Mrs. Doubtfire and Dead Poets Society Are Finally Coming to 4K — And Disney Might Just Be Getting Started

Let's start with what we know for certain.

Chris Columbus' Mrs. Doubtfire and Peter Weir's Dead Poets Society will both make their 4K Ultra HD debuts on September 29.

And it's difficult to think of two films that demonstrate the extraordinary range of Robin Williams much better.

In Mrs. Doubtfire, Williams gave us one of the defining family comedies of the 1990s as Daniel Hillard, the divorced father who transforms himself into Scottish housekeeper Euphegenia Doubtfire so he can spend more time with his children.

Then there's Dead Poets Society.

Released four years earlier in 1989, Williams played English teacher John Keating, delivering one of the great dramatic performances of his career and giving an entire generation the phrase:

Carpe diem.

Two completely different movies.

One extraordinary actor.

And both are finally getting the 4K treatment they deserve.

These aren't just old Blu-rays stuffed into shiny new boxes.

The new releases are expected to feature Dolby Vision HDR alongside Dolby Atmos audio, giving both films a significant audiovisual upgrade.

The packages are also expected to retain the legacy bonus material from their previous Blu-ray releases.

For Mrs. Doubtfire in particular, that should be a lovely upgrade.

The film's San Francisco locations, ridiculously elaborate make-up work and wonderfully warm cinematography should all benefit from a properly handled 4K presentation.

But the really interesting story might be what happens after September 29.

Because Disney appears to have considerably more sitting in the wings.

Now we're getting into the really good stuff.

European retailer listings recently appeared for a collection of an additional 4K Steelbooks connected to the Disney, Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures and 20th Century Studios catalogues.

Among them were two glorious slices of 1990s action cinema.

The Rock.

And Con Air.

Michael Bay's 1996 action movie The Rock gave us Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery breaking into Alcatraz while Ed Harris threatened San Francisco with chemical weapons.

A year later, Cage returned for Con Air, grew some spectacular hair and somehow found himself aboard a prison transport aircraft containing virtually every psychopath Hollywood could find.

If you grew up during the VHS era, those two films barely need an introduction.

They were exactly the kind of movies you watched, rewound and watched again.

Disney hasn't formally announced either release at the time of writing, so we're not putting a date in the diary just yet.

But the fact they're appearing alongside titles that have subsequently been confirmed makes them very interesting indeed.

Then there's Commando.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's wonderfully ridiculous 1985 action classic was another title reportedly spotted among the retailer listings.

And quite frankly, Commando in 4K sounds exactly like the sort of thing physical media was invented for.

John Matrix.

An entire army.

A frankly unreasonable quantity of ammunition.

And enough one-liners to keep an 80s action fan happy for the rest of the week.

Again, this one isn't officially dated yet.

But if Disney really is digging deeper into its inherited catalogue, Commando is precisely the kind of movie we'd love to see given a proper physical release.

Of all the potential titles, though, Strange Days might be the most exciting.

Kathryn Bigelow's 1995 sci-fi thriller has had a frustrating history on physical media, particularly for collectors in North America, where it never received the sort of modern Blu-ray release you'd expect for a film of its reputation.

Set during the final days of 1999, the movie stars Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis and Tom Sizemore in a dark story involving technology capable of recording people's experiences directly from their brains.

It was cyberpunk before most people knew what cyberpunk was.

It was also a box-office disappointment.

But like so many movies we love around here, its reputation grew considerably after it disappeared from cinemas.

A proper 4K edition would therefore be far more than another catalogue upgrade.

For plenty of collectors, it would finally give Strange Days the physical release it should have had years ago.

This is what makes the whole thing particularly exciting.

Disney isn't simply sitting on Disney movies.

Through Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures and its acquisition of 20th Century Fox, the company controls an extraordinary catalogue stretching across decades of cinema.

There are action movies.

Comedies.

Thrillers.

Cult films.

Sci-fi.

And countless movies from the 80s, 90s and 2000s that physical-media collectors would happily buy if somebody would just put them on a bloody disc.

For years, Disney's approach to its deeper catalogue on 4K has been frustratingly cautious.

That's why seeing Mrs. Doubtfire and Dead Poets Society officially confirmed matters beyond those two movies.

And it's why those retailer listings for The Rock, Con Air, Commando, National Treasure and Strange Days have got our attention.

Perhaps we're finally going to see more of that catalogue.

Every few years, somebody declares physical media dead.

And every few years, collectors keep buying it.

There's a simple reason for that.

Streaming libraries change.

Movies disappear.

Rights move around.

Versions get replaced.

But the disc sitting on your shelf isn't going anywhere.

For those of us who grew up with shelves full of VHS tapes and then replaced half of them with DVDs, Blu-rays and eventually 4K discs, there's still something rather lovely about actually owning a movie.

Especially when it's a film you've loved for decades.

So yes, we'll happily take Mrs. Doubtfire and Dead Poets Society on September 29.

But Disney...

If The Rock, Con Air, Commando, and Strange Days really are coming next?

Keep them coming.

We've got shelf space.

Probably.