Your ultimate guide to the most impressive 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray films currently available.
Dune makes its highly-anticipated US debut on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray (opens in new tab) this week – find out our thoughts on the disc below! The best 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray movies can give you an experience that’s the closest thing you can get to having a movie theater in your living room. In fact, we’d bet with the advent of HDR, Dolby Vision and readily available Dolby Atmos sound systems, it’s arguably better – especially because you don’t have to fight over the arm rest at home. That’s not to mention that the best 4K Ultra-HD Blu-rays will absolutely demolish anything you can stream online. While it’s true that some streaming services, like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video do offer a good amount of content in 4K – Netflix Originals for instance – you’ll be sorely out of luck if you’re trying to other new movies in 4K resolution with HDR on those platforms. Best of all, every 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc is region free, so anyone with a 4K Blu-ray player can enjoy these films. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of the best 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray movies currently available to purchase today. On this page, you will find a listing of the top trending ‘reference quality’ titles currently on offer, mostly consisting of new releases and titles only just arriving on the format. And, on following pages, you will find our full collection of 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray recommendations separated by genre. One of the most highly anticipated 4K releases of 2022, The Batman emerges from the shadows with a truly revelatory Ultra HD Blu-ray disc that absolutely lives up to the film’s theatrical presentation. Like the titular character himself, The Batman is a movie bathed in darkness, where every shadowy corner of Gotham City presents the threat of violence. Thankfully, The Batman’s Dolby Vision and HDR10 presentations provide exceptional shadow delineation, with Batman’s slow creeping out of the darkness coming across even more dramatic as a result – and without a single hint of the black crush that can sometimes effect the transfers of darker films. Thanks to The Batman’s native 4K digital intermediate, detail is off the charts. The the jagged edges of his suit, the stitching and leatherwork in his cowl – it all adds up to a film with intricacies that were practically made to be appreciated in 4K. Admittedly, The Batman isn’t the film to go to if you’re looking to show off your TV’s color bonafides. Much of the film is purposefully muted in appearance, with only brief instances of colorful highlights. Neon signs occasionally break out of the darkness, along with the amber lighting that illuminates the highway Batmobile chase sequences, or the bright orange explosion that ends it. As standout as The Batman’s visuals are, its audio presentation arguably steals the show, with a pristine Dolby Atmos primary track that delivers thundering sonics amidst a brilliantly immersive atmosphere – all punctuated by Michael Giacchino’s bombastic score that just builds and builds with increased intensity. To bring up the aforementioned highway chase again, it just might be one of the best showcases for Dolby Atmos to ever hit home theaters. Get ready to pull this disc out for repeated demonstrations. Technical specs: Codec: HEVC / H.265 (54 Mbps), HDR: HDR10/Dolby Vision, Resolution: 2160p (4K master), Audio: English Dolby Atmos, English Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit), English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps), French (Canada) Dolby Digital 5.1, German Dolby Atmos, German Dolby TrueHD 7.1, German Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps), Italian Dolby Atmos, Italian Dolby TrueHD 7.1, Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps), Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps), Aspect ratio: 2.39:1, Runtime: 176 minutes
One of the most anticipated 4K releases in a long while, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune arrives on Ultra HD Blu-ray boasting a spectacular video presentation and a reference-quality Dolby Atmos audio track. Shot at 4.5K and finished at a 4K resolution, Dune looks expectedly gorgeous on the format, with immense detail that soars with incredibly clarity. Though Dune was not shot on film, its UHD presentation sports a nice layer of film-like grain throughout, which serves to provide increased texture to its costumes, sets and sandy landscapes. The inclusion of both HDR10 and Dolby Vision gives Dune excellent brightness, contrast and color vibrancy. Witness, for instance, the shimmering appearance of Arrakis’s all-important spice, or the almost white-hot explosion that eventually bursts through House Atreides’ force fields during the mid-film invasion scene. Aside from some very minor banding, the only thing that could be considered disappointing to videophiles about Dune’s 4K disc is that its aspect ratio does not shift during IMAX sequences, opting instead to keep a panoramic widescreen presentation for its entire running time.
