Blu-ray & DVD: The Digital Dread Report for 12/8

*Click these links to see our other Release Date Pages: Theatrical, VOD, and TV.

Oh December, why do you insist on taking our money, and leaving us broke?

Tis' the season for spending money on ourselves (and of course, buying presents for our loved ones), and Studios are sure bringing out the big guns this week to help drain our bank accounts of our hard-earned cash.

Ant-Man, Hannibal, and The X-Files are worth it though.

*Be sure to click the pics to order yourself some flicks.

The latest evolution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe brings a founding member of The Avengers to the big screen for the first time. Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang (Rudd) must embrace his inner-hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym (Douglas), protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering threats. Against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Pym and Lang must plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.

The riskiest movie that Marvel has released, Ant-Man was a worthy addition to their Cinematic Universe. We loved the hell out of this one, and while we can't wait to see the sequel in 2018, we're really curious to see how they work him into the rest of their storyline with The Avengers.

In the comics, Hank Pym was a founding member of The Avengers, could also grow extremely large and become Giant-Man, and he created Ultron. Of course they changed a lot of that for the movies, but he's still a great character, and more importantly, Ant-Man was a great movie.

Day One purchase for us.

• Audio Commentary with Peyton Reed and Paul Rudd
• Making Of An Ant-Sized Heist: Set your watch and count down the action in this behind-the-scenes look at how to pull off a heist movie, including Scott Lang's heist "family," Ant-Man's costume, plus amazing stunts and effects.
• Let's Go To The Macroverse: Shrink down to size in this fascinating look at creating the world from Ant-Man's perspective, from macro photography through the subatomic.
• WHIH NewsFront: A collection of content, including a glimpse at the future of Pym Technologies with Darren Cross, anchor Christine Everhart's interview with soon-to-be-released prisoner Scott Lang on his notorious VistaCorp heist, and more.
• Never-Before-Seen Deleted Scenes
• Gag Reel

Hannibal (Mads Mikkelsen) is on the run in Europe — accompanied by his psychiatrist, Bedelia Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson) — sporting a new identity, but servicing the same insatiable appetite. As the lives of Will (Hugh Dancy) and Jack (Laurence Fishburne) converge toward Hannibal again, each with their own motivations to catch him once and for all, their deadly dance turns in startling and unexpected ways.

It's still sad to think that Hannibal has ended its run; they had so many more great stories to tell, and we'd kill to be able to have one or two more seasons to enjoy. What can you do though? At least they gave it a fitting, and exciting end.

An excellent show, this disc set is a Day One purchase for us also. For the crazy-low-for-a season-of TV price of $14.99, it's impossible for us not to grab it up asap.

*You can also get Season 1 for $9.99 HERE, and Season 2 for $15.99 HERE.

• Audio Commentaries with Cast and Crew
• "Getting the Old Scent Again: Reimagining Red Dragon" Featurette
• "Beyond the Mind Palace" Featurette
• "Hannibal on the Run" Featurette
• Avid Fannibals
• "Hannibal: Season 3: Killer Intentions" Featurette
• Post Mortem with Scott Thompson (Webisodes)
• Gag Reel
• Deleted Scenes

The Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Two Collection invites you to hold the greatest power in the cosmos in your grasp – an orb containing one of the legendary Infinity Stones. In addition to Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray and Digital HD digital copies of all Phase Two films, in collectible packaging designed by artist Matt Ferguson, the set is overflowing with Marvel memorabilia, including a gold-foiled page from the book of Dark Elves, an ancient drawing from the Morag vault, Avengers and S.T.R.I.K.E. uniform patches, a replica of the Tony Stark Tattoo from Marvel's Iron Man 3, and much more. 

In case you haven't bought any of the movies that make up Phase 2 of Marvel's Cinematic Universe, you can now get them all in one handy Blu-ray box set! It's a bit pricey at $184.99, but Disney isn't exactly known for selling their movies on the cheap. Its also got some awesome packaging, exclusive extras, and the sleeves that the discs come in are beautiful.

