Jackie Earle Haley · 2010s

dir. Martin Scorsese

Paramount's A-Tier 4K is frequently one of the first discs new OLED owners buy. The $10.99 Paramount combo releases in DVD-sized cases generated heated debate because they strip special features and feel cheap, but at that price people grabbed them anyway. Scorsese citing I Walked with a Zombie as a major influence on this film is the kind of deep-cut connection that Criterion collectors appreciate. The steelbook is a frequent haul photo staple.

Paramount Pictures · 4K + Blu-ray

dir. Robert Rodriguez

A-Tier 20th Century Studios 4K. The Best Buy steelbook is out of print and the design is one of the more thoughtful efforts in the format. CGI from 2019 still tracks and the HDR pass pulls extra detail out of the neon-lit Iron City streets. People are still waiting for a sequel announcement.

20th Century Studios · 4K+3D

dir. José Padilha

Shout Factory A-Tier 4K, part of the same wave as RoboCop 2, Matinee, and Species II. The 2014 remake still gets dismissed by fans of the original, but Shout's transfer is strong enough that some people are revisiting it.

Shout! Studios · Steelbook

dir. Nikolaj Arcel

A boy haunted by visions of a parallel world aids its disillusioned guardian in preventing the destruction of the nexus of universes known as the Dark Tower.

dir. Samuel Bayer

Teenagers Nancy, Quentin, Kris, Jesse and Dean are all neighborhood friends who begin having the same dream of a horribly disfigured man who wears a tattered sweater and a glove made of knives.

Warner Bros. · 4K + Blu-ray

dir. Babak Najafi

The only 4K release is a German trilogy boxset from Leonine Films, and the audio was actually downgraded from the original Blu-ray's DTS:X to standard DTS. The Target Blu-ray steelbook is OOP and goes for $40+ on eBay. Most people own this as part of the Has Fallen trilogy rather than on its own.

dir. Tim Burton

Shout! Studios picks up Burton's gothic vampire comedy for its 4K debut, fourteen years after theatrical. Amazon-exclusive Steelbook only at announcement, with no standard edition confirmed. The film rides on Bruno Delbonnel's saturated photography, lava-lamp purples and stained-glass yellows that have always read flat on Blu-ray. The grade is the reason to upgrade.

Shout! Studios · Limited Edition Steelbook

dir. Nate Parker

Nat Turner, a former slave in America, leads a liberation movement in 1831 to free African-Americans in Virginia that results in a violent retaliation from whites.