The 10 best Blu-rays and 4K UHD releases of June 2023

Here is the biggest Blu-ray of 2023: Avatar: The Way of the Water The Blu-ray version and the 4K edition will be available on 20th June. But please don’t let James Cameron’s colossal new blockbuster keep you from also enjoying a parade of weirdo, overlooked gems from the past thirty years.

You want to watch Tom Cruise at his peak doing handsprings in public while avoiding lawyers who are evil? Or maybe you’d like to watch the movie that inspired the Waterworld Is there a stunt show in Universal Studios today that continues to thrill guests? Personally, I’m morbidly eager to revisit Mallrats, Kevin Smith’s once-maligned, now-adored sophomore film.

If you’re new to this curation series, here’s how our Bluray and 4K curation works: Each month, in an effort to help you find your next favorite discs, we curate a list of our most anticipated releases. We haven’t had the opportunity to try these discs just yet, but each of these releases has potential and comes from a label we’ve enjoyed in the past.

You can also check our list of best Blu-ray and UHD 4K discs for 2018.

The Blu-ray release of the month for June 2023.

20th Century Studios

Avatar: The Way of Water (4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital) – June 20, 2023

Home video releases will surpass the theatrical release for 2022 in 2023. Cameron style, this physical release comes with the biggest package, which includes over a dozen featuresttes. The production team spent years conceptualizing the tools to make the film possible, so it’s fitting that we should get an entire behind the scenes short dedicated to the creation of digital water. I’m most excited to watch the screen tests for actors we only see in the film as Na’vi. How does one sell themselves as a ready-to-be-digitized actor?

Fans with 3D TVs will get the same treatment. 20th Century also releases the 3D Blu-ray Edition of the film.

There are a lot of Blu-ray releases and 4K Ultra HD movies coming out in June 2023

Paramount Pictures

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Blu-ray + digital + 4K UHD) – May 30, 2023

The D&D film is one of the year’s best surprises. Frankly, I was skeptical of an adaptation of a tabletop games, but credit where it’s due. Producers brought together a combination of incredible creative talent behind and in front of the camera. Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez and the writers perform a screenplay. Game Night? This works!

This package contains deleted scenes, gag reels, and features that explain how creators turned an intricate rule book into something entertaining. We also spoke with the directors to learn where and why they broke the D&D rules.

Image: Wit Studio, CloverWorks/Crunchyroll

Spy x Family Season 1 Part 1 (Blu-ray + DVD) – June 13, 2023

The first half season is comprised of Spy x FamilyIt was not only number one on my list of the Best Anime of 2022, it also earned third place in our Best Anime of 2022. If you’re unfamiliar with the premise, here’s our short summary:

The show follows Loid Forger, a spy who’s tasked with a top-secret operation to stop the leader of the National Unity Party from harming peace relations between two neighboring countries. The spy’s plan was to gain access to the politician by attending an event at a top-notch elementary school. There’s only one problem: Loid is a bachelor.

The spy’s solution: to assemble a family, naturally. The thrust of the show follows Loid, his new wife Yor (who’s also secret assassin), and their telepathic adopted daughter, Anya. It’s even more silly than its premise would suggest, as well as being cogent, emotional and intelligent.

Crunchyroll’s streaming service is its main draw, but it also releases some big titles like this on home video. Bonus discs include a panel featuring the English cast, as well interviews with Japanese voice actors.

Paramount Home Entertainment

The firm (4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital) – June 20, 2023

The firm isn’t Tom Cruise’s best film, but it may be my favorite. It is not Tom Cruise’s best film, but it may be my favorite. Cruise is the main star, as a Harvard Law graduate recruited to work at a mysterious, small and powerful law firm located in Memphis. What is the name of this firm? What is the firm’s name?

Director Sydney Pollack is a master of ensemble casts and wisely surrounds Cruise – at this point still a budding talent best known for blockbusters – with top-tier actors, from Jeanne Tripplehorn and Gene Hackman to Ed Harris and Holly Hunter.

Some folks bemoan the 154-minute runtime, but in the age of exhausting superhero films, this once “long” movie feels rather quaint. It appears the disc is relatively barebones, but so long as I get to watch Cruise do an inexplicable gymnastics routine midway through the story, all in glorious 4K with HDR, well then I’ll have everything I need.

Arrow Video

Mallrats (4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital) – June 27, 2023

Clerks Kevin Smith’s debut, “The Last Days of Disco,” established him as one of the most promising young indie directors in the tradition of Quentin Tarantino. The film espoused obscenities while incorporating pop-culture conversations to create (what seemed) a formula that could be repeated by Gen X. The sequel, MallratsUndid everything.

What is the best way to get in touch with you? Clerks The film plays with expectations in contemporary independent cinema. Mallrats echoed 1980s teen sex comedies. Smith’s film was not well received by both critics as well as fans. He would eventually reboot his career — and reboot it a few more times after that.

