"Hedge" set for October 17 video release
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The barnyard cartoon "Over the Hedge" is set for DVD release on October 17.
The DreamWorks Animation video will be released by Paramount Home Entertainment, whose Viacom Inc. parent bought DreamWorks on February 1.
"Hedge," with a $151.7 million domestic gross, is the year's No. 7 movie. The DVD will come with a "hibernating content" feature that will allow consumers to unlock additional bonus materials, already loaded onto the disc, after November 28 by accessing a Web site and typing in a code.
Out of the box, the DVD will come with an all-new, four-minute minimovie. "Hammy's Boomerang Adventure" brings back all of the film's characters and voice talent for a parody of reality television.
The DVD also includes "Behind the Hedge," a look at the real-life animals that inspired the film's critters; filmmaker commentaries; a mock "infomercial" spoofing the career opportunities of pest control; a "making-of" documentary; cast interviews; and a virtual drawing lesson by a DreamWorks animator on how to sketch Hammy.
While most of the major spring and summer theatricals likely will be released on video before Christmas, only one other big title has a firm date: Fox's "Ice Age: The Meltdown" on November 21.
Fraggle Rock Season 2 on track for September release
The second season release from HIT Entertainment will include twenty-four episodes, cast and crew interviews and the original Fraggle Rock pitch book by Jim Henson with designs by Michael Frith.
Get ready to laugh your cares away, Fraggle fans. Straight from the mouths of HIT Entertainment representatives, the Fraggle Rock Season 2 DVD box Set is going to hit the shelves September 5th as was announced in January.
Selling at $49.98 and sporting a feature running time of 680 minutes total, the collection comes with a replica the original pitch book by Jim Henson and illustrated by Michael K. Frith, measuring 4.5” wide by 6.5” high. More organized than the notepad scribblings reproduced for the Season 1 set, the pitch book illustrates a more finely formed world of the Fraggles, yet one still not quite fully-evolved.
The DVD special features include a whole new round of exclusive interviews with the following participants: producer Lawrence S. Mirkin; writers Sugith Varughese, David Young, Robert Sandler, David Young and Susan Juhl; performers Karen Prell, Steve Whitmire, Dave Goelz, and Jerry Nelson; creative consultants Duncan Kenworthy and Jocelyn Stevenson; and composer Phil Balsam. A special tribute to the late Jerry Juhl will also be included.
Karen Prell, performer of Red Fraggle, reflects on a particular episode from Season 2. "In 'A Cave of One's Own,' Mokey and Red become roomates, which leads to my favorite love-hate relationship of the whole series, Red vs Lanford, Mokey's cranky plant."
"Red and Lanford may have hated each other, but Lanford's puppeteer, Rob Mills, and I had an absolute blast playing off each other and coming up with violent ways for the characters to attack each other. Rob was also the body performer for Junior Gorg in the first three seasons. He got the job performing Lanford because he had an arm long enough to reach from a hole in the cave wall WAY out to where Lanford's head had to be. Good thing - he was the perfect performer for the job!"
The episodes found on the DVD collection are as follows:
Wembley’s Egg
Boober Rock
The Trash Heap Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
Red’s Sea Monster
Uncle Matt Comes Home
Boober’s Dream
Mokey and the Minstrels
All Work and All Play
Sir Hubris and the Gorgs
A Friend in Need
The Wizard of Fraggle Rock
The Doozer Contest
Red’s Club
The Secret of Convincing John
Manny’s Land of Carpets
Junior Sells the Farm
Fraggle Wars
The Day the Music Died
Doomsday Soup
A Cave of One’s Own
Wembly and the Great Race
Doozer Is As Doozer Does
Boober’s Quiet Day
The Invasion of the Toe Ticklers
Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes Comedy Hour, The - More Gold coming this November
In this 4-disc set are 60 more of the most looneytic Looney Tunes cartoons ever conceived! Each disc is devoted to a theme or character that features fan favorites plus some rarities.
Disc 1 showcases the long-eared star extraordin-hare with 15 Bugs Bunny cartoons, including 1958's Oscar-winning Best Cartoon Short Subject Knighty Knight Bugs.
Disc 2 (Porky Pig) celebrates animation legend Frank Tashlin, who brought a filmmaker's eye for angles, editing and style to his creations.
