Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth went on sale in 4K as a digital purchase on November 10, the first time the 2006 fantasy has been sold in a restoration the director supervised from the original 35mm film elements. Disc editions follow on December 1.
The home release comes on the heels of a 20th-anniversary theatrical run that its US distributor, Cineverse, says took more than $2 million at the box office. The company also says physical pre-orders are the biggest home entertainment pre-order launch it has ever had.
The release dates
Cineverse has staggered the formats over seven weeks:
- November 10: digital purchase in 4K
- December 1: a 4K and Blu-ray Collector’s Edition SteelBook, plus a standard Blu-ray Collector’s Edition
- December 8: digital rental
- December 29: a non-SteelBook 4K and Blu-ray Collector’s Edition, added because of demand
The discs carry three new documentaries, including a retrospective titled Long Ago, In The Underground Realm, along with older extras such as del Toro’s 2007 commentary and featurettes on the makeup, color design and the lullaby at the heart of Javier Navarrete’s score.
Cineverse’s chief motion pictures officer, Yolanda Macias, linked the sales to fans who want physical copies. Collectors, she said in the announcement, “want to own physical collectible copies, and watch these films over and over again – and in the case of Pan’s Labyrinth, now for the first time in restored 4K.”
Why a 20-year-old Spanish film is selling like a new release
The film already had a long life on disc. Criterion issued a Blu-ray in 2016 from a 2K master del Toro approved, and Warner Bros. put out an Ultra HD Blu-ray in 2019. What changed this year is the rights. Cineverse picked up North American distribution in November 2025 and built a full anniversary campaign around it.
That campaign moved fast. Here is the anniversary year in order:
May 12: the new 4K restoration premieres in the Cannes Classics strand, 20 years after the original Cannes debut drew a record 22-minute standing ovation. July: del Toro tells a San Diego Comic-Con panel, with Doug Jones and Ivana Baquero, that the 3D conversion was done by hand, without artificial intelligence. October 9: the film returns to US theaters through Fathom in 4K, 3D and HDR versions, on del Toro’s 62nd birthday. November 10: the digital 4K release.
Del Toro’s point about the 3D work matters to collectors. He has argued that choosing the slower manual route meant human artists made each decision about depth, which he framed as a way of protecting the craft. Restorations of older films are an increasingly busy corner of the market; Badiyaa recently reported on Ken Russell’s uncut The Devils coming to 4K Ultra HD after decades of censorship, and on the films Dustin Hoffman chose during his visit to the Criterion Closet.
The film itself
Set in 1944, after the Spanish Civil War, Pan’s Labyrinth follows Ofelia, a girl sent with her pregnant mother to live with her brutal stepfather, Captain Vidal, an officer hunting rebels in the hills. In an overgrown maze she meets a faun, played by Jones, who sets her three tasks. It was nominated for six Academy Awards and won three, for cinematography, art direction and makeup.
It was made for about €14 million and grossed roughly $83 million worldwide. In 2007 it became the highest-grossing Spanish-language film released in the United States up to that time. The next date for buyers is December 1, when the SteelBook reaches stores.
Further reading
Image: Kevin Paul, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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