I guess it would probably make for a good Christmas gift too. If you love someone an awful lot.

Films included:

• Marvel's Iron Man 3 (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + Digital Copy)
• Marvel's Thor: The Dark World (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + Digital Copy)
• Marvel's Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + Digital Copy)
• Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + Digital Copy)
• Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + Digital Copy)
• Marvel's Ant-Man (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + Digital Copy)

Bonus Features:

• From Here To Infinity: Phases 2 & 3 Of The M.C.U. – Journey back through Marvel's Phase 2 films, from its launch in Iron Man 3 through its fulfillment in Ant-Man, to see how individual characters grow and change, how their relationships with each other evolve over time, and how the universe itself expands with each story. Listen to filmmakers discuss the first set of Phase 3 films (Marvel's Captain America: Civil War, Marvel's Doctor Strange, and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy 2) and discover there are no limits to the adventure.
• Phase 2 Tag Scenes: A Making-Of – Learn the story behind the post-credit sequence in Marvel's Phase 1 and 2 movies, and explore how the scenes connect and unify the far-flung characters and worlds of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
• Marvel One-Shot: The Consultant with Audio Commentary by Clark Gregg
• Marvel One-Shot: A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Thor's Hammer with Audio Commentary by Clark Gregg
• Marvel One-Shot: Item 47 with Audio Commentary by Louis D'Esposito, Max Hernandez, Titus Welliver And Jesse Bradford
• Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter with Audio Commentary by Louis D'Esposito And Hayley Atwell
• Marvel One-Shot: All Hail The King with Audio Commentary by Drew Pearce And Ben Kingsley
• Iron Man 3: Deleted Scenes
• Iron Man 3: Preproduction Creative
• Thor: The Dark World: Deleted Scenes
• Thor: The Dark World: Preproduction Creative
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier: Deleted Scene with Audio Commentary by Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Preproduction Creative
• Guardians of The Galaxy: Deleted Scenes
• Guardians of The Galaxy: Preproduction Creative
• Avengers: Age Of Ultron: Deleted Scenes
• Avengers: Age Of Ultron: Preproduction Creative: Hulk vs. Hulkbuster
• Ant-Man: Deleted Scenes
• Ant-Man: Preproduction Creative

Thirteen years after the original series run, the next mind-bending chapter of The X-Files will be a thrilling, six-episode event series helmed by creator/executive producer Chris Carter, with stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson re-inhabiting their roles as iconic FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. This marks the momentous return of the Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-winning pop culture phenomenon, which remains one of the longest-running sci-fi series in network television history.

The X-Files ran for 9 seasons, and had a rabidly loyal fanbase. For the first time ever, the groundbreaking show is available on Blu-ray, in a 55-disc collection that seems almost too good to be true. The set boasts a ton of Special Features, and to finally be able to see it in 1080p quality is going to  be a beautiful thing.

The $269.99 price tag may be a bit steep for most, but for X-Files diehards, it's a definite Must Own.

It's a mixed bag down here at the bottom order this week, but at least there's plenty of variety on display...

• Any movie that has the late, great Christopher Lee playing Count Dracula is alright by us.
• F/X2 was a fun sequel that we loved as kids, and wouldn't mind seeing again now. 
• Not sure what Scream Factory was thinking when they decided to release The Garbage Pail Kids on Blu-ray, but hey, I'm sure that someone out there will want to see it. 
• Knock Knock was underwhelming as hell, at least to us, but we're sure that there will be plenty of Eli Roth fans who will still gobble this one up. Read our review HERE.
• One & Two was an alright Sci-Fi Thriller. Rent it first.
• Described as "the world's only underground kinky art adult horror film," Thundercrack is something we're curious about checking out. Synapse always does a top-notch job with their releases, so we have no reason to believe that this one will be any different.
• And as usual, everything else is a crap-shoot.