Determined to wring every last dollar out of collectors’ wallets as possible, Disney has announced new SteelBook editions for not just its latest remake blockbuster, but 4k upgrades for about half the Pixar catalog to go with it.
The Lion King (2019)
Video Formats: Blu-ray/Ultra HD/Digital
Available at: Best Buy (ORDER HERE)
Release date: TBD
Price: $34.99
Tepid reviews couldn’t keep audiences away from the uncannily photorealistic CGI/live-action redux of The Lion King. As the film closes in on a $1 billion theatrical gross, its home video release has already been announced (though no street date is available yet). As expected, Best Buy is getting an exclusive SteelBook with both Blu-ray and Ultra HD discs. Ironically, the cover art looks more like a painting than CGI. Regardless, it’s handsome and seems fitting for the movie.
As if that wave of Marvel 4k SteelBooks hitting Best Buy in August weren’t enough of a financial drain, a similar slate of Pixar 4k upgrades will follow in September.
In SteelBook terms, the artwork on each of these looks pretty simple, perhaps too much so, and it’s strange that the studio would try to sell computer animated movies with art that makes them look traditionally drawn. Fortunately, none are objectionably bad. If I didn’t already own prior SteelBooks for every Pixar movie, I’d have no issue filling the gaps with some of these. Since I do, however, the new ones seem redundant.
The fact that all of these movies are likely to suffer from Disney’s recent habit of lousy audio remixing with terribly compressed dynamics makes all of the studio’s 4k output much less appealing to me, anyway.
Finding Nemo
Video Formats: Blu-ray/Ultra HD/Digital
Available at: Best Buy (ORDER HERE)
Release date: September 10, 2019
Price: $34.99
Finding Dory
Video Formats: Blu-ray/Ultra HD/Digital
Available at: Best Buy (ORDER HERE)
Release date: September 10, 2019
Price: $34.99
Inside Out
Video Formats: Blu-ray/Ultra HD/Digital
Available at: Best Buy (ORDER HERE)
Release date: September 10, 2019
Price: $34.99
Ratatouille
Video Formats: Blu-ray/Ultra HD/Digital
Available at: Best Buy (ORDER HERE)
Release date: September 10, 2019
Price: $34.99
Brave
Video Formats: Blu-ray/Ultra HD/Digital
Available at: Best Buy (ORDER HERE)
Release date: September 10, 2019
Price: $34.99
Cars
Video Formats: Blu-ray/Ultra HD/Digital
Available at: Best Buy (ORDER HERE)
Release date: September 10, 2019
Price: $34.99
Cars 2
Video Formats: Blu-ray/Ultra HD/Digital
Available at: Best Buy (ORDER HERE)
Release date: September 10, 2019
Price: $34.99
The Good Dinosaur
Video Formats: Blu-ray/Ultra HD/Digital
Available at: Best Buy (ORDER HERE)
Release date: September 10, 2019
Price: $34.99
Aladdin (1992)
Video Formats: Blu-ray/Ultra HD/Digital
Available at: Best Buy (ORDER HERE)
Release date: September 10, 2019
Price: $34.99
This one isn’t Pixar, but it’s coming out on the same day, so I might as well lump it in.
Julian
‘The fact that all of these movies are likely to suffer from Disney’s recent habit of lousy audio remixing with terribly compressed dynamics makes all of the studio’s 4k output much less appealing to me, anyway.’
I wonder. Have any readers out here checked ‘The Lion King’ (1994) on UHD? Was that one a winner, or a subpar disc as well? It’s just £16 on Zavvi right now, and I’m tempted.
Al
Yes, Julian. That disc suffers from the same Disney-itis, as every other disc since, what, Star Wars: The Last Jedi? Or did it even start before that? I hate it so much that the biggest studio out there consistently puts out the very worst product!!!
Josh Zyber
AuthorThe problem first came to my attention with Avengers: Age of Ultron, released in October 2015.
Al
I think Disney had a few good discs, after that one, before settling into 100% awful discs.
Julian
Daaaaamn. And they used to release all winners in the early days of Blu-ray. Thanks for the warning!
William Henley
You know, I did not even notice, but my 4k setup is in the bedroom, and right now, I just have a 5.1 channel soundbar, which I think needs to be reconned (not sure if that is the technical term). It used to sound good, but now everything sounds less than ideal. Truthfully, the Disney discs do not sound any better or worse than anything else I throw at it.
That said, I wonder how it would sound on my sound system in the home theater? I got an additional 4k player that I have been thinking of hooking up in there for the specific reason of getting better sound, but not sure how everything is going to handle the color space as nothing is 4k or 4k compatible. I mean, I got a good surround sound system in the home theater, but its not great. I wonder if I would even notice the difference?
Josh Zyber
AuthorMost Disney discs of recent years have had a compressed dynamic range with little to no bass under 30 Hz. How noticeable that is to you may depend on how good a subwoofer you have. The working theory is that Disney is catering these discs for playback through TV speakers and soundbars, so it’s not surprising that you haven’t noticed anything amiss when listening through a soundbar.
Judas Cradle
Wow.
And CRAPPY covers to go with them!
I’ll stick with the 3D editions on Pixar.
Josh Zyber
AuthorI’ve updated the post with images for Cars 2 and Aladdin, which are not searchable under “SteelBook” on the Best Buy web site for some stupid reason.