The festive season may still be over a month away, but November might as well be cinephile Christmas due to how many bangers are arriving throughout the month. If you’ve missed any pre-order announcements, then don’t worry – every title below is still available to own ahead of its launch, although release dates are still subject to change, so make sure you keep your eyes on the Zavvi site listings for updates.
Here’s your week-by-week breakdown of the essential 4K, steelbook and limited-edition Blu-ray titles arriving on shelves in the next few weeks.
Monday, 4th November
Many people believe you couldn’t make a movie like Blazing Saddles today – but if that were the case, would we really be celebrating its 50th anniversary with a Collector’s Edition steelbook? Mel Brooks’ beloved send-up of westerns and racists comes to 4K with a whole host of brand-new special features, art cards, a double-sided poster and more.
Also celebrating milestone anniversaries this month are The Wizard Of Oz, which returns with not one, but two 85th anniversary steelbooks ahead of Wicked arriving in cinemas – and before you ask: yes, this steelbook is green. Then, there’s a 75th anniversary 4K remaster of noir masterpiece The Third Man from Vintage Classics and a 40th anniversary 4K remaster of Paris, Texas from Curzon. A big month for movie birthdays!
It’s not all old-school this week though, as there’s a 4K steelbook of Borderlands, and the long-awaited 4K release of Deadpool And Wolverine, which had two steelbooks (one for Logan and one for the Merc with the Mouth) that sold out instantly – keep your eyes peeled if more come back in stock.
This week’s eclectic selection of releases concludes with the limited edition 4K remaster of swashbuckler The Sword and The Sorcerer and Rumble in the Jungle documentary When We Were Kings, both from 101 Films, 90s true crime classic At Close Range from Arrow Video, spooky silent movie Haxan courtesy of Radiance, and unclassifiable cult oddity Gummo from Criterion. For anime fans, there’s a Limited Collector’s Edition of Bleach Season One from All the Anime, and for those who put their tree up on 1st November, there’s a 4K remaster of White Christmas.
Monday, 11th November
Halloween may be over, but the spooky titles keep on coming – and the definitive found-footage movie, The Blair Witch Project, is getting a Limited-Edition Blu-ray release from Second Sight. No 4K needed for this one, but you do get a 184-page book with new essays on the movie, a copy of Heather’s journal, and some gorgeous art cards.
Other horror-adjacent movies arriving this month are beloved horror-comedy Elvira: Mistress Of The Dark, and divisive Body Snatchers remake The Invasion – starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig! - from Arrow, whilst Criterion are giving us the original King of the Monsters in 4K as they bring back the 1954 Godzilla.
We’ve partnered with our friends at CineAsia for a Zavvi Exclusive 4K release of the ass-kicking Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In, one of the year’s most acclaimed action movies – and Hong Kong’s submission for the Best International Film Oscar. Also coming to 4K, and looking more shagadelic than ever, is Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery, and this week culminates with two different Blu-ray box sets; the first Collector’s Edition set of Naruto, and the first season of Blake’s 7, making its high-def debut!
Monday, 18th November
He promised he’ll be back, and he’s here! The Terminator is coming to 4K for its 40th anniversary, but that’s not the only movie birthday we’ll be celebrating this week. Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller North by Northwest is blowing out 65 candles with an Ultimate Collector’s Edition 4K rerelease, which features vintage art cards, double-sided poster, and a 40-page booklet.
Want more canonical classics in 4K? How about Akira Kurosawa’s epic crowdpleaser Seven Samurai, newly remastered by the BFI? Or the 1932 gangster classic Scarface, which Criterion are bringing to Ultra HD for the first time?
From there, two very different box sets; one of Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder’s collaborations between 1980 and 1991 from Indicator, and one significantly less laugh-out-loud collection of Hungarian auteur Bela Tarr’s work from Curzon (although his seven-plus hour epic Sátántangó does have some surprisingly gut-busting moments). For a TV bingewatch the second season of House Of The Dragon arrives on 4K, for those of you who – like us – haven't got round to it yet.
Next up, a cult title bonanza; underrated J-horror Tomie lands on our screens courtesy of Arrow, Eureka Classics are giving us nautical thrills (Juggernaut), a Shaw brothers espionage box set (Super Spies and Secret Lies), and vintage Wuxia (The Sword). Eureka’s Masters of Cinema brand are also giving us old-school jailbreak thrills with the nail-biting Black Tuesday.
Finally, four different titles from Radiance; the Cold War paranoid freakout Panic In Year Zero, the fantastically titled Italian political thriller Slap the Monster On Page One, Francois Truffaut’s costume drama The Story Of Adele H., and Yakuza drama Japan Organised Crime Boss.
Monday, 25th November
You want one steelbook? Two? How about SIX? This week’s 4K steelbook launches include Blade, The Lost Boys, The Goonies, Enter the Dragon, Elf, and the 2024 remake of The Crow – truly something for everyone here.
Next up, three different box sets; the 5-film “petrol can” collection of the entire Mad Max saga, the third volume of Arrow’s Shawscope series, featuring 14 more movies from the Shaw Brothers archives, and the BFI’s collection of classics from acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda. The BFI also have remastered classic animation with Watership Down, still traumatising after all these years, whilst the BBC are bringing Wallace and Gromit to 4K – which is less traumatising, even if Feathers McGraw is one of the most menacing villains to have ever graced our screens.
Next up, cult comic strip adaptation Tank Girl, the entire series of Vincent Price’s cooking show Cooking Price-Wise, 90s Arnie blockbuster End Of Days, the BBC’s beloved fantasy The Box Of Delights, and the 4K collection of Zucker-Abrams-Zucker's blockbuster spoofs, including Airplane! and The Naked Gun.
Finally, we’re closing out the month with a typically varied range of new launches from 88 Films; downbeat Mickey Rourke classic Barfly, Jet Li double feature The Legend Of Fong Sai Yuk 1 & 2, unhinged giallo Eyeball, twisted serial killer thriller Frightmare, and a trip into the dark side of the church in The House Of Mortal Sin.
