February's best Blu-ray and 4K UHD releases: The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes, Priscilla, and Wonka

Also new this month is The Marvels, plus the 4K debuts of Footloose, Leviathan, and Darkman

February's best Blu-ray and 4K UHD releases: The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes, Priscilla, and Wonka
Clockwise from left: The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes (Lionsgate), The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (AMC), Priscilla (A24) Image: The A.V. Club

Physical media may be devalued by some in our streaming-dominated world, but you’d be surprised how many great titles are only available on disc. Also, some titles can be so much more rewarding on DVD, Blu-ray, or 4K UHD, especially when they’re loaded with special packaging and bonus features. With that in mind, here’s a look at all the best films that you can spin starting in February 2024, including recent theatrical movies such as Thanksgiving, The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes, Priscilla, Wonka, and The Marvels. Also arriving this month are the 4K debuts of Footloose, Darkman, Leviathan, Willy’s Wonderland, and much more.

Thanksgiving (2023)
THANKSGIVING - Official Trailer (HD)

Available January 30 Yes, technically Eli Roth’s holiday slasher movie is a January release, but the full serving of the movie teased with a fake trailer in 2007’s Grindhouse is long overdue and worth a mention for horror fans. In Thanksgiving, a psycho in a John Carver mask slices up the denizens of Plymouth, Massachusetts, one year after a Black Friday stampede at a local store caused multiple fatalities. The horror movie starring Patrick Dempsey, Addison Rae, Milo Manheim, Jalen Thomas Brooks, Nell Verlaque, Rick Hoffman, and Gina Gershon comes to with a commentary track by Roth and Jeff Rendell, deleted and extended scenes, outtakes, “Massachusetts Movies: Eli & Jeff’s Early Films,” “Behind The Screams,” and “Gore Galore.” Although the movie promised “no leftovers,” a sequel was green-lit.

Footloose (1984)
Kenny Loggins - Footloose (Official 4K Video) Trailer

Available February 13 Got Bacon? Everybody cut loose with the debut of 1984’s starring Kevin Bacon, who plays a young man who moves with his mother from Chicago to a small, dusty town where dancing to rock music is banned. The new 4K restoration of the film includes extras such as commentary tracks, “Let’s Dance! Kevin Bacon On Footloose,” “From Bomont To The Big Apple: An Interview With Sarah Jessica Parker,” “Kevin Bacon’s Screen Test,” “Kevin Bacon Costume Montage,” “Footloose: A Modern Musical,” and “Footloose: Songs That Tell A Story.” If you want to figure out the correct lyrics to Kenny Loggins’ “Footloose” theme song, you still have to look that up on Google, however.

The Marvels (2023)
Marvel Studios’ The Marvels | Official Trailer

Available February 13 Although superhero fatigue is real—just look at the diminishing box office returns for every superhero movie lately—some of you have never met a comic book adaptation that you didn’t like. Those diehards will want to check out , the Nia DaCosta-directed sequel to Captain Marvel starring Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Zawe Ashton, and Park Seo-joon that represents the 33rd (!) film in the bloated Marvel Cinematic Universe. Although the movie has the dubious distinction of being the first MCU movie not to make $100 million at the domestic box office, maybe more people will watch at home. Available on both and Blu-ray, The Marvels extras include the “Entangled” and “The Production Diaries” featurettes, deleted scenes, and a gag reel.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) Official Trailer

Available February 13Just in time for Valentine’s Day comes , a prequel set 64 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteered as tribute. The movie stars Tom Blyth as Coriolanus “Coryo” Snow, plus Rachel Zegler, Peter Dinklage, Jason Schwartzman, Hunter Schafer, Josh Andrés Rivera, and Viola Davis. Available on both and Blu-ray, extras include an eight-part documentary titled “Predator Or Prey: Making The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes,” “The Hanging Tree” song by Rachel Zegler, plus featurettes on the movie’s music, stunts, locations, costumes, postproduction, and more.

