Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Preps DVD And Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Editions Of Creed (Mar. 1) And In The Heart Of The Sea (Mar. 8)

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has select Mar. 1 for home entertainment launch of director Ryan Coogler’s triumph return of the venerable Rocky film franchise with the release of DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions of Creed.

The ARR is a quick-to-market 95 days and domestic box office receipts currently stand at an impressive $108.2 million.   

That’s not bad for Sly Stallone’s aging Rocky Balboa, who is nominated for Best Supporting Actor and was also nominated in 1976 for the same character in the Best Actor category (plus Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen).

Both the DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions will feature deleted scenes and a pair of production featurettes —  “Know The Past, Own The Future” and “Becoming Adonis.”

In other release action, director Ron Howard’s big-budget story about the origins of Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick” saga, In the Heart of the Sea, will follow Creed on Mar. 8 with a three-SKU array of home entertainment product offerings.

The ARR is a very-fast-to-market 88 days and box office receipts were a very disappointing $24.7 million.   

With a reported $100 million as the product budget, plus another $15 to $20 million in P&A for the domestic theatrical launch, this tale of the seas has turned into an ocean of red ink for Warner Bros.   That’s pretty sad when you consider that this is a Ron Howard film.

On that point, 2015 was a record-setter at the box office, that is, in terms of the overall numbers, but it was also a year marked by a sharp decline in the number of films grossing in excess of $25 million.  Some very prestigious films utterly failed to attract an audience ... and that includes films with multiple Oscar nominations.   

The VOD monster is certainly beginning to take its toll and “Hollywood” better start paying attention before the goose that has laid so many golden eggs is choked to death with a digital necktie.   Either the windows need to be adjusted or the pricing needs to be reviewed to discourage consumers from abandoning theatrical venues.   Something needs to change and change quickly!!

As to the SKU configuration for In the Heart of the Sea, there will be a stand-alone DVD edition and a pair of Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack product offerings — one with and without a 3D viewing option.  The 3D viewing premium is nine dollars.

As to bonus goodies, all three SKUs will include the featurette titled “Chase & Pollard: A Man of Means and A Man of Courage.”   Exclusive to the Blu-ray editions are deleted and extended scenes, plus five additional featurettes, including one titled “Ron Howard: Captain’s Log.”