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Trainspotting



A jolt of adrenaline shot straight to the heart of 1990s British cinema, this darkly funny adaptation of Irvine Welsh's novel was a major breakthrough for director Danny Boyle, producer Andrew Macdonald, and screenwriter John Hodge. With live-wire energy and stylistic verve, Trainspotting bounces across the life and times of Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor), a Scottish heroin addict who, along with his misfit mates, gets high, gets in trouble, gets clean, and gets high again, all in a bid to outrun the banality of modern existence. Kinetically cut to an iconic soundtrack of techno, rock, and Britpop, this indie phenomenon chooses life in all its ugly, beautiful, terrifying exhilaration.

FILMMAKER-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director Danny Boyle, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
• One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
• Alternate 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
• Audio commentary featuring Boyle, producer Andrew Macdonald, screenwriter John Hodge, and actor Ewan McGregor
• Nine deleted scenes with commentary from the filmmakers
• Off the Rails: The Making of "Trainspotting," a documentary featuring archival interviews with cast and crew and behind-the-scenes footage
• Memories of "Trainspotting," a documentary from 2008 featuring the filmmakers and actors McGregor, Kelly Macdonald, Ewen Bremner, and Robert Carlyle
• Reflections from soundtrack artists Iggy Pop, Jarvis Cocker, Bobby Gillespie, Damon Albarn, Leftfield, Underworld, and more
• Theatrical teaser and trailer
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• More!
• PLUS: Essays by critic Graham Fuller and author Irvine Welsh, Welsh’s glossary of terms from the film and book, and glow-in-the-dark packaging

This is one of my most wanted upgrades and one of my favorite films! Been hoping they'd announce this each month for the last decade so very excited to see it finally announced today.

Criterion missed a great opportunity for a slipcover covered in (images of) mounds of feces. Then, you take it off, and the feces are gone!! Yay!!

I don't think I've ever said much about this film on here, but it's one very near and dear to me. of all the "big ticket" 90s films that get overinflated reputations based on nostalgia, this is easily the best one for my measure. one has to wonder if its reputation would be even stronger if Boyle, McGregor, etc had kept their talents in check instead of what they're doing nowadays. T2: Trainspotting was a miracle, honestly - count me in as a big fan of that one too, a very measured take on aging and moving forward with life after youthful exuberance (amongst tragedy and poor circumstances). this release comes almost 12 years after Shallow Grave came to Bluray (another outstanding film), and back then it made little sense for Trainspotting to be released by Criterion (though its trailer appeared on the Shallow Grave disc, showing how SG's success got them the latter film). the Miramax disc had all of the features from the Criterion laserdisc and looked pretty good. now, in the 4K, post-Weinstein era, its return is timely and excellent. as much as I complain about this label, I'm very glad they're bringing this to us and this really is as good of an edition as it gets, though they still promise "More!"

dream newly added extra: a piece about the British New Wave influences (among others) on this film. since I last revisited it, I've seen Billy Liar, The Knack, etc that this movie all clearly lovingly pay tribute to.

swo17 wrote: Mon Oct 16, 2023 6:01 pm
• Memories of "Trainspotting," a documentary from 2008 featuring the filmmakers and actors McGregor, Kelly Macdonald, Ewen Bremner, and Robert Carlyle
• Reflections from soundtrack artists Iggy Pop, Jarvis Cocker, Bobby Gillespie, Damon Albarn, Leftfield, Underworld, and more

are these on any other disc? I don't recall ever seeing them. I'm really glad to see the artists from the soundtrack interviewed - Blur, Pulp, New Order, Underworld etc remain some of my favorite artists working to this day. this almost makes up for lack of anything about Brian Eno at all on For All Mankind, though he certainly could appear here too! ultimate dream would be to have Noel Gallagher come on board, since Oasis didn't contribute for....reasons...

