Disney has announced that Pixar’s latest film, Elio, is set to arrive on 4K Blu-ray on September 9, featuring a premium video and audio presentation, a promising-sounding set of bonus features, and lovely steelbook packaging.
Elio, which follows the adventures of a boy whose contact with aliens sees him whisked away on an intergalactic adventure that both expands his horizons and teaches him about the importance of connections with loved ones back on Earth, recently came to the end of what was by Pixar’s usual standards a rather disappointing cinema run. So Disney will be hoping there’s plenty of pent-up demand for the film on home video from families and Pixar fans who didn’t make the trip to see the film at the cinema.
The studio certainly seems to have put some effort in to making Elio on 4K Blu-ray something children and physical media collectors alike will want to own. For starters, in the U.S. Elio will exclusively be available in a beautifully designed limited edition Steelbook package that will include the film on HD Blu-ray as well as the 4K disc.
The 4K Blu-ray will feature the film mastered in the Dolby Vision format, with extra scene by scene picture information is provided to help compatible TVs deliver punchier, more accurate visuals. Its soundtrack will be available in a Dolby Atmos mix, too, that builds a hemisphere of sound around and above the viewer for the ultimate in movie immersion.
Note that the Dolby Vision video will default to the more basic HDR10 format (minus the scene by scene information) if the Elio 4K Blu-ray is played on a TV or 4K Blu-ray player that doesn’t support Dolby Vision.
Disney’s initial press information on the Elio 4K Blu-ray suggests that the film is going to appear on a high-capacity 100GB disc, despite its modest 98-minute run time. This would be very surprising given Disney’s usual preference for 66GB discs, making me wonder if Disney has repeated the mistake it made when it claimed that Master & Commander: The Far Side Of The World was going to be mastered to 100GB disc. While I await an answer to my request for confirmation on this point, though, I’ll take Disney’s initial information at its word and look forward to seeing how uncompressed Elio might look with so much disc space to play with.
Those hours of extra features provided with the Elio 4K Blu-ray package, finally, include everything from art classes and a gag reel to five deleted scenes and a collection of ‘Easter Eggs’ and fun facts, with the full collection looking like this:
* Inside the Communiverse: The World and Characters of Elio – In-depth behind the scenes look with multiple cast and crew at the design and development of Elio’s main characters and environments.
* Out of This World: An Astro Q&A – Voice actors Yonas Kibreab (Elio) and Remy Edgerly (Glordon) meet with a real-life astronaut to discuss space travel, possible alien life on other planets, and why it’s important to study space.
* Astronomic Art Class: Ooooo and Glordon – Join Nicolle Castro, the lead story artist, as she shares her role on the film and guides viewers through drawing the film’s Ooooo and Glordon characters.
* Extraterrestrial Easter Eggs and Fun Facts – Uncover the references and characters from some of your favorite Pixar films hidden throughout Elio, along with other fun facts.
* Galactic Gag Reel – Visit the recording booth with Elio’s voice actors.
* Deleted Scenes – Five scenes that didn’t make it into the final movie. While I can’t describe exactly what these deleted scenes are about, or why they were deleted, Disney’s press information does at least give each one a title. Namely:
- Bike Chase
- Garden Party
- Carver Legend
- Questa’s Second Test
- Home Visit
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