All right, thanks for your patience while I was away at the end of last week. My father-in-law passed away, so I wife and I flew across the country to attend his memorial and see family.

There’s a good deal to catch up on, so let’s get right to it. First things first...

Yes, we are aware of the rumors that Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is planning to bring The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films to 4K Ultra HD. They originated on the excellent 4K Filme.de website, which (I’m told) found the titles briefly listed on a Warner B2B website for German retailers. All six films were indicated for release on UHD (with the Extended Editions included) and with a tentative street date given of June 25, 2020. All right, now let’s put this in context...

First of all, there’s no doubt that Warner Bros. is going to release these films on physical 4K Ultra HD. These are literally their most demanded catalog titles on the format. Also, 2021 is the 10th anniversary of Fellowship of the Ring. And Amazon’s new Lord of the Rings prequel series, which reportedly begins production next month and will apparently be in production for two years, is likely to debut on Amazon Prime in late 2022. So the studio is certainly going to want to get those films ready for 4K release by then. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got some big news for you MCU fans today.

But first...

Our own Tim Salmons has just completed his review of Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Far From Home in 4K Ultra HD.

And I’ve turned in a review of Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War in 4K (which slipped through the cracks when it first came out), this hot on the heels of last week’s catalog MCU 4K reviews.

With those reviews, we have now reviewed nearly the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe in 4K Ultra HD here at The Digital Bits. [Read on here...]

I’ve posted my thoughts on Disney and Marvel’s new Guardians of the Galaxy release on 4K Ultra HD this morning. This following yesterday’s review of Doctor Strange on the format.

And yes, you can expect my review of Ant-Man in 4K today.

Tim is also working on a review of Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Far From Home in 4K, so watch for that soon.

Next up on my review plate are Warner’s Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shining in 4K, so watch for at least one of them tomorrow (and both by next week).

In announcement news today, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has revealed that Easy Rider is now available in Digital 4K with HDR on various streaming platforms in honor of the film’s 50th anniversary. There appear to be no plans to release it on physical 4K. [Read on here...]

We’ve got just a quick update for you here at The Bits today, but it’s a good one...

First, Disney has just officially announced the Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD release of Toy Story 4 on 10/8, with the Digital release expected a week earlier on 10/1.

The 4K disc (and digital release) will include Dolby Atmos audio, while the Blu-ray will feature 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. Expect the physical to offer HDR10 high dynamic range, while the digital 4K has Dolby Vision. Extras will include audio commentary with director Josh Cooley and his team, 4 featurettes (Toy Stories, Woody & Buzz, Bo Rebooted, and Let’s Ride with Ally Maki), a collection of mini-docs on the film’s characters called Toy Box, 6 deleted scenes with optional commentary (including Scamming Playtime, Bo Knows Hippos, Desperate Toys, Knock-Offs, Recruit Duke, and She’s the One) and more. [Read on here...]

All right, today’s update is a quickie, but it’s a good one.

All of those re-issued Star Wars Blu-rays from Disney we mentioned yesterday are now up for pre-order on Amazon with a street date of 9/22 (that’s not a Tuesday, so it could be just a “week of” placeholder date until the announcement is made).

The SRP is $34.99, but Amazon’s usual sale price should kick in soon. All of them are up now except Episode IV: A New Hope, which should go live soon. In any case, you can see the cover art – now with pre-order links – below.

In 4K catalog news today, Ridley Scott’s American Gangster is now official for release on 4K Ultra HD by Universal on 10/15. You can see the cover artwork and pre-order it below. It will have DTS:X audio and HDR10 high dynamic range. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover today, so bear with us.

First, very quickly, we’re currently working on those disc reviews we mentioned the other day, so watch for those starting tomorrow. But breaking news – and the need to dig into it – has keep us busy yesterday and today.

Let’s get some regular announcement news out of the way first...

