It was another multi-title announcement week over at Paramount Home Media Distribution … busy, busy, busy, especially at a time when some of the other “Hollywood” studios have seemingly checked out for the year.
Let’s get to it. First up is the five-film, three-Blu-ray disc set titled simply, John Hughes: 5 Movie Collection … that’s pretty clean and very direct and it will be available on Feb. 23. So, what is in this sweet package?
Well, if this is a collection of films showcasing the talents of writer and director John Hughes, then off course there has to be his 1986 landmark film, Pretty in Pink, featuring a marvelous cast … Molly Ringwald, Jon Cryer, James Spader, Andrew McCarthy, and, of course, Harry Dean Stanton. John Hughes wrote the screenplay (Howard Deutch directed).
And, of course, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which he both directed and wrote … it arrived in theatres just months after Pretty in Pink in 1986. Genius. The kid from WarGames, Matthew Broderick, gets a litter older and becomes a high school legend.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Of is a movie that you can watch over and over and … over again, with Jennifer Grey, Jeffrey Jones, Alan Ruck and Mia Sara joining Broderick in a cast ensemble that also features Ben Stein with one of the greatest lines ever, “Bueller (pause), Bueller? (pause) Bueller (cut to empty chain), Bueller.” Simone (yes, that is Kristy Swanson) pipes up with a very detailed explanation of what happened to the aforementioned Bueller at the 31 Flavors the night before … “Thank You, Simone.”
The Deutch/Hughes combination struck gold again one year later (almost to the date) from the theatrical release of Pretty in Pink in 1987 with the arrival of Some Kind of Wonderful, starring Mary Stuart Masterson, Eric Stoltz and Lea Thompson.
The Christmas movie that same year, 1987, was both directed and written by John Hughes (yeah, yeah, technically it is a Thanksgiving movie, but close enough). It has become a seasonal classic, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, teaming Steve Martin and John Candy as mismatched traveling companions who were on a “routine” flight from New York City to Chicago, but ended up in Wichita and found that getting to Chicago would not be easy (understatement).
And lastly, in February of 1988 — notice a pattern, Pretty in Pink was released in February of 1986 and Some Kind of Wonderful hit theatres in February of 1987 — John Hughes directed and wrote She’s Having a Baby, teaming Kevin Bacon with Elizabeth McGovern.
This will be the 35th Anniversary of Pretty in Pink (wow, where did the time go) … Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Planes, Trains and Automobiles have been available on Blu-ray as individual releases, but this collection marks the first time that both She's Having a Baby and Some Kind of Wonderful will be available on Blu-ray.
Also getting a Blu-ray release from Paramount Home Media on Feb. 23 is director Sidney Furie’s 1972 biopic, Lady Sings the Blues, starring Diana Ross (nominated for Best Actress) as Jazz legend Billie Holiday.
Bonus features include vintage commentary from director Sidney Furie, producer Berry Gordy and artist manager Shelly Berger. There are also seven deleted scenes and the featurette titled “Behind the Blues: Lady Sings the Blues.”
Arriving on Jan. 12 as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings is director Mark Tonderai’s backwoods chiller, Spell, starring Omari Hardwick (Kick-Ass, The Guardian, Sparkle, etc.) as an airplane crash victim who awakes in the care of the kindly Elosie (Loretta Devine) at her remote cabin home … but soon discovers that she has other plans for him (and his family).
The ARR is 74 days and the film’s limited theatrical run during the Halloween period generated box office receipts of $500,104.
Bonus features include deleted scenes and a trio of production featurettes — “The Nightmare Spell,” “Rootwork: Conjuring Spells” and “The Art of Hoodoo.”
Paramount Home Media and Nickelodeon will be teaming up for a trio of new-to-DVD releases during the first quarter of 2021. The first of these, Shimmer and Shine: Magical Mischief, arrives on DVD on Jan. 26.
Included are eight magical adventures, with Zeta conjuring up trouble and Shimmer and Shine doing their best to set things right. We also learn how Zeta and Princess Samira first came to know each other.
On Feb. 2, Blaze & the Monster Machines: Axle City Grand Prix, heads home … and on the same day, look for the DVD debut of Blue's Clues & You: Blue's Sing-Along Spectacular.
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