New April 23 Home Entertainment Releases Include ‘The Beekeeper,’ ‘Drive-Away Dolls’ on Disc, ‘Arthur the King,’ ‘Monkey Man’ Digitally

The Beekeeper

John Latchem

April 23, 2024

Among the new home entertainment releases of April 23 are The Beekeeper, Drive-Away Dolls and Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths — Part Two on Blu-ray, while Arthur the King and Monkey Man become available for premium digital rental and sale.

Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment releases the Jason Statham action thriller The Beekeeper, from Amazon MGM Studios, for purchase on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on April 23. The film has earned $66.2 million at the domestic box office. In addition to Statham (The Meg, Furious 7, The Fate of the Furious, the “Transporter” films), Emmy Raver-Lampman (TV’s “The Umbrella Academy”), Josh Hutcherson (“The Hunger Games” films), Bobby Naderi, Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting), Phylicia Rashad (Creed) and Jeremy Irons (TV’s “Watchmen”). In The Beekeeper, one man’s brutal campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after he is revealed to be a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organization known as “Beekeepers.” Read a review here.

The road trip caper Drive-Away Dolls, the solo directorial debut of Academy Award winner Ethan Coen (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, The Big Lebowski), will be released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD April 23 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. The film earned $5 million at the domestic box office. The comedy stars Primetime Emmy Award nominee Margaret Qualley (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Geraldine Viswanathan (Blockers), Matt Damon (Oppenheimer, Ford v Ferrari), Primetime Emmy Award nominee Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”), Beanie Feldstein (Booksmart, Lady Bird), Colman Domingo (The Color Purple, Sing Sing) and Primetime Emmy Award nominee Bill Camp ( “The Queen’s Gambit,” “The Night Of”). Written by Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke, the film follows Jamie (Qualley), an uninhibited free spirit bemoaning yet another breakup with a girlfriend, and her demure friend Marian (Viswanathan), who desperately needs to loosen up. In search of a fresh start, the two embark on an impromptu road trip to Tallahassee, but things quickly go awry when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals along the way.

Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment will release the animated movie Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths — Part Two on Blu-ray Disc, as a limited-edition 4K Ultra HD Steelbook, and through digital retailers starting April 23. The sequel continues the storyline from Part One, which was released last month that adapts Crisis on Infinite Earths, the legendary DC comic book storyline of the same name from the 1980s. In Part Two, an endless army of Shadow Demons swarms through all the parallel Earths of the multiverse, but a massive team of superheroes led by Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern stands in their way. However, the long-buried secrets of the Monitor and Supergirl could threaten their efforts. The returning voice cast includes Jensen Ackles as Batman/Bruce Wayne; Darren Criss as Superman & Earth-2 Superman; Meg Donnelly as Supergirl & Harbinger; and Stana Katic as Wonder Woman and Superwoman. The cast also includes Jonathan Adams as Monitor, Gideon Adlon as Batgirl, Geoffrey Arend as Psycho Pirate/Charles Halstead & Hawkman, Troy Baker as Joker, Zach Callison as Robin, Darin De Paul as Solovar, Ato Essandoh as Mr. Terrific & Anti-Monitor, Keith Ferguson as Dr. Fate & Atomic Knight, Will Friedle as Batman Beyond & Kamandi, Jennifer Hale as Alura & Hippolyta, Aldis Hodge as John Stewart, Jamie Gray Hyder as Hawkgirl, Erika Ishii as Doctor Light/Dr. Hoshi & Huntress, David Kaye as The Question & Satellite, Matt Lanter as Blue Beetle, Liam McIntyre as Aquaman, Lou Diamond Phillips as Spectre, Matt Ryan as Constantine, Keesha Sharp as Vixen, Harry Shum Jr. as Brainiac 5, and Jimmi Simpson as Green Arrow.

Lionsgate’s Mark Wahlberg starrer Arthur the King arrives for premium digital rental (PVOD) and premium digital sale (PEST) April 23. The adventure drama earned $30.2 million at the global box office. Based on the true story of adventure racer Mikael Lindnord (Walburg) and Arthur, the dog that changed Lindnord’s life, Arthur the King also stars Simu Liu (Barbie), Juliet Rylance (A Dog’s Purpose), Ali Suliman (Lone Survivor), Nathalie Emmanuel (“Game of Thrones”), and Paul Guilfoyle (“CSI: Vegas”).     In Arthur the King, an unbreakable bond is forged between pro adventure racer Michael Light and a scrappy street dog companion dubbed Arthur over the course of a grueling 10-day, 435-mile racecourse. The film follows Light, desperate for one last chance to win, as he convinces a sponsor to back him and a team of athletes for the Adventure Racing World Championship in the Dominican Republic. Pushing the team to the outer limits of endurance and sacrifice, Arthur redefines what victory, loyalty, and friendship mean. It will be released on regularly priced digital, Blu-ray (plus DVD plus digital) and DVD May 28.

