After months of nondescript home entertainment releases, it’s blockbuster time as Marvel/Disney kicks off the fall DVD season with the release of Captain America: Civil War, 2016’s worldwide box office leader, which is joined by James Wan’s extremely successful ghost story The Conjuring 2, and a host of TV releases including the most recent season of The Big Bang Theory, the first season of the animated Back to the Future, and at last a reasonably-priced edition of the first season of the classic fright anthology series, Masters of Horror.

Theatrical Movies

This week’s top release just happens to be the top release of 2016 so far with global earnings of over $1.1 billion.  Joe and Anthony Russo’s Captain America: Civil War (Disney, “PG-13,” 147 min., $32.99, 3-D BD $39.99) is the thirteenth film in the Marvel cinematic universe, and one of the best thanks largely to a storyline based on the 2006 crossover event Civil War that was written by Mark Millar.  Since it does explore thought-provoking themes, Civil War appealed to the critics, who in general found the film far more substantive than typical superhero films and gave it an excellent 90% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.  The BD includes lots of extra features including three documentaries about the making of the movie, plus a sneak peek at Marvel’s Doctor Strange, along with a gag reel and deleted scenes.  The extras are a necessity since Captain America: Civil War was available for digital download on September 2, eleven days before it appeared on disc.  Last year was the first year in which sales of digital downloads exceed those of discs, so expect to see more “early releases” of films on digital.

Another highly successful 2016 release is also due on Tuesday, James Wan’s horror film The Conjuring 2 (Warner Bros., $28.98, BD $29.99), which once again stars Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson as paranormal investigators in a sequel to 2013’s highly successful The Conjuring.  While it may not be quite as strong as its predecessor, The Conjuring 2 nevertheless remains an excellent ghost story that is worthy of its elevated (especially for a horror film) rating of 80% positive on Rotten Tomatoes.

This week’s other release also received plaudits from the critics.  Popstar: Never Stop Stopping (Universal, “R,” 174 min., $29.98, BD $34.98) is a non-stop satire of Beiber-like songster starring Andy Samberg that managed to maintain a solid 77% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.  Audiences didn’t show up for what was one of the funniest movies of 2016 so far (it earned just $9.4 million at the box office), but if you have enjoyed some of the filmed music video spoofs on Saturday Night Live, you will probably find this takedown of the publicity-crazed pop world pretty hilarious.

TV on DVD

The September onslaught of last season’s TV series continues unabated this Tuesday led by TV’s #1 sitcom, the geekcentric The Big Bang Theory: The Complete 9th Season (Warner Bros. $24.98, BD $29.98), and the raft of titles also includes the CW’s innovative dark comedy satire/musical Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: The Complete First Season (Warner Bros., 756 min., $39.99), the new version of the CBS staple Hawaii Five-O: The 6th Season (Paramount, 1050 min., $55.98), the NBC police procedural Chicago PD: Season 3 (Universal, $44.98), the long-running Law & Order: Special Victims Unit—The 17th Year (Universal, 974 min., $59.98), the former A&E (now Netflix) mystery series Longmire: Season 4 (Warner Bros., 574 min., $24.98), the CBS political drama Madame Secretary: Season 2 (Paramount, 985 min., $55.98), the terrorist drama Quantico: The Complete 1st Season (Disney, 924 min., $39.99), the CBS misfit genius team-up series Scorpion: Season 2 (Paramount, 1005 min., $55.98), and the Canadian supernatural medical drama that airs on the Ion cable net, Saving Hope: The Complete Third Season (eOne, 792 min., $38.99).

The top animated TV release due on Tuesday is Back to the Future: Season 2 (Universal, 299 min., $16.98), which collects the second and final season of the animated series that aired on CBS in the early 1990s.  The entire series was released on DVD last October, and now both season sets are also available individually.

Other animated offerings include the kid-targeting Littlest Pet Shop: Mysteries at the Pet Shop (Shout Factory, 110 min., $14.93), and, in plenty of time for Halloween, this week’s best TV animated offering, a reissue of Shaun the Sheep: Little Sheep of Horrors (Lionsgate, 88 min., $9.98), which features the delightful humor and excellent stop motion animation typical of Aardman Animation (Wallace & Gromit) productions.

Vintage TV offerings include the classic sitcom Newhart: The Complete 6th Season (Shout Factory, 670 min., $29.93), plus Gunsmoke: One Man’s Justice (Kino Lorber, 91 min., $19.95), the second made-for-TV Gunsmoke movie that aired in 1994, and then there is the Little House on the Prairie Legacy Movie Collection (Lionsgate, 233 min., $14.98), which includes a trio of TV movies.

The most interesting vintage TV release for geek viewers is Masters of Horror: Season 1 (Starz, $19.98), which collects the 2005-2006 season of the horror anthology series that aired on Showtime and featured episodes directed by a veritable “Who’s Who” of horror movie helmers including John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, Stuart Gordon, Dario Argento, John Landis, Joe Dante, Larry Cohen, and Takashi Miike.  These episodes have been released on DVD before, but generally in 2-episode discs that cost as much as this reasonably-priced set that includes all 13 first season episodes.

The top foreign release this week is Suspects: Seasons 3 & 4 (Acorn Media, 365 min., $49.99), which includes 8 feature length police procedurals set in London and filmed in a highly realistic documentary style. 

For those who like their mysteries more in the classic manner, there are two interesting offerings, the BBC’s Father Brown: Season 3, Part 2 (BBC, 315 min., $39.98), which sets the G.K. Chesterton stories in 1950s England, and the interesting Australian-produced series The Doctor Blake Mysteries: Season 2 (BBC, 570 min., $39.98), which is also set in the 1950s.

Anime

This week’s top release is The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-Chan (Funimation, 400 min., BD/DVD Combo $64.98), which collects the 16-episode 2015 anime TV series from Satelight that is a spin-off from the hugely popular Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.  This series is set in an alternate universe and follows the shy and awkward Yuki Nagato in her pursuit of Kyon.  Devotees of Haruhi Suzumiya will be delighted to see their favorite characters in action once in again in this series that is based on the spin-off manga by Puyo.

Another “must-have” for fans of Haruhi Suzumiya is The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya & Nyoron (Funimation, 129 min., DVD $24.98), which collect 25 shorts created for the Web (Original Net Animations or “ONAs”) created by Kyoto Animation in 2009 featuring the Haruhi Suzumiya cast of characters.  To get these Web shorts on Blu-ray, fans will have to buy The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Ultimate Collector’s Edition (Funimation, 1229 min., BD $149.98), which also includes BDs of the first two seasons the Haruhi Suzumiya TV series as well as The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-Chan.  Funimation is making the two classic Kyoto Animation seasons of Haruhi Suzumiya available separately on Blu-ray (at $64.98 each), but so far the only way to get the Haruhi & Nyoron ONAs in BD is to buy the Ultimate Collector’s Edition.

Another series that is making its North American BD debut is the yuri romantic comedy Sakura Trick. The Sakura Trick Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, 300 min., Subtitles Only, BD $59.98) was released on DVD here in 2014.

This week’s lone re-priced re-release is Maken-ki: Season 1 Complete Collection (Funimation, 300 min., BD/DVD Combo $29.98).