For the week of June 28th, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will bring Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to 4K UHD. The classic adaptation of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory did not meet with the author's approval and was only a modest success on initial release, but in the decades since, the film has become a family favorite in its own right thanks to television airings and home video, with such prestige that in 2014, was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress. Now being released virtually fifty years to the day since its opening in theaters, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory will have HDR and DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio, along with an audio commentary and several video extras on the included Blu-ray. Randy Miller is impressed with the new 4K picture, saying: "Overall image quality is extremely good here...The first thing I noticed was a much more natural film-like texture: gone are the Blu-ray's boosted contrast and saturation levels, as well as its edge enhancement and occasionally chunky artifacts...As for the color? It's much improved as well, with a much more natural appearance...that gets a nice boost from its tasteful HDR enhancement...once inside Wonka's world, all bets are off: from the first sight of the expansive Chocolate River Room to edible plant life (and tea cups), the LSD-fueled boat ride, the bubble machine, that horrific "human blueberry" transformation, and beyond, no shortage of eye-popping color details stand out for all the right reasons..." Read more in Randy's full review here.
Also from Warner this week is His Dark Materials: The Complete Second Season. Studio description: His Dark Materials follows young orphan Lyra (Dafne Keen) on a journey through a parallel world where a human's soul exists outside one's body – in the form of a talking animal called a daemon. Season two begins as Lyra, distraught over the death of her best friend, embarks upon a journey in a strange and mysterious abandoned city. There she meets Will (Amir Wilson), a boy from our world who is also running from a troubled past. Lyra and Will learn their destinies are tied to reuniting Will with his father but find their path is constantly thwarted as a war begins to brew around them. Meanwhile, Mrs. Coulter (Ruth Wilson) searches for Lyra, determined to bring her home by any means necessary.
Warner's two-disc Blu-ray for His Dark Materials: The Complete Second Season includes all seven episodes, a documentary and several featurettes.
Next up this week is Shout Factory with Stardust (2020), starring Johnny Flynn, Jena Malone, Marc Maron, Anthony Flanagan. Synopsis: In 1971, a 24-year-old fledgling artist named David Bowie (Johnny Flynn) is sent to America to promote his newest record, The Man Who Sold The World. He is quickly met with an audience who are not yet ready for him. But during the tumultuous journey, Bowie slowly begins to realize a need to reinvent himself in order to truly become himself ... and it's within that realization that his iconic, celestial alter-ego Ziggy Stardust is born. Anchored by stellar performances from Johnny Flynn, Jena Malone (as Bowie's wife, Angie) and Marc Maron (as his publicist, Rob Oberman), Stardust offers an intimate glimpse into the moments that inspired the creation of Bowie's first and most memorable alter-ego, illuminating the turning point that cemented his legacy as one of the world's greatest cultural icons.
Also coming this week from Shout are two catalog titles: Just A Gigolo, starring David Bowie and Kim Novak, celebrates its Blu-ray premiere with a making of featurette and a 32-page booklet, while Shout's SteelBook re-release of Battle Beyond the Stars features a new 2K transfer along with the previous extras.
Speaking of catalog titles, one of the big ones this week is from Arow Video, who will release a new two-disc edition of Sam Peckinpah's Major Dundee, starring Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, Jim Hutton, James Coburn and Michael Anderson Jr. Featuring two cuts of the film, including the 136-minute extended cut (taken from a 4K scan) and as a limited edition exclusive, a second disc with the 122-minute theatrical version, Arrow's release contains a bevy of supplemental content, including three audio commentaries and two score options on the extended cut, a feature-length making of documentary and various featurettes, including deleted/extended scenes, all of this in deluxe packaging with a fold-out poster and a 60-page booklet.