Disney has announced that it will begin supporting Dolby Vision on its upcoming 4K Blu-ray releases, and it's already announced that two upcoming releases will support the HDR format. The company has released most of its recent films in the basic HDR10 format and hasn't officially supported Dolby Vision since it released Star Wars: The Last Jedi back in 2018 (aside from some special releases overseen by director James Cameron).
As reported by Forbes, the first two films to be released will be Deadpool & Wolverine on the 22nd of October and Alien: Romulus on the 3rd of December. Disney also confirmed that it plans to use this as an opportunity to include Dolby Vision on most (if not all) of its upcoming physical releases.
It might come as a shock that Disney has not supported Dolby Vision on its physical media releases for quite some time, especially considering it champions the dynamic HDR format on its streaming platform. Disney Plus notably supports an extensive catalogue of content that supports both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, especially with Disney's original and exclusive content.
Disney has been criticised in the past for not supporting the latest picture and sound features on its physical releases, and there has been no reason attributed as to why it has suddenly decided now is the time to revamp its Blu-ray release strategy; especially in the wake of ceasing physical releases in select markets. It's worth noting that Disney recently sold a large portion of its home entertainment business to Sony, which may have played a part in this sudden change of tact. This deal has meant that Sony now manufactures and distributes Disney's home video release in the US.
Regardless, we can chalk this up as a win for Blu-ray, which is something we always like to do especially considering the turbulent status of the format as of late. Now we can only hope that Disney looks back into its existing catalogue and upgrades some of its already released films with updated 4K Blu-rays complete with Dolby Vision.
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