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment releases the actioner Monkey Man for $19.99 premium digital rental (PVOD) and $24.99 purchase (PEST) starting April 23. Produced by Jordan Peele, Monkey Man is inspired by the legend of Hanuman, an icon embodying strength and courage. The film is directed by and stars Dev Patel as a man with no name, scarred by a brutal childhood, who ekes out a meager living in underground fighting rings. But when he finds a way to rise up and infiltrate his city’s corrupt elite, he kicks off an explosive campaign for retribution to settle the score with the men who took everything from him as a boy. The cast also includes Sharlto Copley, Pitobash and Vipin Sharma. The film earned $21.76 million at the domestic box office.

The comedy drama Accidental Texan arrives for digital purchase and on demand rental from Lionsgate April 23. The film stars Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee Thomas Haden Church (Sideways, Easy A, “Spiderman” movies), Rudy Pankow (“Outer Banks,” Uncharted), Carrie-Anne Moss (“The Matrix” Trilogy, Chocolat), and Academy Award and Golden Globe Nominee Bruce Dern (Nebraska, The Hateful Eight, The Great Gatsby, The Cowboys), and it’s based on the novel Chocolate Lizards by Cole Thompson. In the film, Erwin (Rudy Pankow) finds himself stranded in Texas, where he’s taken under the wing of a nearly bankrupt oil driller Merle (Church). They set off on a wild adventure to outwit a corrupt oil company to hit pay dirt before Merle’s dreams are foreclosed.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release the dramedy Downtown Owl for digital purchase April 23. In the film, searching for a break from her cosmopolitan life in Milwaukee, Julia Rabia (Lily Rabe) arrives in the closeknit Reagan-era town of Owl, North Dakota, for a one-semester high school teaching job. But when the small town turns out to be a wonderland of second-string poets, smoldering Marlboro Men, and a social hierarchy that echoes high school, Julia doesn’t know if she’s come to town to get away from home or to find it. Ed Harris, Vanessa Hudgens, Henry Golding and Finn Wittrock also star in this Great Plains dark dramedy directed by Lily Rabe and Hamish Linklater and based on the novel by Chuck Klosterman.

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The 1978 parody Hardware Wars will be released on Blu-ray and DVD April 23 from MVD Entertainment Group in its MVD Rewind collection. In the film, Fluke Starbucker (Scott Mathews) must learn to master the power of “The Farce” with help from Artie Deco, 4-Q-2 (Frank Robertson), Princess Anne-Droid (Cindy Furgatch), Ham Salad (Bob Knickerbocker), and the rest of the Red Eye Knights. Writer-director Ernie Fosselius (former member of “The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo” who went on to work on the cult classic films Spaceballs and Robocop 2) created the very first “Star Wars” parody complete with cardboard sets and visible wires (holding up ships which were various household appliances). The film was shot over four days with a budget of around $8,000. Nearly 50 years later, the original version of this classic short that George Lucas called his “favorite Star Wars parody” (in a 1999 interview on the U.K.’s “The Big Breakfast” TV show) has been restored in high-definition.

Kino Lorber is releasing the acclaimed Russian-Italian drama Nostalghia on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on April 23. The 1983 film, from director Andrei Tarkovsky, is about a Russian intellectual (Oleg Yankovsky) who visits Italy to do research on an 18th century Russian composer, only to suffer debilitating homesickness. He becomes obsessed with the Botticelli-like beauty of his translator Eugenia (Domiziana Giordano), as well as with the apocalyptic ramblings of a self-destructive wanderer named Domenico (Erland Josephson). The film draws from Tarkovsky’s own experiences visiting Italy. Nostalghia won three prestigious honors at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival: Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, Best Director and the FIPRESCI Prize. In Russian, the word “nostalghia” conveys “the love for your homeland and the melancholy that arises from being far away,” according to director Tarkovsky. The film was restored in 4K in by CSC — Cineteca Nazionale, in collaboration with RAI Cinema at Augustus Color laboratory, from the original negatives and soundtrack preserved at RAI Cinema. The new Kino Lorber release includes “Voyage in Time,” a 1983 behind-the-scenes documentary; an audio commentary by film historian Daniel Bird; an interview with director of photography Giuseppe Lanci; and the trailer for the theatrical re-release.

