Founded in Vancouver in 1997 and now run from Santa Monica, Lionsgate is a film and television studio whose home-video arm issues its own productions alongside acquired libraries such as Artisan, Trimark, Summit and eOne on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD. Its Vestron Video Collector's Series revisits cult and horror titles with new extras.
Lionsgate
121 films on Best BluraysBest video release: 94 in 4K26 in HD1 in SD10 more for audio only4 more announced
Best 4K release by tier:
- Excellent38
- Solid28
- Good in DV Only1
- Disappointing3
- Worse Than BD6
Films where Lionsgate's release is the pick. How picks are made
94 of 121 films match
Films where Lionsgate's release is the pick. How picks are made
94 in 4K
Best video release on UHD Blu-ray or 4K streaming
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Theatrical Cut: Italy Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray
Redux Cut: Lionsgate vs Eagle Pictures?
Final Cut: Lionsgate or Eagle Pictures, both are not great (visible chroma noise)
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Best Audio:
Theatrical: Germany 4K Blu-ray/US Blu-ray DD 5.1 (1979 mix)
Additional Info:
In the Lionsgate US/UK 6-disc set, there are 4 discs of the main feature. For whatever reason, the 4K discs lack the *original track. The Germany 4K Blu-ray release is different on this matter.
UBD: Final Cut: Atmos, DD2.0
UBD: Redux/Theatrical: Atmos
BD: Final Cut: Atmos, DD2.0
BD: Redux/Theatrical: Dtru5.1 (Redux mix?), DD5.1 (?), DD5.1 (Theatrical only), DD2.0 (downmix??)
As a result the Theatrical Cut has 4 tracks, The Redux has 3. Differences are unclear.
BD: Hearts of Darkness
BD: Special Features
Best English-Friendly & Video:
StudioCanal/Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray
Director: Robin Hardy
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Final Cut: StudioCanal/Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray Theatrical Cut: StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray Director's Cut: StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray
Best Audio:
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray
Director: Adrian Lyne
Best English-Friendly & Audio:
Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab) · dvdessential.it (opens in a new tab)
Audio Notes:
Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray has the original stereo in lossy DD 2.0
Best Video:
US Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray
Video Notes:
> European/Australia StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (better encoding on Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray)
Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray review / caps and packaging impressions by Kyle15.
For Blu-ray, Germany Plaion > US Lionsgate https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?go=1&a=0&d1=14167&d2=14170&s1=144509&s2=144555&i=7&l=1
Italy or Japan Blu-ray should also have a better encoding than Lionsgate. Italy vs US caps
Director: Mary Harron
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Lionsgate 25th Anniversary 4K Blu-ray
Video Notes:
(slightly better than the old 4K)
Audio Notes:
DTS-HD MA 5.1 (to 4K Blu-ray: -125ms)
Additional Info:
Britain Blu-ray has an exclusive extra
Director: Chad Stahelski
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Lionsgate/Titans of Cult 4K Blu-ray
Video Notes:
(Titans of Cult 4K Blu-ray has Dolby Vision)
3 with a weaker 4K
Best 4K release rated Disappointing or Worse Than BD · by Letterboxd rating
Director: Pete Travis
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray
Video Notes:
Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray has excessive DNR, Japan Blu-ray maybe better?
Director: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray
Video Notes:
Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray disappointing, with burned in English subs
Director: David Twohy
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Video Notes:
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.
Best Audio:
Original 5.1 mix: 1997 Pioneer LaserDisc or 1997 Live Entertainment NTSC DVD
Original matrixed Dolby Stereo mix: Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray
Audio Notes:
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.
6 for audio only
The best audio is Lionsgate's; the video and English-friendly picks are other releases · by Letterboxd rating
Best Audio:
Lionsgate DVD for the original 5.1
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Best Video:
France Metropolitan 4K Blu-ray
Director: Damien Chazelle
Best Audio:
Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray for the original Dolby Atmos mix
Upcoming Release:
US Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray re-release announced with Dolby Vision, a new exclusive bonus, and the previously retailer pre-order bonus-exclusive/Hong Kong-exclusive bonus interviews in HD
Best Video:
Video Notes:
Italy Eagle Pictures has DV, better encode, and no brightness shifts compared to Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray
Additional Info:
Hong Kong Panorama 4K Blu-ray has two interviews available in HD that are SD everywhere else and only included as retailer-exclusive pre-order bonus DVDs with the US Blu-ray
Director: Jane Campion
Best Audio:
2014 StudioCanal Blu-ray 5.1, 2012 Lionsgate Blu-ray 2.0
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Video Notes:
France Carlotta 4K Blu-ray slightly better than Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Abel Ferrara
Best Audio:
Arrow/Lionsgate 2.0
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Video Notes:
> Lionsgate Limited: https://slow.pics/c/04WP81j1
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Best Audio:
Kino Lorber has 5.1, Lionsgate Blu-ray has 7.1, don't know which sounds better and closest to the theatrical mix.
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Video Notes:
But has AI upscaling on opticals, see caps
Director: Franc Roddam
Best English-Friendly & Video:
US Cut with Chaz Jankel score: Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
3 announced
Lionsgate's release is announced; until it is out, the picks are other releases · by Letterboxd rating
Director: Paul King
Upcoming Release:
Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:
Video Notes:
StudioCanal UK 4K Blu-ray minimal picture upgrade (2K upscale)
Audio Notes:
StudioCanal UK 4K Blu-ray has good new Atmos mix
Upcoming Release:
A new Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray with DV upcoming including with the rest of the films.
Best Video:
Video Notes:
> StudioCanal UK, better compression than StudioCanal
Director: Peter MacDonald
Upcoming Release:
A new Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray with DV upcoming including with the rest of the films.
Best Video:
Video Notes:
> StudioCanal UK, better compression than StudioCanal but no forced subs on non-English dialogue
Know a film where the Lionsgate release is the one to buy? Suggest it