Star Trek Beyond was shot digitally using ARRI Alexa XT and Red Epic Dragon cameras (at 3.4K resolution and 6K for select shots). Its post production and visual effects were done in 2K and the final Digital Intermediate was finished in that resolution. Following an HDR color timing pass, the resulting image has been upscaled to 4K for Ultra HD Blu-ray at the original 2.39:1 theatrical aspect ratio. Colors are accurate and vibrant, though perhaps not quite as vibrant as one might expect. The image looks great, but it just doesn’t have the same pop as the two previous
Trek 4K UHD releases (see our reviews
here and
here). The choices made in the HDR pass seem surprisingly restrained, almost underwhelming. The HDR does impress a little bit more during planet exteriors and when the crew is looking at display screens at least. That said, detail and fine texturing are both quite nice and a notable improvement over the regular Blu-ray. Much of this film is dark, but thankfully contrast is excellent, with deep and highly detailed blacks. The real highlight of the 4K disc is its English Dolby Atmos soundtrack. It’s a big wide presentation with exceptional clarity and staging, lively panning and atmospherics, and terrific use of the Atmos height channels during the space battles and the Yorktown climax. Audio options are also available in French, Spanish, and Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital, as well as English Descriptive Audio, with subtitles available in English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese.