For the week of June 8th, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release a new 4K UHD edition of Roland Emmerich's The Patriot (2000), starring Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Joely Richardson, Jason Isaacs, Chris Cooper and Tchéky Karyo. Sourced from a 4K master, The Patriot was previously released in 2018 in its theatrical cut only with HDR10. This new edition adds a second 4K UHD disc with the 175-minute unrated version, while both cuts of the film now come with Dolby Vision HDR. Audio for both versions is a choice between new Dolby Atmos remixes or original 5.1 audio tracks. Extras include director and producer commentary, seven deleted scenes with commentary, four featurettes and a theatrical trailer. For a full release breakdown, read Randy Miller's 4K UHD review.
Note: Sony's new 4K UHD release of The Patriot is currently available only in Limited Edition SteelBook packaging.
New on Blu-ray from Sony is Sylvain Chomet's A Magnificent Life (Marcel et Monsieur Pagnol), featuring the voices of Laurent Lafitte, Géraldine Pailhas, Olivia Gotanègre, Thierry Garcia, Anaïs Petit and Vincent Fernandel.
Description: At the height of his fame, Marcel Pagnol receives a commission from a major magazine to write a literary serial, in which he can recount his childhood and life. As he begins writing the first pages, the child he once was little Marcel suddenly appears to him. Thus, his memories resurface as the words flow. Acclaimed director Sylvain Chomet brings to life the story of the greatest storyteller.
New on Blu-ray from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is Morgan Neville's documentary Lorne, starring Lorne Michaels.
Description: From Morgan Neville, Academy Award -winning filmmaker, comes an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes glimpse at Lorne Michaels, the man who built Saturday Night Live, shaping television and culture for generations. The documentary features exclusive footage, archival treasures, and candid interviews with the show's most iconic cast members and writers, including Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, John Mulaney, Andy Samberg, Conan O'Brien, Chris Rock, and many more.
Coming to 4K UHD from Universal is Roger Michell's Notting Hill (1999), starring Julia Roberts, Hugh Grant, Hugh Bonneville, Emma Chambers, James Dreyfus and Rhys Ifans. Universal presents Notting Hill with Dolby Vision HDR and a Dolby Atmos audio remix. Extras include audio commentary with Roger Michell, producer Duncan Kenworthy and writer Richard Curtis, deleted scenes, three featurettes and more.
New on Blu-ray from The Cinema Guild is Bas Devos' Here, starring Stefan Gota, Liyo Gong, Cédric Luvuezo, Teodor Corban, Saadia Bentaïeb and Alina Constantin.
Description: Here follows Stefan, a Romanian construction worker living in Brussels who is about to return home to visit his mother, and maybe stay...longer. Using the leftovers from his fridge, he cooks up a big pot of soup and begins handing it out as farewell gifts to friends and family. But while waiting for his car to be fixed, he meets Shuxiu, a Belgian-Chinese woman preparing a doctorate on mosses. Her attention to the near-invisible stops him in his tracks. On the heels of Ghost Tropic (2019), Bas Devos offers another Brussels city symphony. With a quiet grace that's becoming a trademark, he and his team capture both the longing of contemporary urban life and the potential for enchantment that still exists in spaces shared by strangers from different worlds.
The Cinema Guild presents Here as a double feature with Devos' Ghost Tropic, starring Saadia Bentaïeb, Laurent Kumba, Jovial Mbenga, Sara Sampelayo, Mieke De Groote and Anemone Valcke.
Description: Khadija is a fifty-eight-year-old Maghrebi cleaning woman living in Brussels in the wake of the 2016 bombings that shook the city. After work one night, she falls asleep on the last subway train, wakes up at the end of the line and has no choice but to make her way home—all the way across the city—on foot. Along the way, she has a series of encounters: with a security guard, a convenience store clerk, a group of teenagers. She asks for help and she gives it and slowly, steadily makes her way.
Director Bas Devos' lightness of touch combines with the richness of Grimm Vanderkerckhove's 16mm images to create a small wonder of humanistic storytelling. Ghost Tropic is a testament to the everyday drama of immigrant life and insists on the possibility of goodness and beauty, even in the dark of night.
Description: A pair of fans of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden launch a crowdfunding campaign to help Paul Di'Anno (aka The Beast), the band's iconic original singer (on the band's first two albums, 'Iron Maiden' and 'Killers'), get back on his feet literally, emotionally and professionally. Neglected by healthcare workers in the U.K., wheelchair-bound Di'Anno leaves his home in the middle of the pandemic and travels to Croatia, where he rides an emotional rollercoaster, running out of money, reuniting with his former Maiden bandmates and falling in love -- all while his health makes a dramatic turn-around thanks to the goodwill of fans, doctors and nurses.
Di'Anno makes a heroic, risky and drama-filled return to the stage as Metallica's James Hetfield and Gene Simmons of Kiss, as well as members of Slayer and Megadeth make appearances and testify to Di'Anno's importance and lasting impact.
Cleopatra's Blu-ray of Di'Anno: Iron Maiden's Lost Singer contains deleted scenes, a photo slideshow and promotional trailers.