CBS Home Entertainment has set Star Trek: Discovery – Season Two for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 11/12. The 4-disc Blu-ray release will include audio commentary on 4 episodes (with various combinations of Sonequa Martin-Green, Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Alex Kurtzman, Jonathan Peck, and Olatunde Onsunanmi), promos, deleted scenes, a gag reel, and 8 featurettes (Star Trek: Discovery: The Voyage of Season Two, Enter the Enterprise, The Red Angel, Designing Discovery: Season Two, Prop Me Up: Season Two, Dress for Success: Season Two, Creature Comforts: Season Two, and Creating Space). You can see the cover artwork at left and also below. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got some more regular Blu-ray news, and then I’m working on a review of Sony’s Black Hawk Down in 4K Ultra HD for posting in the next couple of days. Let me tell you, it’s terrific. It’s a major upgrade of the Blu-ray, both in picture and sound.

Also, our friend John Schuermann of The Screening Room AV in Colorado Springs has just issued the final results of their recent 4K UHD Projector Shootout and – if you’re a front projector fan like I am – they’re pretty fascinating. Do check them out here. Sounds like the JVCs did pretty well against more expensive Sony projectors.

Meanwhile, Epson just announced a new 4K PRO-UHD projector too... the Pro Cinema 6050UB (MSRP $3,999), with features geared toward home theater cinephiles. You can check out all the details here. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a good sized regular Blu-ray update for you all today here at The Bits.

First up though, we have a nice 4K Ultra HD surprise from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment… look for them to release a Moon: 10th Anniversary Edition on 7/16. Audio will be Dolby Atmos. In addition to the previous extras included on the Blu-ray in the package, look for three all-new items on the actual 4K disc: Retrospective Conversation with Duncan Jones and Joe Utichi, never-before-seen Deleted Scenes, and a Fan Art Poster Gallery. You can see the cover artwork to the left. We’ve updated our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits accordingly.

And Lionsgate’s Apocalypse Now: Final Cut, officially due on 4K Ultra HD on 8/27, will include all three versions of the film (the Theatrical Cut, the Extended Cut aka Redux, and the Final Cut) on BOTH Blu-ray and 4K on 4 discs. That’s not a typo, we’ve confirmed it with Lionsgate – all three versions fully-remastered in 4K. The 4K will offer Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos audio, while the Blu-rays will include 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. Note that, per the press release, the Final Cut audio has also been “enhanced with Meyer Sound Laboratories’ newly developed Sensual Sound a technology engineered to output audio below the limits of human hearing.” [Read on here...]

We’ve some interesting release news today, starting with a little heads-up: Sources say that the long-anticipated official announcement of Ridley Scott’s Alien on 4K Ultra HD is happening very soon. So be sure to watch for that. We’ll have all the details here as soon as they’re official.

In other 4K announcement news, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has made Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down official for release on the format on 5/7.

It will include both the Theatrical and Extended cuts of the film newly remastered in 4K from the original camera negative and featuring an HDR grade approved by Scott. Both will also feature a new Dolby Atmos sound mix. [Read on here...]

Today’s post is going to be brief for reasons I’ll explain in a moment. But we do have some pretty significant announcement news we need to tell you all about.

First, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has just officially announced the long-expected 4K Ultra HD release of Richard Donner’s original Superman: The Movie on 11/6. The 4K release will include the theatrical version of the film only on 4K and on the newly-remastered Blu-ray included in the package as well. The 4K version will feature both Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos object-based audio. Our information is that, in addition to Atmos, the 4K release will include 5.1 audio mixed from the original 1978 6-track 70mm as well.

Extras on both discs will include the audio commentary with Pierre Spengler and Ilya Salkind. The Blu-ray will add the 1978 The Making of Superman: The Movie TV special, the 58-minute Superman and the Mole-Men (1951) feature starring George Reeves, additional cartoon shorts, trailers, and TV spots. You can see the cover artwork there at left and also below. SRP for the set is $41.99, though it’ll be on sale for much less on Amazon and elsewhere. [Read on here...]