Two films released theatrically and digitally by IFC Films over the summer, The Rental and Made in Italy, are coming to Blu-ray Disc and DVD Dec. 1, courtesy of independent home entertainment supplier Shout! Factory.
The week’s slate of new releases also includes the much-anticipated 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray debuts of two fantasy trilogies, “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit,” as well as the 1998 superhero film Blade, all from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; the Tom Cruise classic Top Gun and the Eddie Murphy comedies Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America, from Paramount Home Entertainment; and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the “Jumanji” trilogy, from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
The Rental, a horror film produced and directed by Dave Franco, follows two couples who rent a seaside home while on vacation, only to encounter an odd caretaker and suspect they are being spied on. The film was issued on video-on-demand and in select theaters in July by IFC.
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Made in Italy is a comedy-drama starring Liam Neeson as an artist who is restoring a villa with his estranged son (his real-life son, Micheál Richardson) after his wife dies in a terrible car crash. Made in Italy, too, was released on video-on-demand and in select theaters by IFC Films, in August.
“The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” trilogies were all huge box office hits. The “Lord of the Rings” trilogy — The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and its two sequels, The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003) — earned nearly $3 billion in worldwide theaters and nabbed 17 Academy Awards.
The three “Hobbit” movies — 2012’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 2013’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and 2014’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies — also collected nearly $3 billion at the worldwide box office.
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Top Gun is being released in a limited-edition Steelbook 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray combo pack. The story of an elite group of pilots competing to earn the title of “Top Gun” ultimately earned a worldwide box office of more than $350 million. Cruise plays a daring young flyer who’s out to become the best of the best. The film also stars Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards and Meg Ryan.
Beverly Hills Cop has been remastered in 4K with HDR and is available in a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray combo pack with digital copy. Murphy plays Axel Foley, a street-smart cop from Detroit. Tracking down his best friend’s killer in Beverly Hills, Axel smashes through the local barriers in a hilarious, high-speed pursuit of justice.
Also remastered in 4K with HDR — from a supervised restoration by director John Landis — Coming to America, too, is being issued as a limited-edition 4K Ultra HD Steelbook. Murphy stars as an African prince trying to find a princess. The mission leads him and his most loyal friend (Arsenio Hall) to Queens, New York. In disguise as an impoverished immigrant, the pampered prince quickly finds himself a new job, new friends, new digs, new enemies and lots of trouble.
To accompany those two releases, Paramount on Dec. 1 also is re-releasing, on Blu-ray Disc, two other Murphy comedies, Trading Places and The Golden Child, as part of its “Paramount Presents” line.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was initially released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray in 2016, but is now back as a limited-edition Steelbook that includes the film on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray. The Steelbook also includes six deleted scenes presented in 4K Ultra HD with HDR, among other bonus features.
The “Jumanji” trilogy, previously available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc, also becomes available in a three-disc 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray set on Dec. 1. The package includes all three films in the franchise, the original Jumanji (1995), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017), and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019). The films follow the adventures of a bunch of characters thrust into danger while playing a video game.
