For the week of July 12th, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will bring Simon McQuoid's Mortal Kombat (2021), starring Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Joe Taslim, and Mehcad Brooks. Based on the immensely popular series of fighting video games, Mortal Kombat is the third live-action adaptation after two previous films in 1995 and 1997. This 2021 version was one of the first films to debut both theatrically and on Warner's HBO Max streaming service back in April, after a few minor shifts to its release date. While the film managed to top the box office in its opening weekend, it received mixed reviews and fell 73% in its second weekend, eventually finishing its domestic run with over $42 million and a global total of over $83 million. This week, Warner will bring the film to both Blu-ray and 4K UHD formats with Dolby Atmos audio and HDR picture on the 4K disc. Extras include deleted scenes and several featurettes. A Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook edition will also be available.
Also coming this week from Warner is a Blu-ray for Guy Ritchie's Wrath of Man, starring Jason Statham, Holt McCallany, Rocci Williams, Josh Hartnett, and Jeffrey Donovan. An adaptation of the 2004 French film Le Convoyeur (AKA Cash Truck), the film stars Statham as a new security guard for an armored truck company, who foils a robbery attempt with expert skills, raising questions about his true identity and motives. Filled with exciting action set-pieces, Wrath of Man opened in May after being delayed from January due to the pandemic. It made $27 million domestically, topping the box office in its first weekend. Internationally, it has been on a staggered worldwide rollout (for example, it does not open in the UK until later this month) but so far, it has made over $100 million worldwide. Randy Miller says that the picture is "a largely pleasing 1080p transfer with excellent color saturation and a real commitment to image detail", but laments the lack of a 4K edition. Read Randy's full review here.
Another new release this week comes from Paramount Home Media Distribution: Tim Hill's The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run. The third theatrical feature for the beloved anthropomorphic yellow sponge from Nickelodeon, Sponge on the Run was intended to be a theatrical release in July 2020, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, Paramount opted to cancel the theatrical release in the United States and released the film on its Paramount+ streaming service in March 2021. Paramount's Blu-ray contains several extras, including the mini-movie "I'm Urchin You To Leave" and several featurettes and storyboards.
For catalog titles this week, there are two 4K UHD upgrades this week. First, from Paramount Home Media Distribution comes Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous, starring Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, Jason Lee, and Patrick Fugit. The story of a teenage journalist traveling with a rock band was written by Crowe and partially based on his own life experiences. While not a financial success, it was an immediate critical hit, garnering dozens of awards including four Oscar nominations, of which it won one for Best Original Screenplay. This week, Paramount releases the film in two editions: On Blu-ray, the film will be part of the Paramount Presents lineup, while on 4K UHD, the film will be released as a 4k-only SteelBook edition. Both editions will be two discs, with both the original theatrical version and the extended "Bootleg" cut as well as a plethora of new and archival extras, such as deleted and extended scenes, several featurettes including a making of from HBO, and an audio commentary on the "Bootleg" cut.
Reviewing the 4K SteelBook edition, Martin Liebman says of the Dolby Vision 4K picture: "Every album cover crease, fabric detail, facial hair, and environmental texture reach their fullest potential for essential accuracy and intricacy. The picture is certainly a high step above the decade-old Blu-ray, offering here a large boost to grain accuracy and stability, detail clarity, and color superiority. Indeed, the Dolby Vision grading brings a sense of tonal accuracy and health to the picture that is well beyond the old disc, offering here a palette that stays absolutely true to the film's period look...This is a first-rate UHD presentation from Paramount".
The second 4K UHD upgrade this week is from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment: Guy Ritchie's comedy Snatch, starring Benicio del Toro, Dennis Farina, Vinnie Jones, Brad Pitt and Rade Serbedzija. The 4K disc is newly remastered from the original camera negative presented with HDR and both newly remixed Dolby Atmos and original theatrical DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio tracks.