Criterion’s December includes Cooley High, Velvet Underground & more, plus Westworld: S4, Planes Trains and Automobiles 4K & a Hitcher update

Thursday, 15 September 2022 14:54

Criterion’s December includes Cooley High, Velvet Underground & more, plus Westworld: S4, Planes Trains and Automobiles 4K & a Hitcher update

by Bill Hunt

The Velvet Underground (Criterion Blu-ray Disc)

Our friends at the Criterion Collection have just unveiled their December Blu-ray slate this afternoon, which is set to include four more interesting titles...

It starts with the Michael Haneke: Trilogy (Spine #1161 – Blu-ray only – includes The Seventh Continent, Benny’s Video, and 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance) on 12/6. And following on 12/12 are Todd Haynes’ The Velvet Underground (Spine 1164 – Blu-ray and DVD), Three Films by Mai Zetterling (Spine #1162 – Blu-ray only – includes Loving Couples, Night Games, and The Girls), and finally Michael Schultz’s Cooley High (Spine #1165 – Blu-ray only).

It’s worth noting that The Velvet Underground documentary will include a new Dolby Atmos soundtrack. Click here for more details on all of these titles.

In 4K Ultra HD news today, retail sources are indicating that Universal will release David Gordon Green’s Halloween Ends on 12/27, though do keep in mind that this date is tentative and subject to change, as the film doesn’t actually hit theaters until 10/14. [Read on here...]

Also, look for Universal to release R.I.P.D. on 4K Ultra HD on 12/6.

Meanwhile, HBO has tentatively set Westworld – Season Four: The Choice for Blu-ray and 4K UHD release on 11/29.

And it appears that Paramount is planning to release Planes, Trains, and Automobiles on 4K Ultra HD as well. We would expect this in November, but the French street date is currently listed as 12/7 (so it’s possible that 12/6 is the US date).

We’ve updated our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits with all of these titles accordingly.

In Blu-ray catalog news, Indicator has set a 10-disc/26-film Magic, Myth & Mutilation: The Micro-Budget Cinema of Michael J Murphy (1967-2015) box for release in the UK on 11/21, followed by Sergio Sollima’s The Big Gundown (1966), a 2-film Enter Santo: The First Adventures of the Silver-Masked Man box (includes Santo vs. Evil Brain and Santo vs. Infernal Men), and Mitchell Leisen’s Remember the Night (1940) on 12/5.

Kino Lorber Studio Classics has revealed some of their November slate, which will currently include Escape from Alcatraz (1979) (BD & 4K), Bedtime for Bonzo (1951), and Fancy Pants (1950) on 11/8, The Diamond Wizard (1954), Assassination (1967), and The Valachi Papers (1972) on 11/15, Night Gallery: Season 3 (1972-1973) and The Blood Beast Terror (1968) on 11/22, and the French Noir Collection (which includes Speaking of Murder (1957), Back to the Wall (1958), and Witness in the City (1959) in one package), the Inspector Maigret Double Feature (which includes PicPus (1942) and Cecile is Dead! (1943) packaged together), and Peking Express (1951) on 11/29. Also yet to be announced for November release is Detective Story (1951). And both Nevada Smith (1966) and Hell is for Heroes (1962) have recently been set as “coming soon.”

Finally today, Second Sight in the UK has provided an update on the status of their forthcoming 4K Ultra HD release of The Hitcher (1986). It appears that director Robert Harmon will begin his initial color grading next week. After that, the 4K restoration begins in earnest, with the goal of having it finished by the end of February 2023. So expect the title to finally be released on 4K Ultra HD early next year. You can see their Twitter post here.

And that’s all for today! Stay tuned...

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Criterion’s December includes Cooley High, Velvet Underground & more, plus Westworld: S4, Planes Trains and Automobiles 4K & a Hitcher update

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