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Mean Girls (2004)
Mean Girls (2004) poster

Mean Girls (2004)

Drama, Comedy • 1h 37m

Director: Mark Waters

Paramount 4K Blu-ray

Best English-friendly & video release · updated 1 year ago

UHD tiers

Solid
Paramount

Overview

Cady Heron is a hit with The Plastics, the A-list girl clique at her new school, until she makes the mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels, the ex-boyfriend of alpha Plastic Regina George.

Release details

Length
97 mins
Type
Movie

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Director: Peter Faiman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Australia Cut: Australia Fox DVD

International Cut: Paramount Blu-ray

Encore Cut: Germany Winkler Film 4K Blu-ray, censored but good encoding

Sources: movie-censorship.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

US Paramount 4K Blu-ray, is the International US Cut and not the Encore Cut

Best Audio:

Australia Cut: Laserdisc

Additional Info:

The film exists in three versions:
- the original Australian cut (~104 minutes at 24fps/~100 minutes at 25fps);
- the American/international version (~98 minutes at 24fps/~94 minutes at 25fps) trimming some exposition in the Outback first half of the film and some shorter extensions of a few seconds in the New York section, altering some of the dialogue – including censoring a "fuck" to "screw" – but featuring one additional dialogue extension not in the Australian version (a comparison of the two cuts can be found at Movie Censorship);
- the Australian Encore Cut (~95 minutes at 24fps/~91 minutes at 25fps) which uses the international version source so it already has those alterations but also removes approximately three minutes consisting of parts of two scenes featuring Mick grabbing the crotch of a cross-dressing prostitute and a later sequence when he does the same thing at a party to a woman with a deep voice (a comparison of the international version and the Encore Cut can be found at Movie Censorship).

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2D version: Paramount Blu-ray

3D version: Paramount 3D Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray on October 26 2026

Director: Billy Wilder

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray or Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray. See caps
HDR/grading: nice, but some blown out
Encoding: inconsistent, smeared motion
DNR: inconsistent, frozen
Old Paramount Blu-ray is arguably a solid alternative choice

Best Audio:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono

Audio Notes:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono is different version of the Blu-ray mono from the same old 2000 DVD transfer.

Additional Info:

The 5.1 remix on the 4K Blu-ray is an appalling remix done by going wild with artificially generated stems from Park Road Post who were given the surviving mono to separate. The experience is jarring and fidelity to original mix in terms of level balance, directionality and impact is nonexistent. Not only does this sound painfully weird, but the Paramount mixers then did whatever they wanted in terms of LFE, sound pans and effect changes.
The original mono mix was not restored and still needs it badly. The 4K master is filled with frozen grain examples coming and going plus some HDR issues in addition to the usual Paramount problems. It is simultaneously better and worse than the Blu-ray master.

Director: Robert Altman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray scheduled for Dec 2026 release

Director: Richard Linklater

4K · Solid

Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)

Additional Info:

Germany Blu-ray has English audio 

Germany Blu-ray is part of a 3-film box set like the Criterion but by StudioCanal 

Director: Michael Bay

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Original AR: Paramount 4K Blu-ray

IMAX AR: Paramount 3D Blu-ray

Director: Stanley Donen

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount Blu-ray

Director: Trey Parker

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Paramount Blu-ray

Directors: Arturo Perez Jr. & Samantha Jayne

Best English-Friendly & Audio:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray

Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Director: Robert Altman

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray

Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab) · mega.nz (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

Paramount Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Popeye was mixed for a failed Vistasonic system with 4 discrete tracks (L/C/R/S). That mix has never been released on home video in its original form.

The older 5.1 track appearing on older DVD/BD releases sounds excellent. It appears to be a slight upmix of the original mix, only splitting the surrounds and adding LFE. It sounds close to the old analog LaserDisc, which is likely the original mix in a matrixed form.

The 5.1 included on the UHD is a new remix which significantly differs from previous tracks. There are new foley effects all over the place. Music is jarringly spliced in from different sources. Unlike the old 5.1 which had clearly discrete surrounds, the channels surrounds overlap somewhat with the fronts here.

Details on the new mix from Paramount's former head of restoration: https://youtu.be/P-AmjqViJyE?t=788

The 2.0 tracks on all DVDs/BDs are just downmixes of their respective 5.1 mixes.

Samples

More Drama on Blu-ray

Director: Leos Carax

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Director: Leos Carax

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Leos Carax

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Leos Carax

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Neil Jordan

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Director: Ron Shelton

4K · Worse Than BD
Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK Arrow Blu-ray

Video Notes:

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.

Director: Sian Heder

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Italy Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

English-Friendly Notes:

Has full and forced English subtitles

Video Notes:

See caps comparing Italy vs US release

Best Audio:

Apple TV 4K Blu-ray with Atmos

Audio Notes:

(Eagle Pictures is 5.1)

Director: Celine Song

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK StudioCanal Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

UK StudioCanal Blu-ray is the better release. Plaion Italy 4K Blu-ray has macroblocking and chroma noise issues, and the US Lionsgate Blu-ray has elevated gamma levels and macroblocking https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=22310555&postcount=31

Director: Dennis Hopper

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI Blu-ray

Video Notes:

BFI Blu-ray renders grain structure better than Severin 4K Blu-ray’s disappointing encode, although Severin does feature an HDR grading with Dolby Vision. Furthermore, Severin’s soundtrack is worse due to the noise reduction applied.

Additional Info:

Severin 4K Blu-ray has very good extras that are more relevant to the film

Director: Andreas Prochaska

Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray or Germany Blu-ray but no comparison available 

Germany Blu-ray doesn’t have good encoding, with visible blocking and banding etc.

Additional Info:

Germany Blu-ray lacks English subtitles. Kino Lorber Blu-ray has English subtitles but is OOP 

Kino Lorber Blu-ray retains both the French and German dialogue in their native languages.

Germany Blu-ray dubs over the French dialogue in German.

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Researched and maintained by

vanshady

· last reviewed 1 year ago

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