If Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (aka: Lionsgate) could be
any more screwed than it already has been when it comes to the Summit
Entertainment production of director Damien Chazelle’s La La Land, we just couldn’t
think of any new affronts … that is until Target stepped all over the home
entertainment announcement last Friday afternoon (Mar. 10) with its online
solicitation for an Apr. 25 Blu-ray special edition (a Target exclusive).
The film was denied its legitimate Best Picture win in this
year’s Oscar competition by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and
their stupid decision to nominate nine films in the category, thus ensuring
that the votes would be split nine ways from sundown.
It was a disaster waiting to happen. Murphy’s Law at its finest.
The Academy not only put on a show that was openly touted as
being something of a political protest on the run-up to the big night, but went
that even one better by having a representative from an avowed terrorist state read
a political message on live television (claiming, in part, that Iran is a
victim of aggression).
The Academy capped off the evening of this self-indulgence backslapping
with the most colossal live-time screw-up in Oscar history. Oh, Murphy would be proud of such a fine example
of his law’s vindication!
Warren Beatty was handed the Best Actress envelope, instead
of the Best Picture one by a representative of PwC (aka: PricewaterhouseCoopers),
who was too busy texting to do his job properly. Beatty knew there was something amiss, but
before he could stop the disaster from playing out in front of a worldwide
audience, his co-star from Bonnie and Clyde, Faye Dunaway —
thinking that he was goofing around (building suspense for the obvious choice)
— snatched the envelope from his hand, saw “La La Land” and announced it as the
Best Picture winner. The rest, they
say, is history.
Lionsgate Home Entertainment, once the film was announced as
one of the Best Picture finalists (14 nominations overall, including Best
Director, Best Actor and Best Actress), had a choice to make. Put La La Land on the home entertainment
release calendar close to the Oscar telecast (late Feb. or early Mar.) or bask
in the glory of its sure-to-be Best Picture win and let it play out
theatrically for a few more weeks.
It was well thought out decision to wait … and then disaster
struck. The other studios had lingered
in their decision-making to see what Lionsgate was going to do with La La
Land. When it became obvious
that it was going to get some extra theatrical playtime, the March and early
April slots were quickly gobbled up — Passengers and Fences on Mar. 14; Sing,
Assassin's
Creed and Lion on Mar. 21; Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them
grabbed Mar. 28; Rogue One: A Star Wars Story landed on Apr. 4; Hidden
Figures on Apr. 11 and Split got an Apr. 18 release date.
The next available window was Apr. 25 and Target says, in
their quick-to-market pre-order launch, that that last street date in April
will be the release date … before Lionsgate Home Entertainment could make an
official announcement! Screwed and
screwed again!
Ingram’s videoeta.com web site confirmed the Apr. 25 on
Saturday (Mar. 11), and amazon.com began taking pre-orders for an unspecified
date immediately thereafter.
For the record, La La Land arrives with an ARR of
137 days (as a result of “wandering in the wilderness”) and domestic box office
receipts currently stand at an impressive $148.4 million.
Planned for release are DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack and 4K
Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack editions.
Bonus features include commentary from writer/director director
Damien Chazelle and composer Justin Hurwitz, a trio of featurettes — “Another
Day of Sun: They Closed Down a Freeway,” “La La Land's Love Letter To Los
Angeles” and “Ryan and Emma: Third Time’s the Charm” — and the menu option to
jump to any musical sequence.
Exclusive to the Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD SKUs are six additional
featurettes — “Ryan Gosling: Piano Student,” “Before Whiplash: Damien
Chazelle's Passion Project,” “The Music of La La Land,” “John Legend's Acting
Debut,” “The Look of Love: Designing La La Land” and “Epilogue: The Romance of
the Dream.”
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