The Criterion Collection Announces June 2026 Releases
By Lio Renwick
The Criterion Collection is releasing nine titles in June 2026 across 4K UHD and Blu-ray formats. The lineup includes Five Easy Pieces (1970), Charade (1963), West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty (1979), High Art (1998), Magellan (2025), Hairspray (1988), Desperate Living (1977), It Was Just an Accident (2024), and Eclipse Series 6: Carlos Saura's Flamenco Trilogy. Each title arrives with a new digital restoration and a selection of specially produced and archival bonus features.
Five Easy Pieces (1970) 4K UHD + Blu-ray
Film Overview
Five Easy Pieces (1970) is directed by Bob Rafelson. The film stars Jack Nicholson as Bobby Dupea, a former piano prodigy working as an oil rigger who returns to his estranged family home. Karen Black co-stars in an Oscar-nominated performance.
Video and Audio Specs
The 4K UHD disc presents Five Easy Pieces (1970) with a new 4K digital restoration and Dolby Vision HDR. It includes an uncompressed monaural soundtrack.
Bonus Features
- Audio commentary by director Bob Rafelson and interior designer Toby Rafelson
- Soul Searching in "Five Easy Pieces," a 2009 program featuring Bob Rafelson
- BBStory, a documentary about the legendary film company BBS Productions, with Rafelson; actors Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, and Ellen Burstyn; filmmakers Peter Bogdanovich and Henry Jaglom; and others
- Documentary featuring critic David Thomson and historian Douglas Brinkley
- Audio excerpts from a 1976 AFI interview with Rafelson
- Trailer and teasers
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Kent Jones
Release Date and Availability
Five Easy Pieces (1970) releases June 2, 2026.
Charade (1963) 4K UHD + Blu-ray
Film
Charade (1963) is directed by Stanley Donen and stars Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. The film follows a young American woman pursued through Paris by a trio of criminals seeking a fortune her late husband stole.
Video and Audio Specs
The 4K UHD disc presents Charade (1963) with a new 4K digital restoration. It includes an uncompressed monaural soundtrack.
Bonus Features
- Audio commentary from 1999 featuring director Stanley Donen and screenwriter Peter Stone
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by film historian Bruce Eder
Release Date and Availability
Charade (1963) releases June 2, 2026.
West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty (1979) Blu-ray
Film Overview
West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty (1979) is directed by Med Hondo. The film is a large-scale musical staging a critique of French imperialism across centuries of enslavement, set aboard a mock slave ship.
Video and Audio Specs
The Blu-ray presents West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty (1979) with a new 4K digital restoration. It includes an uncompressed monaural soundtrack.
Bonus Features
- New interview with African-cinema scholar Aboubakar Sanogo
- Program featuring archival interviews with director Med Hondo
- Excerpted archival interview with cinematographer François Catonné
- Trailers
- PLUS: An essay by film programmer and critic Ashley Clark
Release Date
West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty (1979) releases June 9, 2026.
High Art (1998) Blu-ray
Film Overview
High Art (1998) is written and directed by Lisa Cholodenko in her feature debut. The film stars Ally Sheedy as Lucy Berliner, a photographer who reconnects with the New York art world through an up-and-coming magazine editor played by Radha Mitchell. Patricia Clarkson co-stars.
Video and Audio Specs
The Blu-ray presents High Art (1998) with a new 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Lisa Cholodenko. The disc includes a 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack.
Bonus Features
- Audio commentary from 2004 featuring Cholodenko
- New conversation between Cholodenko and filmmaker Karyn Kusama
- New interviews with actors Ally Sheedy and Radha Mitchell and photographer JoJo Whilden
- Dinner Party (1997), a short film by Cholodenko
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic B. Ruby Rich
Release Date
High Art (1998) releases June 16, 2026.
Magellan (2025) Blu-ray and DVD
Film and Release Overview
Magellan (2025) is directed by Lav Diaz and stars Gael García Bernal as Ferdinand Magellan. The film traces the sixteenth-century explorer's Pacific crossing and his attempt to impose Christianity on the people of the Philippines. The Criterion Collection is releasing Magellan (2025) on Blu-ray and DVD under its Criterion Premieres line.