The controversial 1971 Italian drama Goodbye Uncle Tom will be released on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray Disc on April 23 on MVD Entertainment Group and Blue Underground. Written, edited, produced and directed by Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi of Mondo Cane fame, this recreation of the American slave trade atrocities was both condemned as depraved exploitation and acclaimed as an unprecedented cry of Black anguish and rage. It became one of the most reviled and misunderstood films of its time. In 1971, distributors forced the filmmakers to completely re-cut the film and radically re-write its extreme narration, removing more than 13 minute of race-war politics and inserting alternate scenes — creating what would become an entirely different film — before it could be released. More than 50 years later, both versions of Goodbye Uncle Tom can be seen in new restorations, scanned in 4K 16-bit from their original negatives, with Dolby Vision HDR (on the 4K release) and newly restored DTS-HD Master Audio, and with more than five hours of extras.

Shout! Studios April 23 releases the 1977 revenge thriller Rolling Thunder in a 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray Disc combo pack. The film, directed by John Flynn, is coming to disc under the Shout! Select line. The film, which stars William Devane (in his first lead role) and Tommy Lee Jones, comes to disc through a new 4K transfer from the 35mm original camera negative. Bonus features include a new audio commentary with screenwriter and novelist Heywood Gould and author/film historian C. Courtney Joyner, a second new audio commentary with filmmakers Jackson Stewart and Francis Galluppi, a new interview with Joyner called “Lean And Mean: The Early Films Of John Flynn,” and a new interview with composer Barry De Vorzon. In the film, which was released theatrically by American International Pictures, Major Charles Rane (Devane) returns home to San Antonio, Texas, and is given a hero’s welcome. He and his friend John Vohden (Jones) had endured eight years of physical and mental torture in a POW camp. Adjusting to his old life isn’t going to be easy for Rane. His wife, Janet, has fallen in love with another man, and his son doesn’t remember him. The publicity he receives as a returning hero has attracted the attention of a group of hoodlums. When the group kills Rane’s wife and son and leaves him for dead, he and Vohden team up to hunt them down.

The 2006 thriller The Departed from director Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull, Goodfellas) will be available for purchase in 4K Ultra HD on disc and digital for the first time April 23 from Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards and won four, including Best Picture, Best Director (Scorsese), Best Film Editing and Best Adapted Screenplay. The Departed stars Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant, The Wolf of Wall Street), Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting, The Martian), Jack Nicholson (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Terms of Endearment, As Good as It Gets), and Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter, Boogie Nights), with Martin Sheen (television’s “The West Wing,” Apocalypse Now), Ray Winstone (That Summer, Nil by Mouth), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air), Alec Baldwin (The Cooler), Anthony Anderson (television’s “Black-ish,” Hustle & Flow), and James Badge Dale in supporting roles. The screenplay is by Academy Award Winner William Monahan and is based on the 2002 Hong Kong action thriller Internal Affairs by Alan Mak and Felix Chong. In the thriller set in Boston, a long-simmering hostility between the police department and an Irish American gang led by Frank Costello is primed to explode. The fuse is lit when a gangster is chosen to infiltrate the police force, and a young cop goes undercover within the gang.  When the two moles uncover each other’s identity, the battle begins. The 4K remaster of The Departed was completed at Warner Bros. Discovery’s Motion Picture Imaging (MPI) with the participation of the film’s Academy Award-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker (Raging Bull, The Aviator).

The comedic drama Steel Magnolias is debuting on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc April 23 for its 35th anniversary from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis and Julia Roberts star as friends and family in the story of life, love and loss in a small Louisiana parish. At the center of the group is Shelby Eatenton (Roberts), newly married and joyfully pregnant, despite the fact that her diabetes could make childbirth life-threatening. Terrified and angry at the possibility of losing her only daughter, M’Lynn Eatenton (Field) looks to her four closest friends for strength and laughter as she battles her deepest fear of death in order to join Shelby in celebrating the miracle of new life. The release is newly remastered in 4K resolution from the original camera negative with Dolby Vision and new Dolby Atmos audio + 5.1 + 2-channel surround. 

A comprehensive list of new disc and digital releases, compiled each week by the Media Play News market research team, can be found here.