In the spring of 1956, Embassy Pictures released Godzilla,
King of the Monsters!, starring Raymond Burr and a
bunch of unknown Japanese actors. It
was actually a full-blown Japanese sci-fi film from two years earlier that was
re-cut (some 16 minutes removed) and dubbed into English with additional
footage of Raymond Burr added to make it accessible to domestic audiences. It was a hit and with that the invasion of
Japanese monster movies began.
Indeed, another movie starring Godzilla is slated
for a theatrical rollout on May 31 from director Michael Dougherty and is
ironically titled Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
Once American audiences accepted films from Japan as
mainstream, there was no end to it … Rodan followed in the summer of 1957 and
in 1962 Mothra arrived in theatres domestically … after that Godzilla showed up
in all sorts of combinations, there was a flying turtle named Gamera, a
three-headed dragon-like creature named Ghidorah and more.
Mill Creek Entertainment announced this passed week
that in celebration of the theatrical release of the latest big-budget Japanese
monster movie — the aforementioned Godzilla: King of the Monsters —
they will be releasing a new special SteelBook edition of Ishirô Honda’s Mothra on
July 9. The giant moth, Mothra,
co-stars along with Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Sally Hawkins and others, so
the timing is spot-on.
This will be the first time for Mothra on
Blu-ray, and it comes complete with both the original Japanese-language version
and the English-dubbed theatrical cut.
Bonus features include commentary from Japanese sci-fi
historians Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski, who co-wrote “Ishiro Honda: A Life
in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa” … Ryfle also wrote “Japan's Favorite
Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography Of Godzilla: An Unauthorised Biography of
the Big G” and Ed Godziszewski wrote “The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Godzilla.”
Also added to the July 9 slate of priced-to-collect
Blu-ray products is a double-disc SteelBook edition of director Simon Wincer’s
1989 mini-series adaptation of Larry McMurtry’s epic Western novel, Lonesome
Dove.
Not only did the book receive the Pulitzer Prize for
Fiction, but Wincer’s film production went on to win the Golden Globe for Best
Mini-Series and was nominated for 21 Emmy Awards, winning in seven categories,
including Best Director.
Bonus features include a trio of featurettes — “Blueprints
of a Masterpiece: Original Sketches and Concept Drawings,” “On Location with
Director Simon Wincer” and “Remembering Lonesome Dove: Vintage Interviews with
the Cast” — and a video session with author Larry McMurtry.
No comments:
Post a Comment