We’re working on couple of things here at The Bits today...

But first, Tim has posted a few Blu-ray reviews in the meantime, including his own take on the Universal Horror Collection: Volume 2 from Scream Factory, BoJack Horseman: Seasons One & Two from Shout! Factory, and a double feature of Day of the Panther and Strike of the Panther from Aussie distributor Umbrella Entertainment, as well as Dennis’ take on Robin Bissel’s The Best of Enemies from Universal and Grace Quigley from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

All are well worth a look, so do take a look and enjoy! [Read on here...]

It’s finally available for pre-order and we have the details for you here, Bits readers...

Network Distributing is now officially taking pre-orders for its long-awaited Monty Python’s Flying Circus: The Norwegian Blu-ray Edition box set, with a street date of October 7. [Editor’s Note: This set has been delayed to 11/4. Adjust your plans accordingly.]

The 7-disc set includes all 45 episodes plus extras in the original 1.33:1, restored in 1080 HD, with the original mono audio. The set will be coded for Regions A, B, and C, it’s available in 50i and 60i versions (which you get will be determined by your shipping address), and subtitles will be included in English, French, German, Spanish, Polish, and Portuguese.

Here’s more information on the set, straight from Network themselves... [Read on here...]

All right, we have a quick post for you this morning with breaking release news...

First, Disney has just officially announced not only the Blu-ray, DVD, 4K Ultra HD, and Digital release of Guy Ritchie’s live-action Aladdin, but also the Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD, and Digital release of the original 1992 animated Aladdin as a new Walt Disney Signature Collection release, both on 9/10. Note that the Digital releases are due on 8/17. Let’s break it down...

Aladdin (2019) will include Dolby Atmos audio and the following extras: Aladdin’s Video Journal: A Fantastic New Point of View, Guy Ritchie: A Cinematic Genie, A Friend Like Genie, the Desert Moon deleted song, 6 deleted scenes (Falling Petals Into OJ, Jafar’s Magic Orrery, Anders’ Gift, Wrong Wishes, Silly Old Fool, and Post Yam Jam Debrief), bloopers, and 3 music videos (Speechless, A Whole New World, and Un Mundo Ideal).

Aladdin (1992) will include Dolby Atmos audio, most of the classic extras (from the previous Blu-ray release) and the following new extras: Sing Along with the Movie, Aladdin on Aladdin, Let’s Not Be Too Hasty: The Voices of Aladdin, and Alternate Endings. [Read on here...]

We’ve got some quick but interesting release news for you today, but first...

Our own Michael Coate has posted his History, Legacy and Showmanship retrospective on the James Bond film Licence to Kill, in honor of its recent 30th anniversary. The piece includes a roundtable discussion with film historians Thomas A. Christie, John Cork, and Andrew McNess. Enjoy!

Now, let’s get right to that news...

It appears that Criterion is about to announce their long-awaited Godzilla: The Showa Era Blu-ray box set, based on a leaked listing that appeared on Target.com (see link here). SRP for the set is expected to be $149.99. The Showa Era (1954-1975) would include essentially the first 15 films in the series, including Godzilla, Godzilla Raids Again, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Mothra vs. Godzilla, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Invasion of Astro-Monster, Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, Son of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, All Monsters Attack, Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Godzilla vs. Gigan, Godzilla vs. Megalon, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, and Terror of Mechagodzilla. This could be Spine #1000, but we’ll have to wait and see when Criterion makes their official announcement. [Read on here...]

“With his wealth of dramatic stage experience, Timothy Dalton seemed ideally suited to this harsher take on Bond, bringing both depth and sensitivity to the character while creditably articulating his quiet rage and single-mindedness. This was Bond, but not as we knew him — now much closer to the tone, if not the setting, of the original Fleming texts.” — Thomas A. Christie, author of The James Bond Movies of the 1980s

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 30th anniversary of the release of Licence to Kill, the 16th (official) cinematic James Bond adventure and second (and final) entry to feature Timothy Dalton as Agent 007.

