The Death of Louis XIV on Blu-ray and DVD on 9/26.

Cohen Media Group has set Heal the Living for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 8/29.

Magnolia Pictures has set 2:22 for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD on 9/26.

And Blue Underground has set two films by Dick Maas, The Lift and Down, for release on Blu-ray/DVD Combo on 10/10.

We’ll leave you with a look at the cover art for a few upcoming titles, with Amazon pre-order links if available...

Barry Lyndon (Criterion Blu-ray) Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (Criterion Blu-ray) The Walking Dead: The Complete Seventh Season (Blu-ray Disc)

Misery: Collector's Edition (Blu-ray Disc) Darkman II (Blu-ray Disc) The Paul Naschy Collection II (Blu-ray Disc)

Have a great weekend. Stay tuned...!

- Bill Hunt

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

 

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