It’s not too late to pick up a great Christmas present for the film fanatic in your life...
It’s a far busier December than usual for new releases, with a huge wave of new steelbooks, 4Ks and limited-edition Blu-rays arriving on our shelves in the final weeks of the year. You can avoid the Christmas rush and work around delays in the post by pre-ordering this eclectic slate of new titles below – but be warned, release dates are subject to change, and you should keep an eye on our site for the most up to date listings.
At the time of writing, these are all the new releases you can expect in December.
Monday, 1st December
We’re starting the month off with some Spielberg, and a steelbook of one of his best 21st century efforts; the we-still-can't-believe-this-is-based-on-a-true-story caper Catch Me If You Can! Other remastered cult favourites getting steelbook uplifts this week include Luc Besson’s aquatic romantic fantasy The Big Blue, while influential animeGhost in the Shell is receiving two separate steelbooks for its 30th anniversary.
In terms of 4K releases, this week’s biggest arrival is the collector’s edition remaster of The Warriors – coming out to play alongside that ultimate classic are Arrow Video 4K sets of Hong Kong crime thriller City On Fire and early Hip-Hop time capsule Wild Style, as well as the standard-edition release of The Great Escape. Christmas is a time for tense family board games, so naturally, Clue: The Movie is getting a 4K uplift, and if you’re looking for a festive binge watch, the 8-disc Ted Lasso: The Richmond Way boxset will do the trick.
Rounding out this week, a Blu-ray boxset of five Akira Kurosawa samurai classics from the BFI, a 50th anniversary remaster of The Sweeney series 3, and the uncut, 4K restoration of slow-burning giallo The House With Laughing Windows, finally presented in its intended form courtesy of Shameless Screen Entertainment.
Monday, 8th December
It’s a bumper week for steelbooks, with Jarhead and Anaconda arriving in new 4K remasters, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Black Hawk Down returning due to high demand. However, it’s an even better week if you’re an anime fan, with the final season of Attack on Titan completing the show’s steelbook collection, as well as limited-edition steels of Fairy-Tale: 100 Years Quest and Tower of God: Return of the Prince – Season 2 Part 1.
Going back a bit further, one of the best anime films of all time – director Satoshi Kon’s cyber-stalker nightmare Perfect Blue – returns in a new 4K remaster and a deluxe collector’s edition set. Other bumper releases for cinephiles this week include a 4K collector’s edition of Barbarella and the fourth Shawscope boxset from Arrow, who are also set to release the standard edition 4Ks of Elvira: Mistress of the Dark and Heathers.
Radiance Films launch Transmission, their new label dedicated to down-and-dirty genre cinema, this week with a 4K remaster of gritty James Brolin thriller Night of the Juggler. It’s the headline title in a week where they have a whopping ten additional new releases; Japanese thrillers Sympathy for the Underdog and The Sting of Death, dark Korean kidnapping drama Splendid Outing, Robert Bresson’s Une Femme Douce, and a handful of vintage Italian films including We Still Kill the Old Way and A Quiet Place in the Country.
Finally, His Girl Friday joins the Criterion Collection in a new 4K remaster, Second Run are giving us a crash course in Hungarian filmmaker István Szabó in a new boxset, and the fabulously named 80s gore fest Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-o-Rama makes its Blu-ray debut courtesy of 101 Films.
Monday, 15th December
Cowabunga dudes! This week’s big release, arriving just in time for Christmas, is the limited-edition 4K remaster of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie trilogy – thank the Arrow Video team for this nostalgic present.
Speaking of nostalgia, steelbooks this week include new 4Ks from the world of Gerry Anderson – with remasters from the Thunderbirds and Space: 1999 archives – as well as David Fincher’s incredible home invasion thriller Panic Room, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s breakout Boogie Nights. That one sold out fast, but there are still plenty of 4Ks on the way for you to pick up.
Next up are Second Sight’s Limited Edition 4K sets for the month, and they’re ending the year with a bang; Possession and Re-Animator are both horror must-haves, just don’t save them for your Christmas day family viewing. There’s another great Hammer set this week of Brit noir Whispering Smith Hits London, and if that gets you in the mood for more, then Indicator have their latest boxset of Columbia Noir, this time focusing on gritty British productions!
88 Films have a typically wild slate including a deluxe collector’s edition of supernatural martial arts flick Saga of the Phoenix, Takashi Miike’s meta horror Over Your Dead Body, violent sci-fi Crash and Burn, and the unheralded slasher classic Don’t Open Till Christmas – again, don’t save that one to watch with the parents after your turkey dinner. Finally, Criterion’s rerelease of Powell and Presburger’s I Know Where I’m Going!, Severin’s collector’s edition 4K of The Wild Geese, Curzon’s boxset of French maestro Jean Vigo, and two new limited-edition anime sets from Crunchyroll including a glow-in-the-dark release of Kaiju No.8 - Season 1!
And The Final Releases Of 2025...
As the release schedule currently stands, there is just one film per week during the final stretch of the year. On the 22nd, Criterion’s 4K remaster of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure will bring some colour to this coldest, darkest of months, and on the 29th, Treasured Films have a new remaster of underrated haunted house movie The Medium. What a way to end 2025!
