Saturday Night – Blu-ray Review
Commissions Earned
Film Title: Saturday Night (2024)
Release Date: 2025
Rating: R
Runtime: 109 minutes
Region Coding: Region A
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Audio Format: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Version Reviewed: Blu-ray
Release Date: 1/7/25
Director: Jason Reitman
Cast: Gabriel LaBelle, Rachel Sennott, Cory Michael Smith, Ella Hunt, Dylan O’Brien, Emily Fairn, Matt Wood, Lamorne Morris, Kim Matula, Finn Wolfhard, Nicholas Braun, Cooper Hoffman, Robert Wuhl, Willem Dafoe, Paul Rust, Matthew Rhys, J.K. Simmons
Jump to Sections:
Movie | Video | Audio | Bonus | Closing | Screenshots
Full Blu-ray Tech Specs found at the bottom
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The Movie
“Saturday Night” is a 2024 film. It portrays the 90 minutes leading up to a live broadcast. This is the very first episode of a comedy sketch show with the same title. The show is now celebrating its 50th anniversary with a slightly different name. The movie was directed and produced by Jason Reitman. Reitman also co-wrote the screenplay with his production partner Gil Kenan. Jason Reitman is the son of the legendary late director and producer Ivan Reitman. Jason first gained recognition for directing the film “Thank You For Smoking” (2005). He is also known for directing the films “Juno” (2007), “Up in the Air” (2009), “Young Adult” (2011), “Tully” (2018), and “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” (2021). Gil Kenan is best known for directing the films “Monster House” (2006) and “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” (2024).
The film starts up with this quotation:
“The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready; it goes on because it’s 11:30.”
— Lorne Michaels
The movie takes place in real-time on October 11th, 1975. It unfolds over 90 minutes (or so) counting down to 11:30pm. This is when the show [“Saturday Night”] will air its first episode. Your protagonist is the creator and head producer of “Saturday Night,” Lorne Michaels (Gabriel Labelle). The show would obviously go on to become known as “Saturday Night Live.” The story here also closely follows the show’s cast members and writers. It puts some focus on the show’s guest host George Carlin (Matthew Rhys). Musical guests Billy Preston (Jon Batiste) and Janis Ian (Naomi McPherson) are represented very nicely. Two incredibly unique guest performers, Jim Henson and Andy Kaufman (Nicolas Braun), are featured as well. One actor plays both.
“The not yet ready for prime time players” are all represented here. The cast includes Chevy Chase (Corey Michael Smith), Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt), Dan Aykroyd (Dylan O’Brien), Laraine Newman (Emily Fairn), John Belushi (Matt Wood), Garrett Morris (Lamorne Morris), and Jane Curtain (Kim Matula). It also includes many crew members. These are primarily producer Dick Ebersol (Cooper Hoffman), writer Rosie Shuster (Rachel Sennott), and writer Tom Schiller (Parker Wierling). The list continues with network executive Dave Tebet (Willem Dafoe). There is also house band member Paul Shaffer (Paul Rust). Additionally, the show’s original voice announcer Don Pardo (Brian Welch) is represented in a very tasteful manner.
Movie Rating: 4.5 (out of 5)
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Video Quality
“Saturday Night” on Blu-ray is presented in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. This movie was shot on 16mm film using the Super 16 cinematographic process with the Arriflex 416 camera. It then received a 4K digital intermediate master. There’s an abundance of film grain here and it looks marvelous, just like it was from 1975. The color palette is slightly subdued but some wardrobe and set pieces can be pretty bright at times. Flesh tones are accurate, with facial close-ups serving as a good example. The black level is perfectly solid. This looks excellent.
I must commend director Jason Reitman and his director of photography Eric Steelberg. They deserve kudos. They took the time to actually shoot this on film and in Super 16. They could have made a wrong choice easily. They might have opted to shoot digitally. They could have added effects in post production to make it look like 16mm film. They did not choose the easy way out. They decided to shoot on film. This choice pays off so much visually. It sets the style perfectly.
