VCI Entertainment Announces Denver: The Last Dinosaur The Complete Series For DVD Availability On Sept. 16

A Corythosauraus that rocks out, skateboards and can travel through time will be front and center in Denver: The Last Dinosaur - The Complete Series, a six-disc collection from VCI Entertainment that will be making its long-awaited DVD debut on Sept. 16.

The storied La Brea Tar Bits in Los Angeles are the destination for SoCal teens Jeremy (voiced by Adam Carl — Defenders of the Earth, Batman: The Animated Series, etc.), Mario (Cam Clarke — Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ultimate Spider-Man, etc.) and Casey (Kath Soucie — Pound Puppies, Transformers: Rescue Bots, etc.) and their friends for research on an upcoming natural history test.    It is here, quite by accident, that they discover a prehistoric egg that has been fossilized … protecting it from the passage of eons of time.  

What a trophy they figure, but suddenly it hatches and the magic begins.   The little dinosaur, which they name Denver (voiced by Patrick Fraley ­— Monsters, Inc., Toy Story 2, etc.) can understand their words and soon learns to communicate with them.   

When not being dino-napped for exploitation or for experimentation and study, the teens manage to give Denver a place to hide out and make him one of their own.  But this clever Corythosauraus has a little trick up his sleeve … a piece of his shell can be used to transport him and his newfound friends back in time.   

50 wonderful animated adventures (in both the present day and the Cretaceous Period) are spread over this six-disc collection from VCI Entertainment! 

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

Director Naomi Foner's Very Good Girls On DVD And Blu-ray From Well Go USA On Sept. 23

Oscar-nominated screenwriter Naomi Foner (1988 for Running on Empty) takes her first turn behind the camera (directing her own script) on Sept. 23 when Well Go U.S.A. brings to market DVD and Blu-ray editions of Very Good Girls.

A summer theatrical break is for the end of this month to raise awareness.   With Foner’s track record, the cast, which includes support from the likes of Richard Dreyfuss, Demi Moore and Ellen Barkin, Very Good Girls should do just fine … and Well Go U.S.A. will have little problem drumming up DVD and Blu-ray interest for this one during the post-Labor Day period.

Lily (Dakota Fanning) and Gerry (Elizabeth Olsen — Oldboy, Godzilla) have been friends as long as they can remember.   They could be sisters.  

But the regiment — and security — of high school is over and choices need to be made.  Off to college in the fall, but one thing is for certain, it is time for men, the days of flirting with boys has suddenly slipped away.   

Lily is the quiet one.  Introspective, perhaps even shy, but Gerry has no such limitations.   They both come from means; good families … so they have options.  The two talk about sex … about having a relationship — falling in love — and in those friend-on-friend conversations a sort of dare is proposed, “let’s lose our virginity before we head off to college.”  Gerry is eager for, while Lily is not so sure.

Enter David, (Boyd Holbrook — The Host, Milk) a sort of everyman free spirit.  He’s handsome, intelligent and oh so sexy.  Gerry figures that he’s the one, but it is Lily that — for reasons that are not quite clear — catches his eye.   And surprise, she suddenly finds herself having an “affair;” cheating on her best friend.  She is keeping secrets that were never secrets … until now!!!

Foner’s Very Good Girls tests friendship; sisterhood.   Can young women remain life-long friends when the object of their mutual attention is the same young man?  

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

Mill Creek Entertainment's SitCom Blitz On DVD For Sept. 2

Mill Creek Entertainment will be SitCom central on Sept. 2 with the launch of not one, but three timeless TV comedy classics … each are double-disc collections and feature separate SKUs for the complete first and second seasons.

And best of all, each collection is priced at just $9.98 each (and that’s before discounts at retail).

First up is Soap, a star-studded spoof that ran from 1977/78 through 1981/82 and featured the Tates (Katherine Helmond, Robert Mandan, Jennifer Salt, etc.) and the Campbells (Catherine Damon, Richard Mulligan) and all of the “soapish” goings on in Dunn’s River, CT.   Other members of the cast included Billy Crystal, Robert Guillaume and Jimmy Baio.

Soap: Complete First Season sports 25 episodes, while Soap: The Complete Second Season wrapped with 23.

Robert Guillaume’s Benson, the Tate’s butler, was so popular as a character (the caustic wit and all) that he was “spun-off” into his own series in 1979, Benson: The Complete First Season, which is teamed with Benson: The Complete Second Season.

The third series ready for fans to enjoy on Sept. 2 is What's Happening!!, starring Ernest Thomas, Fred Berry and Haywood Nelson as a trio of black teens living in the Watts area of Los Angeles.   The series was something of an extension to writer and series creator Eric Monte’s 1975 film, Cooley High.   

Available from Mill Creek Entertainment are 21 episodes from What’s Happening!!: Season One (1976/1977 season) and 22 episodes from What’s Happening!!: Season Two (1977/78 season).

Two weeks later, on Sept. 16, Michael Landon and Victor French return in the three-disc collection of Highway to Heaven: The Complete Fifth Season … and on Oct. 28, Mill Creek Entertainment will deliver a whopping 16-disc box set of Wings: The Complete Series.

