The Big Picture

First Blood
, the iconic thriller that skyrocketed Sylvester Stallone to fame, is getting a 4K Steelbook release exclusively at Walmart this spring.
The set includes a UHD transfer of the 1982 film, audio commentaries, featurettes, deleted scenes, outtakes, trailers, and more for $34.99.
Directed by Ted Kotcheff,
First Blood
follows disillusioned Special Forces operative John Rambo as he faces off against a cruel sheriff in a small town.

First Blood, the thriller that turned Sylvester Stallone into an action icon, is coming to 4K in a new Steelbook set. The new two-disc set will include a carefully restored 2160p Ultra High Definition transfer of the 1982 film, and will be available only at Walmart this spring. It will be housed in a case with art by Phantom City Creative, with slipcase art by BOND.

The set will feature two audio commentaries; one from star Stallone, and one from author David Morrell, whose 1972 novel First Blood was adapted into the film. It will also include a number of featurettes on the making of the film, its cultural impact, its 4K restoration, and the real-world context for its setting in the wake of the deeply unpopular Vietnam War. The set will also incorporate deleted scenes, outtakes, and trailers, as well as a digital copy of the film. The First Blood Steelbook will be available April 2, 2024, and will retail for $34.99, exclusively at Walmart.

What is ‘First Blood’?
Directed by Ted Kotcheff (Wake in Fright, Weekend at Bernie’s), First Blood follows John Rambo, a disillusioned Special Forces operative turned drifter, as he wanders into a small Pacific Northwest town. The Vietnam vet is immediately set upon by the town’s cruel sheriff, Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy), and is arrested and subjected to torture by Teasle and his deputies (including a young David Caruso). Pushed to his breaking point, Rambo escapes, and leads Teasle and his men on a chase through the woods that ends in a deputy’s accidental death. Eventually, Rambo’s former commander, Colonel Sam Trautman (Richard Crenna) has to intervene, before Rambo destroys himself and everything around him. The film came at a time when America’s attitude towards Vietnam veterans was changing; they had been treated with disdain for their participation in a failed war, but movies like Rambo and The Deer Hunter had begun to explore the PTSD veterans had come home with.

An enormous success upon its release, making $125 million USD on a $15 million budget, First Blood made Rambo a pop-culture icon. Even more successful was its action-heavy sequel, Rambo: First Blood Part II, which saw Rambo return to Vietnam to liberate prisoners of war. A subsequent sequel, 1987’s Rambo III, in which Rambo fights a Soviet invasion force in Afghanistan, was less successful. At the height of the franchise’s popularity, it even spawned an animated series, Rambo: The Force of Freedom, which saw Rambo lead an elite strike force against a Cobra-like faction of international terrorists. Stallone returned to the character in two belated sequels; 2008’s Rambo, and 2019’s Rambo: Last Blood.

Walmart’s exclusive 4K Steelbook release of First Blood will be released on April 2, 2024. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates, and check out the steelbook below:

Image via Walmart

Rambo: First Blood A veteran Green Beret is forced by a cruel Sheriff and his deputies to flee into the mountains and wage an escalating one-man war against his pursuers.