New DVD Announcements, Some BIG Ones!
The speediness of theatrical-to-video windows has now reached absurd proportions. On Tuesday Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment announced a June 10th street date for Tears of the Sun, the Bruce Willis action-fest that just debuted in theaters last weekend. Billed as a special edition, retail is $27.95 and specs have not yet been announced.
Columbia also announced a street date change for Pedro Almodovar’s Oscar-nominated Talk to Her, which was previously scheduled to hit stores on March 13th; the new date is March 27th. Features and retail price remain the same.
Polanski on Polanski
Dipping into their back catalog, New Line Home Entertainment will finally give four library faves the DVD treatment on June 3rd. From Academy Award nominee Roman Polanski comes two acclaimed adult thrillers, Death and the Maiden and Bitter Moon. Each features a 1.85;1 anamorphic widescreen transfers, English 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby surround tracks, and each film’s original theatrical trailer. Retail is $19.95 each.
Next we have two action extravaganzas thought sound like titles for heavy metal albums, Detonator and Live Wire, starring Christopher Lee and Pierce Brosnan, respectively. Both feature anamorphic widescreen and full screen transfers of the film (Live Wire also features R-Rated and Unrated versions), plus English 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby surround tracks, and the each film’s original theatrical trailer.
Hakuna Ma DVD
Buena Vista Home Entertainment has announced the full specs for the next in their acclaimed Platinum Edition line of animated classics, the highly-anticipated The Lion King. Debuting on October 7th, the set will feature a THX-Certified anamorphic widescreen transfer, Dolby Digital and DTS5.1 surround tracks, and two different versions of the film accessible via seamless branching: the original theatrical release and an extended edition including the new number “Morning Report,” originally created for the Broadway show? But wait, there’s more Disc one also includes “The Making of The Morning Report,” 3 deleted scenes (“Bug Football,” “Hakuna Matata” and “Warthog Rhapsody”), an all-new music video, a sing-along track and four set-top interactive games (“The Lion King Personality Profile,” “Rafiki’s Three Gourd Monty,” “Timon’s Grab-A-Grub,” and “Pumbaa’s Sound Sensations”). Disc two includes the featurettes “Disney Animals” hosted by Roy Disney, “Storymaking Magic,” “Character design,” “Computer Design,” and “African Art Inspiration” (all feature additional behind-the-scenes footage and extensive stills), exclusive interviews with Julie Taymor, Elton John and Tim Rice, a “Virtual Safari” with your tour guides Timon and Pumbaa, an additional featurette on the Broadway musical, extensive still galleries with masks, costumes, people and puppets, additional music videos, and more. Retail is $29.99.
Hitched And Ditched
On June 17th, Fox Home Entertainment will debut the hit comedy Just Married, starring Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy. This DVD-14 includes both 1.85;1 anamorphic widescreen and full screen transfers, English and French 5.1 Dolby surround tracks, director Shawn Levy, producer Robert Simonds and Kutcher and Murphy, 4 deleted scenes with optional commentary, the original making-of and Comedy Central’s “Reel Comedy” featurettes, and trailers. Retail is $27.95.
Empire Records’ DVD Gains Fame
Fans of the 1980 Academy Award-winning musical Fame can look forward to even more than originally expected: a newly-recorded commentary with director Alan Parker and a cast reunion, two featurettes, including a making-of and a tour of the original High School for the Performing Arts, and trailers. Then we have the oddball cult fave The Spirit of ’76, featuring an audio commentary with Lucas Reiner and Carl Reiner, a behind the scenes featurette, deleted scenes, a music video and the trailer. Retail is $19.98 each. Rounding it out is the newly-retitled Empire Records Remix: Special Fan Edition, which features 16 minutes of new footage. Additional extras include four deleted scenes, three music videos and the theatrical trailer. Retail is $24.98. All of the above feature new anamorphic widescreen transfers and remixed 5.1 Dolby surround tracks.
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