Lightyear UK DVD, Blu-ray and digital release date

With the arrival of Lightyear on the big screen it’s time to look ahead at when it will come out on DVD, Blu-ray and digital with everything you need to know about the UK release date. It’s obviously a big departure from the Toy Story series, but the introduction does a pretty good job of simply explaining how it all fits in, leaving you to sit back and enjoy the film.

The trailer had already hinted that the film was about Buzz Lightyear’s origin story, and as it turns out the action is a film of the film that created the character in the Toy Story universe. While you’re wrapping your head around that concept, the plot picks up with Buzz and his fellow Space Rangers on a mission transporting a huge ship shaped like a giant turnip filled with scientists bound for a colony.

When they get pulled off course by the discovery of a planet, things go a little pear-shaped and an accident means that they get marooned. It’s then sort of up to Buzz to get them off again. We don’t want to give too much away about the plot for anyone waiting to see it on DVD, Blu-ray or digital, but if you’ve seen the trailer then you know there’s a very important “to infinity and beyond” flight mission for him and a robot army led by Zurg, so there’s a lot going on.

Lightyear UK Blu-ray, DVD and digital release date

Lightyear came out in cinemas on the 17th June 2022, so you might have expected to wait a while before the UK Blu-ray, DVD and digital release date rolls around. However, Disney has gone short on the gap between the big screen and home entertainment with the physical formats due to come out on the 29th August 2022.

The disc versions usually arrive a week or so later than digital, which would put it around mid-August to buy on the likes of Amazon Prime Video, iTunes and the Play Store. However, none of them have any reference to the film as of yet, so it looks like Disney Pixar is keeping things close to its chest when it comes to the digital format.

A lot of this relates to when it will stream on Disney+, which is planned for the 3rd August 2022.

The home entertainment industry has started to get back to its pre-pandemic timelines for physical releases, so the gap between cinema and home viewing is sometimes a little longer now than it was over the autumn and winter in 2021/22. It had been releasing films relatively quickly to make up for the low box office numbers, but with the pandemic easing and films like Spider-Man No Way Home and No Time To Die doing well it reshaped things once again.

The flip side to this for Lightyear was that it’s managed to split opinions in terms of the critical response to the film, so the DVD, Blu-ray and digital are coming out little earlier. We’ll be surprised if mixed reviews have got the power to shake a big Disney and Pixar release, so it could be more about Disney+ subscriptions than anything else.

The home entertainment formats will have Sonic The Hedgehog 2 as its biggest competition, which is also due for release in August. Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis could also be in the mix.

We’ll update you with more details on the release as they get confirmed, so don’t forget to check back here as we get closer to the date. You can follow us on Twitter to see more news and updates on upcoming films, and you can see more on the animated spin-off film in the run up to the release with the official Disney Pixar Twitter page at https://twitter.com/Pixar.

North America release date

The release date in North America should be similar to that of the UK with international dates for the Disney+ being the same in the United States. That means that you should be able to expect the Lightyear Blu-ray and 4K versions to come out in the US and Canada in August, but Amazon doesn’t have the details as of yet.

North America has had a cool new feature added to its home entertainment options that ties in with the early access Home Premier digital rental. This now has higher prized purchase option, but that doesn’t appear to be the case for Disney+ flicks like Lightyear.

DVD, Blu-ray and digital details

Age rating: PG (UK) PG (North America – US & Canada)

Runtime: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Director: Angus MacLane

Cast: Keke Palmer, Taika Waititi, Dale Soules, James Brolin, Mary McDonald-Lewis, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Efren Ramirez and Keira Hairston

You can also check out our movie news section to keep tabs on the latest upcoming film release dates, age rating details and parents guide notes, or visit the Disney Pixar website at https://www.pixar.com/.

Review

Its fair to say that Lightyear has a bit of a slow start and that’s going to translate over to the DVD, Blu-ray and digital formats when they come out. It does pick up around the half way point and the various morality questions are pretty interesting for both young and older viewers alike.

As you’d expect with a modern day Disney Pixar production, the film is visually stunning, but it doesn’t quite catch the sense of wonder that space travel brings to mind. A part of the reason for this is that it focuses on the emotional journey more than the physical one, which is definitely a good thing, but it would have been nice to get some more interesting perspectives on the space experience.

The emotional side of things is also why the pacing feels a little off as it clearly wanted to give important moments enough time to hit home, but this does result in a slower build up. On balance, it’s probably better that they went this way, but some of the time dilation stuff could have been sped through with a shorter montage.

An alternative approach would been to integrated Buzz a little more into the family moments instead of him looking in through the doorway. It results in a disconnect with them that also means the emotional triggers later in the film aren’t as powerful as they could have been.

That being said, Lightyear is a blast in the latter half and the whole “the biggest battle in life is with yourself” is a clever twist. For some, this is going to be canon breaking, which could be why there’s such a divided opinion on the film.

Chris Evans does a good job of picking up the mantel from Tim Allen, bringing a little more serious intent into the mix at times to go with the self narrating charm of the character. Keke Palmer and Taika Waititi add a lot to the second half of the film as the young team of nearly cadets that help Buzz take on the might of Zurg.

DVD, Blu-ray and digital review: 3.5/5