Turning to catalog titles, the Film Preserve has a Blu-ray for Cecil B. DeMille's The Affairs of Anatol (1921), starring Wallace Reid, Gloria Swanson, Wanda Hawley, Theodore Roberts, Elliott Dexter and Theodore Kosloff. Sourced from a new restoration, the Film Preserve presents The Affairs of Anatol with a new score by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. Extras include a radio play, a restoration demonstration, a photo gallery, a booklet with liner notes by Farran Smith Nehme and more.
Coming to Blu-ray from VCI Home Entertainment is Rouben Mamoulian's The Gay Desperado (1936), starring Nino Martini, Ida Lupino, Leo Carrillo, Harold Huber, James Blakeley and Stanley Fields. VCI's Blu-ray is sourced from a new restoration made possible with the support of the Mary Pickford Foundation.
Coming to Blu-ray from Kino Lorber is José Giovanni's Birds of Prey (Le Rapace) (1968), starring Lino Ventura, Rosa Furman, Aurora Clavel, Enrique Lucero, Carlos Cardán and Augusto Benedico. Sourced from a 2019 4K scan of the original camera negative by StudioCanal, Kino presents Birds of Prey with DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono audio and optional English subtitles. Extras include a new audio commentary with film historian Samm Deighan and a theatrical trailer. For a full release breakdown, read Svet Atanasov's Blu-ray review.
Coming to Blu-ray from Kino Lorber is Pierre Desagnat's Vertigo for a Killer (Vertige pour un tueur) (1970), starring Marcel Bozzuffi, Sylva Koscina, Michel Constantin and Alan Scott. Sourced from a 2023 4K scan of the original camera negative by StudioCanal, Kino presents Vertigo for a Killer with optional English subtitles. Extras include a new audio commentary with mystery writer / filmmaker Max Allan Collins and film historian / host of the Cereal at Midnight podcast Heath Holland.
Coming to Blu-ray from Arrow Video is Paul Bogart's Marlowe (1969), starring James Garner, Carroll O'Connor, Gayle Hunnicutt, Bruce Lee, Rita Moreno and Jackie Coogan. Sourced from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative by Warner Bros.' MPI, Arrow presents Marlowe with LPCM Mono audio. Extras include a new appreciation by film historian Howard S. Berger, two image galleries and a theatrical trailer. Limited edition content includes a "collectors' booklet containing new writing by critics Jeff Chang and Priscilla Page". For a full release breakdown, read Jeffrey Kauffman's Blu-ray review.
Corning to Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection is Med Hondo's West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty (West Indies ou les Nègres marrons de la liberté) (1979), starring Jenny Alpha, Cyril Aventurin, Fernand Berset, Roland Bertin, Toto Bissainthe and Gérald Bloncourt. Sourced from a new 4K master, Criterion presents West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty with LPCM Mono audio. Extras include archival interviews with Med Hondo and cinematographer François Catonné, a new interview with African-cinema scholar Aboubakar Sanogo and trailers. Also included is an essay by film programmer and critic Ashley Clark.
Coming to 4K UHD combo pack from Shout Factory is Joe Dante's The 'Burbs (1989), starring Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, Carrie Fisher, Rick Ducommun, Corey Feldman and Wendy Schaal. Sourced from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative (supervised and approved by Joe Dante), Shout presents The 'Burbs with DTS-HD MA 2.0 audio and Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD disc. Extras include two new audio commentaries: one with film critics Drew McWeeny and Eric Vespe and another with film critics Emily Higgins and Julia Cunningham. Also included is audio commentary with screenwriter Dana Olsen (moderated by author Calum Waddell), There Goes the Neighborhood: The Making of The 'Burbs, interviews with Joe Dante, additional photographer John Hora and editor Marshall Harvey, an alternate ending, an original workprint with deleted and extended scenes, image galleries and a theatrical trailer.
Also coming to 4K UHD combo pack from Shout Factory is Frank Oz's Bowfinger (1999), starring Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Heather Graham, Christine Baranski, Jamie Kennedy and Barry Newman. Sourced from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative (approved by Frank Oz), Shout presents Bowfinger with a choice of DTS-HD MA 5.1 or 2.0 audio tracks and Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD disc. Extras include a new interview with Frank Oz, an audio commentary Frank Oz, a Spotlight on Location featurette, deleted scenes, outtakes and a theatrical trailer.
Finally this week, Lionsgate Home Entertainment has a 4K UHD upgrade for Wes Craven's Scream 4 (2011), starring David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere and Anthony Anderson. Lionsgate presents Scream 4 with Dolby Atmos audio and Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K UHD disc. Extras include audio commentary with Wes Craven, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere and Neve Campbell, a making of featurette, deleted and extended scenes with optional commentary, an alternate opening, an extended ending, a gag reel, EPKS (B-roll and soundbites), junket interviews, a TV spot and trailers.
On the same day, Lionsgate will release a Scream 4 Lionsgate Limited 4K UHD SteelBook, containing all of the above content, along with the Lionsgate Limited extras The Meta of Scream, Rebooting the Franchise: Scream 4 Revisited, Ghostface Revealed! and Wes Craven: The Maestro of Scream.