For the week of May 23rd, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will release Matt Reeves' The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, and John Turturro. One of many films featuring the iconic DC Comics character to be produced in the last two decades, The Batman serves to reboot the character's solo adventure films, this time in his early years of crime fighting, when he must team up with Lieutenant Jim Gordon to solve a series of murders being committed by The Riddler. Released in March 2022 after being delayed from 2021 thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, The Batman received critical acclaim and grossed over $134 million on its domestic opening weekend. So far, the film has grossed over $768 million worldwide, becoming the the second-highest-grossing film of 2022.
This week, Warner has unsurprisingly pulled out all the stops for the home video release of The Batman. In addition to standard packaging on Blu-ray and 4K UHD, retailer exclusives include a Best Buy Exclusive 4K UHD SteelBook, a Target Exclusive Blu-ray with Exclusive Content and Alternate Artwork and a a Walmart Exclusive 4K UHD Giftset. All discs contain the film's Dolby Atmos audio, while the 4K UHD disc also contains Dolby Vision HDR. Over two hours of extras are included on the Blu-ray, including the 54-minute featurette Vengeance In the Making, several shorter featurettes and deleted scenes with optional commentary by Matt Reeves.
Reviewer Randy Miller gives the 4K UHD disc of The Batman a perfect 5/5 score for picture and sound quality, saying that "this 4K disc has absolutely no trouble handling the deep-focus detail and extremely minimal lighting during the film's near-endless night scenes and dimly-lit interiors. It's also aided greatly by Dolby Vision / HDR10 enhancement...Colors also benefit from the built-in strengths of HDR enhancement even though, by design, The Batman is anything but an extremely colorful film...it's a perfect example of a film's intended look being rendered faithfully on home video..." For full disc breakdowns, read Randy's 4K UHD review and Blu-ray review.
Description: With the help of an ancient Kryptonian power, Lex Luthor unites the world's Super-Villains to capture all of Earth's Super Heroes, until … only the DC Super Hero Girls are left to stop the Legion of Doom. Our heroes must cross dimensions to rescue their fellow Super Heroes from the Phantom Zone, but a fortuitous wrong turn leads them to Titans Tower – where they find much-needed allies in the Teen Titans. The young Super Heroes discover their combined strength – and usual comic relief – are essential to save the day in this blockbuster event!
Extras for Warner's Blu-ray of Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse include three episodes from the DC Comics Vault: Teen Titans Go!: Season 2: "Operation Tin Man" and Season 4: "Titan Saving Time" and DC Super Hero Girls: Season 2: #SmallVictories.
Finally from Warner this week is a 4K UHD upgrade for James Wan's Malignant, starring Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson, George Young, Michole Briana White, and Jean Louisa Kelly. The two-disc set contains the film in 4K HDR for the first time, while the Blu-ray, which was previously released last year, contains a behind-the-scenes featurette as an extra.
New this week from Lionsgate Home Entertainment is a Blu-ray for Ti West's X, starring Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow, Mia Goth, Martin Henderson, and Kid Cudi.
At a secluded farmhouse in Texas, a film crew arrives to shoot an adult film. Their hosts, a reclusive elderly couple, take a special interest in their young guests. As night falls, the couple's leering interest turns violent.
Extras for Lionsgate's Blu-ray of X include the featurette That X Factor and an extended scene: "The Farmer's Daughters".
New this week from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is a Blu-ray for BJ McDonnell's Studio 666, starring Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett, Rami Jaffee, Lionel Richie, Jenna Ortega, Will Forte, Jeff Garlin, Leslie Grossman, and Whitney Cummings.
Studio description: In Studio 666, Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Foo Fighters move into an Encino mansion steeped in grisly rock history to record their much-anticipated tenth album. Once in the house, Dave Grohl finds himself grappling with supernatural forces that threaten both the completion of the album and the lives of the band.
Universal's Blu-ray of Studio 666 contains a DTS-HD MA 7.1 audio track. A gag reel is also included as an extra.
