My Two Cents
This just in: Retail and industry sources are now telling us that 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is going to be releasing John McTiernan’s original Predator (1987) on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray later this year, likely in August, to support the September theatrical release of the new Shane Black sequel film The Predator. We’ve updated our 4K Ultra HD Release List accordingly.
We don’t have any additional information on this yet (this is NOT an officially announced title yet), but fans will know that this film has been plagued by terrible transfers on disc over the years. The original 2008 Blu-ray release was decent, though the 2010 Ultimate Hunter Edition Blu-ray (which included all the legacy special features) was a flat-out disaster of epic proportions, with so much of the film’s fine detail and grain texture removed through the excessive use of DNR (digital noise reduction) that it was unwatchable.
Fox certainly already knows this, but it’s worth saying regardless: The studio could score massive points with fans of the film if the 4K remastered package included a new and properly-remastered Blu-ray edition of the film as well… one with all those good special features too in one package. Fingers crossed.
Stay tuned…
- Bill Hunt
(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)
All right, we’re kicking things off today with two more new Blu-ray reviews...
We start with Tim’s take on Larry Cohen’s It’s Alive Trilogy, new on Blu-ray from our friends at Scream Factory. He’s also got a review of Herschell Gordon Lewis’s Two Thousand Maniacs! on Blu-ray from the good folks at Arrow Video.
I’m working to wrap up that review of The Patriot in 4K Ultra HD from Sony, and I should have that up later this afternoon. So be sure to watch for it. Fury is on deck along with Escape Plan from Lionsgate.
Universal swears that they’re sending us the Jurassic Park Collection for review as well, so we do intend to cover it as soon as we’re able. [Read on here...]
All right, we’ve got some big announcement news for you today, but first we also have some new disc reviews for you...
To start with, I’ve posted my thoughts on Francis Lawrence’s Red Sparrow from 20th Century Fox and Alex Garland’s Annihilation from Paramount, both in 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray. Both are interesting films that definitely deserve a second look on disc.
Also, Tim has turned in his thoughts on Paul Mazursky’s Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice from Twilight Time and George P. Cosmatos’ Of Unknown Origin from Scream Factory, both in regular Blu-ray Disc.
More reviews of both formats are on the way, including Sony’s The Patriot and Fury in 4K, though we still do not have Universal’s Jurassic Park 4K Collection in hand, so it may be a few days before we get to review it for you. [Read on here...]
All right, Universal and Sony have been slow to send us Fury, The Patriot, and the Jurassic Park Collection for review on 4K here at The Bits. We expected them earlier this week and now it looks like we may not get our hands on them until sometime tonight or over the weekend. Rest assured, we’ll get them reviewed as soon as possible when we finally see them.
Fortunately, however, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has sent us Red Sparrow in 4K Ultra HD, and now Paramount has kindly delivered Alex Garland’s Annihilation on UHD, so we’re diving into those now. We’ll get reviews of those posted as soon as we’re able, so keep checking back here (and on our social media pages) over the weekend.
Meanwhile, in announcement news today, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has set the Hulu original drama series The Looming Tower for release on Blu-ray on 9/18, featuring all 10 episodes along with 4 featurettes (Across Three Continents: Creating The Looming Tower, Ali Soufan: In His Own Words, The Looming Tower: Divided We Fail, and The Complexities of Character), as well as audio commentaries on the first and last episodes. [Read on here...]
All right, we’re waiting on a number of 4K Ultra HD review titles to come in any time now, including The Patriot, Fury, Red Sparrow, and the Jurassic Park set. While we do, we’ve got some release and announcement news for you...
First up, it appears that the official street date for Disney and Pixar’s The Incredibles in 4K Ultra HD is 6/5 and not 6/12. We expect the official press release to go out any time now and we’ll post the details as soon as it does. So adjust your plans accordingly.
Also today, Shout! Factory has announced that review product for their recent Wild at Heart: Shout Select Blu-ray release had a manufacturing error that’s now being corrected for the actual retail product. This means that the street date for the title has been moved from 5/22 to 8/21. Adjust your plans accordingly. [Read on here...]