Disc 3 zips along pronto with fast-acting Speedy Gonzales and includes Tabasco Road, Mexicali Shmoes and Pied Piper of Guadalupe, all of which were nominated for Academy Awards. And cats may have 9 lives but they also have 15 cartoons in Disc 4's batch of feline follies. The fur's gonna fly.
The 4 disc set will include 60 classic shorts, fully remastered and uncut. Special features will include documentaries, "Behind the Tunes" featurettes, commentaries, music only tracks, selections from the vault and other rare shorts. The set will cost $64.92 when it's released on November 14.
Warner Bros will also release the "Spotlight Collection Volume 4" on the same day. This 2 disc set will contain 28 classic cartoons and carries a $26.99 suggested retail price.
November 14 will also see the release of "Bah Humduck," a new take on an old classic:
In a hilarious take on the holiday classic, "A Christmas Carol," "A Looney Tunes Christmas" follows the exploits of Daffy Duck, the "Scrooge-like" proprietor of the "Lucky Duck" mega-mart. To take financial advantage of last minute shoppers, Daffy demands that his employees, including his long suffering manager, Porky Pig, work on Christmas Day instead of spending the holiday with their families. Its up to Bugs Bunny and the ghosts of Christmas past (Tweety and Granny), present (Yosemite Sam) and future (Taz) to make sure that Daffy realizes the error of his ways and saves Christmas for the Looney Tunes gang.
Buena Vista Home Entertainment is bringing extended version of Narnia to DVD
An Extended Edition of The Chronicles Of Narnia is in production as a 4-disc DVD set that is slated for release this winter from Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
The set will be available for only a very limited time.
A way too long journey of imagination and one of Walt Disney Pictures’ most successful live-action films of all time, Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media present “The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe” the spectacular live-action/CGI motion picture adaptation of C.S. Lewis’s beloved literary classic.
In World War II England the four Pevensie siblings -- Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter -- enter the world of Narnia through a magical wardrobe while playing a game of ‘hide-and-seek’ in the rural country home of an elderly professor.
Once there, the children discover a charming, peaceful land inhabited by talking beasts, dwarfs, fauns, centaurs and giants that has become a world cursed to eternal winter by the evil White Witch, Jadis. Aided by the wise and magnificent ruler, the lion Aslan, the children fight to overcome the White Witch’s powerful hold over Narnia in a spectacular, climactic battle that will free Narnia from Jadis’ glacial powers forever.
Disc 1 of the set will contain the extended version of the film with enhanced special effects and extended battle scene. Also included on this disc is a Commentary Track featuring Director Andrew Adamson, Production Designer Roger Ford, and Producer Mark Johnson. A Second Commentary Track will feature the delightful child stars Georgie Henley (Lucy), Skandar Keynes (Edmund), Anna Popplewell (Susan) and William Moseley (Peter) that was recorded when they had just screened the film for the first time. The result is a fresh, witty and lively commentary track, joined by director Andrew Adamson.
Narnia Fun Facts and Bloopers Of Narnia are also included on this disc.
Disc 2 of the set contains Creating Narnia, a multipart documentary covering various aspects of the movie’s production, such as the director’s personal diary, a behind-the-scenes tour by the child stars from the film, which includes wonderful moments when the children get a first look at the amazing ‘Narnia’ sets.
Evolution Of An Epic is another multi-part documentary included here, that covers topics such as “Anatomy Of The Scene: The Melting River,” “Cinematic Storytellers,” “C.S. Lewis: From One Man's Mind,” and “Creating Creatures.”
Creatures, Lands & Legends is another multi-part documentary that will cover subjects, such as “Creatures Of The World,” “Explore Narnia (3d Map),” “Legends In Time,” and “C.S. Lewis – The Dreamer Of Narnia.”
The third disc of the DVD set will contain an all-new feature length film while the fourth disc contains various additional segments, such as Visualizing The Lion, The witch And The WardrobeAnatomy of a Scene: Behind The Battle,” giving viewers a look at a crucial battle scene from the film. From pre-visualization computer images to storyboards, here is the exciting process of creating one of the key scenes in the film.
And lastly, the disc will contain an extensive Image Gallery filled with stunning imagery, a special museum full of superb images from the film, practically.
This 4-disc Extended Edition of “The Chronicles Of Narnia” will be in stores on December 12 and will be available for only seven weeks, making it the perfect Holiday gift. It will carry a $42.99 suggested retail price. For $79.99 you can also purchase a Gift Set of the release, which also includes a pair of heirloom-quality bookends from the master creative artists at WETA Ltd.