Next, let me get technical about the Blu-ray Disc itself here. This release uses a BD-50 (50 gigabytes) disc, 37.4 gigabytes total, and 30.2 gigabytes itself for the film. Based on my observations via my 4K UHD Blu-ray player, this seems to run anywhere from peaks at around 61.5 Mbps, to roughly around 27 Mbps and then dips down as low as 20.9 Mbps. According to info on the PC side, this seems to have an overall video bitrate of 27.9 Mb/s average.
This video presentation is just excellent. The 16mm film source material looks so fitting for this 1975 time period. It also comes with an abundant amount of detail and beautiful film grain, especially in some close-ups. I can’t believe this is only using 30.2 gigabytes total for the film itself on the BD-50 disc. It looks perfect. The film is running a bitrate I find to be very acceptable for a Blu-ray Disc release. Overall, this earns itself a perfect 5 rating for video quality.
View Blu-ray Screenshots
Video Quality Rating: 5 (out of 5)
click to view a Blu-ray Screenshot
Audio Quality
“Saturday Night” arrives on Blu-ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless surround sound mix. It’s worth noting that the digital 4K version of this film features Dolby Atmos. So, it seems strange to not include Atmos on this release. This omission occurs yet Sony has no plans for a 4K physical media release. Or do they? Only time will tell the answer to that question. Now, let’s focus on this 5.1 lossless surround sound mix that comes on the Blu-ray.
This 5.1 mix comes with a lot of rear channel presence. It is primarily used for the film’s original music, composed by Jon Batiste. It is also used for sound effects. This mix also includes a lot of bass. You can feel it through the subwoofer. The film’s music primarily drives this bass. Dialogue is delivered distinctly from the center channel speaker, with no need for volume adjustment. The front left and right channel speakers are primarily used for the sound effects and the music. This mix becomes very intense. It covers a very stressful 90+ minutes before the show aired its very first episode. The tension is felt by the music throughout, and it sounds great in this surround sound mix.
Overall, this audio presentation proves to be very impressive and does the film justice. That being said, it earns a very respectable 4.75 rating for audio quality.
Audio Quality Rating: 4.75 (out of 5)
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Bonus Materials
A Digital Copy of the film is included (via paper insert) which is compatible with Movies Anywhere. You can use it across various online video services. These include Fandango at Home (formerly VUDU), AppleTV, Amazon Prime Video, and Google (YouTube). Digitally, this is presented in 1080p HD with 5.1 surround sound.
Bonus materials included on the Blu-ray are listed below.
- “The Making of the Movie of the Show That Almost Never Made It” (16 minutes, 23 seconds – HD) includes on-set footage and interviews with Jason Reitman (director/co-writer/producer), Gil Kenan (producer/co-writer), Gabriel Labelle (“Lorne Michaels”), Cory Michael Smith (“Chevy Chase”), Matthew Rhys (“George Carlin”), Ella Hunt (“Gilda Radner”), Matt Wood (“John Belushi”), Willem Dafoe (“David Tebet”), Lamorne Morris (“Garrett Morris”), Erica Mills (executive producer), Joann Perritano (executive producer), Eric Steelberg (director of photography), Dylan O’Brien (“Dan Aykroyd”), Cooper Hoffman (“Dick Ebersol”), J.K. Simmons (“Milton Berle”), Emily Fairn (“Laraine Newman”), Kim Matula (“Jane Curtain”), Rachel Sennott (“Rosie Shuster”), Jason Blumenfeld (producer), Jon Batiste (“Billy Preston”/composer), Danny Glicker (costume designer), Kaia Gerber (“Jacqueline Carlin”), Jess Gonchor (production designer), and Nicholas Braun (“Andy Kaufman”/”Jim Henson”).
- “The Look of Saturday Night“ (2 minutes, 10 seconds – HD). It consists of a lot of Super 16 (16mm) test footage captured on-set. Hence, this focuses on the look of the film itself. It only features music and no dialogue is included.
- “Super 8 from Studio 8H: Home Movies from the Set” (4 minutes, 49 seconds – HD) It only features music. No dialogue is included.
