Paramount Home Media Distribution's World War Z Zips Home On Sept. 17

Paramount Home Media Distribution, in something of a surprise move, has placed director Marc Forster’s white-knuckle thrill ride film adaptation of Max Brooks’ novel, World War Z, on the release calendar for Sept. 17.   We had anticipated an October arrival.

No matter, when you have a genre film — starring Brad Pitt — with a domestic box haul of $192.7 million you can release it any damn time you please.   For the record, the ARR is a sizzling 88 days — only Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 at 85 days has made a faster transition from theatrical venues to the home entertainment market place for any film grossing in excess of $150 million.   

Of note, Alice in Wonderland also made the move in 88 days, thus World War Z joins that film as the second fastest blockbuster to go from theatres to home entertainment.   

As for SKU configuration, Paramount has two Blu-ray/DVD Combo Packs (both featuring UltraViolet) planned — one with a 3D presentation included and the other without.  There will also be a stand-alone DVD edition.

As to bonus features, the Blu-ray SKUs will include both the PG-13 theatrical cut as well as unrated viewing option (likely the trims and scene cuts that were necessary to get the film down from an R-rating).  The DVD SKU will be the theatrical cut only.

All of the other bonus features are exclusive to the Blu-ray product offerings and include two stand-alone featurettes — “Origins” and “Looking to Science” — as well as the multi-part featurette titled “WWZ: Production” (“Outbreak,” “The Journey Begins,” “Behind the Wall” and “Camouflage” are all included here).

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

20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment's The Croods Strolls To Market On Oct. 1

20^th Century-Fox Home Entertainment had to think it through and the decision that they’ve arrived at makes all the sense in the world.  Here’s the problem: What do you do with two smash animated theatrical hits — Epic and The Croods?   You can’t cannibalize sales by jamming them on top of each other and you can’t release both of them prior to Labor Day (dog days of summer … that sort of thing).

Epic got an Aug. 20 date, so The Croods will get a three-SKU launch on Oct. 1 (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack with and without a 3D version and a stand-alone DVD).   A leisurely ARR of 193 days is the result (box office was a stellar $186.4 million).  Perfect!

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

Kino Lorber Announces Its October 2013 Blu-ray And DVD Release Slate

Kino Lorber revealed its October release slate this past week and the long-anticipated arrival of Night Tide: Remastered Edition on DVD and Blu-ray on Oct. 15.

This Dennis Hopper classic was originally slated for release back in April, but was delayed for unspecified reasons.   As mentioned back then, this 1961 gem from writer/director Curtis Harrington stars Hopper as a sailor on leave who becomes enamored with a mysterious woman named Mora (Linda Lawson). 

The film is noted for its Santa Monica pier location shooting — very cool time capsule — and the weirdly mysterious tale about whether the lovely Mora is indeed an actual mermaid who lures her lovers to their deaths when the full moon rises.   This is a real treat for genre fans and film buffs.

Bonus features for Night Tide: Remastered Edition include (vintage) commentary from filmmaker Curtis Harrington (he died in 2007 and was noted for such genre films as Ruby, What's the Matter with Helen?, Queen of Blood and Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet) and the film’s star Dennis Hopper (who left us in 2010), plus 50 minutes worth of extended interviews with Harrington and the film’s original theatrical trailer. 

There are two additional “Remastered” editions also slated for delivery as Blu-ray and DVD product offerings on Oct. 15.   Both are film noir greats, The Hitch-Hiker: Remastered Edition and The Stranger: Remastered Edition.

Bonus features for director Orson Welles’ 1946 film noir thriller, The Stranger, include commentary from Bret Wood (author of “Orson Welles: A Bio-Bibliography” … plus director, writer and producer) and filmmaker George Stevens Nazi concentration camp footage used in the film.

On the new theatrical release front, Oct. 8 marks the DVD and Blu-ray debut of documentary filmmaker Jacob Hatley’s Ain't In It For My Health: A Film About Levon Helm, an intimate portrait of the late Levon Helm, founder of the legendary rock group, The Band.

The ARR is 172 days and the box office gross from the film’s limited major metro run came in at $102,057.

Hatley tracks survivor Levon Helm — sex, drugs and rock’n’roll can take its toll (cancer, band breakup and bankruptcy, etc.) — over a two year period as he preps for his 2007 comeback album, “Dirt Farmer” (a Grammy-winner).

Also on the release calendar in October from Kino

Lorber are DVD editions of writer/director Jeff Lipsky’s stream-of-consciousness film, Molly's Theory of Relativity (Oct. 22), starring Sophia Takal and Lawrence Michael Levine as a wife and husband in conflict over life-changing decisions during the course of one evening. 

Writer/director Miguel Gomes’ poignant Tabu (in Portuguese on Oct. 29), starring Ana Moreira and Laura Soveral as younger and older versions of Aurora — a woman with a dark secret (told in two parts). 

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

Warner Home Video's Hangover Part III Ready For Action On Oct. 8

We were saying just last week that Warner Home Video had been busy filling up its release calendar with DVD and Blu-ray releases that did not count among them their big summer blockbusters.   

