Flintstones replacement BDs are shipping, plus a new 4K review, release news & Michael Apted RIP

First up, we’re hearing from our industry and retail sources that HBO’s His Dark Materials: The Complete Second Season is set to arrive on Blu-ray disc on 5/11. You can pre-order the title on Amazon by clicking on the cover artwork below.

We now have retail confirmation (from Target) of Paramount’s impending 4K UHD release of Super 8, The Ten Commandments, and My Fair Lady, as we mentioned in Friday’s post. You can see them listed here on the Target website, though without street dates. So it’s safe to assume they are indeed on the way.

Kino Lorber Studio Classics has been running a poll on their Facebook page asking for opinions on which configuration of Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly fans prefer to be released on 4K on 4/27. Based upon that fan input, the company will now release the director’s preferred Theatrical Cut on 4K only: “Changes from the original announcement, no extended cut, removed two commentaries recorded for the extended cut, restored the theatrical cut, restored the 2.0 mono audio, and added the newly restored German trailer.” For more details, visit this link.

Also today, be aware that Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is now shipping The Flintstones: The Complete Series replacement Blu-ray discs. Some of you will recall that Disc One of the set featured an episode that was missing music and sound effects. That has now been corrected and people who responded to their replacement program (see instructions here) have begun to receive the fixed discs. Here’s what they look like…

And finally today, we need to take a moment to acknowledge the passing in recent days of filmmaker Michael Apted, the director of the acclaimed Up documentary series, such notable feature films as Coal Miner’s Daughter, Gorillas in the Mist, Gorky Park, The World Is Not Enough, and Thunderheart (sadly, still not available on Blu-ray Disc), and even the concert film Sting: Bring on the Night. Apted was 79. You can read more here via The New York Times. In honor of Apted, we’ve republished a 2002 interview that our own Adan Jahnke conducted with the director here at The Bits coinciding with the DVD release of his films Enough and Enigma. You’ll find that here and we hope you enjoy it.

We’ll leave you this evening with a look at the cover artwork for a few newly-announced Blu-ray and 4K titles, available for pre-order on Amazon.com…