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Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) poster

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

Action, Adventure, Science Fiction • 2h 12m

Director: J.J. Abrams

Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldaña, Benedict Cumberbatch, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller, Alice Eve, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Leonard Nimoy, Noel Clarke, Nazneen Contractor, Amanda Foreman, Jay Scully, Jonathan Dixon, Aisha Hinds, Joseph Gatt, Jeremy Raymond, Tony Guma, Kimberly Arland, Sean Blakemore, Nick E. Tarabay, Beau Billingslea, Deep Roy, Anjini Taneja Azhar, Jack Laufer, Katie Cockrell, Kellie Cockrell, Jason Matthew Smith, Seth Ayott, Marco Sanchez, Lee Reherman, Scott Lawrence, Usman Ally, Nolan North, James Hiroyuki Liao, Rob Moran, Berit Francis, Akiva Goldsman, Benjamin P. Binswanger, Christopher Doohan, Andy Demetrio, Gianna Simone, Rene Rosado, Jacqueline King, Long Tran, Ningning Deng, Jodi Johnston, Colleen Harris, Jeff Chase, Monisola Akiwowo, Paul K. Daniel, Ser'Darius Blain, Heather Langenkamp, David C. Waite, Melissa Paulo, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Drew Grey, Douglas Weng, Charlie Haugk, Max Chernov, Marc Primiani, Jesper Inglis, Jacob Rhodes, Kentucky Rhodes, Toney Wilson, Eric Greitens, Melissa Steinman, Adam McCann, Jon Orvasky, Gerald W. Abrams, James McGrath, Brian T. Delaney, Arlen Escarpeta, Joe Moses, Kevin Michael Richardson, David Sobolov, Matthew Wood, Fred Tatasciore, Kiff VandenHeuvel, Audrey Wasilewski, Bill Hader, Britanni Johnson, Chris Gardner, Julianne Buescher, Joe Hanna, David Acord, Elle Newlands, Candice Renee, Emily Towers, Gina Hirsch, Tom Archdeacon, Jon Lee Brody, Hiram A. Murray, Fernando Chien

Best video format

UHD Blu-ray

Overview

When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis. With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

Release details

Best Video Release

Paramount 4K Blu-ray (featuring the Imax sequences)

Length
132 mins
Type
Movie
Alternative Titles
Star Trek II, Star Trek:Into Darkness

Featured in Films containing scenes with IMAX expanded ratio

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Director: Taika Waititi

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2D: Disney 4K Blu-ray

3D: International Disney 3D Blu-ray

IMAX Version: Disney+ Streaming

Director: Michael Bay

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Original AR: Paramount 4K Blu-ray

IMAX AR: Paramount 3D Blu-ray

Director: J.J. Abrams

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

2D version: Disney 4K Blu-ray

3D version: Disney 3D Blu-ray or Disney+/Apple TV Vision Pro Streaming

Director: James Cameron

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

Paramount/Fox Blu-ray
3D Blu-ray for the IMAX/Open Matte version

35mm scan for original theatrical cut

Video Notes:

4K Blu-ray is AI upscaled

Best Audio:

Cinema DTS

Additional Info:

The 4K Blu-ray bonus disc, the 2012 Blu-ray bonus disc, and the 2005 3 disc DVD have exclusive extras.

Director: Joseph Kosinski

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

Universal Blu-ray

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

Additional Info:

Best Buy Blu-ray has a bonus disc

Director: Denis Villeneuve

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony Global 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

> WB US 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Dolby Atmos: Sony/Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray, Warner Bros Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Sony Blu-ray only has 5.1, not Atmos

Director: Denis Villeneuve

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Caveat: both releases do not contain their natively shot expanded IMAX aspect ratios

Best Audio:

Dolby Atmos: Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray, Warner Bros Blu-ray

Director: Denis Villeneuve

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Caveat: both releases do not contain their natively shot expanded IMAX aspect ratios

Best Audio:

Dolby Atmos: Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray, Warner Bros Blu-ray

Director: Christopher Nolan

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Caveat: mild DNR throughout the transfer, non-IMAX scenes appear soft due to being scanned from an interpositive rather than the original camera negative.

Additional Info:

Best Buy exclusive Steelbook Blu-ray has the exclusive The Dark Knight Reborn Featurette

Director: Christopher Nolan

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Caveat: mild DNR throughout the transfer, non-IMAX scenes appear soft due to being scanned from an interpositive rather than the original camera negative.

More from J.J. Abrams

See more →

Director: J.J. Abrams

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Cinema DTS

Audio Notes:

The DTS-HD 5.1 from some of the international Blu-rays and the TrueHD 5.1 on the 4K Blu-ray are similar.

Additional Info:

Best Buy exclusive DVD has Bonus Disc with featurettes not found on Blu-ray/4K Blu-ray

Director: J.J. Abrams

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray

TV series

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Disney Blu-Ray

Original broadcast version of Exodus Pt. 2: fan restoration

Best Video:

Disney Blu-Ray

Additional Info:

The Britain Blu-Ray of S1 has exclusive extras

The Best Buy exclusive Blu-Ray of S6 has a bonus disc.

Director: J.J. Abrams

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Disney 4K Blu-ray

More from Paramount

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Director: Alex Proyas

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray (30th anniv.)

Director: Steven Spielberg

Best English-Friendly & Video:

US Paramount Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray Dec 15th

Video Notes:

US Paramount Blu-ray > International WB Blu-ray

Director: Tony Scott

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

70mm 6-track mix in 5.1: Paramount THX LaserDisc

Dolby Stereo mix in 2.0: Paramount THX LaserDisc

Additional Info:

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

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

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.

Best Audio:

1999 Paramount DVD

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

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

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: Stanley Donen

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount Blu-ray

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· last reviewed 9 months ago

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