US Digital Releases for July & August 2026

[LoveCinema]

Oh okay, that makes sense now. I got excited for a moment there that I could move two more Plex movies over to K, but nope.

For the record, I'm sure K can provide sales data that shows very few people bought their SD offering when the title has been available digitally in HD for well over a decade. Obviously, no one is interested in these movies. That's why Lionsgate released two 4K versions of the first on disc and digital last year, looked at the sales data, and released the second this year.

 

[mkozlows]

K can't do it all. K has yet to fulfill promises made at the release of the Strato V. Committing to 4KC on every title ties their hands moving forward. Now, should K always apply 4KC to theatrically-released studio titles available on disc? Yeah, that I can get behind and I think that's a fair proposal to push.

I feel like if "always the best possible quality" is a too-ambitious goal to hit, then "always better than the next-best alternative" should not be -- nobody should ever have to do research to find out if Kscape is going to be the best place to watch a movie or if they're better off getting a disc. It should always be true that if they have a movie, they'll unambiguously be the best possible place to watch it.

(Obviously licensing restrictions make that impossible in some cases, but within the ambit of what's in their control, that still seems like a reasonable goal.)

 

[Imakeller]

It will never use less bandwidth, fewer resources, or be more efficient, for Kaleidescape to simply generate every format for every new release film while the mezzanine file is pulled up on the encoding desktop in the pipeline.

It seems inefficient to push a title out, then do an update for DV or Atmos, then do an update for 4KC. I understand it will take more time and resources to put out optimal versions, but that’s what it takes to best serve their customers and to be the best.

 

[Imakeller]

I feel like if "always the best possible quality" is a too-ambitious goal to hit, then "always better than the next-best alternative" should not be -- nobody should ever have to do research to find out if Kscape is going to be the best place to watch a movie or if they're better off getting a disc. It should always be true that if they have a movie, they'll unambiguously be the best possible place to watch it.

(Obviously licensing restrictions make that impossible in some cases, but within the ambit of what's in their control, that still seems like a reasonable goal.)

I agree. And this notion of using “popularity” or “it doesn’t sell” to throttle-down quality is flawed. I, and I’m sure many others, make purchase decisions based on what K-scape launches with, compared to other alternatives (disc, iTunes). If they lead with less than the best available, then they probably lose the sale, and the lack of popularity becomes self-inflicted. I don’t buy second best with hopes that K-scape might update it to what they could have offered right off the bat.

Also, when we’re talking about offering best “available”, if K-scape has a 4K mezzanine file, then 4KC is readily “available”.

 

[LoveCinema]

Before I upload the Sept/Oct list I thought I'd wrap this thread with "Misses for the Months":

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad: Would've loved to have seen this, would've loved to see it accompanied by missing HD upgrades and missing titles for the rest of the Harryhausen collection.

Scary Movie (Extended Edition): Every other digital store received an "Extended Edition" free upgrade shortly after the original digital release. Purchases (including prior) all got upgraded to include two versions. This was a theatrical release from a major studio and K should keep parity on titles like this.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (Theatrical Cut): While K opted to get the newly released Extended Cut in 4K, the Theatrical Cut is still the legacy SDR-only version. When studio make new assets available, K should get them.

The Descent Part II: K will point to poor sales for the SD version currently on the store.

Popeye 4K: This odd film getting a 4K upgrade from the studio was a surprise. K not getting it wasn't.

United 93: I'm assuming this is in the pipeline and we'll see it within weeks.

Subpar Releases Missing HDR/Dolby Vision on K:
(Seriously, this needs to stop)
SoulM8te
The Isolate Thief
Full Contact
Motor City

There's also a number of TV series that got new seasons during this period. If K has prior seasons, I'd hope they'd continue. This includes Reacher and The Walking Dead: Dead City. Personally, I'd have loved to see The Tales From The Crypt series added to K, but oh well.

 

[Imakeller]

Before I upload the Sept/Oct list I thought I'd wrap this thread with "Misses for the Months":

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad: Would've loved to have seen this, would've loved to see it accompanied by missing HD upgrades and missing titles for the rest of the Harryhausen collection.

+1 on this! That would have been nice.

 

[Imakeller]

Personally, I'd have loved to see The Tales From The Crypt series added to K, but oh well.

Same here! I would have gladly gotten this series in HD on K to upgrade my tired DVDs. It doesn’t look like this series is being reissued on blu-ray, just streaming in HD on AMC? If it’s not going to disc, then I think K would have done especially well with it. Maybe AMC wanted to keep it exclusive for now, but K can get it in due course? Probably wishful thinking …

 

[LoveCinema]

Same here! I would have gladly gotten this series in HD on K to upgrade my tired DVDs. It doesn’t look like this series is being reissued on blu-ray, just streaming in HD on AMC? If it’s not going to disc, then I think K would have done especially well with it. Maybe AMC wanted to keep it exclusive for now, but K can get it in due course? Probably wishful thinking …

AMC is the new license holder for the series and they've made it available for digital sale. I had to correct my original listing as the series is still in SD. So, your DVDs still hold up for quality it's just a matter of convenience.

 

[LoveCinema]

Universal couldn't let the month go by without another dump of catalog HD titles. I'll add them to the first post before uploading Sept/Oct.

 

[WALLHALLA]

Hurry up with the Sep Oct list. ,

 

[LoveCinema]

Hurry up with the Sep Oct list. ,

It's up. Mostly obscure direct-to-video and 4K horror upgrades K won't get. Gonna be week-to-week on theatrical digital announcements.

 

[WALLHALLA]

Thanks anyway, when is forbidden planet coming???

 

[LoveCinema]

Thanks anyway, when is forbidden planet coming???

Very likely it's not. Arrow release, buy the disc.

We've recently seen some Warner films on Criterion get a digital release (Barry Lyndon, Pee Wee's Big Adventure) and I think we just saw the first with Arrow in Deep Blue Sea, but most others are still missing (Excalibur, Falling Down, Ninja Turtles, Demolition Man, etc.). Feel free to wait and see but I'd say odds are strongly against this appearing on K.

 

[WALLHALLA]

I already pre ordered it with points in Amazon, but that is not in 4K Cinematic DV (Im sooooo spoiled now).

 

[MXT]

Motor City is actually kind of fun. Not that they say a whole lot. We saw this with a friend who grew annoyed at the lack of dialog in this movie. But for trying something different it does work. However, you have to have a pretty open mind for something different. I probably will end up picking this one up. There's some cool action scenes worth revisiting.

We watched Motor City last night. It was not what I was expecting, but we were pleasantly surprised and I'd definitely recommend it for people who appreciate something different.

My only real complaint is the confusion caused by the K store synopsis: "After 20 years in prison..."