That’s smart business, you don’t step on the smaller releases by announcing the big titles with something like … “and we are also releasing.”   Nobody reads that last part!!! 

So the first of these monsters just got an Oct. 8 street date … and that would be director Todd Phillips’ Hangover III.

The ARR for the Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack and double-disc DVD (both feature UltraViolet) launch comes in at 137 days.   The box office tally was $112 million.

Bonus features include outtakes, extended scenes and a half dozen featurettes — “Replacing Zach: The Secret Auditions,” “The Wolfpack’s Wildest Stunts,” “Zach Galifianakis in His Own Words,” “Pushing the Limits,” “Action Mash-Up” and “Inside Focus: The Real Chow.”

Also added to the release calendar this week is a double-disc Blu-ray special edition of All the President’s Men: 40^th Anniversary Edition.  The street date is Nov. 12. 

Bonus features include the newly-prepared documentary titled All the President’s Men Revisited, plus commentary by Robert Redford and five featurettes, including “Telling the Truth About Lies: The Making of All the President’s Men,” “Woodward and Bernstein: Lighting the Fire” and “Out of the Shadows: The Man Who Was Deep Throat.” 

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

Boy Band On DVD From Indican Pictures On Oct. 8

Brad (Michael Copon — Night of the Demons, Music High) has it all.  It’s 1982, he’s the captain of the high school football team and has the head cheerleader literally throwing herself at him.   But in writer/director Jon Artigo’s Boy Band, due out on DVD from Indican Pictures on Oct. 8, that’s not enough … he wants more!

His dream is to form a “boy band” before the term was even invented and so he gives up the football team (and the sure scholarships) to follow — quite hilariously we might add — his impossible dream.

Filmmaker Jon Artigo strikes just the right balance between farce and homage — the music of the period is nailed perfectly and the formation of the unlikely group gives rise to some comedy bits that have had audiences rolling in the aisles with laughter.   

Indeed, Brad’s story is told with two and a half dozen songs as the “hook” for a storyline that has his no-talent “metal band” being magically transformed into a national sensation.

In an October jam-packed with horror films and big summer blockbusters, Indican’s Boy Band might be just the ticket for some much-needed fun … and the music, of course, the music!

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

 

For more information on the DVD release of Boy Band:  Click Here

 

 

Image Entertainment Adds Three Halloween-Season Chillers

Image Entertainment adds to it Halloween-season film selections with a trio of new-to DVD releases on the run up to that special night when ghouls, ghosts and, well, just plain trick or treat enthusiast hit the streets in search of something sweet.

Already in place for delivery to genre fans on Sept. 17 is director Douglas Elford-Argent’s ghostly horror tale, Aberration.

On the following street-date Tuesday, Sept. 24, we find director Brain C. Weeds’ throwback slasher film, Bloody Homecoming, ready for genre fans to savor on DVD.

A “tragic” accident leaves a student dead at the annual homecoming dance in Winston, Texas when an attempt at forced sex goes south, a fire results and quickly roars out of control … and the would-be assailant ends up crispy fried. 

It’s now three years later and the happy event is once again upon us, but this round of students are finding “Happy Homecoming” notes — scrawled in blood — in their lockers.   Someone is out for revenge and the dance is about to be a Carrie-like bloodbath.  

Shifting to Oct. 8, Image Entertainment has director Julian Richards’ film adaptation of the Brian Harper novel, Shiver, ready for the DVD market place.

Franklin Rood (John Jarratt — Wolf Creek, Dead Heart, 100 Bloody Acres, etc.) is a serial killer who is known to the Portland police as “The Griffin.”  He enjoys his work (yes, he has his reasons, which are sick)! 

Everything changes when a seemingly routine killing goes awry — a mousey little office worker named Wendy (Danielle Harris — as Annie in Halloween and Halloween II, plus such films as Prank, Hatchet II and The Black Waters of Echo Pond) — makes good on her escape attempt.   

Now when you are an obsessive serial killer that can only mean one thing … get her back (because he admires her tenacity), torture her and, yes, kill her.   Until that is accomplished, nothing else matters!

Genre fans will be on the edge of their seats as these two pros go at it — little Wendy has to get tough, get brutal or die!   There is no middle ground!

Third up, and timed for Halloween itself, is the Oct. 29 DVD debut of writer/director Damien Leone’s All Hallows' Eve, starring Mike Giannelli as the infamous “Art the Clown” in an anthology horror tale that is unleashed upon an unsuspecting baby sitter named Sarah (Katie Maguire) discovers an old VHS cassette in the kid’s trick or treat bag.          

We — the audience “we” — all know that watching that tape can only be bad news, but Sarah can’t help herself.  As she views each story we get the foreboding sense that Art the Clown will be going from being a video character to the real deal!  

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

Breaking Glass Pictures Says Oct. 29 For The Domestic DVD Debut Of Out In The Dark

Not a day goes by that news isn’t filled with conflict in the Middle East.   Egypt, Syria, Iran and of course, the on-going tensions between Israel and Palestine.  

