Writer/Director Sam Mendes' 1917 Invades The Home Entertainment Battlefield On Mar. 24

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment announced this past week that writer/director Sam Mendes’ Best Picture nominee, 1917, will be heading home on Mar. 24 as a three-SKU home entertainment packaged media product offering.

Planned for release to consumers are 4K Ultra HD (with Blu-ray) and Blu-ray (with DVD) Combo Pack selections as well as a stand-alone DVD edition.

It should be noted that this is the final ARR-qualifying theatrical release from 2019 to get a street date (films grossing in excess of $25 million during their domestic theatrical release window are ARR qualifiers).   The ARR comes in at just 88 days  — we suspect that Universal held off on its official announcement until Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker got its marching orders from Disney … once the 31^st was selected, and the 24^th essentially being an open window, Universal made the smart move.

With its $145.8 million in domestic ticket sales and the ten Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, it seemed for all the world that 1917 and Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood would be battling it out for Best Picture and Best Director laurels.   But, The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences got “woke,” and to become more “diversified,” added hundreds of new voting members to achieve that goal … and they did.

How could these new “woke” members vote for either a “war movie,” or a film with just white people, where the women are, in their view, sex objects and minorities are either in menial roles or not seen at all?    

The Best Picture selection that was finally settled upon renders the Oscar for Best Picture now meaningless in terms of quality … and couple that with the political lectures from the privileged and Hollywood elites, this venerable award’s show saw an all-time ratings low.   

With that said, 1917 arrives packed with bonus features, including two commentary options, both of which will be well-worth following for their technical aspects.   The first features filmmaker Sam Mendes (Spectre, Skyfall, American Beauty, etc.), who was nominated for three-Oscars — as producer, as writer and as the film’s director — while the second is provided by the Oscar-winning director of photography, Rober Deakins, his 14^th nomination for his cinematography and second win (Blade Runner 2049).   

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is also including five production featurettes on 1917 — “The Weight of the World: Sam Mendes,” “Allied Forces: Making 1917,” “The Music of 1917,” “In the Trenches” and “Recreating History.”

In other release news from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment this week, Apr. 21 will be the street date for the home entertainment packaged media launch of writer/director Guy Ritchie’s drug-dealing comedy, The Gentlemen, starring Matthew McConaughey … plus Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant, among others.

The ARR is 88 days and the domestic box office take currently stands at $31.7 million.

Planned for release are Combo Pack editions for both the Blu-ray (with DVD) and 4K Ultra HD (with Blu-ray) formats, plus there will be a stand-alone DVD edition.

Bonus features include a trio of production featurettes — “Best Gentlemanly Quips,” “Glossary of Cannabis” and “Behind the Scenes of The Gentlemen.”