It’s been a long road, but 4K is finally in the wild with both 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs and players available to consumers. Still, we’re in the early days of the format, so there remains a lack of available content compared to HD Blu-ray, but the 4K catalog continues to grow, and another company has just revealed its first pixel-packed release.
Paramount Home Media Distribution has announced its first 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray releases will be 2009’s Star Trek and 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness, Variety reports. Both will be released on June 14 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Star Trek TV series.
In addition to the increased resolution and color gamut that the 4K UHD Blu-ray format brings, the releases of both films included remixed Dolby Atmos soundtracks meant specifically for home theater viewings. Each film comes in a three-disc combo pack featuring UHD Blu-ray, HD Blu-ray, and Digital HD versions of the film.
Star Trek will include commentary from J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof and Roberto Orci, but its sequel seems to be the more feature-rich release. Star Trek Into Darkness includes the Imax version of the film, as well as over two hours of special features.
Even with the included extras, the price might come as a bit of a shock. Each film will retail for $50, while a cursory glance at Amazon reveals that standard Blu-ray releases of either film can be had for less than a third of the price. That said, this is generally the way pricing goes for all 4K releases, at least for now.
In the meantime, plenty of other releases are already available in the new format, so if watching the Star Trek reboots isn’t enough to satisfy all of your 4K needs, take a look at our guide to the best Ultra HD movies to show off your home theater.
