Universal Pictures Home Entertainment put Disney on the run
this December with the double-whammy release of The Secret Life of Pets
and Jason
Bourne on Dec. 6. When you are
out first with Spielberg’s The BFG on that date and Universal
drops those two blockbusters on you … well, you tuck your mouse tail and run
for cover (they moved The BFG to Nov. 29).
Now, we can’t speak with any authority on this, but about
ten days ago Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment announced that their
less-than-successful Light Between Oceans would be
available on Jan. 17 as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings. Did Universal take note of that? Again, we can’t say.
But, are you ready for this, Universal dropped another
two-ton load of bricks on Disney’s little sad puppy with news this week that
both director Tate Taylor’s film adaptation of the Paul Hawkins’ novel, The
Girl on a Train, and the next installment in Universal’s newly-minted
horror franchise, writer/director Mike Lanagan’s Ouija: Origins of Evil (a
prequel to writer/director Stiles White’s 2014 horror hit, Ouija) will be available
on … drum roll please … Jan. 17!!!
It’s no secret that Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
has been struggling with their Blu-ray and DVD product offerings. Their PR people rely way, way too much on
the Disney name — you know, “we’re Disney and you’re not” — to push their
product. No effort is needed. With that attitude it is no wonder that
Universal is making Disney’s home entertainment life miserable these days.
Will Light Between Oceans be moved to
escape this crushing blow? Probably
not, it’s a write-off anyway, so why bother.
The great irony in all of this inside-the-industry home
entertainment body-slamming is that Taylor’s The Girl on the Train began
its film production life in the Disney world, but it slipped through their
fingers to the benefit of Universal Pictures.
This alcohol-fueled thriller arrives as a three-SKU product
offering on Jan. 17. The ARR comes in
at 102 days and domestic ticket sales were a solid $73.3 million.
Planned for release are a stand-alone DVD edition, a
Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack and a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack. This
latter configuration is a format which, ironically again, Disney refuses to
support, but consumers can select a 4K Ultra HD version The Girl on the Train —
something they would be denied if the production had remained at the mouse
kingdom.
Bonus nuggets include commentary by director Tate Taylor (The
Help), deleted and extended scenes and a pair of extended featurettes —
“The Women Behind The Girl” and “On Board the Train.”
Teamed with The Girl on the Train on Jan. 17 is
writer/director Mike Flanagan’s prequel to the 2014 release of Ouija,
Ouija:
Origin of Evil. Planed for
distribution on that date are DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack selections.
The ARR is a swift-to-market 88 days and ticket sales from
this Halloween-season release were a tasty $34.2 million.
The “DZ” on the Ouija Board in the first film — the
malevolent “ghost” of Doris Zander — becomes the subject of this prequel, which
now leaves future filmmakers involved in the series the wherewithal to fully
exploit this creepy, and seemingly unstoppable, horror creation.
As to bonus goodies, writer/director Mike Flanagan (Hush,
Oculus) provides commentary, there are deleted scenes and a trio of
featurettes — “The Making of Ouija: Origin of Evil,” “Home is Where the Horror
Is” and “The Girl Behind Doris.”
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