The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
Action, Science Fiction • 1h 59m
Director: David Twohy
Cast: Vin Diesel, Thandiwe Newton, Karl Urban, Alexa Davalos, Colm Feore, Linus Roache, Keith David, Yorick van Wageningen, Nick Chinlund, Roger Cross, Kim Hawthorne, Judi Dench, Mark Gibbon, Terry Chen, Christina Cox, Nigel Vonas, Raoul Ganeev, Alexis Llewellyn, Charles Zuckermann, Kristin Lehman, Aaron Douglas, Christopher Heyerdahl, Ty Olsson, Mark Acheson, Ron Selmour, Ben Cotton, Lorena Gale, Alexandr Kalugin
Best English-friendly & video release · updated 1 year ago
UHD tiers
Overview
After years of outrunning ruthless bounty hunters, escaped convict Riddick suddenly finds himself caught between opposing forces in a fight for the future of the human race. Now, waging incredible battles on fantastic and deadly worlds, this lone, reluctant hero will emerge as humanity's champion - and the last hope for a universe on the edge of annihilation.
Director: David Twohy
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Original 5.1 is included on the Arrow 4K Blu-ray and the Old Universal Blu-ray
Director: David Twohy
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray has terrible compression, but still beats out the old disc which was sourced from a mediocre old scan with edge enhancement, and which has compression issues of its own.
Original 5.1 mix: 1997 Pioneer LaserDisc or 1997 Live Entertainment NTSC DVD
Original matrixed Dolby Stereo mix: Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray
The film originally premiered with two mixes, a 5.1 for upgraded theaters, and a distinct matrixed Dolby Stereo mix for older venues. The original 5.1 mix can only be found on the earliest LD/DVD releases, as all later releases replace it with a mediocre 7.1 mix with reduced dynamic range.
The Atmos mix is based off of the previous 7.1 remix, but with futher alterations as per director's wishes. One scene intentionally drops out into silence, see this post for details.
Director: Lewis Teague
> disappointing US Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
Director: Steve De Jarnatt
2024 Kino Lorber Blu-ray
UK Transmission 4K Blu-ray in January 2027
Either the 2015 Kino Lorber Blu-ray or the Arrow Blu-ray
The 2024 Kino Lorber Blu-ray is botched.
Director: George Pavlou
Arrow 4K Blu-ray teased
Germany Wicked Vision 4K Blu-ray better than US Kino Lorber?
Director: Bruce Robinson
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray has stronger encode than Criterion
Director: Olivier Assayas
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Encoding is clunky on both Arrow and Criterion BDs but Arrow at least included the original stereo mix in addition to the 5.1 remix, while Criterion only included the 5.1 remix.
Director: John Woo
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
review: Disk Kino
Both have better encoding than Disk Kino, some shots are better on Shout! Factory, others on Arrow
Shout Factory still has the best video while Arrow did a questionable regrade. Arrow definitely has less grain in most shots, has a worse encode and is cm v2.9 compared to Shout’s cm v4.0.
Shout! Factory/Arrow 4K Blu-ray has the original mono
Director: Federico Fellini
Director: Ron Shelton
Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray disappointing, nice new master, but poor encode, grain completely crippled in some scenes, artifacts abound, etc, makes Kino Lorber look like FiM.
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