It is fascinating how a character developed for the famous sketch Comedy series Saturday Night Live morphed into full-length feature films. An experiment was first toyed with in 1980 with The Blues Brothers (which starred John Belushi as “Joliet” Jake Blues and Dan Aykroyd as his brother, Elwood); ultimately, Universal Pictures had a hit.
A pioneer, The Blues Brothers opened doors for future projects of its type, but oddly, none emerged in the years to follow. Then, in February 1989, a new set of characters known as Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar made their first appearance on Saturday Night Live. A sketch about two metalheads who host their own local public-access television show called Wayne’s World, their antics and goofiness earned them tons of fanfare. Then, in 1991, Wayne’s World was given the green light for a feature film with Paramount Pictures.
Released in February 1992, Wayne’s World became one of the biggest motion pictures of the year, grossing in the top ten. Assisted by a killer soundtrack that featured Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Wayne’s World had become the latest Pop Culture phenomenon. Turned into a VCR Board Game by Mattel, video games followed. The concept was imitated for an episode of the popular series Step by Step, and interestingly enough, the new animated series called Beavis and Butt-Head (vagely similar to Wayne and Garth, but much more lowbrow) premiered on MTV a year later in 1993.
A massive success story, Paramount Pictures wanted to strike while the iron was hot and quickly went to work on Wayne’s World 2. In fact, within twenty-two months, Wayne’s World 2 was premiering in theaters just in time for 1993’s holiday season. Released on December 10, 1993, Wayne’s World 2 saw the return of Mike Myers as the lead Wayne and co-writer alongside husband-and-wife duo Bonnie and Terry Turner (who would go on to create hit sitcoms 3rd Rock from the Sun and That ‘70s Show). Rejoining Myers on screen was Dana Carvey as his sidekick Garth, and Tia Carrere as Wayne’s lovely, rockstar-in-the-making girlfriend, Cassandra Wong. This is while a ton of other big names made appearances, such as Chris Farley, Christopher Walken, Kim Basinger, Drew Barrymore, James Hong, as well as the entire sum of Rock icons Aerosmith.
Having everything in place to be yet another blockbuster at the box office, unfortunately, Wayne’s World 2 fell short in various categories. To start with, it had to compete against the laugh-out-loud Comedy Mrs. Doubtfire, the Thriller The Pelican Brief, and one of the biggest of the entire decade, Schindler’s List. A lot to go up against, Wayne’s World 2 did not meet lofty expectations, and many also found the humor in the second film to be not as poignant as the first. Perhaps a misstep by Paramount Pictures to release a second film so quickly; nonetheless, Wayne’s World 2 still has a strong, dedicated following all these years later.
Standing in the shadows of Wayne’s World, the original film had a 30th anniversary celebration in 2022 with its first-ever 4K Ultra HD release. Worth looking into in case you missed it, Wayne’s World 2 is also getting the same treatment in 2025 with a 4K Ultra HD release through Kino Lorber. Arriving on May 27, 2025, the new edition is a significant upgrade from prior home media editions such as the 2009 Blu-ray release. With all of that in mind, Kino Lorber’s edition offers you Wayne’s World 2 with pristine imagery thanks to HDR/Dolby Vision Master, transferring the original 35mm camera negative to 4K Ultra HD.
A scale-up you can see, as well as hear with the audio, it is a great way to honor a sequel with tons of memorable scenes. Additionally, you receive special features, including commentary with Director Stephen Surjik and the featurette Extreme Close-up. Yes, these were a part of the elder presses of Wayne’s World 2, but the 4K Ultra HD upgrade is the true selling point for this newest copy.
Joined by a nice slipcover and reversible sleeve featuring original and new artwork, it is ‘worthy’ of any Comedy fan’s collection. That is why Cryptic Rock gives Kino Lorber’s 4K Ultra HD Edition of Wayne’s World 2 4 out of 5 stars.
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