As always, our monthly guide to the upcoming 4K, steelbook and limited-edition Blu-ray releases is subject to change, and all release dates are correct at the time of writing. We advise you to keep an eye on our coming soon page for the most up-to-date listings, where you’ll also find information on the latest launches as soon as they become available to pre-order.
Here’s what we’re expecting to hit our shelves throughout May.
Monday, 5th May
We’re starting the month off with a Sean Baker double from the Criterion Collection! The recently Oscar-anointed director’s Anora gets a 4K release, alongside his underseen earlier film Prince Of Broadway, two very different stories of life in New York City’s margins.
Anime fans will be treated to two steelbooks – the complete series of Berserk and Samurai Champloo – as well as a Limited-Edition Blu-ray of Jujutsu Kaisen – The Shibuya Incident (Season 2). Moving west, but retaining an influence from Japanese animation, is Batman Ninja Vs Yakuza League, which is getting a 4K release from DC.
Elsewhere, one of Val Kilmer’s best loved roles, as Jim Morrison in The Doors, arrives in Ultra HD; Arrow are shining a spotlight on an underseen haunted house movie (I Will Never Leave You Alone); and two more slashers arrive on Blu-ray from the Warner Bros. Archive, Night School and Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III.
Monday, 12th May
A treasure trove of cinematic classics have been remastered in 4K and will all be arriving in our warehouse ahead of this week. These include the non-steelbook editions of both Kill Bill volumes and Jackie Brown, Arrow’s Limited Edition 4Ks of A Fistful of Dollars and The Andromeda Strain, and three 80s comedies from Paramount; Airplane!, Top Secret and The Naked Gun.
For something spookier in Ultra HD, World War Z is getting an upgrade, and Hammer’s crossover with Shaw Studio – Shatter – is getting a bumper collector’s set. The week’s final 4K release is art world biopic Basquiat, starring Jeffrey Wright and David Bowie, which has received a new lick of paint courtesy of Criterion.
Next up, 88 Films have their usual mix of depraved delights, with their slate this month headed up by Night Train Murders, Nine Guests For A Crime, Erotic Sex Games, Seedpeople and Shut Up, I Love You!. Finally, anime fans will get their physical media fix with limited edition sets of The Rising Of The Shield Hero Season 3, and Bleach Part 5.
Monday, 19th May
Steelbook collectors, this is the week for you! Two recent blockbusters – Trap and Captain America: Brave New World – will be fighting for shelf space alongside A Knight’s Tale, Inception and Amadeus as they all receive this premium treatment.
Next up, a varied selection of Arrow restorations, which include perennial Boxing Day classic The Great Escape in 4K, two Jason Voorhees slashers (Jason X and Jason Goes To Hell), a German folk horror starring Anatomy Of A Fall’s Sandra Hüller (Sleep), and a boxset of J-Horror delights.
Two classics of Japanese cinema come to 4K – Ugetsu from Criterion, and Throne Of Blood from the BFI, who also have a restoration of Slade In Flame – and then everything else is debauched thrills. The grotesque body horror of Castle Freak comes to screens from 101 Films, Raro Video have the fantastically titled Italian crime thriller Shoot First, Die Later, 88 Films have erotic thriller Private Club, and Radiance are giving us deadly true crime with The Rapacious Jailbreaker.
Monday, 26th May
We’re closing out the month with a horror release that’s been delayed numerous times, but is finally, definitely, arriving now (unless release dates change again, that is): the Terrifier Bloody Duo 4K! How long has it been since this was first announced? Well, a third Terrifier movie was shot, released, and already has a steelbook of its own on the way.
Elsewhere on the 4K side, John Carpenter’s Starman is getting a Steelbook, the second of Sergio Leone & Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name Spaghetti Westerns (For A Few Dollars More) gets an Arrow special edition, as does the violent Kazakh take on the genre, Steppenwolf (in Blu-ray only). Finally, Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, featuring a career-best Daniel Craig, comes to 4K from MUBI.
Finally, Third Window Films are bringing dark Japanese family drama Hanging Garden to disc for the first time in the UK, Second Run have surreal Indian drama Ishanou, and Indicator have erotic crime caper Girls Without Shame.
