For the week of May 17th, Walt Disney. Home Entertainment will release on 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray Raya and the Last Dragon, starring the voices of Kelly Marie Tran, Awkwafina, Daniel Dae Kim, Sandra Oh and Benedict Wong. The first film for Walt Disney Animation Studios since 2018, Raya and the Last Dragon was initially planned for a worldwide theatrical release in November 2020, but when the coronavirus pandemic struck, those plans changed and the film was delayed to March 2021. Nevertheless, it topped the box office in its first three weeks, eventually bringing in over $45 million domestically and over $107 million so far globally. Featuring an HDR presentation on the 4K disc and several extras on the Blu-ray, including the theatrical short film Us Again, outtakes and deleted scenes. A Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook and Target Exclusive Digipack editions will also be available.
Also this week, from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment comes Florian Zeller's The Father, starring Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Mark Gatiss, Imogen Poots, and Rufus Sewell. Official synopsis: Anthony is 80, mischievous, living defiantly alone and rejecting the carers that his daughter, Anne, encouragingly introduces. Yet help is also becoming a necessity for Anne; she can't make daily visits anymore and Anthony's grip on reality is unravelling. As we experience the ebb and flow of his memory, how much of his own identity and past can Anthony cling to? How does Anne cope as she grieves the loss of her father, while he still lives and breathes before her? THE FATHER warmly embraces real life, through loving reflection upon the vibrant human condition; heart-breaking and uncompromisingly poignant – a movie that nestles in the truth of our own lives.
Sony's Blu-ray of The Father contains deleted scenes and a making of amongst the extras.
Next, from Lionsgate Home Entertainment is Lee Isaac Chung's film Minari, starring Steven Yeun, Han Ye-ri, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho, Youn Yuh-jung, and Will Patton. Synopsis: A Korean American family moves to an Arkansas farm in search of its own American dream. Amidst the challenges of this new life in the strange and rugged Ozarks, they discover the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.
Lionsgate's Blu-ray of Minari contains an audio commentary with Lee Isaac Chung and Youn Yuh-jung, deleted scenes and a making of featurette.
Also from Lionsgate this week is Phillip Noyce's thriller Above Suspicion, starring Emilia Clarke, Johnny Knoxville, Thora Birch, Sophie Lowe, and Karl Glusman. Synopsis: Based on the true story of one of the most notorious crimes in FBI history, this gritty crime-thriller stars Emilia Clarke ("Game of Thrones") as Susan Smith, a young woman desperate to escape a seedy life of crime and drugs in a Kentucky coal mining town. When a newly minted FBI agent named Mark Putnam (Jack Huston, "Fargo") recruits Susan as his informant for a high-profile case, she believes her bad luck may finally be changing. But as Susan and Putnam's relationship deepens, so does the danger, setting them both on a collision course with deadly consequences.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment also has a new release this week, Tim Story's Tom & Jerry, starring Chloë Grace Moretz, Michael Peña, Colin Jost, Rob Delaney and Ken Jeong. The film, a live-action animation hybrid, is the second feature for the famous cat and mouse duo from Hanna-Barbera and did see its release date shift somewhat due to the pandemic. When it did open in February 2021, it topped the box office in its first weekend, on its way to making over $45 million at the domestic box office and over $111 million worldwide. Despite this, WB has opted to release the film only on Blu-ray, in line with other 2021 theatrical releases Judas and the Black Messiah and The Little Things. Unlike those previous releases, however, Tom and Jerry will feature its Dolby Atmos audio on the Blu-ray. Deleted scenes and a gag reel are included amongst the extras.
Also from Warner this week is a Blu-ray for The Alienist: Angel of Darkness. Synopsis: It is June 1897. A year has passed since Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a pioneer in forensic psychiatry, tracked down the brutal serial killer John Beecham with the help of a team of trusted companions and a revolutionary application of the principles of his discipline. Kreizler and his friends–high-living crime reporter John Schuyler Moore; indomitable, derringer-toting Sara Howard; the brilliant (and bickering) detective brothers Marcus and Lucius Isaacson; powerful and compassionate Cyrus Montrose; and Stevie Taggert, the boy Kreizler saved from a life of street crime–have returned to their former pursuits and tried to forget the horror of the Beecham case. But when the distraught wife of a Spanish diplomat begs Sara's aid, the team reunites to help find her kidnapped infant daughter. It is a case fraught with danger since Spain and the United States are on the verge of war.
Warner Blu-ray of The Alienist: Angel of Darkness is a two-disc set with all 8 one-hour episodes and five featurettes as extras.
In terms of catalog titles, there are a number of major 4K UHD upgrades this week. The first of two from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is George Roy Hill's The Sting, starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw, Charles Durning, and Ray Walston. The story of two con artists who set out to swindle a mob boss, The Sting was one of the biggest commercial and critical successes of the 1970s, earning over $150 million (over $900 million in 2021 dollars), being nominated for ten Oscars and winning seven, including Best Picture, beating out films such as American Graffiti and The Exorcist for the coveted award. In 2005, the Library of Congress added The Sting to the National Film Registry. Universal's 4K UHD release will contain HDR, a DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio track and the extras from their previous Blu-ray. A SteelBook edition will also be available.
Note: Universal recently uploaded an entire 10-minute scene from The Sting in 4K resolution to their official YouTube channel here.
Also getting a 4K UHD upgrade from Universal this week is John Landis' Animal House, starring John Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, and Tom Hulce. While Animal House was not a critical success upon release, the story of a rebel fraternity that refuses to conform to the college dean's standards was a huge success on college campuses and as the decades have passed, the film has become recognized as a comedy classic, even being selected for the National Film Registry in 2001. Universal's 4K UHD release will contain HDR, a DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio track and the extras from their previous Blu-ray. A SteelBook edition will also be available.
Finally this week get ready for the 4K UHD SteelBook edition of John McTiernan's Last Action Hero, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, F. Murray Abraham, Art Carney, Charles Dance, and Frank McRae. Although the film was a commercial and critical disappointment in its original release, the intervening decades have seen Last Action Hero gain a large following of fans who appreciate the film's attempt to satirize the action movies of the 80s and 90s, films in which Schwarzenegger had starred in and would go on to keep making for many years afterwards. Sony's new 4K UHD release contains several new extras on the 4K disc, including an audio commentary with John McTiernan, alternate and deleted scenes, the music video for "Big Gun" by AC/DC and more. Note that while the SteelBook edition is available this week, a standard edition will follow on June 15th, 2021.