Color-timing discourse is back on the menu, courtesy of the dweebs on the site formerly known as Twitter. The kicker is that someone uploaded footage from a 35mm screening in 2018 and the colors look much closer to the new release. Granted the video was recorded from what appears to be a phone but I doubt it's altering the colors that drastically.

There was another tweet where someone posted photos from various releases through the years to point out how drastically different the colours were in each. The magentas in that first one are off the charts, so I pretty much dismiss it immediately.

cdnchris wrote: Wed Oct 18, 2023 1:00 am There was another tweet where someone posted photos from various releases through the years to point out how drastically different the colours were in each. The magentas in that first one are off the charts, so I pretty much dismiss it immediately.

this is that tweet in question, and I side with this guy completely. this seems to be a problem with largely 90s films, where people insist the version they got to see first is the correct one...Three Colors notably went through it. Glasgow is supposed to be gritty! the new stills seem to match the look of Shallow Grave, and I don't think that's by coincidence...

ryannichols7 wrote: Tue Oct 17, 2023 7:27 pm are these on any other disc? I don't recall ever seeing them.

I'm not sure about the interviews with the music artists, but "Memories of Trainspotting" is a 45 minute documentary that appeared on the 2009 UK Blu-ray release from Film4. I actually picked up that disc just for this documentary! It's nice to get a nice retrospective now and then. And it's been another 15 years, so it'd be great if Criterion could do something new. But then again, I guess that's what T2 essentially was - one big retrospective!

Hi all -

I was wondering if anyone has had issues with the Trainspotting UHD disc - I am on my third disc (second replacement, from two retailers!), and for all of them, I have massive playback issues starting at approx 00:37:30 - probably the time code of a layer change - and lasting through chapters 11-14. My player is a venerable Oppo UDP-203 who has not had inherent issues with discs, including BD-100/triple layer, unless they had physical scratches. For the record, I'm talking about 1000+ UHD titles. I am aware that it's occasionally necessary to clean discs etc., and that is not the problem here.

I have learned that some folks on other forums had similar issues, so I wanted to collect some data to see if we can identify the "boundary conditions" for the problem (i.e., player models, batches that went to specific retailers, ...). Your help would be appreciated!

In my own case:
player: Oppo UDP-203
defective: 2 (Amazon), 1 (Movies Unlimited)
working: 0

Film4 are releasing their first UHD in the UK and it‘ll be Trainspotting on 11/11: https://www.rarewaves.com/products/5060 ... cos.SjrQpB

Currently Rarewaves has a 10% off coupon RWJUL10 for anyone interested.

Extras:
• Memories of Trainspotting
• Deleted Scenes
• Look Of The Film Then
• Look Of The Film Now
• Sound of The Film Then
• Sound of The Film Now
• The Beginning
• Archive Interview With Irvine Welsh
• Behind The Needle
• Danny Boyle on Trainspotting
• Ewan McGregor on Trainspotting
• Cannes Snapshot
• Cannes Vox Pops
• Trailers
• Gallery

Got this in the mail this weekend and I hate the packaging!
Its bigger than everything else on the shelf, and I'm worried the cardboard will tear at somepoint in the future with repeated use.

As I mentioned in the cover thread, when this comes back on stock on Criterion's site, it will be in a standard scanavo case.

dwk wrote: Tue Feb 17, 2026 1:34 pm As I mentioned in the cover thread, when this comes back on stock on Criterion's site, it will be in a standard scanavo case.

Can they send the case to those who already bought it? I ain't buying it a second time just to have a proper case.

I think they would send you replacement packaging (for this or any other in-print title) for $5

Since it isn't a packaging defect, like All Anout Eve, they probably won't give them to you, but, as swo said, they'll sell you any of the printed elements you want/need.

dwk wrote: Tue Feb 17, 2026 1:34 pm As I mentioned in the cover thread, when this comes back on stock on Criterion's site, it will be in a standard scanavo case.

