Displaying items by tag: Icarus Films

We’re starting the new week with more new disc reviews, as always, plus we have some great release news to share with you today as well! Reviews first...

Tim has taken a look a Bob Clark’s Deathdream (1974, aka Dead of Night) in 4K Ultra HD from our friends at Blue Underground.

Dennis has offered his thoughts on Alan J. Pakula’s Starting Over (1979) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

And Stuart has weighed in with a review of Luigi Comencini’s The Sunday Woman (1975) on Blu-ray from Radiance Films. He’s also revisited his 2012 review of Sony’s The Three Stooges: The Ultimate Collection (1934-1958) on DVD in anticipation of the studio’s forthcoming The Three Stooges Blu-ray Collection.

More reviews are forthcoming, so be sure keep checking back for them!

The big announcement news today is that Sony has officially set Gil Kenan’s Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire for release on Blu-ray, DVD, 4K Ultra HD, and 4K Steelbook on 6/25. There will also be a Walmart-exclusive Blu-ray Steelbook, as well as a Limited Edition 2-Movie 4K Giftset that includes this film plus Ghostbusters: Afterlife. [Read on here...]

All right... as one might expect, we’ve got a lot to talk about again today here at The Bits.

First of all, we don’t have any new information on Manta Lab’s “disc-less” WandaVision packaging, except to reiterate that while this is a licensed Disney Consumer Products item, it’s most definitely not an official Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment physical media product. And while some you deluxe packaging collectors might think that’s splitting hairs, for the vast majority of disc consumers around the world it’s a very important distinction. Disney is not suddenly getting in the business of releasing Steelbook packaging for titles they have no intention of actually releasing on disc, and making it okay by including a Digital copy code. Just to be clear. In any case, we hope to hear more on this in the next few days.

As to the matter of today’s other Disney hot topic, I’m afraid, the news is not good. Despite the fact that Sanity has now pulled down their original Facebook post announcing it, we at The Digital Bits have confirmed today with multiple industry, distributor, and retailer sources in the region that Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment is indeed pulling out of the Australian market in terms of physical media. This follows similar moves in Asia (save for Japan) and Latin America, and the reason is apparently down to the gradual collapse of physical disc sales in the region, the growth of Disney+ Starz streaming, and also the rise of global retailers (think Amazon, Zavvi, etc). None of that will be of any comfort to disc fans in Australia, who will now have to pay a hefty shipping premium to import titles from outside the country. But it is true that Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol 3 will be the last new-release Disney title to get a physical release in the region. Previously-released titles may continue to be available for purchase until the end of the year, but that will be up to individual retailers.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, folks, but there it is.

Now then, before we shift to a bit of announcement news, we have several new disc reviews here at The Bits that are worth mentioning today...

Here’s the big one: Stephen has just turned in his in-depth thoughts on William Friedkin’s To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) in 4K Ultra HD, as newly-released by our friends at Kino Lorber Studio Classics. It’s a great disc, with the best A/V presentation of the film to date, and it includes nearly all of the previously-created special features. [Read on here...]