In is against this backdrop that writer/director Michael Mayer delivers his tale of friendship and love, Out in the Dark.   Due on DVD from Breaking Glass Pictures on Oct. 29

Out in the Dark is not just about any love affair, but one between two gay men … one is an Israeli lawyer named Roy (Michael Aloni) and the other a Palestinian student named Nimr (Nicholas Jacob).    

On the surface this dangerous liaison seems unlikely, but filmmaker Michael Mayer has drawn upon his own experiences at a Tel Aviv shelter for gay and lesbian refugees for this intense dramatic tale.

Not only does the film ring true, but Mayer took some daring chances during the actual production … actually shooting scenes on the streets of Ramallah.   Just imagine if the locals had learned that an Israeli filmmaker was in the city making a movie about a love affair between an Israeli and Palestinian — the gay part wouldn’t have even mattered!

Presented in Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles.   Bonus features include commentary from Mayer, deleted scenes and interviews with the cast.

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

Cinema Libre's Bernadette Set For A Sept. 17 DVD Debut

It would be easy for Bernadette Scarduzio to just give up.   She could live anonymously and just sit in her wheel chair by a window, look out with a blank stare and just watch the world go by.   

She has CMT with a 1A designation.  For those unfamiliar with CMT, that would be Charcot Marie Tooth disease, a relatively rare disorder — without a cure — that is often mistaken for muscular dystrophy.   

The disease is marked by wasting-away; a deterioration of muscle tissue, especially in the legs and hands.   And treatment for those severely affected often is that of repeated surgical procedures … in a word, gruesome.

It is progressive … it robs one of their life one day at a time.   That is, if they let it ... Bernadette Scarduzio is not about to. 

In documentary filmmaker Josh Taub’s  Bernadette, due out on DVD this coming Sept. 17 from Cinema Libre, we learn of both the disease — an inherited disorder (her father had a milder form, as does her brother) — and Bernadette’s fight, not only with the disease itself, but her determination to get CMT “out of the closet,” which is often kept quiet because of the familial hereditary factor.  

Indeed, in is often dubbed “the biggest disease no one has ever heard of.”

With Bernadette bring your heart and some Kleenex and be prepared for both an education and a glimpse into what the human spirit can overcome.

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

Artsploitation Films Sets Animals For An Oct. 22 Domestic DVD Debut

Artsploitation Films, with sales and distribution support provided by Kino Lorber, has selected Oct. 22 as the domestic DVD debut date for Barcelona-based filmmaker Marçal Forés’ very strange — call it even surreal — Animals.

Imagine a teenager named Pol (Oriol Pla) strolling in the woods, speaking in his native Catalan to a teddy bear named Deerhoof.   The bear strolls along too … speaking in English.   

They talk about life and death and violence and love and sex and comic books.   Weird?   Perhaps, but Pol is a high school student who is just trying to fit in.  His imaginary friend helps him with such issues as his sexual orientation (a new student has caught his eye) and a world that he can’t quite come to grips with. 

Or is Deerhoof actually a real creature?   He walks.  He talks.   And he’s a damn good little drummer too!

Of course the bridge Pol will have to be crossed (both literally and metaphorically).  He will soon enough have to leave his teenage fantasy world behind and become an “adult.”   It is the nature of things!  But what of Deerhoof … will he be sacrificed to fulfill the order of things?   Or will others?

Animals is presented in Catalan and English (with English subtitles).

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

Who Needs Enemies On DVD Oct. 22 From FilmWorks Entertainment

How do you make a lurid film without being salacious?   That was the challenge for writer/director Peter Stylianou when he set about to make Who Needs Enemies.  

The subject matter was so dicey that he had to fund the film independently — the low budget doesn’t even register here thanks to some terrific photography, outstanding editing and both set-lighting and decoration that points to a production many times the value of what Stylianou had to work with.

But the real selling point here is the cast — somehow Ian Pirie (Les Misérables, The Dark Knight, Gangs of New York, etc.) and Michael McKell (Will, Beneath Still Waters and as DI Trevor Hands on the Brit crime series, Murder Investigation Team) signed on and they are absolutely amazing.  

First to business, FilmWorks Entertainment has picked up the domestic distribution of this sleeper for the DVD market place.  The street date will be Oct. 22.

Now to the film itself.   Pirie plays Tom Sheridan, a local thug, former boxer and the owner of a “gentleman’s club” (a strip joint, if you will), while McKell is Ian Levine, a confidant with some pretty shady connections.   Basically they are Brit gangsters (think: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels if you need a reference point).

So when Ian makes Tom an offer to rent out his club for a special event, it is just business among friends.  Sure why not … until Tom discovers what the “special event” was and who the guests that showed up were.

That revelation of what his club was used for starts a war when he threatens to expose his buddy for something that even the toughest street thugs cannot abide by … child prostitution!   Hang-on, it’s going to get bloody … very bloody!

Bonus features for this Brit crime thriller — independent filmmaking at its very best — include a photo gallery and a making-of featurette.

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

 

For more information on Who Needs Enemies:  Click Here.