Bonus Features
- Meet the Filmmakers: Lav Diaz, a Criterion Channel original interview
- Trailer
- Notes by critic Beatrice Loayza
Release Date
Magellan (2025) releases June 23, 2026.
Hairspray (1988) 4K UHD + Blu-ray
Film and Release Overview
Hairspray (1988) is written and directed by John Waters. The film stars Ricki Lake as Tracy Turnblad, a Baltimore teenager who rises to fame on a local television dance program and champions racial integration. Divine co-stars in a double role.
Video and Audio Specs
The 4K UHD disc presents Hairspray (1988) with a new 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director John Waters, and Dolby Vision HDR. The disc includes a 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. An alternate 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack is also included.
Bonus Features
- Audio commentary featuring Waters and actor Ricki Lake
- New conversation between Waters and WFMU DJs Dave "the Spazz" Abramson and Gaylord Fields
- New interview with Lake and actor Colleen Fitzpatrick
- Reflections from actors Debbie Harry, Jo Ann Havrilla, Leslie Ann Powers, Clayton Prince, Shawn Thompson, and Pia Zadora
- Deleted scenes
- Behind-the-scenes documentary
- Get to Know John Waters (1987)
- Interview with production designer Vincent Peranio
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Jessica Kiang
Release Date
Hairspray (1988) releases June 23, 2026.
Desperate Living (1977) 4K UHD + Blu-ray
Film Overview
Desperate Living (1977) is written and directed by John Waters. The film stars Mink Stole as Peggy Gravel, a housewife who murders her husband and escapes with her housekeeper to the outlaw settlement of Mortville, ruled by a despotic queen played by Edith Massey.
Video and Audio Specs
The 4K UHD disc presents Desperate Living (1977) with a new 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director John Waters, and HDR. It includes an uncompressed monaural soundtrack. An optional Italian dub track is also included.
Bonus Features
- Audio commentary featuring Waters and actor Liz Renay
- New conversation between Waters and film programmer Cristina Cacioppo
- Back to Mortville, a tour of the film's main Baltimore location, led by Waters
- New interview with actors Susan Lowe, Mary Vivian Pearce, and Mink Stole
- Interview with production designer Vincent Peranio
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Grace Byron
Release Date
Desperate Living (1977) releases June 23, 2026.
It Was Just an Accident (2024) 4K UHD + Blu-ray
Film Overview
It Was Just an Accident (2024) is directed by Jafar Panahi. The film stars Vahid Mobasseri as a mechanic who believes a stranded driver may be the prison guard who tortured him during his political imprisonment, and sets out to confirm the man's identity with the help of fellow former inmates. The film won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. Panahi shot the film in secret following a longtime ban from filmmaking in Iran.
Video and Audio Specs
The release presents It Was Just an Accident (2024) with a new digital master, approved by director Jafar Panahi. The disc includes a 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. A new English subtitle translation is included.
Bonus Features
- New conversation between Panahi and filmmaker Ramin Bahrani
- Cannes Film Festival press conference from 2025 featuring Panahi and members of the cast and crew
- Trailer
Release Date
It Was Just an Accident (2024) releases June 30, 2026.
Eclipse Series 6: Carlos Saura's Flamenco Trilogy Blu-ray
Release Overview
The Criterion Collection is releasing Eclipse Series 6: Carlos Saura's Flamenco Trilogy as a multi-film set. The trilogy comprises three films by Spanish director Carlos Saura, all starring and choreographed by Antonio Gades: Blood Wedding (1981), Carmen (1983), and El amor brujo (1986). Each film in the set was restored in 4K resolution by Mercury Films.
Films in This Set
Blood Wedding (1981): Carlos Saura's first entry in the trilogy depicts a single dress rehearsal for Antonio Gades's adaptation of Federico García Lorca's tale of passionate revenge.
Carmen (1983): Saura's most commercially successful film follows choreographer Antonio Gades and his relationship with a lead dancer, set against rehearsals for a ballet adaptation of Georges Bizet's opera.
El amor brujo (1986): The trilogy's third entry is a theatrical melodrama based on Manuel de Falla's Roma ballet, set in an Andalusian village.
Bonus Features
- An essay by author and film critic Michael Koresky
Release Date and Availability
Eclipse Series 6: Carlos Saura's Flamenco Trilogy releases June 30, 2026.
Physical media enthusiast covering Blu-ray & 4K UHD releases.