Priscilla (2023)
Priscilla | Official Trailer HD | A24

Available February 13 Also available just in time for Valentine’s Day is Sofia Coppola’s , starring Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla Presley and Jacob Elordi as Elvis Presley. Based on Priscilla Presley’s 1985 memoir Elvis And Me, Priscilla tells the story of the couple’s doomed, age-inappropriate romance through Priscilla’s eyes. Available on , Priscilla’s bonus features include “Brushed With Beauty: Creating Priscilla’s Story,” “The Making Of Priscilla: A Film By Liv McNeil,” and the theatrical trailer.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season One (2023)
THE WALKING DEAD: DARYL DIXON New Trailer (2023)

Available February 13On season one of , our titular walker-slaying warrior (Norman Reedus) wakes up in France and tries to piece together why he’s there and how to get back home—all while experiencing the European version of the zombie apocalypse. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season One is available on SteelBook from RLJ Entertainment, which provided no information about bonus features for the six-episode season. AMC green-lighted a second season of The Walking Dead spin-off, so catch up on disc if you don’t have access to AMC.

Hypnotic (2023)
Hypnotic Trailer #1 (2023)

Available February 13 Ben Affleck plays an Austin, Texas, police detective trying to find his missing daughter while simultaneously investigating a series of mind-bending bank robberies in Robert Rodriguez’s . Rodriguez also produced and edited the movie, while his sons Rebel and Racer Rodriguez are credited as composer and producer, respectively. The mystery-thriller also starring Alice Braga, J. D. Pardo, Hala Finley, Dayo Okeniyi, Jeff Fahey, Jackie Earle Haley, and William Fichtner arrives on a bare-bones with no bonus features from Relativity Media and Ketchup Entertainment.

Willy’s Wonderland (2021)
Willy’s Wonderland - Official Trailer

Available February 13 If you enjoyed , check out Nicolas Cage in the 2021 comedy-horror film Willy’s Wonderland as he plays a janitor tasked with maintaining an abandoned entertainment center filled with possessed, murderous animatronic characters. The cult film directed by Kevin Lewis is already available on Blu-ray, but now Shout Factory has readied a Collector’s Edition for fans. The combo pack contains a Blu-ray with all of the bonus features, including the “Inside Fun” featurette, a set tour, “Fresh Meat” featurette, “Colorful Darkness And The Demon-Atrons” featurette, an image gallery, and a trailer. Willy’s Wonderland is also available as a limited-edition .

The Conan Chronicles (1982-1984)
Conan the Barbarian Original Trailer (John Milius, 1982)

Arrow Video’s The Conan Chronicles contains editions of 1982’s and 1984’s , both starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in the titular role. Three different cuts of Conan The Barbarian are included via seamless branching: theatrical, international, and extended. The two movies include meaty extras such as newly filmed interviews with filmmakers and crew, new commentary tracks for both films by genre expert Paul M. Sammon, the 2000 documentary “Conan Unchained: The Making Of Conan,” plus legacy bonus features from both films. The Conan Chronicles also comes packaged with double-sided fold-out posters for both movies, 12 double-sided postcards, and an illustrated booklet.

Leviathan (1989)
Leviathan (1989) - Official Trailer (HD)

Available February 20 George P. Cosmatos’ sci-fi thriller is about a deep-sea mining crew who discover a sunken freighter that contains a monstrous genetic experiment gone wrong. The movie starring Peter Weller, Richard Crenna, Amanda Pays, Daniel Stern, Ernie Hudson, and Michael Carmin arrives on for the first time with a 4K restoration from Kino Lorber. Bonus features include a commentary track by film historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson, “Leviathan: Monster Melting Pot” featurette, interviews with actors Ernie Hudson and Hector Elizondo, and the theatrical trailer.

Darkman (1990)
Darkman (1990) - Official Trailer

Available February 20 Shout Factory’s debut of Sam Raimi’s , starring Liam Neeson, will thrill fans of the cult superhero film. The Collector’s Edition features a 4K restoration from the original camera negative approved by Raimi and director of photography Bill Pope. Most of the extras are on the included Blu-ray, such as never-before-seen deleted scenes, plus interviews with Neeson, Frances McDormand, Larry Drake, makeup designer Tony Gardner, and many more in addition to legacy making-of featurettes. A Shout Factory exclusive edition comes packaged with a poster, lobby cards, pin, and prism sticker.

 
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