Finally: Disney is bring the likes of The Rock, Strange Days, Commando, Con Air and more to 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray.
It’s little secret that Disney’s lack of interest in its deeper catalogue films has been a real frustration over the past seven or eight years. That since its acquisition too of Fox and its assorted tentacles, it’s only gone back and re-released/restored a smattering of films, far fewer than any other studio to my eyes.
The irony is that Disney has greater resources than any of them, but the least interest in using them. With a handful of exceptions.
However, I’m happy and ready to eat my words, with two new confirmed 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc releases, and accompanying 4K remasters. And a leak from a French retailer confirming another bunch of titles that’ll be heading our way, by the looks of it this side of Christmas. Buckle up.
The two 100% announced and up for order soon in the world are Dead Poets Society and Mrs Doubtfire. They’re heading to the US in September, and I don’t expect the UK releases to be too far behind.
The leak from French retailer Cultura though is where the real gold lies.
It’d been known for a while that a 4K remaster of Con Air had been completed, and that’s finally set to head to 4K disc. Alongside it, The Rock. With Fsce/Off long available on the format, the Nicolas Cage action trio of the 1990s is complete.
But some further surprises too. Kathryn Bigelow’s Strange Days has been a sod of a film to track down on physical media for a long time, with no new release. That’s being remedied with its 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray debut. Alongside it, Cultura has listed Commando and the first National Treasure movie.
Only two of the above have been officially announced by Disney thus far, but The Digital Bits – longtime friends of Film Stories – are now reckoning these are on the level too.
The listings have been pulled down from Cultura for now, but it looks like fans of 80s and 90s movies, who happen to be avid 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray collectors, are in for a costly few months.
More as we hear it. In the meantime, here’s the very odd and Inception-y artwork for Dead Poets Society…
