For the week of March 28th, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment will release Garth Jennings' Sing 2, featuring the voices of Scarlett Johansson, Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Tori Kelly, and Taron Egerton. The sequel to 2016 hit Sing was originally set to be released on Christmas Day in 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic scuppered those plans and saw the studio delay the film, first into July 2021 and then to its final release date of December 22, 2021. Like its predecessor, which holds the record for being the highest-grossing film to never hit the number one spot at the box office, Sing 2 found the top spot elusive, thanks largely to being released alongside Sony's juggernaut, Spider-Man: No Way Home. However, Sing 2 held onto second place at the box office for four straight weeks, amassing over $160 million domestically and over $387 million globally so far, to become the top-grossing animated film of 2021. Universal's disc releases feature the film's Dolby Atmos audio, while the 4K UHD disc adds Dolby Vision HDR. Extras include two new mini-movies, outtakes, featurettes and more. In addition to standard packaging, both a Target Exclusive Blu-ray with Art Cards and a Walmart Exclusive Blu-ray Gift Set will also be available.
Also from Universal this week is a Blu-ray for Kat Coiro's Marry Me, starring Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson, Maluma, John Bradley, and Sarah Silverman.
Studio description: Packed with original songs by Jennifer Lopez and global Latin music star Maluma, Marry Me arrives next Valentine's Day with Lopez starring as musical superstar Kat Valdez and Owen Wilson as Charlie Gilbert, a math teacher—total strangers who agree to marry and then get to know each other. An unlikely romance about two different people searching for something real in a world where value is based on likes and followers, Marry Me is a modern love story about celebrity, marriage and social media.
Universal's Blu-ray for Marry Me contains an audio commentary with Coiro and producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, as well as deleted scenes, a gag reel, featurettes and a lyric video.
Turning to catalog titles, on this Oscar weekend, we have a Best Picture winner making its long awaited Blu-ray debut, as Paramount Home Media Distribution releases Robert Redford's Ordinary People, starring Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, Timothy Hutton, and M. Emmet Walsh. The 30th spine in the Paramount Presents lineup, Ordinary People has been given a new 4K master, overseen by Redford, and comes with lossless original mono audio in Dolby True HD 2.0. The disc also comes with new extras, including the featurettes Swimming in the Rose Garden with actor Timothy Hutton (who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance) and Feeling is Not Selective with novelist Judith Guest. A theatrical trailer rounds out the disc extras, while the Paramount Presents line also continues its collectible packaging, with a special slipcover the opens to reveal the film's original poster artwork.
This week also sees two more additions to the Criterion Collection. First, coming to remastered Blu-ray and 4K UHD is Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz. Criterion's new releases come from a new 4K master, supervised and approved by Scorsese, with three audio options: The original 1978 surround mix, presented in DTS-HD MA 2.0, an LPCM Stereo mix from 2001 and a DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix, supervised and approved by musician Robbie Robertson. Additionally, the 4K UHD disc features Dolby Vision HDR, while the included Blu-ray features two audio commentaries, a new interview with Scorsese, a 2002 documentary on the making of the film, outtakes and more.
Then on Blu-ray from Criterion comes Theodore Witcher's love jones. Making its worldwide Blu-ray debut, the film comes from a new 4K master, supervised by Witcher, who also contributes a new audio commentary. Other extras include new interviews about the film's soundtrack, a panel discussion with the film's cast and crew, and an archival featurette. Reviewer Svet Atanasov was highly impressed with love jones, giving the disc high marks in all areas. For a full disc breakdown, including screenshots from the disc. read Svet's Blu-ray review.
Finally this week, we have two more additions to Warner Bros. Home Entertainment's Warner Archive Collection of Blu-rays. First is a newly remastered Blu-ray for William A. Wellman's A Star Is Born (1937), starring Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, Adolphe Menjou, May Robson, Andy Devine and Lionel Stander. Warner Archive presents the film newly remastered from a 4K scan of its original Technicolor nitrate negative, with lossless original mono audio. Extras include a remastered Merrie Melodies cartoon "A Star is Hatched" (1938), three vintage short films, two radio adaptations and the film's theatrical trailer. Reviewer Randy Miller has a perfect 5/5 score for the Blu-ray's picture, saying: "Overall, it's yet another top-tier effort from Warner Archive that will absolutely thrill long-time fans of A Star is Born with its incredibly dense, rich, and film-like highlights. If not for Warner Archive's unparalleled restoration work on another March title...this disc might have stood out even more. You know you're doing well when a Blu-ray this great-looking gets the silver medal". Read more in Randy's Blu-ray review.
That other March title is none other than Henry Levin and George Pal's The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, starring Laurence Harvey, Karlheinz Böhm, Claire Bloom, Walter Slezak, Barbara Eden and Oskar Homolka. Making its worldwide debut as a two-disc set, this particularly bounteous Warner Archive release contains two versions of the film, a 2.85:1 letterbox widescreen presentation, and a "Smilebox" presentation, that approximates the original theatrical Cinerama experience for the home theater. Both versions are sourced from a new 4K restoration of the original Cinemara negatives and come with DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio tracks made from the original seven-channel audio. Extras are mostly new and exclusive to this release and include multiple newly remastered trailers, a new 40-minute documentary two 1962 promotional radio interviews and more. Also included is a booklet that partially replicates a souvenir program sold during the original theatrical release. Reviewer Randy Miller is ecstatic about the A/V presentation, calling it "jaw-dropping" and saying it "ranks far above most Blu-ray transfers and even rivals some of the best native 4K discs currently available on home video". See screenshots from both versions of the film and read more in Randy's Blu-ray review.