Our previous celebratory 007 articles include Moonraker, Quantum of Solace, From Russia with Love, Never Say Never Again, Live and Let Die, Octopussy, Casino Royale (1967), Tomorrow Never Dies, Die Another Day, Dr. No, The Living Daylights, The Spy Who Loved Me, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever, Casino Royale, For Your Eyes Only, Thunderball, GoldenEye, A View to a Kill, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Goldfinger, and 007… Fifty Years Strong.

The Bits continues the series with this retrospective featuring a Q&A with an esteemed group of film historians and James Bond authorities who discuss the virtues, shortcomings and legacy of 1989’s Licence to Kill. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got more interesting news for you today...

But first, Tim Salmons has posted some new Blu-ray reviews here at the site (yesterday and this afternoon), including his own thoughts on Weird Science from Arrow Video and Quartermass and the Pit from Scream Factory, as well as Dennis’ take on Michael Radford’s 1984 from the Criterion Collection.

We’ve also updated the Release Dates & Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, anytime you order literally anything from Amazon after clicking through one of our links, you’re helping to support our work here at The Bits and we really do appreciate it.

And tomorrow morning, be sure to watch for a new History, Legacy and Showmanship column from Michael Coate here at The Bits, this one honoring the recent 30th anniversary of the James Bond film License to Kill. [Read on here...]

• 1001      The Daytrippers
• 1002      Betty Blue
• 1003      All About Eve
• 1004      Now, Voyager (BD)
• 1005      Cold War
• 1006      The Story of Temple Drake
• 1007      Until the End of the World
• 1008      Old Joy
• 1009      Holiday (BD)
• 1010      Le petit soldat
• 1011      Fail Safe
• 1012      All About My Mother
• 1013      Teorema
• 1014      Roma
• 1015      Three Fantastic Journeys by Karel Zeman: Journey to the Beginning of Time
• 1016      Three Fantastic Journeys by Karel Zeman: Invention for Destruction
• 1017      Three Fantastic Journeys by Karel Zeman: The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
• 1018      Paris is Burning
• 1019      Bamboozled
• 1020      Leave Her to Heaven
• 1021      Show Boat
• 1022      The Prince of Tides
• 1023      The Cremator
• 1024      Destry Rides Again (BD)
• 1025      The Grand Budapest Hotel
• 1026      Me and You and Everyone We Know
• 1027      The Great Escape
• 1028      Dance, Girl, Dance (BD)
• 1029      Husbands
• 1030      Scorsese Shorts
• 1031      Wildlife
• 1032      An Unmarried Woman
• 1033      The Cameraman
• 1034      Portrait of a Lady on Fire
• 1035      Come and See
• 1036      Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits (box set)
• 1037      War of the Worlds (BD)
• 1038      Marriage Story
• 1039      Town Bloody Hall
• 1040      Toni
• 1041      The Comfort of Strangers
• 1042      Beau travail
• 1043      Christ Stopped at Eboli
• 1044      Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project No. 3 (Box set)
• 1045      Lucía (World Cinema Project No. 3)
• 1046      After the Curfew (World Cinema Project No. 3)
• 1047      Pixote (World Cinema Project No. 3)
• 1048      Dos monjes (World Cinema Project No. 3)
• 1049      Soleil Ô (World Cinema Project No. 3)
• 1050      Downpour (World Cinema Project No. 3)
• 1051      The Elephant Man
• 1052      Claudine
• 1053      The Gunfighter
• 1054      Parasite
• 1055      Girlfriends
• 1056      Moonstruck (BD)
• 1057      Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
• 1058      The Irishman
• 1059      Crash
• 1060      Amores perros
• 1061      Minding the Gap
• 1062      Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese
• 1063      The Ascent
• 1064      The Parallax View (BD)
• 1065      Mandabi
• 1066      Man Push Cart
• 1067      Chop Shop
• 1068      Smooth Talk
• 1069      Céline and Julie Go Boating
• 1070      Secrets & Lies
• 1071      Defending Your Life (BD)
• 1072      History Is Made at Night
• 1073      Memories of Murder
• 1074      Irma Vep
• 1075      Fast Times at Ridgemont High (BD)
• 1076      Merrily We Go to Hell (BD)
• 1077      Flowers of Shanghai
• 1078      Nightmare Alley
• 1079      Streetwise
• 1080      Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell
• 1081      Visions of Eight
• 1082      The Signifyin’ Works of Marlon Riggs
• 1083      Pariah
• 1084      Mirror
• 1085      Bringing Up Baby
• 1086      Deep Cover
• 1087      Working Girls
• 1088      La piscine
• 1089      After Life
• 1090      Original Cast Album: “Company”
• 1091      Beasts of No Nation
• 1092      Throw Down
• 1093      The Story of a Three Day Pass (Melvin Van Peebles: Four Films box)
• 1094      Watermelon Man (Melvin Van Peebles: Four Films box)
• 1095      Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (Melvin Van Peebles: Four Films box)
• 1096      Don’t Play Us Cheap (Melvin Van Peebles: Four Films box)
• 1097      Love & Basketball
• 1098      The Damned
• 1099      High Sierra
• 1100      The Incredible Shrinking Man (BD)

