For the period ending March 20, 2020 ... New DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD selections added to the DVD & Blu-ray Release Report's database

 

DVD New Additions

Alpha Video (MOD)

03/17/20 — Released Classic Christian Films, Volume 1 (4 short films: As We Forgive, Symphony of Life, The Silver Theatre: The Guiding Star, Crossroads: The Inner Light), Climax!: Lou Gehrig Story, Cossacks in Exile, Dr. Jack (silent-1922), Euro-Horror Double Feature (2 film set: The Cat O'Nine Tails, Death in the Shadows), Gaslight Follies, Mr. Lobo's Cinema Insomnia: The Atomic Brain, Mr. Lobo's Cinema Insomnia: The Screaming Skull, Planet Outlaws and  Rarest Comedies of Edgar Kennedy, Volume 2 (4 short films: South Seasickness, Edgar and Goliath, Alibi Baby, Mother-in-Law's Diary)

Bayview Entertainment

03/17/20 — Released Body and Soul: An American Bridge, Dropa, Elder Son, Elijah and the Rock Creature, More Than Enough, Nosotros (Spanish) and Twisted Death of a Lonely Madman

Criterion Collection

06/09/20 — Sets Unmarried Woman

06/16/20 — Sets Cameraman (silent-1928) (2 disc set)

06/23/20 — Sets Portrait of a Lady on Fire (French) (ARR of 200 days; box office: $3,759,854) and Tokyo Olympiad (Japanese)

06/30/20 — Sets Come and See (Russian) (2 disc set)

Frolic Pictures (MOD)

02/25/20 — Released Double Feature (2 film set: The Bloodstained Shadow, The Beast in the Cellar) and Double Feature (2 film set: Seven Blood Stained Orchids, Sleep of Death)

Grasshopper Film

04/14/20 — Sets Distant Constellation (Turkish)

05/12/20 — Sets In My Room (German)

06/16/20 — Sets Caniba (Japanese)

06/30/20 — Sets Hottest August (ARR of 228 days; box office: $6,129)

Gravitas Ventures (MOD)

03/17/20 — Released Burning Dog, Nefarious, Waldo on Weed and We Take the Low Road

Hallmark Channel

03/17/20 — Released Winter Love Story and Winter Princess

Icarus Films

05/12/20 — Sets Marius Petipa: The French Master of Russian Ballet (French/Russian)

Lionsgate Home Ent.

04/21/20 — Sets Last Full Measure (ARR of 88 days; box office: $2,948,539)

MVD Entertainment Group

06/16/20 — Sets Sukiyaki Western Django

PCN Productions (MOD)

03/17/20 — Released PA Books: She Came to Slay and Pennsylvania Country Roads: Steamtown National Historic Site

Paramount Home Media (MOD)

03/17/20 — Released Black Sunday, Crazy People, Hello Down There and Stuart Saves His Family

05/19/20 — Sets Sonic the Hedgehog (ARR of 95 days; box office: $145,753,912)

Passion River

03/10/20 — Released Wolf Hour

03/17/20 — Released Nuns, the Priests and the Bombs

Smart Mark Video (MOD)

03/17/20 — Released Epic Wrestling Entertainment: Brass Monkey - Jeffersonville, IN, Game Changer Wrestling: No Sleep - Ashbury Park, NJ, IWA Mid-South: Cold War & Let the Madness Begin - Jeffersonville, IN and On Point Wrestling: Heart Over Hype - Williamstown, NJ

Sony Pictures Home Ent.

04/28/20 — Sets Bad Boys for Life (ARR of 102 days; box office: $204,294,609)

Starry Night Publishing, LLC  (MOD)

01/14/20 — Released 20th Century-Fox Hour: Miracle on 34th Street, Admiral was a Lady, Black Book (aka: Reign of Terror), Boy in the Plastic Bubble, Front Page, Glorifying the American Girl, Great Gabbo, Guest in the House, Happy Go Lovely, Hercules, House on Haunted Hill, I Covered the Waterfront, Jack London, Killer Diller, Littlest Angel, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Meet John Doe, My Dog Shep, My Man Godfrey, North Star, Of Human Bondage, Outlaw, Palooka, Panic in the Streets, Parachute Battalion, People are Funny, Perils of Pauline, Proud Rebel, Scarlet Letter, Scrooge (aka: A Christmas Carol), Sin of Harold Diddlebock, Stage Door Canteen, Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Strange Woman, Sundown, Sunny, Terror by Night, They Made Me a Criminal, Three Came Home, Till the Clouds Roll By, Time of Your Life, Topper Returns, Town West Wild, Triumph of Sherlock Holmes, Under Capricorn and Vengeance Valley

