As we move through the
weeks of summer we can expect to see at least one blockbuster announcement each
week for the post-Labor Day release period.
$100 million-plus box office monsters on the march from their multiplex
venues to home entertainment (and beyond).
This week’s heavyweight
comes knocking courtesy of Paramount Home Media Distribution … and that would
be director J. J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness, which has
been given a Sept. 10 release date.
The ARR works out to 116
days and ticket sales this summer for this second installment in the Star Trek
reboot currently stand at an impressive $223.1 million in the domestic market.
Paramount has a three-SKU
product offering planned. There will be
a stand-alone DVD edition and two Blu-ray/DVD Combo Packs — one with a 3D
presentation of the movie and one without (both feature UltraViolet).
The gamble of reinventing
the original Star Trek series, with Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto),
by introducing an alternate timeline is now beginning to payoff. With fans knowing the “passion play” of the
original Star Trek adventures (even if they were from the 1960s) it was
all but impossible to get all that creative with a narrative that was already
pre-set. But with the alternate
timeline introduced by Nero, the time-bending Romulan from the 2009 reboot,
that problem is neatly tucked away.
Indeed, after this
installment Abrams — and those who follow — will be able to crank out three or
four sequels that can boldly go where Kirk, Spock and the rest of the Star
Trek crew have never been before.
It’s just a question of how long Pine and Quinto want to play the
roles. Fans have accepted them … just
look at the numbers!
What was also nice about Star
Trek Into Darkness is that Abrams — with a screenplay that featured
input from Roberto Orci (Mission: Impossible III, the Alias
television series) and Alex Kurtzman (Cowboys and Aliens, Transformers),
who collaborated on the Star Trek reboot, plus Damon
Lindelof (Prometheus, the Lost television series) — was able
to work the legendary superhuman Khan (aka: Khan Noonien Singh as portrayed by
Ricardo Montalbán in both the original TV series and in the 1982 feature film
release of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) into the new timeline.
Although quite different
in appearance and mannerism, the new Khan (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) was
still a nice touch for what is clearly a transition film. With the new characters firmly established,
future screenwriters will have free reign to add, subtract (crew members) and
prepare new challenges for the crew of the Enterprise.
As to bonus goodies, all
seven production featurettes are exclusive to the Blu-ray SKUs. These are: “Creating the Red Planet,” “Attack
on Starfleet,” “The Klingon Home World,” “The Enemy of My Enemy,” “Ship to
Ship,” “Brawl by the Bay” and “Continuing the Mission.”
In other release news
this week from Paramount Home Media Distribution, scheduling for TV-on-DVD
product offerings has now moved into the month of October.
Oct. 1 will see the
four-disc debut of the Ashley Rickards’ teen angst comedy series, Awkward:
Seasons 1 & 2. Also on the
same first Tuesday in October release date look for the six disc launch of the
revamped Beauty and the Beast: The First Season (all 22 episodes)
starring Jay Ryan as Vincent and Kristin Kreuk as Catherine.
The following week, Oct.
8, Paramount has the five-disc DVD release of 90210: The Complete Fifth Season
planned.
On the kidvid front, Oct.
1 marks the arrival of double-disc/12-adventure DVD release of Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles: Ultimate Showdown.
To download this week's
complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report: DVD & Blu-ray Release Report
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