Every year we round up the best 4k Blu-ray releases chosen from hundreds of titles released throughout the year. 2023 was a fantastic year for Ultra HD Blu-ray with approximately 500 new domestic titles, making our job much more difficult! Nevertheless, these are the movies and shows we found most rewarding on Ultra HD Blu-ray, often presented in Dolby Vision and/or HDR10, and Dolby Atmos audio. Atmos is not a prerequisite for being on this list, however, as many DTS-HD 5.1 mixes are quality soundtracks. This list is in alphabetical order, rather than by ranking.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Marvel Studio’s sequel to Ant-Man and the Wasp, Quantumania, is a spectacular visual display when the heroes enter the alternate reality known as the “Quantum Realm” where Earth rules don’t apply. A somewhat predictable story is saved by a great performance by Michelle Pfeiffer along with Michael Douglas and Bill Murray, as well as an immersive soundtrack that makes use of Dolby Atmos and 3-dimensional sound mapping.
All Quiet on the Western Front
It’s hard to say any 4k presentation is better than the Netflix Original Film All Quiet on the Western Front. The video and color grading are exquisite, the sharpness of the 2160p resolution is unbeatable on 4k Blu-ray, and the Dolby Atmos surround sound immerses you in this incredible story that takes place at the end of WWI. What’s more, the bonus features and 24-page booklet make it a win/win for physical media and home theater enthusiasts alike.
Avatar: The Way of Water
There is no doubt Avatar: The Way of Water is one of the best 4k Blu-rays to show off your home theater system. The colors, detail, and richness of the scenery may have you pausing scenes just to take it all in. The soundtrack, offered in Dolby Atmos, provides an excellent immersive experience enhanced with some low-frequency range moments that hit your subwoofers with an intensity not found on all surround sound mixes.
Barbie
The worldwide blockbuster that arrived in the summer of 2023 scores big on 4k Blu-ray in this single-disc Warner Bros. 100th Anniversary Edition. Presented in 4k (2160p) resolution with HDR10 High Dynamic Range, the video quality of Barbie is so good that it may make your TV look better than it should! And, the Dolby Atmos soundtrack delivers an immersive (and sing-along) experience like no other. If you are going to watch Barbie a second, third or more time, make it on Ultra HD Blu-ray!
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever excels in its video presentation where the colors are vibrant and deeply layered. The imagery is razor-sharp, and the contrast ratio is impressive in many of the scenes. The Dolby Atmos soundtrack gets a 5/5 score for its immersive experience that pushes 7.1 channels and overhead effects as well as any contemporary film.
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Among the titles celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Warner Bros. Studios this year is Cool Hand Luke (1967) on 4k Blu-ray for the first time. The movie is ageless for fans of the genre and of Paul Newman. While this 60s film doesn’t provide all the visual explosiveness of let’s say, Black Panther: Wakanda, it’s a considerable upgrade to the 1080p Blu-ray in terms of sharpness and the use of HDR10 to bring out details in shadows and control previously blown out bright areas. In our Twitter polls, the 4k Blu-ray edition of Cool Hand Luke beat out classics Rebel Without a Cause and Serpico.
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is not only a lot of fun as an action film and dive into D&D lore, it’s also a great-looking presentation on 4k Blu-ray. The film boasts some good color depth that’s enhanced with Dolby Vision/HDR10. There is no degradation in the video that we could find, and the sharpness is impressive even in close-ups. The soundtrack offers some quality immersive moments in Dolby Atmos, with a wide range of frequencies offering a quality and expansive audio experience.
Evil Dead Rise from Warner Bros./New Line Cinema is one of the best 4k Blu-ray and home theater films of the year. Presented in 4k with HDR10 High Dynamic Range, the images in this horror/supernatural thriller from writer/director Lee Cronin are rich with color and detail. But the soundtrack is the real star here, with a Dolby Atmos/TrueHD 7.1 mix that delivers an intense and immersive audio experience that elevates the story to new levels.
John Wick: Chapter 4
John Wick: Chapter 4 is a must-have for John Wick fans and anyone who enjoys this genre of films inspired by Westerns and Japanese martial arts films. High-quality imagery and sound are enhanced in home theater systems that can support Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. And, if nothing else the gorgeous color palette will showcase the color depth of your TV or projection screen.
Loki: The Complete First Season
The first of several Disney+ series that landed on 4k Blu-ray this year was the first season of Loki. The much-praised series starring Tom Hiddleston presents episodes in 2160p at 1.78:1 aspect ratio with the HDR10 High Dynamic Range. The English soundtrack is provided in Dolby Atmos and offers one of the most immersive audio experiences from Disney+. And, the quality of the 4k video gets a 5/5. Like Wandavision and The Mandalorian the physical media SteelBook Collector’s Editions include two discs plus never-before-seen bonus extras and three concept art cards.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One was no doubt the biggest action film of the year when you consider its scope, and the home media release reflects the movie’s ambitions. Filmed in multiple locations around the world, ‘Dead Reckoning‘ has so much to offer in terms of beautiful imagery and set design that render strikingly on 4k displays. The soundtrack raises the bar for other movies in its clarity of mix and dynamic range, experienced best through an Atmos sound system.