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

Warner Home Video Tabs Sept. 2 As The DVD Release Date For The Lastest Tom And Jerry Animated Feature - Tom And Jerry: The Lost Dragon

The newest animated feature-length adventure starring Tom and Jerry will be making its DVD debut from Warner Home Video on Sept. 2.  

Titled Tom and Jerry: The Lost Dragon and directed by Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone (the same team that delivered Tom and Jerry's Giant Adventure last year and Tom and Jerry & The Wizard of Oz in 2011 … among others) … this time the cat and mouse duo must rescue a baby dragon named Puffy from Drizelda, a witch with some sinister plans for the little fire-breather!

Bonus features include a quartet of Tom & Jerry cartoons!

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

Cinema Libre Sets Director Edward Conna's Hero Of The Day For DVD On Sept. 9

Cinema Libre moves into the post-Labor Day selling period with news this past week that director Edward Conna’s clever cinéma vérité “documentary,” Hero of the Day, will be making its domestic DVD debut on Sept. 9.

Allen Bradley (Paul Dietz) is a documentary filmmaker and big fan of football legend Mark Chambers (played by professional body builder Mo Anouti, who also served as the Executive Producer … film credits include Bare Knuckles, Transylmania), so you can only imagine his delight when this Super Bowl star agrees to be the subject of his film.

With Amanda, his camera operator and all-around production partner in tow, we start off with an on-camera meet-and-greet with the affable ex-star, who has fallen on hard times.    As the day of filming gets under way we — and soon too the filmmakers — begin to realize that Chambers knows exactly where he is going with “his film.”   

After the star luster wears off, Allen and Amanda begin to get just a little nervous as to exactly what they’ve gotten themselves into.   An encounter with the police, a pawnshop visit that goes awry — and more — are all caught on film.   There will be more as the “public face” of this sports star is slowly stripped away to reveal a man dealing with emotional baggage that he is having a difficult time dealing with!   

There’s really only one real condition that Chambers offers up if they wish to continue filming him (it’s a good start, but they don’t have the full story) … “whatever happens, don’t stop filming.”  He asks for a little trust and offers that, “by the end of this day you’ll have something worth selling.”

Truer words have not been spoken … so join filmmakers Allen and Amada as they see what it is like to spend one hell of a day with Mark Chambers, “sports hero.”  

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

Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return On DVD and Blu-ray from 20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment on Aug. 26

It will be a film school topic of discussion for years to come.   The backstory of the production and financiing of Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return is far more fascinating than the actual release of the film theatrically.

For the record, 20^th Century-Fox Home Entertainment has picked up domestic distribution for both DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack (with UltraViolet), which will take place on Aug. 26.   The ARR works out to 109 days and the box office take was a paltry $8.4 million.

For the backstory, check out Jordan Zakarin’s June 24 posting in The Wrap  (http://www.thewrap.com/legends-of-oz-box-office-flop-investors/), which details Ryan and Roland Carroll’s eight-year odyssey in funding this animated film production co-directed by Will Finn (Home on the Range, The Road to El Dorado) and Dan St. Pierre (Everyone's Hero) and featuring the voice work of Lea Michele (Dorothy), Jim Belushi, Kelsey Grammer and Dan Aykroyd as her companions, The Cowardly Lion, The Tin Man and The Scarecrow respectively.

Bonus goodies include a pair of featurettes, a “Sing Along the Yellow Brick Road” and the “Legends of Oz: Activity Sheet.”

In other release news this week, Claire Danes returns as Carrie Mathison, CIA operative (with all sorts of issues) on Sept. 9 with DVD and Blu-ray three-disc sets of Homeland: Season Three.   Joining her are Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis), U.S. Marine and former POW of al-Qaeda and Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin), her CIA boss, who keeps pulling her chestnuts out of the fire.

Bonus features include commentary for the season’s final episode, “The Star,” deleted scenes and a pair of production featurettes — “The Tower of David - Filming in Puerto Rico” and “The Last Days: Filming the Season Finale.”

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

Vinegar Syndrome Preps Restored Graduation Day For Blu-ray On Sept. 9

Vinegar Syndrome announced this past week that a newly completed film restoration of director Herb Freed’s 1981 horror gem, Graduation Day, will be released on Sept. 9 as a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack.

The Midvale High School track team is being picked off one by one by a knife-wielding maniac, which just might be Anne (Patch Mackenzie — It's Alive III: Island of the Alive, Dark Tower, etc.), a sailor on leave, who arrives home (conveniently) just after her sister Laura dropped on the school’s track … or perhaps Coach Michaels (Christopher George), he seems to always be around when a dead body is found!    Or maybe it’s Laura’s boyfriend, Kevin (E. Danny Murphy) … filmmaker Herb Freed (Tomboy, Beyond Evil) certainly keeps you guessing in this slasher hit.

Bonus goodies include a trio of interviews — the film’s star, Patch Mackenzie, the film’s writer/producer, David Baughn (who also teamed with Freed for Beyond Evil), and the film’s editor, Martin Sadoff (Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood).

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