- Filmmaker Commentary with Co-writer/Producer/Director Jason Reitman. This audio commentary features some very special guests. The guests include Eric Steelberg, who was the director of photography. Danny Glicker was the costume designer. Jess Gonchor served as the production designer. And Steve Morrow worked as the sound engineer. This is one excellent audio commentary that any fan of the film should listen to. Reitman’s account of the effort put into making this is amazing. It’s truly comparable to the film itself.
- “Creating Comedy Icons” (10 minutes, 52 seconds – HD) features individual short interviews. Most of the actors who portray people in the film are featured. Those people include:
- Chevy Chase
- Gilda Radner
- John Belushi
- Dan Aykroyd
- Jane Curtin
- Garrett Morris
- Laraine Newman
- Jim Henson & Andy Kaufman
- Lorne Michaels
- Rosie Shuster
- Jacqueline Carlin
- Dick Ebersol
- Bill Preston
- “Jon Batiste: Scoring Live” (1 minute, 21 seconds – HD) focuses on the film’s original musical score.
The bonus materials are very brief, at under an hour in runtime. This is especially true for some segments. Yet, they all prove to be very entertaining and enjoyable. The audio commentary with director Jason Reitman (and special guests) is definitely my favorite extra on here. I listened to it from start to finish and enjoyed every bit of it. There is much to learn about what went into making this film. If you’re willing to sit down and take the time, you can.
Bonus Materials Rating: 3 (out of 5)
click to view a Blu-ray Screenshot
Closing Thoughts
“Saturday Night” is a very enjoyable docudrama. It tells the story of the 90+ minutes leading up to the show going live with its premiere episode. All of the actors chosen to play the cast members, guests, crew members, and such, do an incredible job. You can tell that a lot of love went into this project. I found all of the performances from the cast to be impressive. They did justice to everyone portrayed. One of my favorite performances here comes from Gabrielle Labelle as Lorne Michaels. He was only 21 years old when he portrayed Lorne at age 31. Despite his age, he manages to pull it off.
Fun fact, director Jason Reitman actually directed a sketch for an episode of “Saturday Night Live” in 2008. In the audio commentary [for this film], Reitman discusses working on “SNL” for a day. It was very inspiring in his approach to writing and then making this movie. Jason Reitman and his co-writer Gil Kenan dedicated a lot of time to research. They spoke with many of the people who were really there that night in 1975. This included none other than Lorne Michaels.
In terms of video quality, this comes from a 16mm Super 16 source & 4K digital intermediate master. It has an excellent amount of film grain that truly adds to the feel of really being 1975. There’s a great amount of detail too, to come from just a Super 16 source. All and all, it looks excellent and perfectly visually fits the time period. This looks perfect, and I have no complaints about the visual presentation.
In terms of audio quality, this 5.1 lossless mix can be quite intense. The intensity is due to the original musical score composed by Jon Batiste. The music can be very sporadic and sets the vibe all throughout the film in an extremely fitting manner. The subwoofer delivers a lot of bass. There is extensive rear channel usage for sound effects. The music also utilizes the rear channels significantly. It’s a pretty impressive lossless surround sound mix and it certainly does the film justice.
The bonus materials are brief in some segments. Nonetheless, they all prove to be entertaining and informative. I have to strongly recommend listening to the “Filmmaker Commentary” with director Jason Reitman after you’ve watched the film. This is one excellent audio commentary track.
Overall, “Saturday Night” on Blu-ray proves to be a rather impressive release. I can’t help but say that this Blu-ray release comes as highly recommended.
In terms of Blu-ray release, this gets:
5 (out of 5) for video quality
4.75 (out of 5) for audio quality
3 (out of 5) for bonus materials
Overall Verdict:
Highly Recommended
Available As:
2024 Blu-ray Release
Available at: Amazon | Walmart
Commissions Earned
Blu-ray Disc Technical Specifications:
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Exact Runtime: 1:49:04
Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (with a DTS 5.1 core), DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (with a DTS 5.1 core), Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: English, French, Spanish, Thai
Subtitles: English, Chinese, French, Korean, Spanish, Thai
Disc Size: BD-50
Disc Use: 37.4GB total / 30.2GB for the film.
Video Bitrate: 27.9 Mb/s