Oppenheimer (2023)
Well, it wasn’t hard to predict Oppenheimer making the Top 10 list of 4k Blu-rays this year. And by all accounts, we can’t rank any other disc higher in terms of video and audio presentation, as well as breadth of bonus materials. A likely Oscar-nominee for Best Picture, Oppenheimer on 4k Blu-ray delivers an immaculate presentation with HDR10 (enhancing both color and black and white footage) and varying aspect ratios (only on Blu-ray Disc!) that emphasize the storytelling. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack is a masterwork.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish released in a Collector’s Edition from Universal Pictures that offers a really impressive 4k HDR10 presentation of this sequel from the 2011 film. Colors render beautifully in HDR10. But what’s most noteworthy is the quality Dolby Atmos soundtrack that’s both fun and immersive. In our Twitter poll, the movie received 40% of the votes received.
Rebel Without A Cause (1955)
Spider-Man- Across the Spider-Verse
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is an absolute masterpiece of animated filmmaking. It’s hard not to think about where it will sit in history along with films such as Akira, Spirited Away, and The Iron Giant. The film certainly expanded on Into the Spider-Verse by introducing a new visual vocabulary. In terms of home theater experience, the bigger this film is viewed the better, and the more audio channels the more you can hear what the audio engineers had in mind. We highly recommend adding Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse on 4K Blu-ray to your library alongside “Into the Spider-Verse.”
Star Trek: First Contact
As the first franchise film to feature the Borg, Star Trek: First Contact succeeds in presenting the haunting species in 4k resolution with excellent color rendering via Dolby Vision HDR. The Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio delivers a punch where it needs to, but is otherwise clean in its dialogue and effects delivery. The film is available as a single 4k Blu-ray title or within the Star Trek: The Next Generation 4-Movie Collection with ‘Generations,’ ‘Insurrection,’ and ‘Nemesis.’
Star Trek: Generations
The first film in the Star Trek: The Next Generation film series, ‘Generations’ played at high bitrates with a low average of around 40 Mbps to 50 Mbps and higher averages between 50 Mbps to 60 Mbps depending on the scene. Colors are what stand out most when you watch this upgraded version of the film, which are rich and vibrant with Dolby Vision HDR. The soundtrack in Dolby TrueHD 7.1 allow plenty of spatial audio for an immersive experience. Read Review.
Superman 5-Film Collection (1978-1987)
Another 4k release to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Warner Bros. Studios, the Superman 5-Film Collection (1978-1987) delivers the coveted films starring Christopher Reeve in 4k resolution for the first time with the exception of Superman: The Movie (1978) that was previously released on 4k Blu-ray in 2018. What makes this collection special is the inclusion of Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, the version released in 2006 as envisioned by the film’s original director who was replaced by Richard Lester.
The Fugitive
Warner Bros. restored 4k presentation of the classic thriller The Fugitive (1993) starring Harrison Ford is another title celebrating the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros. Studio this year. How does the film look on 4k Blu-ray? Simply put, The Fugitive looks like a film 10 years younger! The 4k HDR video brings out so many details that were never seen before. And, the Dolby Atmos soundtrack expands the sound space and delivers excellent bass to enhance the visuals.
The Last of Us: Season One
The Last of Us: The Complete First Season released on 4k Ultra HD in July, 2023. The series was already available to stream in 4k with Dolby Vision and Atmos from Max, but the physical media presentation delivers an almost perfect image with a consistent grain that looks good even on 100-inch and bigger screens. The Atmos soundtrack delivers an immersive experience, taking viewers through the video game-inspired post-apocalyptic landscape. A dialogue-heavy story drives this slow-burner, with payoffs in each episode.
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
Shout! Factory’s restoration of MGM’s The Magnificent Seven (1960) was derived from a previous 4k scan of the negatives, offering a new color grade with Dolby Vision that stands out from previous BDs. What’s more evident though is the improvement in sharpness overall, and consistent grain structure. Audio is provided in mono DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.
The Mandalorian (Seasons 1 & 2)
It’s so great to get Disney+ Original Series in physical media form, and nothing could represent the possibilities more than “The Mandalorian” Seasons One & Two. The two separate seasons are available in Limited SteelBook editions that include extra bonus material and three concept art cards. Episodes are presented in 2160p with HDR10, and English audio is provided in Dolby Atmos/Dolby TrueHD 7.1. The epic quality of The Mandalorian (much of which was filmed in the “volume” video stage) renders beautifully on 4k HDR screens from the Ultra HD Blu-ray Discs.
Titanic (1997)
One of the most successful and iconic films in history is also one of the best 4k Blu-rays of 2023. James Cameron’s Titanic (1997) arrived on 4k Blu-ray Disc on Dec.5, 2023, celebrating 25 years since premiering in theaters. The movie was a technical achievement in film history and the 4k restoration reflects the quality images and audio presented on the big screen. We gave Titanic perfect scores in all categories: Movie (5/5), Video (5/5), Audio (5/5), and Bonus Features (5/5). The 4k Blu-ray is also available in a Collector’s Edition with over 15 hours of bonus features.
WandaVision: The Complete Series
Wandavision was an absolutely refreshing take on the superhero genre and specifically Wanda Maximoff “Scarlet Witch” and Vision. The streaming quality on Disney+ isn’t bad, but the 4k Blu-ray is just pure excellence on a disc. Episodes are presented in 2160p/HDR10 with variable aspect ratios including 2.39:1, 1.85:1, and 1.33:1. And, the English audio is provided in Dolby TrueHD 7.1 with 3-dimensional object-based placement of sounds. Plus, the SteelBook Collector’s Editions include never-before-seen bonus extras and three concept art cards.
