The best 4K and Blu-ray new releases coming out in August

New physical media must-haves include Furiosa, the latest Planet Of The Apes film, The Last Unicorn, The Last Emperor, and Succession

By Cindy White  |  August 7, 2024 | 4:18pm
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The best 4K and Blu-ray new releases coming out in August
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Physical media may be devalued by some in our streaming-dominated world, but you’d be surprised how many great titles are only available on disc. Also, some titles can be so much more rewarding on DVD, Blu-ray, or 4K UHD, especially when they’re loaded with special packaging and bonus features. With that in mind, here’s a look at all the best new films and TV series that you can own starting in August 2024, including blockbusters from earlier this summer, like Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, and Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes. You can also pick up a couple new box sets to take up room in your shelf—Bill & Ted’s Most Triumphant Trilogy, Robert Rodriguez’s Mexico Trilogy, and all four seasons of HBO’s Succession on Blu-ray. And Criterion’s August lineup includes two classic films from the brilliant mind of Albert Brooks. As always, there’s a lot more to dig into, so let’s get started spinning.

Bill & Ted's Most Triumphant Trilogy

Available August 6, 2024

Now that you’ve had time to process the news that Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter will be appearing on stage together in a new Broadway production of Waiting For Godot next year, you can go back and relive their glory days anytime you want with this box set of all three Bill & Ted movies on Blu-ray and 4K. This six-disc set includes all the films, of course, in 4K UHD and Blu-ray—Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, and Bill & Ted Face The Music—plus new behind-the-scenes featurettes, audio commentaries, recent interviews, and all the extras previously included with the Most Excellent Collection released in 2016. Shout! Factory is also simultaneously issuing new standalone editions of the second and third films in 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray, so if you’re just missing one of them you can complete your collection without having to buy the whole set.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Available August 13, 2024

Warner Bros. wasted no time getting the fifth installment in George Miller’s Mad Max franchise out in a variety of video formats for fans of physical media. You can take your pick from the Blu-ray alone, the 4K/Blu-ray edition, or the 4K/Blu-ray steelbook, each with a unique cover design featuring stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth or Furiosa’s iconic Imperator symbol. With room-shaking Dolby Atmos sound and a crisp Dolby Vision HDR picture, it’s the closest you can get to having a true theatrical experience at home. If you enjoyed the “black and chrome” edition of Mad Max: Fury Road, you may want to hold off on bringing Furiosa home right away, as it will be getting the same treatment later this year in an upcoming release featuring an introduction by Miller. A five-film collection set is also expected soon.

The Last Emperor

Available August 13, 2024

Bernardo Bertolucci’s sweeping biographical epic about the life of the final emperor of China is getting a new 4K/Blu-ray upgrade of the original release Criterion from 2009 (with another update in 2014). The new “director approved” three-disc edition includes a 4K digital restoration with DTS-HD sound and a Dolby Vision HDR picture, plus two Blu-ray discs featuring the film and all the special features from the previous release. It’s a technical triumph befitting a winner of nine Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, so if you didn’t get around to picking it up the first time (or last year, when Arrow also released its own 4K version exclusively in the UK), here’s another chance to add this beautiful classic to your library.

You're Next Limited Edition

Available August 19, 2024

Independent UK distributor Second Sight has built a reputation globally for its high-quality restorations of cult films and thoughtfully curated box sets. The company’s upcoming release of You’re Next looks to be no exception. Back in 2011 the horror film subverted the home-invasion subgenre by turning the tables on a trio of creepy attackers in animal masks who interrupt a family gathering. The new 4K release will be its first in the format, with a HDR Dolby Vision grade approved by director Adam Wingard. The regular set includes new interviews with the cast and crew, a look at the making of the film, animated storyboards and two audio commentaries. There’s also a limited edition with a 120-page book with new critical essays and six collectable art cards. Since this is a UK release the Blu-ray is restricted to region B, but the 4K disc is region free and playable anywhere.

The Last Unicorn

Available August 20, 2024

The first time The Last Unicorn was made available on DVD, it was a clumsily transferred pan-and-scan print, but even that imperfect version inspired millions of kids to fall in love with the animated film at an early age. Look how far we’ve come—the latest release will have a new 4K transfer scanned directly from the 35mm interpositive (the next best thing to the original negative, as far as film quality goes) and remastered sound in DTS-HD. Shout! Factory produced an “Enchanted Edition” Blu-ray in 2015, and many of the bonus features from that edition have been carried over, though notably not the audio commentary provided by Peter S. Beagle, who wrote the screenplay and the novel it’s based on. If you order directly from Shout! Factory you can also get an exclusive double-sided poster featuring the original theatrical artwork on one side and a new design on the other. A new steelbook edition with lovely cover art will also be available on Aug. 20, sold exclusively through Walmart. 

Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes

Available August 27, 2024

The latest installment in the Planet Of The Apes franchise, Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes, also hits shelves this summer in a wide variety of formats, including a combo back, standalone Blu-ray, and limited edition Steelbook. The studio didn’t skimp on the extras with this release, loading it up with more than three hours of bonus content and an alternative cut of the movie. Dubbed “Inside the Lens: The Raw Cut,” it features a split-screen comparison between the final cut of the film and a version with unfinished VFX, with optional audio commentary by director Wes Ball, editor Dan Zimmerman, and VFX supervisor Erik Winquist. The entire Apes series, now up to 10 films in all, will also be available to purchase as a bundled collection.

The Mexico Trilogy: El Mariachi, Desperado & Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Available August 27, 2024

Robert Rodriguez became a filmmaker to watch back in 1992, with his debut feature El Mariachi. Shot on location in Mexico on a budget of around $7,000 it would go on to earn $2.6 million at the box office. Rodriguez would later return to that world for two sequels, Desperado in 1995 (with Antonio Banderas taking over the lead role) and Once Upon A Time In Mexico in 2003. Now you can have all three films packaged neatly together in a new box set from Arrow Video. The only one of the three to get a 4K restoration, however, is Desperado. The versions of El Mariachi and Once Upon A Time In Mexico included in this set are the previously released Blu-ray discs. There are several newly filmed interviews for each film, as well as hours of archival features (including the one that has Rodgriguez teaching you how to cook puerco pibil). The box also has an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Carlos Aguilar and Nicholas Clement, reversible sleeves, and collectable film posters. For those who already have the Blu-ray releases or are only interested in getting Desperado in 4K, Arrow is also putting out a limited edition steelbook of that film by itself.

Mother and Real Life

Available August 27, 2024

Criterion is releasing two great Albert Brooks films this month, the first of which (alphabetically, at least) is his 1996 dramedy Mother. Brooks directed, co-wrote, and starred in the film opposite Debbie Reynolds as the kind of mom Carrie Fisher always told us she was (minus the showbiz stuff) in real life. It was Fisher, in fact, who suggested Reynolds for the role after being out of the spotlight for a couple decades. She was the perfect blend of sweet and caustic, loving and critical, to make the character work. You have to believe that Brooks’ character, a struggling novelist going through his second divorce, would actually want to move back in with her and put up with the aggravation while trying to figure out his next steps. The two are great together. Brooks supervised and approved the 4K digital restoration, and sat down for a new interview for this release. There’s also one with Rob Morrow, who plays his brother in the film. The two-disc set includes the 4K UHD disc in HDR and a Blu-ray disc with the film and special features.

The other Brooks film coming from Criterion this month is the prescient 1979 film Real Life, a satirical take on documentary filmmaking that was way ahead of its time. Brooks, playing an exaggerated version of himself, sets out to supposedly document a year in the life of an ordinary family in Phoenix, Arizona. Charles Grodin plays the father of the family, a veterinarian on the verge of a nervous breakdown, opposite Frances Lee McCain as his unhappy wife. The longer the project goes on, the more unhinged everyone becomes, raising questions about its influence on the life of this family as the process itself becomes the story. It’s kind of astonishing how well Brooks wound up skewering modern reality television in Real Life despite predating its rise by a decade. Criterion is giving the film its due with a new 4K digital restoration. Like he did for Mother, Brooks supervised and approved the transfer. The special features are offered on a separate Blu-ray disc and include a new interview with Brooks and a separate one with McCain, plus an original 3D trailer (another recurring trend Brooks somehow predicted).

Succession: The Complete Series

There are plenty of reasons why you might want to own all four seasons of Succession on Blu-ray—you canceled your HBO subscription when it ended, or you plan to do it soon, or you never had one in the first place—but the best reason is simply because no TV library would be complete without one of the most celebrated shows of all time in the collection. You can relive all 39 episodes of the prestige family drama any time you want with this box set. It also comes with more than 20 bonus features, including expanded versions of the “Inside the Episode” featurettes that followed the original airings, character recaps, and interviews with the cast and crew. For fans of the show the only reason not to get this is if you’re waiting to see if a 4K version is next. That’s how it was broadcast on HBO, after all, so it shouldn’t be a heavy lift for Warner Bros. Even Kendall Roy could see the value of that strategy.

 
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