Universal Studios Home Entertainment Poised For Blockbuster Action With November Release Moves

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has been showing all the signs of clearing the decks for action.   Summer blockbuster action!

With the mega-hits — Fast & Furious 6 and Despicable Me 2 — awaiting Christmas-selling season street dates, the studio has been busy with the assignment of release dates for their other recent, but smaller grossing, theatrical releases.   That is usually a sure sign that the big retail thumpers will be flowing in their wake (small first, then big, otherwise the small get lost).

During the past week Universal has plugged in three such films, which leads one to believe that this next week we will see at least one of the monsters put into play.

First in line — on Nov. 19 — are DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack (with UltraViolet) editions of director Baltasar Kormákur’s high-profile action hit, 2 Guns, teaming Mark Wahlberg (who previously worked with  Kormákur on Contraband) with Denzel Washington in a spy-versus-spy thriller involving drug deals, secret CIA dealings and undercover operatives.

The ARR comes in at 109 days and the box office haul was a decent $74.5 million.

Bonus features include commentary from filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur, who is joined by film producer Adam Siegel (Drive, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Wanted, etc.), the featurette titled “Undercover and into Action,” deleted scenes and extended scenes.

Exclusive to the Blu-ray SKU are three additional production featurettes — “The Good, the Bad and the Sexy,” “Finding the Vibe” and “Living Dangerously.”

Teamed with 2 Guns on Nov. 19 are DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack (with UltraViolet) editions of Brit director Edgar Wright’s goofy sci-fi comedy, The World’s End, starring Simon “Shaun of the Dead” Pegg as a man on a mission to complete an epic “pub crawl,” but — along with his friends — runs smack dab into an alien invasion led by human-looking robots.   Yikes!!!

The ARR is a zippy 88 days and the domestic box office haul currently stands at $25.2 million (and growing).

Bonus nuggets include commentary from Wright and Pegg, plus the making-of featurette titled “Completing the Golden Mile.”

Exclusive to the Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack are a second commentary option teaming filmmaker Edgar Wright with director of photography Bill Pope, hair and makeup tests, deleted scenes, outtakes, rehearsal footage and at least a half-dozen additional production featurettes.

Shifting to the street date Tuesday (Nov. 26) just prior to Thanksgiving is the biopic Jobs, directed by Joshua Michael Stern and starring Ashton Kutcher as the late Apple Computer co-founder, Steve Jobs.

The ARR for DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack (with UltraViolet) editions of Jobs works out to 102 days and the box office gross was $16.1 million.   

Bonus features include commentary from filmmaker Joshua Michael Stern and the featurettes titled “Jobs: Behind the Score” and “The Legacy of Steve Jobs.”   Exclusive to the Blu-ray SKU is the additional featurette titled “Ashton Kutcher IS Steve Jobs.”

We suspect that Universal Studios Home Entertainment will add either Fast & Furious 6 or Despicable Me 2 to this Nov. 26 release window, with the other one (whichever one isn’t plugged in here) following in early December.

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