You’re not going to notice much in the way of cosmetic differences when you look at the updated site, but under the hood this is a major upgrade. And we’re really in the thick of it now, so we appreciate your patience.

This is probably also a good time for me to put one last call out to all those of you who might be interested in supporting our work via a PayPal donation (click here or on the button below), which will help us to pay for all the upgrade and maintenance costs here at the site. Unfortunately, simple advertising and Amazon affiliate revenue isn’t quite what it once was, so every little bit helps. And whenever you order anything from Amazon via our links, it does still help as well. So thank you all very much for your support, your patience, and for sticking with us for nearly twenty-five years now here at The Digital Bits. We appreciate it!

Now then, a bit of release news...

Our retail sources are suggesting that Shout! Factory is working on a 4K Ultra HD Collector’s Edition of the Coen Brothers’ classic Fargo (1996) for release in June. Note that this is not yet official, but we’ve heard it from a few different industry sources now, and other BD and 4K sites are starting to pick up on it as well. The rumored street date is 6/7, but that’s obviously subject to change. We’ll have to watch for official announcements.

Also, it appears that Paramount is re-releasing Galaxy Quest on Blu-ray on 7/12, likely a repackage of the 20th Anniversary Steelbook edition (but we’ll have to wait and see). It certainly would be great to see this title finally get a 4K Ultra HD release.

Meanwhile, Paramount and CBS are getting ready to release Star Trek: Lower Decks – Season Two on Blu-ray and DVD on 7/12 (and you can see the final cover artwork for that above-left).

Warner Bros. has set Animaniacs: Season Two for DVD release on 6/12, featuring 13 episodes on 2 discs. Keep in mind, this is the new animated series that airs on Hulu here in the States.

Here’s something interesting for anime fans: Hideaki Anno’s 39-episode first series, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (1990), is being restored in 4K by GKids. One presumes that means it will eventually get at least a remastered Blu-ray and DVD release, and it leaves open the possibility of actual 4K UHD. You can read more here via Gizmodo.

We have quick update on a story we reported yesterday: We’ve learned from Lionsgate that 6/14 is not the official street date for Everything Everywhere All at Once in Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD, as was listed on the title’s Amazon pre-order page (which has now been pulled offline, presumably because the studio is getting ready to make their official announcement). We’ll let you know when we have an update, but expect the final date to be sometime in June or July.

In news from CinemaCon today, attendees got their first official look at footage from James Cameron’s Avatar 2 (aka Avatar: The Way of Water), which hits theaters on 12/16. Apparently, the trailer is going to debut next week exclusively in theaters attached to Marvel’s Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. During the trailer screening at the convention, however, producer Jon Landau revealed that the original Avatar is also going to be returning to theaters on 9/23, “with restored picture and sound.” I think this means you can safely expect Disney and 20th Century Studios to finally release Avatar on physical 4K Ultra HD either in Q4, in the lead-up to the sequel’s theatrical debut, or early in 2023, when the sequel itself arrives on Blu-ray and 4K UHD. In any case, you can read more here at The Hollywood Reporter. Apparently, the footage really wowed the crowd in high frame rate 3D.

On a related note, a lot of you may be wondering: What happened to Cameron’s plan to release the Avatar sequels in autostereoscopic 3D? I suspect the answer is that the recent semiconductor shortage (which has been exacerbated by the COVID pandemic and supply chain issues) likely put the kibosh on those plans for the time being. Autostereo 3D requires individual image processors for about every 3-5 degrees of the display screen. So while autostereoscopic 3D will likely happen eventually (both at home and in theaters), it’s currently impractical, and it’s probably still several years away at the earliest.

Speaking of CinemaCon, the first screening of Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick happened this morning at the convention and the reaction to that was apparently overwhelmingly positive as well. I’m certainly excited to see this film in large format. You can read more here at Variety.

Finally today, this is never going to happen, but here’s a physical media future we could get behind: Scientists in Japan have developed a new way of manufacturing 2-inch wafers of synthetic diamond for data storage purposes. The idea is that the technology could be used for quantum memory and data storage. But it turns out the wafers could in theory hold as much data as a billion Blu-ray discs. No kidding. Just imagine it: A single disc that could hold ALL the Blu-ray and 4K content... ever. Movies anywhere indeed! You can read more about that here at New Atlas.

That’s all for today. Stay tuned...

(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)