I know, I saw the thread and that's why I pulled the trigger on buying it now.
I didn't realize how bad it was though.

omegadirective wrote: Wed Feb 18, 2026 12:13 pm

dwk wrote: Tue Feb 17, 2026 1:34 pm As I mentioned in the cover thread, when this comes back on stock on Criterion's site, it will be in a standard scanavo case.

I know, I saw the thread and that's why I pulled the trigger on buying it now.
I didn't realize how bad it was though.

Oh sorry.l, I should have made it clear that the stock will be mixed at other retailers, (no change of UPC), Ordering from Criterion's store is the only way to be sure you get the plastic case version.

I was wrong, MifuneFan over at the Blu-ray.com forum found a B&N pre-order for the plastic case version with an April 28th release date and a new UPC:
New 4K UPC: 715515334617
Old 4K UPC: 715515291613

Picked up a copy of the new blu ray only printing as a gift to a friend. Something that’s also changed is the licensing is no longer with with Paramount but Sony Home Entertainment. Furthermore, the Paramount logo on the back cover has been replaced with the Sony Pictures Classics one.

Sounds a bit similar to the 28 XXXX Later situation; Sony did the sequel and apparently acquired the rights to the previous entry once they became available, possibly even at the urging of Boyle and/or Andrew MacDonald.

Okay I'm confused. Sony bought Paramount, but then Paramount buys Warners....Is there a good guide to actually who owns what and what properties are being traded in all these mergers & acquisitions? (including what has happened to all the old studios as well)

Sony never bought Paramount. Sony as a film studio came from the Sony Corporation buying Columbia studios, also acquiring things like TriStar & Screen Gems. Paramount has been owned by CBS/Viacom, which was bought by David Ellison's Skydance.

Trainspotting was acquired for distribution in the US by Miramax, which was owned by Disney; after the Weinsteins left Miramax and started the Weinstein Company, Disney still owned the original Miramax but eventually sold it off. It was eventually acquired by BeIN, which is apparently an offshoot of Al-Jazeera, and then Paramount bought a stake in the Miramax library from them, so that's how it ended up with Paramount. But we've been seeing a pattern of former Miramax holdings reverting to previous/original rightsholders, who can then seek out new distribution deals for them.

I wonder if this is what happened to eXistenZ and why it went OOP so quickly? (Vinegar Syndrome licensed it from Paramount and Miramax lost the rights shortly after and, unlike Criterion and Trainspotting, VS were unable to relicense the film from whomever has it now.)

Therion wrote: Tue May 28, 2024 3:59 am Hi all -

I was wondering if anyone has had issues with the Trainspotting UHD disc - I am on my third disc (second replacement, from two retailers!), and for all of them, I have massive playback issues starting at approx 00:37:30 - probably the time code of a layer change - and lasting through chapters 11-14. My player is a venerable Oppo UDP-203 who has not had inherent issues with discs, including BD-100/triple layer, unless they had physical scratches. For the record, I'm talking about 1000+ UHD titles. I am aware that it's occasionally necessary to clean discs etc., and that is not the problem here.

I have learned that some folks on other forums had similar issues, so I wanted to collect some data to see if we can identify the "boundary conditions" for the problem (i.e., player models, batches that went to specific retailers, ...). Your help would be appreciated!

In my own case:
player: Oppo UDP-203
defective: 2 (Amazon), 1 (Movies Unlimited)
working: 0

I missed this post initially but my copy has playback issues on an Oppo as well

What kind? Freezing? image breaking up? I just watched ch. 11-14 (yikes, "Perfect Day" hits me hard every time...even without the film content) and didn't see any issues. I purchased mine directly in the last October sale.

Setup: Oppo udp-203, older Sony receiver & Samsung tv,

Didn't notice how different image was to seeing it in theater upon release 1st time I looked, but this time dark scenes are much darker and the red, yellow & greens being much richer & pronounced than I remember, but I like it (though admittedly I haven't calibrated my tv in years).