When a theatrical release
pulls in $325 million in its domestic rollout … expect a series of sequels if
it is the first of its kind, especially if it is based on a “superhero” DC line
of comics. Such was the case of
director David Ayer’s 2016 Suicide Squad as it piled up box
office receipts in the stratosphere!
Cha-Ching, a film franchise is born!
So it came as something
of a surprise when Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced this past week
that Apr. 10 will be the street date for a three-SKU helping of Suicide
Squad: Hell to Pay. What? A direct-to-video follow up to a blockbuster
theatrical hit?
For fans of the series
the release of Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay came not as a surprise at all (it
was actually teased at last year’s Comic-Con in San Diego), but for mere
mortals, you have to get past the headline of the release announcement to
discover that this is an animated feature release — a new entry in the studio’s
popular DC Universe Animated Original Movies series, which begin with the
launch of Superman: Doomsday a decade ago.
As to SKU configuration,
there will be a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack, a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack and a
stand-alone DVD edition.
Direction is by Sam Liu,
who is no stranger to the DC world of animation with such feature releases as Superman/Batman:
Public Enemies, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths,
All-Star
Superman and Batman: Year One (and more) all
being directed by Liu.
Christian Slater voices
Deadshot, while Vanessa Williams delivers the voice of Suicide Squad founder
Amanda Waller. Others in the cast
include Tara Strong, C. Thomas Howell, Billy Brown, Liam McIntyre, Kristin
Bauer van Straten and Gideon Emery.
As to bonus goodies,
screenwriter and co-producer Alan Burnett (two-time Emmy-winner — Batman:
The Animated Series and TaleSpin, plus numerous writing
credits for DC animated features) and executive producer James Tucker (Batman
vs. Two-Face, Justice League Dark, etc. as supervising producer)
provide commentary.
Additionally, there are
three featurettes — “Outback Rogue: Captain Boomerang,” “Nice Shot, Floyd!” and
“The Power of Plot Devices, MacGuffins and Red Herrings” — and a sneak peek at
the next DC Universe project, The Death of Superman.
In other release news
from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment this week, the film vaults have been
cracked open for the DVD debut on Feb. 6 of director John Francis Dillon’s
April of 1931 film release of The Finger Points. While the film stars Richard Barthelmess
(two-time Oscar nominee — The Patent Leather Kid and The Noose
— which found him competing against himself and only one other actor in the
1929 Oscar presentation … Emil Jannings, who won) as a corrupt “big city” reporter
(he solicits bribes from the local mobsters to keep things on the hush-hush
after his newspaper refuses to pay his hospital bills for an earlier beating),
this pre-code film production is of particular interest because of two of its
other cast members.
They are, Clark Gable as
gangster Louis J. Blanco, who would finally get a breakout role the following
year (1932) in Red Dust opposite Jean Harlow, and Fay Wray, as Barthelmess’
love interest, who had yet to journey to Skull Island (King Kong in 1933).
Also heading home for the
first time on DVD on Feb. 6 are Chances (1931, directed by Alan Dwan
and starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Anthony Bushell and Rose Hobart); I
Like Your Nerve (also from 1931, with direction by William McGann and
teaming Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. with future Best Actress Oscar-winner, Loretta
Young (The Farmer’s Daughter in 1947)) and Goodbye Again (1933,
director Michael Curtiz adapts the 1932 stage play by Rhodes Scholar Allan
Scott (Oscar-nominated for his So Proudly We Hail! script in 1943)
and George Haight (who would later produce the “Whistling” films starring Red
Skelton), which stars Joan Blondell and Warren William).
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