New to Blu: September 27 – October 3

Americans will think it despicable that Despicable Me 3 lands here on 4K-UHD, Blu-ray 3D and Blu-ray 2-3 months ahead of the US, where it’s not expected to debut until December.

Expect the mastering to be as good if not better than its predecessors, with the 4K-UHD disc boasting both HDR10 and Dolby Vision transfers.

I thought the DV version of the first two movies superior to the HDR10, as viewed on an LG 65-inch C7 OLED TV, but despite the benefits, Universal hasn’t re-issued Minions in the dual formats.

“Minions‘ 4K release does not include the new colour format, sticking with the basic HDR10 color enhancement only,” Blu-ray.com reports.

Universal’s image, which is an upscale from a 2K digital intermediate, fares very well. Textures are impressively robust, offering a decent little uptick over the Blu-ray Minions …

Dense city streets in New York and London look wonderful, and the UHD’s added resolution brings out superior textural complexity near and far alike. Even digital water seen off of New York is crystal-clear. The HDR-enahnced colors offer a satisfying push of added vitality and depth.

Universal also is re-releasing ET: The Extra-Terrestrial on 4K-UHD, to mark its 35th anniversary

“The film’s original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 is faithfully rendered in this 2160p transfer using the HEVC codec,” Home Theater Forum said.

The UHD transfer does a terrific job of recreating the look of the original film in theaters apart from the addition of HDR which punches up black levels in selected scenes and makes bright rays of light literally jump off the screen.

Otherwise, sharpness is superb in the scenes that don’t involve matte work and opticals to combine special effects with live action where in those cases grain levels can be uneven and a tad noisy.

“Fortunately, the film has aged better than one might expect, and it’s presented here on 4K Ultra HD in such impressive video and audio quality that it actually feels new again,” The Digital Bits said.

Watching this disc, especially on a large projection screen, strongly recalls that original theatrical experience. In the end, isn’t that really the most you could ask of any new-format release like this?

Also new are:

• Dead Again in Tombstone (“a satisfying watch within the digital format’s attributes”)
• The Walking Dead: The Complete Seventh Season
• The Night of Something Strange
• XX
• From The Vaults: Sticky Fingers – Live at The Fonda Theatre 2015.