Pre-Order BVHE Press Release: West Side Story (2021) (4k UHD) (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Noel Aguirre]

On HBO Max and Disney + today for whatever.

 

[Matt Hough]

Yeah, I'll stream it for a first look before I decide to buy.

 

[cinemiracle]

I decided to buy the bluray as it was on special 20% off. It arrived today. 90 Min of extras. Watched 30 min of the film.I will reserve my verdict until I have see the entire film.

 

[Jake Lipson]

It arrived today.

Huh? Where did you order it from? The Blu-ray is not being released until March 15, so if you got an early copy, they broke street date.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Huh? Where did you order it from? The Blu-ray is not being released until March 15, so if you got an early copy, they broke street date.

He lives in Australia which might explain it.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Yeah, I'll stream it for a first look before I decide to buy.

Surprised you haven’t seen it yet Matt? Would be curious to hear your thoughts.

 

[Matt Hough]

Surprised you haven’t seen it yet Matt? Would be curious to hear your thoughts.

I had planned on its being my glorious return to cinema but chickened out when omicron spiked so badly locally.

 

[owen35]

I'd appreciate if someone can explain to me the need to have different presentations of this film. HBO is streaming Dolby Vision but 5.1. iTunes is showing it with Dolby Vision and Atmos. But the 4K disc is HDR and Atmos. Why cannot there be one standard in both the disc and streaming? I'm so confused.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I'd appreciate if someone can explain to me the need to have different presentations of this film. HBO is streaming Dolby Vision but 5.1. iTunes is showing it with Dolby Vision and Atmos. But the 4K disc is HDR and Atmos. Why cannot there be one standard in both the disc and streaming? I'm so confused.

HBO Max if it wants to be on the same level as Disney+, needs to show their 4K movies with Dolby Vision and Atmos. Otherwise, they'll still be a step below them. Also, the non-standardization across the different home video formats is an issue. There are far too many 4K discs with HDR 10, but are 4K and Dolby Vision on streaming platforms. I'm thinking the streaming services like iTunes prefer Dolby Vision as their HDR format.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

I had planned on its being my glorious return to cinema but chickened out when omicron spiked so badly locally.

I saw both the Original (limited TCM presentation) and this remake in theaters both in December and came down with Omicron New Years Eve even after 2 vaccinations and a booster. But who knows how I caught it- many in NYC just seemed to get it. Thankfully the fever lasted just 6 hours and congestion for a day after but it was quite weird. Thankfully you and others were spared!

 

[Jake Lipson]

Anyone else who might be interested in the West Side Story steelbook should check Best Buy's website as soon as you can. It was greyed out because the pre-orders sold out, but now there are some options to get it. It isn't available for shipping, but I'm seeing a few stores where you can pre-order it for store pickup tomorrow. It isn't all stores (my closest one isn't going to get it) but you may get lucky. I also don't know how long this will last before they sell out again.

I got my pre-order in for shipping a month ago and it is on the way to me, so I'm good. But I wanted to let everybody else know to check again, even if you didn't see an option to buy it before.

Good luck to anyone who wants to get it.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/west-side-story-steelbook-includes-digital-copy-4k-ultra-hd-blu-ray-blu-ray-only--best-buy-2021/6496898.p?skuId=6496898

 

[Robert Crawford]

Anyone else who might be interested in the West Side Story steelbook should check Best Buy's website as soon as you can. It was greyed out because the pre-orders sold out, but now there are some options to get it. It isn't available for shipping, but I'm seeing a few stores where you can pre-order it for store pickup tomorrow. It isn't all stores (my closest one isn't going to get it) but you may get lucky. I also don't know how long this will last before they sell out again.

I got my pre-order in for shipping a month ago and it is on the way to me, so I'm good. But I wanted to let everybody else know to check again, even if you didn't see an option to buy it before.

Good luck to anyone who wants to get it.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/west-side-story-steelbook-includes-digital-copy-4k-ultra-hd-blu-ray-blu-ray-only--best-buy-2021/6496898.p?skuId=6496898

Thank you Jake! I just got back from my local BB with my 4K Steelbook. I didn't even have to leave the vehicle with curbside pickup.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Thank you Jake!

Sure. I'm glad you were able to get one. Although I love steelbooks, I wish they were easier for everybody to obtain without quite as much hassle and scarcity.

 

[bujaki]

My steelbook arrived today in the mail, packaged in a big box. No dents.

 

[Jake Lipson]

My steelbook arrived today in the mail, packaged in a big box. No dents.

Mine too. They put a lot of bubble wrap and packing material in there, which helped. Whoever packaged this one did a really good job.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

My steelbook arrived today in the mail, packaged in a big box. No dents.

Me three! Came in a box with airbags to protect the Steelbook. Usually, BestBuy puts everything in a mailing envelope and I have had Blu-rays arrive with dents in the outer box. This was a nice change.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I don't understand why Disney bothers to press a different disc specifically for Best Buy steelbooks. But, that being said, I like that the included Blu-ray disc has actual artwork on it. The standard Blu-ray is plain blue with white text. The artwork is much nicer to see, even if you're only glancing at it while getting the disc in and out of the player.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I just watched the making-of documentary, and it is the best such thing I have seen produced for a new film in quite some time. It is 97 minutes altogether and is way more than a typical fluff piece. It is really detailed about the whole production. It is structured around all of the musical numbers so you see how they approach each one, with a healthy dose on-set-during-filming footage and interviews with pretty much all the major cast and crew.

