The best 4K and Blu-ray releases coming out in March 2025

New physical media must-haves include an anime classic, a slew of new 4K upgrades, a great new release, and a kung fu collection.

By Jacob Oller  |  March 3, 2025 | 10:00am
Photo: Warner Bros.
Film Features Blu-ray
The best 4K and Blu-ray releases coming out in March 2025

The Oscars have come and gone, but we’re focusing now on another way that films can transcend their fleeting releases and solidify themselves in our libraries. Each month The A.V. Club does our part to keep you up to date on the best of what’s coming out on Blu-ray and 4K UHD, which is especially important as streaming services become less and less reliable homes for films worth watching. March 2025’s Blu-ray and 4K releases include upgrades to marmalade-loving bears and shark movies, the debut of a Cronenberg, an anime masterpiece, and another volume collecting Shaw Brothers action films. Read on and find films from Brady Corbet, Michael Mann, Arthur Penn, Katsuhiro Otomo, Renny Harlin, and more.

Akira 4K Steelbook

Available March 4, 2025

The true Blu-ray and/or anime snobs out there may note that FUNimation released a 4K of this seminal sci-fi a few years back, but they might also note that this release was flawed. The initial batch lacked HDR, and buyers needed to contact the company to swap the discs out. Now FUNimation has been consolidated into Crunchyroll under the umbrella of Sony, so good luck to those still in need of a replacement. Instead, check out this flashy Steelbook, which also includes that previous release’s pair of audio-focused featurettes and shows off Katsuhiro Otomo’s anime masterpiece at the highest quality.

Paddington 2 4K

Available March 4, 2025

After Paddington headed to Peru and his franchise headed one step away from its perfect second entry, said sequel is now coming to 4K in the U.S. Paul King’s lovely little film comes with a commentary track from King as well as plenty of featurettes—at least a few of which seem new to this release compared to the scant few when it came out in the U.K.

Thief 4K

Available March 11, 2025

After some series work and the TV movie The Jericho Mile, Michael Mann made his feature debut with a Chicago classic: Thief. A phenomenal James Caan just wants what’s rightfully his, but Mann and soundtrack stars Tangerine Dream make his rain-slicked, urban-lit quest to get it into an endless dream. A simple criminal in a simple world gets sucked into a blue-green haze, full of heavies, coffee shops, and shadows. The new restoration also includes a commentary track from Mann and Caan, as well as interviews with the pair.

Deep Blue Sea 4K

Available March 18, 2025

No shark movie can compete with Jaws, so Deep Blue Sea decided to be the preeminent anti-Jaws, as critic Natalia Keogan put it. A year after its 25th anniversary, Arrow is giving Renny Harlin’s “humans are the real monsters” shark movie the deluxe treatment. Featuring a pair of new commentaries, visual essays, and an interview with production designer William Sandell—not to mention a 60-page book, poster, and postcards for the physical goodie enthusiasts—this upgrade is, in the words of star LL Cool J, the “deepest, bluest” version of this brash B-movie.

Night Moves 4K

Available March 25, 2025

Another new 4K from Criterion, Night Moves gives this odd and venomous little detective story a brilliant upgrade. Quiet and depressing, Night Moves is a perfectly paranoid representation of how the mood of the ’70s seeped into its thrillers. Of course, it’s led by Gene Hackman, one of that era’s poster boys for suspicious freakouts. A sweaty Floridian film, full of warmth and sunlight and dread, Night Moves also gets a new audio commentary here, and a new interview with actor Jennifer Warren. Supplementing that are archival interviews with filmmaker Arthur Penn, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and a new essay from Mark Harris.

Antiviral 4K

Available March 25, 2025

It would’ve been easy for Brandon Cronenberg to half-ass his way into his father David’s shadow. But the filmmaker has been cranking out interesting movies in his own right for over a decade, starting with his nasty feature debut Antiviral. Somewhere between Perfect Blue and The Substance (and, of course, many body horrors made by the elder Cronenberg), this film takes place in a world that fetishizes celebrities to a degree that even sharing their illnesses is worth paying for—or even eating cuts of meat grown from their cells. Severin gives this gross affair, led by Caleb Landry Jones (naturally), the 4K treatment, featuring a nice booklet and three hours of bonus features.

The Brutalist 4K

Available March 25, 2025

One of last year’s best films, which also happens to feature some of the year’s best and most painstakingly shot cinematography, The Brutalist of course deserves a high-quality release. A24 is giving it one. With postcards, a half-hour making-of, and a commentary track from its Oscar-nominated cinematographer, the epic tale of Adrien Brody’s László Tóth is coming home in style—and you can make the 215-minute film’s intermission last as long as you want now! All treatises on the American Dream should look this good.

Shaw Brothers Classics: Volume Six

Available March 25, 2025

A personal favorite as far as box sets go, Shout’s Shaw Brothers Classics—now releasing its sixth volume—are always beautiful, intriguing, and lead down endless rabbit holes that would remain completely out of view otherwise. This set includes 11 new martial arts movies: Swordswomen Three, The Twelve Gold Medallions, The Black Enforcer, Duel For Gold, Finger Of Doom, Na Cha And The Seven Devils, Shadow Girl, Swordsman At Large, The Black Tavern, The Young Avenger, and Crazy Nuts Of Kung Fu. At least two of those have titles so good, they’re worth checking out sight unseen, and all of them have newly translated English subtitle tracks. Add in some rich commentary tracks and plenty of interviews, and this volume continues the Shaw Brothers Classics trend of being a white whale for action enthusiasts.

 
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