Speaking of which, we’ve also just posted the weekly update of the Release Dates & Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover artwork and Amazon pre-order links. By the way, there’s a bunch of UK Blu-ray 3D titles starting to appear on Amazon US too, so be sure to watch for them when you’re shopping over there.

Now then… let’s start with 4K Ultra HD. We’ve updated our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits to include pre-orders for a whole bunch of upcoming titles on the format, including Disney’s The Lion King and Doctor Strange, Sony’s Venom, Warner’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Crazy Rich Asians, and Creed II, Fox’s Widows, Universal’s The Grinch, How to Train Your Dragon, How to Train Your Dragon 2, and Green Book, and Paramount’s Overlord and Mission: Impossible – 6-Movie Collection. So check the list and click the title links above for those. Venom is set for 12/18, The Lion King for 12/4, and Doctor Strange for 1/15.

Also today, our friends at The Warner Archive Collection have just announced the 12/18 Blu-ray release of the Hammer Films classic Horror of Dracula (1958), staring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Sea Hawk (1940) also streets on Blu-ray that day, and look for Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s – Volume 1 and The Blue Night (1973) on Blu-ray on 12/11.

Kino Lorber Studio Classics will release Terence Young’s The Rover (1967) on Blu-ray and DVD on 2/26. Look for Neil Simon’s Broadway Bound (1992 – directed by Paul Bogart) and Roger Young’s The Siege at Ruby Ridge (1996) on DVD on 2/19. Also on 2/19, look for Peter Markle’s Youngblood (1986), Russell Mulcahy’s The Real McCoy (1993), and John McNaughton’s Mad Dog and Glory (1993) on Blu-ray. On 2/12, watch for Randal Kleiser’s Summer Lovers (1982), Sidney Lumet’s The Group (1966), and Gordon Hessler’s Scream and Scream Again (1970). On 2/5, watch for Christopher Morahan’s Diamonds for Breakfast (1968) on Blu-ray and DVD. KLSC is also working on a new Blu-ray of Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Doulos (1963) from a new 4K restoration (street date TBA).

DreamWorks and Universal are releasing Chicken Run, Joseph: King of Dreams, and The Road to El Dorado on Blu-ray on 1/22, along with How to Train Your Dragon and How to Train Your Dragon 2 on 4K Ultra HD the same day.

Flicker Alley and Blackhawk Films are releasing Méliès: Fairy Tales in Color – 1899-1909 on Blu-ray on 12/18. This includes 12 classic films newly-restored in HD from newly rediscovered nitrate film elements.

Cleopatra Entertainment will release the documentary Life After Flash (about Flash Gordon star Sam Jones) on Blu-ray on 3/26.

And Filmrise will release Dark River on Blu-ray on 3/12.

Finally today, we need to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of director Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor, The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, 1900) today, and director Nicolas Roeg (The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Witches) and actor Ricky Jay (Deadwood, Boogie Nights) over the weekend. All will certainly be missed. Click here, here, and here to read more.

We’ll leave you today with a look at fresh cover artwork for some of the titles mentioned above and more. Click on each to pre-order them on Amazon.com if available…

Stay tuned…

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