June 25 For Warner Home Video's The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

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It’s magic time!   Drum roll please.   Hit the lights … and mark June 25 on your calendar for the home entertainment debut of director Don Scardino’s The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.

The ARR comes in at 102 days and ticket sales currently stand at $22.3 million.

This New Line Cinema film production drew the short straw when it went up against both the “Wizard” and Halle Berry on Mar. 15 … there are only so many film patrons to divvy up each week and the “rolling spring break effect” was just starting to kick in as well (other things to do for the prime viewing crowd).   Bad timing; bad luck.

It also didn’t help the film’s commercial prospects when co-star Jim Carrey suddenly went on a nationally broadcast gun-control rant during the film’s run … politics, especially mistimed politics, can have a devastating way of turning half of the country off.   There’s an old saw that all publicity is good publicity … not so sure if it is a political statement, a sex scandal sure, but politics these day seems to be a big turnoff.   

As a comedian, Carrey absolutely knows that timing on stage is everything … with that in mind he should have kept his powder dry and let the movie have a free reign to draw in theatre-goers while it was hot.   Oh well.

Between the competition, spring break and Carrey’s misfire, the box office haul was a tad disappointing, but the national exposure remains, the cast is solid, the movie is funny and so Warner Home Video is poised to cash in on the media and PR with DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack (with UltraViolet Digital Copy) editions when it heads home on June 25.

Steve Carell and Steve Buscemi star as Las Vegas showroom veterans, Burt Wonderstone and Anton Marvelton, whose magic act (sort of like Siegfried and Roy, but without animals that can eat you) has been the main attraction at the Aztec for over a decade.   But now there’s new blood in the form of super-slick Steve Gray (Jim Carrey) and audiences can be fickle and attendance is down … way down.

To make matter worse, Burt and Anton’s childhood friendship is starting to come unglued and the solution to their career problem (a stunt without preparation) only makes things worse!!!

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is a fun comedy, with some terrific bits — very reminiscent of Blades of Glory, only instead of skating and all that goes with that, it is the world of magic and magicians.   Throw in a beautiful woman (Olivia Wilde — Tron: Legacy, Deadfall and as “Thirteen” on the House M.D. TV series) and an old timer (Alan Arkin in a delightful turn) who gave Burt his inspiration so many years ago and you’ve got it all.

Bonus features include a gag reel, deleted scenes, alternate takes and the featurette titled “Making Movie Magic with David Copperfield.”

Not done yet!   Also added to the release calendar from Warner Home Video this week is a second Lana Turner gem.    

Last week it was the big-budget Technicolor costume drama, Diane (with Roger Moore and Pedro Armendáriz) was announced for a DVD debut on May 28.  Joining Diane on May 28 will be director George Cukor’s 1950 weeper, A Life of Her Own, which teamed Lana Turner with Ray Milland, Tom Ewell and Ann Dvorak.

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report DVD & Blu-ray Release Report