Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Selects Sept. 27 For DVD - Blu-ray - And 4K Ultra HD Editions Of Central Intelligence

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will be issuing a 4K Ultra HD edition of director Rawson Marshall Thurber’s Central Intelligence as part of its Sept. 27 home entertainment release package.

The ARR comes in at 102 and ticket sales at your local multiplex this summer were a robust $126.1 million.

Planned for release are stand-alone DVD and Blu-ray editions, with the latter including an unrated viewing option — an additional eight minutes worth of footage that was either cut for pacing purposes or to maintain a PG-13 theatrical rating.   The 4K Ultra HD version comes packaged as 4k Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack.

Agents, double-agents, spy vs. spy … poor Calvin (Kevin Hart), he’s an accountant with a special gift for unraveling even the most difficult set of accounting ledgers, which comes in really handy when a high school classmate named Robbie/Bob (played by Dwayne Johnson — who appears “digitally” in a very fun opening sequence) comes knocking at his door some 20 years after saying goodbye to that nightmare in need of his “special skill.”   

Is Bob a good guy?   Or, is he the notorious Black Badger out to obtain a set of codes that will transfer control of the United States spy satellites.   Regardless, he’s not the same Robbie from high school!!!

Judging from the domestic box office haul and the on-screen chemistry of Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson, Central Intelligence could be a comedy franchise in the making for Warner Bros.   The ending (no spoiler here) does leave that possibility open.

As to bonus goodies, there is commentary by director Rawson Marshall Thurber (We’re the Millers, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story), a gag reel, alternate scenes and a pair of featurettes — “Couch Scene” and “Dance-Off.”

 

Also added to the release calendar this past week by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is the “Prince Movie Collection” for delivery to Blu-ray on Oct. 4.

Director Albert Magnoli’s 1984 Purple Rain, which earned Prince an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song Score, has been given a HD restoration, as have Under the Cherry Moon and Graffiti Bridge.   Each film on Blu-ray can be purchased separately for $14.98 each, or as a boxed collection for $24.98 … that’s a twenty dollar saving.    Even if you purchased Purple Rain back in 2007 on Blu-ray, buying the full set puts you ahead of the game — Under the Cherry Moon and Graffiti Bridge are both available for the first time as Blu-ray selections.

The bonus goodies are limited to the Purple Rain SKU and include commentary from director Albert Magnoli, who is joined by producer Robert Cavallo and the late Donald E. Thorin, who served as cinematographer, plus three featurettes — “First Avenue: The Road to Pop Royalty,” “Purple Rain Backstage Pass” and “Riffs, Ruffles and a Revolution” — and eight stand-alone music videos from the film’s soundtrack.