Retail sources have begun telling us that Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is preparing to release a 4K Ultra HD version of director Stanley Kubrick’s landmark science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey . This is something we’ve actually known was coming for a few months now, having heard it off the record directly from studio sources. Now that we’re finally hearing the first word from retailers we feel comfortable confirming it. [Read on here…]

So today’s post is a quick one, but it’s a very, very good bit of news, especially for catalog and 4K fans…

It should be noted that 2001 debuted theatrically on 4/2/68, which would make 2018 the film’s 50th Anniversary. So you can bet the studio will be making a lot of noise about the re-issue. Our sources suggest a planned late March or early April release on 4K Ultra HD, so you can also expect that announcement to happen fairly soon. Not only should 2001 be a fantastic catalog title on 4K UHD, having been filmed in 65 mm, the release bodes very well for other classic catalog titles on the format from Warner. Anyway, we expect to hear more soon, so keep checking back.

Meanwhile, we’ve also learned that Paramount is planning to release Mission: Impossible – Fallout on 4K Ultra HD after its theatrical release this summer. Sources are suggesting to us that the earlier Mission: Impossible films are likely to be released on 4K by Paramount around that time as well, in much the same way that the Transformers films were last year with the home video debut of Transformers: The Last Knight.

All right… finally today, Tim Salmons has turned in a couple more new Blu-ray reviews, featuring his thoughts on The Sword and the Claw (1975) from AGFA and also One Million B.C. (1940) from VCI and MVD Visual. Enjoy!

Back tomorrow with more. Stay tuned!

- Bill Hunt

(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)