The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray releases of True Lies and Aliens have hit delays in the UK – one longer than the other.
The plan was that now James Cameron has finally got around to approving new transfers for three of his films in particular – Aliens, True Lies and The Abyss – that we would be watching them on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc by April. Nothing could go wrong.
Er, stuff has gone wrong. At least in the UK.
Notwithstanding question marks over the film’s transfers themselves (we’ve talked about those here), we learned just before Christmas that the UK release of The Abyss has been abandoned altogether. That’s down to one particular scene that the BBFC objected to, and James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment refused to budge on.
Now, problems with True Lies and Aliens.
True Lies had been down for UK release on 18th March 2024, but we now learn that it’s been put back two weeks, to 1st April. A minor delay, and after the years of waiting for even a proper Blu-ray release, one most people will easily suck up.
In the case of Aliens though, a bigger mystery. Set for release on 1st April 2024, the film has now dropped off the UK schedule, to a holding date of 31st December. There’s been no official announcement of the delay, nor any reason given, but the date shift is being reflected across all the usual online retailers.
In the US, the release date for Aliens remains at 12th March, the same date that True Lies remains on the schedule. Whether a delay will hit the US releases isn’t yet clear, or if it’s unique to the UK. There’s a posh boxset of Avatar still arriving on 4K disc at the start of March, so Cameron’s films are hardly being pulled en masse.
Hopefully, some official word on all of this isn’t far away. We’ll, of course, keep you posted as we hear more.
