For the week of March 29th, Warner Bros Home Entertainment will release Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman 1984, starring Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, and Robin Wright. Intended to be one of the biggest theatrical releases of 2020, Wonder Woman 1984 hoped to replicate and even exceed the success of Wonder Woman, which was a surprise smash hit at the box office in 2017 and grossed over $822 million at the worldwide box office. To that end, when the coronavirus pandemic struck, Warner Bros. tried to delay the release from June 2020 to October 2020 and then to Christmas 2020. Ultimately, with theaters in many markets--including New York and Los Angeles--still closed at the time, Warner announced in November 2020 that the film would have a simultaneous opening in theaters and on their HBO Max streaming service where available. Nevertheless, the film still opened to $16.7 million on its opening weekend, setting a pandemic box office record with over $7 million more than Christopher Nolan's Tenet, which had opened three months prior. All told, Wonder Woman 1984 has grossed over $165 million worldwide. This week, Warner will release the film on 4K UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and Blu-ray as well as a Best Buy Exclusive 4K UHD Blu-ray SteelBook and Target Exclusive Blu-ray (with alternate artwork). All editions (except for the Blu-ray 3D disc) feature Dolby Atmos audio and the 4K disc also offers Dolby Vision and HDR10+ picture.
Reviewing the 4K UHD presentation, Randy Miller gives the video and audio perfect scores, saying: "any way you slice it, this 4K disc easily reaches visual perfection at just about every turn, from the earth-toned but enticing Themysciran opening act to neon-tinted establishing shots, colorful costumes, and of course Alexandia's bustling Landmark Mall where that fateful robbery sets everything in motion. Even sparsely lit nighttime scenes, such as Diana and Steve's romantic stroll by the Lincoln Memorial's Reflecting Pool, look terrific... Considering Wonder Woman 1984's native 4K roots, it's no surprise that this 100GB disc handles all that weight with no apparent issues; even factoring in the film's excessive running time, everything has been compressed well and runs at a strong bitrate during even the most visually complex stretches." About the film's Atmos track, Randy continues: "[The] audio mix is also mighty impressive, making its presence known from the very first scene and rarely letting up along the way. Highlights include that opening Themysciran athletic contest, the mall chase, Diana and Steve's plane takeoff and the subsequent July 4th fireworks flyover, their pursuit of Max through in Egypt, a battle at the White House, the Lasso of Truth, and of course the final showdown. Surround channels and low frequency effects are put to good use during these scenes and more, most of which also include strong panning effects and effective use of the height channel...Hans Zimmer's score sounds terrific as well".
Next, from BBC Home Entertainment comes the nature documentary A Perfect Planet. Synopsis: A Perfect Planet shines a light on everything that makes our planet just that, its size, its distance from the Sun, its spin and tilt, its moon - is perfectly suited to our existence, and our planet's natural forces perfectly nurture life. Narrated by David Attenborough.
Finally for new releases is Thomas Vinterberg's Another Round, starring Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Lars Ranthe, Magnus Millang, and Maria Bonnevie. Synopsis: Four friends, all teachers at various stages of middle age, are stuck in a rut. Unable to share their passions either at school or at home, they embark on an audacious experiment from an obscure philosopher: to see if a constant level of alcohol in their blood will help them find greater freedom and happiness. At first they each find a new-found zest, but as the gang pushes their experiment further, issues that have been simmering for years come to a head and the men are faced with a choice: reckon with their behavior or continue on the same course.
Originally intended to premiere at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival before the event was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, Another Round eventually premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, before opening in its native Denmark in September 2020. Since then, the film has received numerous awards and nominations, including a nomination for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and nominations at the upcoming Oscars for Best International Feature Film and Best Director.
In catalog news this week, we have three titles from Paramount Home Media Distribution. First up is the 16th title in the Paramount Presents lineup, y Cecil B. DeMille's film The Greatest Show on Earth, starring Charlton Heston, Cornel Wilde, Dorothy Lamour, Gloria Grahame, and Betty Hutton. The epic drama of life in a big top circus won two Oscars, including Best Picture and was also the highest-grossing film of 1952. Finally on Blu-ray, it arrives with a new 4K master derived from a scan of the original camera negative and one of the Presents series' trademark Filmmaker Focus featurettes, here with Leonard Maltin. A review, courtesy of Martin Liebman, is available here.
Then from Paramount, it's a 4K UHD upgrade for Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments, starring Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson, and Yvonne De Carlo. With the 2010 Blu-ray already from a 6K scan of the original camera negative, Paramount went back to that restoration to deliver a brand new 4K master with Dolby Vision. The result is a 4K UHD disc which Martin Liebman describes as "gorgeous", "dazzling" and "the new quintessential presentation of a legendary film". Read more of Martin's review here.
Finally from Paramount this week, it's the Blu-ray debut for Michael Ritchie's comedy The Bad News Bears (1976), starring Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neal, Jackie Earle Haley, Vic Morrow, and Joyce Van Patten. The Blu-ray includes brand new interviews with film director Kevin Smith, actor Jackie Earle Haley and producer Stanley Jaffe, amongst other extras.
Finally this week, we have no less than four new additions to the catalog of Severin Films. First, coming to Blu-ray is Carl Monson's crime thriller A Scream in the Streets, starring Joshua Bryant, Frank Bannon, Rosie Stone, Linda York, and Con Covert. Presented from a new 2K scan of the fully uncut version of the film, and with extras including two "sexy short films" constructed from outtakes, a review with screenshots is available here, courtesy of Jeffrey Kauffman.
Then on Blu-ray from Severin is Augusto Caminito's thriller Vampire in Venice, starring Klaus Kinski, Barbara De Rossi, Yorgo Voyagis, Donald Pleasence, Christopher Plummer, and Elvire Audray. Sourced from a new 2K remaster and including among its extras an 82-minute HD documentary Creation is Violent, chronicling Kinski's final years, a review of the disc with screenshots is available here, courtesy of Jeffrey Kauffman.
Also this week, Severin make their first foray into 4K UHD with two titles by Álex de la Iglesia: The Day of the Beast and Perdita Durango. Each release contains a 4K disc with HDR and a standard Blu-ray taken from the same 4K master, which also includes several supplements. Jeffrey Kauffman's reviews for both releases, which include plenty of screenshots of the new 4K masters on Blu-ray, are available here and here, respectively.