But here’s the thing: every movie has its fans. Each and every one. In 1995 I was 10 years old. MallratsThe movie was just what I needed. Smith packed the movie with nudity, swear words and raunchy humor. He cast Jason Lee, a professional skateboarder, in the lead role, spotting a charisma that would fuel Lee’s career through decades of film and TV. It was the soundtrack that ruled. I’m positive that I listened to the CD even more than I watched the VHS.

Will I enjoy the film now? I’m curious to find out! Arrow is treating the film like Smith’s opus. The limited edition contains interviews with Smith, David Klein the cinematographer, Jason Mewes, Ben Affleck and more. There is also a featurette on making of, interviews with cast members from the shooting, an animated document, etc.

I expect there’s no way I’ll love this film the way I did as a teenager, but maybe the whole package can serve as a time machine for when I need to revisit that earlier self.

Arrow Video

Enter the Video Store (4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital) – June 27, 2023

Do you miss the sweltering hot Friday evenings of summer, when you’d loiter in the local video store for hours, appreciating the free air conditioning and the thousands of schlocky box covers? Or were you born too late and missed this ’90s kid rite of passage? In either case, if you pine for that lost time, then you’re the target audience for Arrow’s new collection, Enter the Video Store.

This package contains five movies, from trashy science fiction to sleazy terror. The package is likely to be of interest to regular readers at Polygon. Dungeonmaster, an ’80s film about a computer programmer who gets warped into a fantasy world. Set includes postcard sized copies of posters and cards as well an 80 page book to capture the physical experience of visiting a video store.

These aren’t the best movies on the planet, but let’s be real: quality was rarely the point of a trip to the video store. The excitement of trying something different just because the packaging looked cool was part of the experience. On a hot summer night, I’m not looking for Citizen Kane. I’m looking for DollsIt’s a movie with dolls.

Photo: Everett Collection

The Dead are Buried (4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital) – June 27, 2023

Dead & Buried It’s like BBC version of Tales from the Crypt. A small East Coast city is plagued by murders. The sheriff teams up with an unknown mortician in order to solve the mystery. One problem: the victims aren’t staying dead.

Director Gary Sherman drifts between German expressionism, ’50s creature features” 1970s hardboiled realism like he’s trying on different sunglasses. Though you’re probably unfamiliar with Sherman’s work, you’ve seen the craft of special effects artist Stan Winston, who won Oscars for films like Aliens, Terminator 2, and Jurassic Park. This 4K disc should be a great opportunity to see some of Winston and company’s gnarliest creations in ultra high-definition.

There are also a few behind the scenes featurettes on this disc. Four-wheel drive vehiclesThe director, the codirector, the Director of Photography, as well two film scholars, provide commentaries.

Warner Bros.

Creepshow (4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital) – June 27, 2023

The center piece of the package features a brand new scan in 4K. Creepshow’s original camera negative and a complimentary featurette on the film’s restoration with director of photography Michael Gornick. Gornick also appears on one of the three autido commentaries – another features director George A. Romero and acclaimed special make-up effects artist Tom Savini.

I’m curious about the inclusion of featurettes focused on the commodity communities that surrounds cult films like this one. Another featurette focuses on collectibles, such as props. These packages rarely acknowledge the art and money that are a part of niche media.

Also included on the disc are a number of interviews with cast and crew, deleted scenes and galleries of stills of lobby cards, posters and photos from set.

Universal Pictures

Waterworld (4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital) – June 27, 2023

Reader, I’m such a sucker for this movie. Similar to MallratsThe movie was released at a time when my childhood was in full swing. I read the novelization, counted the days and collected toys. Do I love the film because I love Kevin Costner as Mad Max? Or did my young self need me to like it, since my personality was built around him doing Mad Max with water in my mind at that time? Who’s to say?

I am fortunate to have other people around me. WaterworldArrow treated this film as if it were a holy relic. The 3-disc set includes the theatrical cut, the TV cut, and the “Ulysess cut.” Along with a bundle of featurettes, the set includes some tangible novelties: postcards, a double-sided poster, and a 60-page book.

If you can’t get enough WaterworldThe Atoll is one of my favourite YouTube channels. Its host has produced dozens of videos exploring every nook of the film’s existence, from the pinball machine to the lost Waterworld internet game.

The myth of dry land!

Criterion Collection Photo

Pasolini 101 (4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital) – June 27, 2023

I’ve never seen a Pasolini film. Hell, I haven’t seen a trailer for the films, or even read much criticism beyond a few notes on Medea. It’s my dream state of being when I go into a large box set. I get to experience an artist’s work from beginning to end, bringing no preconceived opinions. It’s rare to get this opportunity.

This collection contains nine feature films, three short films and two documentaries. To provide context, Criterion also will include a 100-page book of essays and “new program on Pasolini’s visual style as told through his personal writing, narrated by actor Tilda Swinton and writer Rachel Kushner.” I can’t wait.