Kubrick Classic ‘The Shining’ Headed for 4K Blu-ray

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has announced that Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror masterpiece, The Shining, will be released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray this fall.

Using a new 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative, filmmaker Steven Spielberg and Kubrick’s former personal assistant Leon Vitali worked closely with Warner to remaster the original 146 minute version of the film in 4K with high dynamic range (HDR).

The restored 4K version of the film was screened at The Cannes Film Festival on Friday (May 17) and is slated for release October 1 as an Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack that will sell for $41.99. The package will include a 4K Blu-ray disc of the film with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack plus a downloadable digital version of the movie and a second disc with an HD version of the film and more than three hours of previously released special features.

On October 1, the film will also be available for streaming and downloading in high-definition and standard definition via GooglePlay, Vudu, Xbox, and others as well as available on-demand through cable and satellite providers.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest horror films ever made, The Shining is ranked 29th on the American Film Institute’s (AFI) “100 Years/100 Thrills” list of the most terrifying movies in American cinema and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, The Shining stars Jack Nicholson in an iconic role as Jack Torrance, who becomes the winter caretaker at the isolated Overlook Hotel in Colorado, hoping to cure his writer's block. He settles in along with his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and his son, Danny (Danny Lloyd), who is plagued by psychic premonitions. As Jack's writing goes nowhere and Danny's visions become more disturbing, he discovers the hotel's dark secrets and begins to unravel into a homicidal maniac hell-bent on terrorizing his family.

Special features include audio commentary by Kubrick biographer John Baxter and Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown, and the video shorts Crafting The Shining, The Visions of Stanley Kubrick, which explores Kubrick’s unique ability to move audiences through the magic of unforgettable images, and a documentary, and The Making of The Shining, featuring a rare glimpse of Kubrick interacting with stars Jack Nicholson, Shelly Duvall, and others. In another featurette, composer Wendy Carlos reflects on developing the music scores for The Shining and another Kubrick classic, A Clockwork Orange.

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