01/21/20 — Released Picture of Dorian Gray

02/25/20 — Released Dorora

03/03/20 — Released King Kong  vs. Godzilla and Invasion of the Astro-Monsters

03/10/20 — Released Batman and Robin (15 chapter serial), Batman (15 chapter serial), Revenge of Mechagodzilla (aka: Terror of Mechagodzilla), Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, Godzilla vs. Cosmic Monster and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 3

03/17/2020 — Released Adventures of the Flying Cadets (13 chapter serial), Battling with Buffalo Bill (12 chapter serial), Black Arrow (15 chapter serial), Brick Bradford (15 chapter serial), Buck Rogers (12 chapter serial), Captain Midnight (15 chapter serial), Congo Bill (15 chapter serial), Daredevils of the Red Circle (12 chapter serial), Hawk of the Wilderness (12 chapter serial), Hurricane Express (12 chapter serial), Mandrake the Magician (12 chapter serial), Masked Marvel (12 chapter serial), Mysterious Dr. Satan (15 chapter serial), Purple Monster Strikes (15 chapter serial) and Spy Smasher (12 chapter serial)

The High School Sports Network (MOD)

03/17/20 — Released 2020 LHSAA Class Class B Boys Basketball Championship Doyline vs Simsboro, 2020 LHSAA Class Div I Boys Basketball Championship St. Augustine vs Scotlandville and 2020 LHSAA Class Div IV Boys Basketball Championship Calvary Baptist vs Crescent City

20^th Century-Fox Home Ent.

03/17/20 — Released Hidden Life (ARR of 95 days; box office: $1,723,115)

Universal Pictures Home Ent.

05/12/20 — Sets Photograph (ARR of 88 days; box office: $20,570,190)

05/19/20 — Sets Brahms: The Boy II (ARR of 88 days; box office: $12,570,276)

Wild Eye Releasing (MOD)

03/17/20 — Released Baylock Residence

WOWnow Entertainment (MOD)

03/17/20 — Released Puppy Playground

Blu-ray New Additions

7Ideas Productions (MOD)

03/17/20 — Released Winter on Stevens Pass

AGFA

04/28/20 — Sets McPherson Tape (aka: U.F.O. Abduction)

Criterion Collection

06/09/20 — Sets Unmarried Woman

06/16/20 — Sets Cameraman (silent-1928)

06/23/20 — Sets Portrait of a Lady on Fire (French) and Tokyo Olympiad (Japanese)

06/30/20 — Sets Come and See (Russian)

Dynamic

03/17/20 — Released Verdi: Nabucco

FUNimation

03/17/20 — Released Attack on Titan: Season Three, Part 2 (2 Blu-ray/2 DVD Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy) and Tales of the Abyss: The Complete Series (4 disc set)

Gravitas Ventures (MOD)

03/17/20 — Released Burning Dog, Nefarious, Waldo on Weed and We Take the Low Road

HBO Home Entertainment

03/17/20 — Released Crashing: The Complete Third Season

Image Entertainment (MOD)

03/17/20 — Released Bluebird in My Heart

Indie Rights, Inc. (MOD)

03/17/20 — Released Marsha Hunt's Sweet Adversity

Kino Lorber

03/17/20 — Released Alice Guy Blache, Volume 1: The Gaumont Years (14 silent short films: At the Hypnotist’s (1898) Wonderful Absinthe (1899) At the Photographer’s (1900) The Cabbage-Patch Fairy (1900) Turn-of-the-Century Surgery (1900) Midwife to the Upper Class (1902) Alice Guy Films a “Phonoscène” (1905) The Results of Feminism (1906) The Drunken Mattress (1906) The Hierarchy of Love (1906) Madame Has Her Cravings (1906) A Sticky Woman (1906) The Rolling Bed (1907) The Glue (1907)), Alice Guy Blache, Volume 2: The Solax Years (18 silent short films: Starting Something (1911) Parson Sue (1911) Broken Oath (1912) A Comedy of Errors (1912) The Detective’s Dog (1912) Frozen on Love’s Trail (1912) The Girl in the Armchair (1912) His Double (1912) Making an American Citizen (1912) A Man’s a Man (1912) The Sewer (1912) The Strike (1912) A Terrible Lesson (1912) Cousins of Sherlocko (1913) Dick Whittington and His Cat (1913) Officer Henderson (1913) The Thief (1913) Mr. Bruce Wins at Cards (1914)), Cannibal Apocalypse, Force 10 From Navarone, Intrigue (silent-1916), Man in the Shadow and Pure Formality (French)

Lionsgate Home Entertainment

03/17/20 — Released Intrigo: Death of an Author (with Digital Copy)

04/21/20 — Sets Last Full Measure (with Digital Copy)

MVD Entertainment Group

06/09/20 — Sets Sukiyaki Western Django: Collector's Edition

Mill Creek Entertainment

06/09/20 — Sets Sci-Fi Double Feature: The H Man, Battle in Outer Space and White Crane Chronicles (2 film set: Kung Fu Killer, Kung Fu Killer II) (with Digital Copy)

