Arrival (2016)
Drama, Science Fiction, Mystery • 1h 56m
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Cast: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg, Mark O'Brien, Tzi Ma, Abigail Pniowsky, Julia Scarlett Dan, Jadyn Malone, Frank Schorpion, Lucas Chartier-Dessert, Christian Jadah, Lucy Van Oldenbarneveld, Andrew Shaver, Pat Kiely, Sonia Vigneault, Mark Camacho, Sabrina Reeves, Julian Casey, Tony Robinow, Larry Day, Matthew Willson, Ruth Chiang, Russell Yuen, Sergiy Marchenko, Anana Rydvald, Bineyam Girma, Abdelghafour Elaaziz, Abdul Ayoola, Alex M. Yeuh, Daniel Esteban, Albert Kwan, Brittany Teo, Joe Cobden, Lorne Brass, Genevieve Sirois, Victor Andres Trelles Turgeon, Michael Nangreaves, Reda Guerinik, Adrien Benn, Sasha Samar, Kathleen Stavert, Kattia Thony, Leisa Reid, Brent Skagford, Gurdeep Ahluwalia, Shawn Campbell, Brian Dunstan, Dan Duran, Lori Graham, Orla Johannes, John Sanford Moore, Sangita Patel, Hal Roberts, Camille Ross, Ola Sturik, Tammie Sutherland, Max Walker, Marc-André Goulet, Paul-Antoine Taillefer, Martin Jr Pelletier, Carmela Nozza Guizzo, Robert D. Morais, Mustafa Haidari, Philippe Hartmann, Laurean Adrian Parau, Nathaly Thibault, Leslie Baker, Dave Campbell, Alexander Da Mota, Akul Dang, Frank Fiola
Best English-friendly & video release · updated 1 year ago
UHD tiers
Overview
Taking place after alien crafts land around the world, an expert linguist is recruited by the military to determine whether they come in peace or are a threat.
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Sony Global 4K Blu-ray
> WB US 4K Blu-ray
Dolby Atmos: Sony/Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray, Warner Bros Blu-ray
Sony Blu-ray only has 5.1, not Atmos
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Caveat: both releases do not contain their natively shot expanded IMAX aspect ratios
Dolby Atmos: Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray, Warner Bros Blu-ray
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Caveat: both releases do not contain their natively shot expanded IMAX aspect ratios
Dolby Atmos: Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray, Warner Bros Blu-ray
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Director: Denis Villeneuve
101 UK 4K Blu-ray
Director: Tony Scott
The 70mm 6-track mix has a higher bitrate on the Paramount 1998 DVD, but is more limited than on the THX LaserDisc The Paramount 1998 DVD also has open matte versions in fullscreen 1.33:1 and widescreen 2.00:1 instead of the theatrical aspect ratio of 2.39:1, but the 2.00:1 widescreen presentation is non-anamorphic. The THX LaserDisc is available in both fullscreen 1.33:1 and widescreen 2.00:1 variants.
Director: Terrence Malick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Lovely underlying remaster by Criterion and Resillion but encode is sadly low-pass filtered by Pixelogic, and even then, the encode is still less than ideal. Still easily obliterates any prior disc release, but certainly wouldn't hurt to have a UK or German label take a crack at this same master.
Director: Peter Faiman
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)
US Paramount 4K Blu-ray, is the International US Cut and not the Encore Cut
Australia Cut: Laserdisc
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).
3D version: Paramount 3D Blu-ray
Paramount 4K Blu-ray on October 26 2026
Director: Billy Wilder
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
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
Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono
Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono is different version of the Blu-ray mono from the same old 2000 DVD transfer.
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
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray scheduled for Dec 2026 release
Director: Richard Linklater
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
Original AR: Paramount 4K Blu-ray
IMAX AR: Paramount 3D Blu-ray
More Drama on Blu-ray
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
BD LPCM 5.1
The DTS-HD on the UHD has been dynamically compressed, has had its center channel boosted, and surrounds lowered (typical modern nearfield mix for soundbars). Very different from the BD and DVD tracks. The BD LPCM is basically just a lossless version of the DTS and AC3 from the original DVD (the AC3 actually being the superior mix on that particular release).
Directors: Emeric Pressburger & Michael Powell
Imprint 4K Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · filmalert101.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
FiM encode and none of the low-pass filtering present on the Criterion 4K, resulting in more detail and better handling of highlights on Imprint
Review, comparisons
All HD and 4K sources use the same 2009 restoration. Criterion's master (also used by Imprint) is a bit more rolled off, though the difference is minor.
Director: Edgar Selwyn
4K restoration
Director: Lloyd Bacon
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Julien Duvivier
4K restoration
Director: Norman Taurog
4K restoration
Director: Preston Sturges
No information on French Elephant Films Blu-ray
Director: Ralph Bakshi
Director: Martin Scorsese
Other releases have horrendous DNR
Director: Sofia Coppola
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