Lionsgate has announced that director Francis Lawrence’s mostly impressive (until the last few minutes, anyway) adaptation of the first novel Stephen King ever wrote, The Long Walk, is going to be released on 4K Blu-ray in two separate editions on November 25 and December 23.
This unusual staggered release has been established to give online retailer Amazon nearly a month of sales time with an exclusive Steelbook 4K release of the film. This edition’s Steelbook packaging won’t be its only exclusive feature either, with Lionsgate revealing that Amazon’s release will also carry a trio of exclusive bonus features: An alternate ending; a Stephen King: An Appreciation mini documentary, and a ‘Scene Read through’ by lead actors Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson.
While it won’t get the three bonus features exclusive to the SteelBook edition, Lionsgate’s “standard” 4K Blu-ray release dropping on December 23 won’t be a completely bonus feature-free zone. The studio has confirmed that both this release and the Amazon Steelbook will carry theatrical trailers alongside an Ever Onward: Making The Long Walk multi-part documentary comprising the following five chapters: Walk Or Die, Raring To Rip, Another Time/Another Place, Adjustments Are Key, and Fulfilment.
The 4K Blu-ray transfer of the film, meanwhile, looks as if it will be identical across both editions. It will see the film presented in its original 2.39:1 theatrical aspect ratio, with the 4K master (derived from a 4K digital intermediate created from 4.6K-resolution digital shooting footage) accompanied by high dynamic range mastering that includes a Dolby Vision pass for people who own 4K Blu-ray players and TVs/projectors capable of benefiting from Dolby Vision’s extra scene by scene picture information.
The promising sounding visuals will be accompanied by a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, and the 4K Blu-ray disc will be accompanied in both its Steelbook and standard versions by an HD Blu-ray disc and a digital streaming code.
Talking of streaming, Lionsgate has also announced that The Long Walk (which has taken $57.6 million at the worldwide box office at the time of writing, on an estimated $20m budget) will be available to rent via Premium Video on Demand for a 48-hour period on October 21, and will be available to buy from the same date via premium electronic sell-through on participating platforms including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Google TV, and YouTube.
One final thing worth noting is that unusually the Steelbook 4K Blu-ray edition of The Long Walk coming exclusively to Amazon is set to be much cheaper than the standard 4K Blu-ray release arriving on December 23: $34.99 versus $42,99, to be precise. There’s no mention in the press release of whether the Amazon Steelbook release will only be available on a Limited Edition basis, but if you want one it’s probably going to be a good idea to get your order in sooner rather than later (it’s already available on Amazon’s US website).
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