Paramount Home Media announced this past week that director
Ang Lee’s sci-fi thriller, Gemini Man,
will be available on Jan. 14 as a three-SKU array of home entertainment
packaged media products.
The ARR is an industry average of 95 days and
domestic box office receipts came in at $48.5 million.
Planned for release are 4K Ultra HD (with Blu-ray)
and Blu-ray (with DVD) Combo Packs, plus there will be a stand-alone DVD
edition.
A film that was a couple of decades in the works, Gemini
Man was originally spawned by Darren Lemke (Shrek
Forever After, Goosebumps, etc.) and David
Benioff (who went on to be the producer of Game of
Thrones) sometime around 1997/1998 and
then went from here to there and back again … with all sorts of big name actors
attached to the project.
The problem that filmmakers were faced with was the
technical aspects of making two versions of the same actor. One at his current age, in this case former
Marine Sniper Henry Brogan (played by Will Smith) and one that would be a clone
that is one generation younger. They
have to interact with each other and split screens, makeup and f/x only get you
so far … you have to get into that tech-world where sci-fi meets creepy to
really make it work.
If you’ve been following the world of film tech
these days, the directing team of Anton Ernst and Tati Golykh announced only last
month that their forthcoming film, Finding Jack,
will feature James Dean … yes, you read that right, James Dean! He died in 1955, but they have enough of his
digital “footprint” to re-create a living, breathing version of this long-dead,
but nevertheless iconic actor.
Of course, the Star Wars
movies are using the digital likeness of Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia Organa
to complete the third trilogy in the series … so James Dean is not that big of
a shock!
In Gemini Man,
Brogan is an assassin who works for the “government” and uses his military
experience as a sniper to take down “bad guys.” But, now someone is stalking him … and the
would-be killer looks just like himself, only 20 years younger! When Brogan comes face to face with his
“stalker,” he comes face to face with himself, only a young version … that’s
where sci-fi meets creepy.
The film didn’t do what was hoped for theatrically,
but home entertainment gives Gemini Man a
chance to find a much larger audience, and not just genre-fans, but those that are
interested in seeing the dawn of what could be a very interesting advancement
in “acting” assignments.
Can you just imagine Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman
and Claude Rains reunited for a Casablanca
sequel, or a whole new round of Star Trek
adventures with the original 1960s crew!
Spock lives … younger versions meeting older versions!!
As to bonus features, which are limited to the
Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack SKUs, we have an alternate opening, deleted
scenes and a half-dozen production featurettes — “The Genesis of Gemini Man,” “Facing
Your Younger Self,” “The Future is Now,” “Setting the Action,” “Next Level
Detail” and “The Vision of Ang Lee.”
In other release news from Paramount Home Media this
past week, the Jordan Peele (and associates) revamped Twilight
Zone: Season One series — from CBS All Access — will be heading home
on Feb. 18 as both DVD and Blu-ray collections.
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