You also get to see other people who were involved with the 1961 film (besides Rita Moreno) visiting the set and being very supportive of the movie. I don't think anybody here anticipated the sheer amount of hostility from hardcore "fans" of the 1961 version to the idea that West Side Story should be made again. Certainly everybody from the prior one who shows up in the documentary is absolutely delighted that it is being done again. Laurents' son also plainly expresses that Laurents told him prior to his death that he hoped it would be made again at some point.

The interviews were probably shot during production because nobody mentions COVID or the delay of the film by a year at all. Seeing the film set look so "normal" (i.e., no masks) was a reminder of how long this film sat on the shelf for, and boy am I glad they didn't have to shoot this thing under COVID protocols because I can't imagine it turning out quite the same. The only acknowledgment at all of the fact that this came out in 2021 is when they put Sondheim's year of death in a dedication card to him at the end of the documentary.

There is less Sondheim than I was hoping for, and the clip of him at the end is really short. But you do see him at the recording sessions and you do see him talking about Spielberg approaching him about the movie. Perhaps I had expected (or maybe just wanted) something a little more lengthy because of his recent passing, but what is here is quite good.

I suspect everybody who loves this film enough to own it is going to want to take the time to watch the documentary. It is rare these days that we get something this good as a bonus feature.

 

[TravisR]

I suspect everybody who loves this film enough to own it is going to want to take the time to watch the documentary. It is rare these days that we get something this good as a bonus feature.

Yeah, given the current state of the disc market, Spielberg must have it in his contract that he gets the money to have Laurent Bouzereau do a documentary on his movies. Since the upcoming The Fabelmans was shot recently, I wonder if he was still able to have Bouzereau on set since I'm sure they tried to have as few people as possible around to cut down on the potential spread of Covid.

 

[cinemiracle]

I just watched the making-of documentary, and it is the best such thing I have seen produced for a new film in quite some time. It is 97 minutes altogether and is way more than a typical fluff piece. It is really detailed about the whole production. It is structured around all of the musical numbers so you see how they approach each one, with a healthy dose on-set-during-filming footage and interviews with pretty much all the major cast and crew.

You also get to see other people who were involved with the 1961 film (besides Rita Moreno) visiting the set and being very supportive of the movie. I don't think anybody here anticipated the sheer amount of hostility from hardcore "fans" of the 1961 version to the idea that West Side Story should be made again. Certainly everybody from the prior one who shows up in the documentary is absolutely delighted that it is being done again. Laurents' son also plainly expresses that Laurents told him prior to his death that he hoped it would be made again at some point.

The interviews were probably shot during production because nobody mentions COVID or the delay of the film by a year at all. Seeing the film set look so "normal" (i.e., no masks) was a reminder of how long this film sat on the shelf for, and boy am I glad they didn't have to shoot this thing under COVID protocols because I can't imagine it turning out quite the same. The only acknowledgment at all of the fact that this came out in 2021 is when they put Sondheim's year of death in a dedication card to him at the end of the documentary.

There is less Sondheim than I was hoping for, and the clip of him at the end is really short. But you do see him at the recording sessions and you do see him talking about Spielberg approaching him about the movie. Perhaps I had expected (or maybe just wanted) something a little more lengthy because of his recent passing, but what is here is quite good.

I suspect everybody who loves this film enough to own it is going to want to take the time to watch the documentary. It is rare these days that we get something this good as aYes bonus feature.

I just watched the making-of documentary, and it is the best such thing I have seen produced for a new film in quite some time. It is 97 minutes altogether and is way more than a typical fluff piece. It is really detailed about the whole production. It is structured around all of the musical numbers so you see how they approach each one, with a healthy dose on-set-during-filming footage and interviews with pretty much all the major cast and crew.

You also get to see other people who were involved with the 1961 film (besides Rita Moreno) visiting the set and being very supportive of the movie. I don't think anybody here anticipated the sheer amount of hostility from hardcore "fans" of the 1961 version to the idea that West Side Story should be made again. Certainly everybody from the prior one who shows up in the documentary is absolutely delighted that it is being done again. Laurents' son also plainly expresses that Laurents told him prior to his death that he hoped it would be made again at some point.

The interviews were probably shot during production because nobody mentions COVID or the delay of the film by a year at all. Seeing the film set look so "normal" (i.e., no masks) was a reminder of how long this film sat on the shelf for, and boy am I glad they didn't have to shoot this thing under COVID protocols because I can't imagine it turning out quite the same. The only acknowledgment at all of the fact that this came out in 2021 is when they put Sondheim's year of death in a dedication card to him at the end of the documentary.

There is less Sondheim than I was hoping for, and the clip of him at the end is really short. But you do see him at the recording sessions and you do see him talking about Spielberg approaching him about the movie. Perhaps I had expected (or maybe just wanted) something a little more lengthy because of his recent passing, but what is here is quite good.

I suspect everybody who loves this film enough to own it is going to want to take the time to watch the documentary. It is rare these days that we get something this good as a bonus feature.

I agree with you that the 97 making of documentary was brilliant even if one does not like the film. The bluray is worth buying just to see the documentary. Despite my misgivings about the remake,I did stream it 3 times. It was flawed but the music keeps me wanting to watch it again. I still find the remake lacking in the emotional impact in the finale, compared with the original. My other problems with the remake have been listed elsewhere in this forum.