We’ve got a quick but terrific update for you today…

As you know, Jeff Nelson, Brian Ward, and I held the Inside an Indie Studio: Shout! Factory panel at Comic-Con in San Diego on Saturday night, and we announced a ton of great titles that Shout! and Scream are working on for release in the months ahead (through March 2020).

From Shout!, you can expect The Anne Bancroft Collection (includes Don’t Bother to Knock, The Miracle Worker, The Pumpkin Eater, The Graduate, Fatso, To Be or Not to Be, Agnes of God, and 84 Charing Cross Road), Twins (1988), The Wizard: Collector’s Edition (1989), Brewster’s Millions: Collector’s Edition (1985), and a vinyl re-issue of Mystery Science Theater 3000: Clouds in the Sky. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover today...

If you’re at Comic-Con in San Diego this evening, don’t forget to check out Shout! Factory’s panel for What We Left Behind: A Star Trek Deep Space Nine Documentary (7-8 PM, Room 32AB). It should be WELL worth your time, especially if you’re a Star Trek fan.

Also, my friend Kevin Grazier (science advisor to Hollywood films and TV shows including Battlestar Galactica, Gravity, and the new Another Life) is holding a Hollyweird Science panel this afternoon (3-4 PM at the Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park).

Tomorrow morning at the Con, Warner Archive is having a panel with animation historian Jerry Beck about The Jetsons (including the upcoming Blu-ray release (10-11 AM, Room 6A).

And of course, I’ll be moderating the Inside an Indie Studio: Shout! Factory panel with Jeff Nelson (Sr. Director Marketing, Scream Factory and Shout! Factory) and Brian Ward (Sr. Director of Production, Shout! Factory) tomorrow night (8-9 PM in Room 23ABC). We’ll take you through the process of how Shout! licenses and produces great catalog special editions on Blu-ray. And we’re going to announce a TON of great news titles coming from Shout! and Scream – this may be their best slate yet! So don’t miss it and we hope to see you there! You can follow the title announcements on Twitter (@ShoutFactory @BillHuntBits @TheDigitalBits) and I believe there may be a video version that gets shown on the Shout! Factory website blog in the weeks after the Con. [Read on here...]

Heads-up, folks. I’ll have another post later today – I’m back in the office after a day at Comic-Con to appear on the Inglorious Treksperts panel there – and we have some good news for you therefrom.

First up, the panel was great. Mark A. Altman, Daren Dochterman, Ashley Edward Miller, Rob Burnett and I a blast talking about Star Trek: The Motion Picture, a movie near and dear to each of us, which turns 40 this year.

The panel room at the Con was absolutely packed – a good full house – which was awesome to see. We showed rare clips related to the film, told interesting stories, and made a lot of people (including ourselves) laugh.

You will all be able to hear the panel for yourselves in the next few weeks, as it will be released as an official Inglorious Treksperts podcast (listen here or wherever your great podcasts are found). [Read on here...]