Also this week from Uiversal is a Blu-ray box set for The Sinner: The Complete Series (2017-2021). The eight-disc box set contains all four seasons of the show, with deleted scenes as extras.
And new on Blu-ray this week from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is Iris K. Shim's Umma, starring Sandra Oh, Fivel Stewart, Alana Lee, Tom Yi, Odeya Rush, and Dermot Mulroney.
Synopsis: Umma, which is the Korean word for "mother," follows Amanda (Sandra Oh) and her daughter (Fivel Stewart) living a quiet life on an American farm. When the remains of her estranged mother arrive from Korea, Amanda becomes haunted by the fear of turning into her.
Finally for new releases this week, Magnolia Pictures will release on 4K UHD and Blu-ray John Andreas Andersen's The Burning Sea (AKA Nordsjøen), starring Kristine Kujath, Thorp Henrik Bjelland, Rolf Kristian Larsen, and Anders Baasmo Christiansen.
the neighboring North Sea, launching a prosperous period of offshore drilling. 50 years later, the environmental consequences begin to manifest – a crack has opened on the ocean floor, causing a rig to collapse. A team of researchers, including submarine operator Sofia, rushes in to search for the missing and assess the cause of the damage, but what they discover is that this is just the start of a possible apocalyptic catastrophe. As rigs are evacuated, Sofia's loving companion Stian becomes trapped in the depths of the sea, and Sofia must dive in to rescue him. The Burning Sea is the latest disaster epic from the team behind The Quake and The Wave.
Turning to catalog titles, this week we have two 4K UHD upgrades from Shout Factory's Scream Factory imprint. First up is Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce (1985), starring Steve Railsback, Peter Firth, Frank Finlay, Mathilda May, and Patrick Stewart. Shout's Collector's Edition three-disc set contains the theatrical cut of the film, newly remastered from the original camera negative on Blu-ray and 4K UHD (the latter with Dolby Vision HDR) and a new Dolby Atmos mix, as well as DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 tracks. The third disc is a Blu-ray, which contains the director's cut of the film from a previous 4K scan and has DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 tracks. Archival extras on the Blu-rays include two audio commentaries on the director's cut, interviews with actors Steve Railsback and Mathilda May and more.
Then on 4K UHD from Shout comes Bernard Rose's Candyman (1992), starring Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd, Xander Berkeley, Kasi Lemmons, Vanessa Williams and DeJuan Guy. Shout's Collector's Edition three-disc set contains the theatrical cut of the film, newly remastered from the original camera negative on Blu-ray and 4K UHD (the latter with Dolby Vision HDR) and a new Dolby Atmos mix, as well as DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 tracks. The unrated cut is also included via seamless branching, however, the unrated footage inserts are from an archival film print. Archival extras include commentaries, interviews, featurettes and more.
Also from Shout this week is a Blu-ray for Roger Nygard's documentary Trekkies (1997). Released as the film celebrates its 25th anniversary, Shout's disc presents the documentary with a new 20-minute featurette and an HD theatrical trailer. for a full disc breakdown, read Brian Orndorf's Blu-ray review.
Finally this week, Arrow Video has a 4K UHD upgrade for John McNaughton's Wild Things (1998), starring Kevin Bacon, Matt Dillon, Neve Campbell, Theresa Russell, Denise Richards and Daphne Rubin-Vega. Arrow's release presents both the theatrical and unrated cuts of the film via seamless branching. both newly remastered from a 4K scan of the original camera negative done by Sony Pictures, and with Dolby Vision HDR. Extras include a new audio commentary and new interview with John McNaughton and a new interview with Denise Richards, as well as archival extras. Limited edition packaging includes an illustrated collector's booklet, a double-sided poster, six lobby card reproductions and reversible artwork. In addition to single-disc 4K UHD and Blu-ray editions, a Zavvi Exclusive Limited Edition Dual Format SteelBook with both Blu-ray and 4K UHD discs is also available. Reviewer Jeffrey Kauffman was quite pleased with the new Arrow discs, for full disc breakdowns, including screencaps of the new remaster on Blu-ray, read Jeffrey's 4K UHD review and Blu-ray review.