Naxos

03/17/20 — Released Beethoven Project, Musical Journey Across Austria, Northern Ballet: Victoria, Rossini: La Cenerentola, Wagner: Die Walküre - Royal Opera and Young People's Concerts, Volume 3 (4 disc set)

PCN Productions (MOD)

03/17/20 — Released PA Books: She Came to Slay and Pennsylvania Country Roads: Steamtown National Historic Site

Paramount Home Media

05/19/20 — Sets Sonic the Hedgehog (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy)

06/02/20 — Sets Star Trek: Short Treks and Urban Cowboy: 40th Anniversary Edition (with Digital Copy)

Scorpion Releasing

03/17/20 — Released Raw Courage

Sentai FilmWorks

03/17/20 — Released Release the Spyce: Complete Collection (2 disc set)

Shout! Factory

03/17/20 — Released Universal Horror Collection, Volume 4 (4 film set: Night Key, Night Monster, The Climax, House of Horrors) (4 disc set)

06/16/20 — Sets Three Christs (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack)

Smart Mark Video (MOD)

03/17/20 — Released Game Changer Wrestling: No Sleep - Ashbury Park, NJ

Sony Pictures Home Ent.

04/28/20 — Sets Bad Boys for Life (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy)

20^th Century-Fox Home Ent.

03/17/20 — Released Hidden Life (with Digital Copy)

Universal Pictures Home Ent.

03/17/20 — Released About Time,  Couples Retreat, Dumb and Dumber To,  Get on Up,  Moonrise Kingdom,  Nightcrawler, Pillow Talk, Silent House, Sudden Death and Unfriended

05/12/20 — Sets Photograph (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy) 

Vinegar Syndrome

04/28/20 — Sets Deadline (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack), Dolly Dearest (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack), Forgotten Gialli: Volume One (3 film set: Trauma (Spanish), Killer is One of 13 (Spanish), The Police are Bludering in the Dark (Italian)) (3 disc set) and Pale Blood (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack)

Warner Bros. Home Ent.

03/17/20 — Released Superman: Red Sun (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy)

Warner Bros. Home Ent. (MOD)

04/14/20 — Sets Action of the Tiger, Tin Cup and V: The Final Battle (2 disc set)

04/21/20 — Sets Rachel and the Stranger and Reflection in a Golden Eye

04/28/20 — Sets Blood on the Moon and Sweet Bird of Youth

4K Ultra HD New Additions

Paramount Home Media

05/19/20 — Sets Sonic the Hedgehog (4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy)

Sony Pictures Home Ent.

04/28/20 — Sets Bad Boys for Life (4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy)

Universal Pictures Home Ent.

05/05/20 — Sets 47 Ronin (4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy)

05/19/20 — Sets Blues Brothers: 40th Anniversary Edition (4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy)

Warner Bros. Home Ent.

03/17/20 — Released Superman: Red Sun (4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy)

 

Sonic The Hedgehog From Paramount Home Media Will Be Ready On May 19

Paramount Home Media, with theatres shuttering over the Coronavirus pandemic, has elected to move director Jeff Fowler’s smash hit, Sonic the Hedgehog, to the home entertainment marketplace on May 19 as a three-SKU product offering.

The film clearly had the legs to run out theatrically for another couple of weeks, but that has all changed.   The May 19 street date yields an ARR of 95 … current box office totals are in a holding pattern at $145.8 million.

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

The bonus features for Sonic the Hedgehog, which are exclusive to the Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD SKUs, include commentary from director Jeff Fowler (his debut), who is joined by Ben Schwartz, the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog, deleted scenes, a blooper reel, the music video, “Speed Me Up” and four featurettes — “For the Love of Sonic,” “Building Robotnik,” “The Blue Blur: Origins of Sonic” and Sonic on Set.”

Also added to the release calendar this week by Paramount Home Media are both DVD and Blu-ray editions of Star Trek: Short Treks CBS All Access series.

This Trekkie series, drawing cast members from the Star Trek: Discovery series, showcases all ten episodes — “Runaway,” “Calypso,” “The Brightest Star,” “The Escape Artist,” “Q&A,” “The Trouble with Edward,” “Ask Not,” “Ephraim & Dot” and “The Girl Who Made the Stars” — plus separate bonus features for each of the episodes.

For example, the short film, “Runaway” features crew member Tilly (Mary Wiseman) and the bonus feature that is included with “Runaway,” titled “Coming of Age,” features behind-the-scenes interview with episode producer Alex Kurtzman, director Maja Vrvilo and Mary Wisema. 

MVD Entertainment Group Bestows Marquee Collection Status On DVD And Blu-ray Editions Of Takashi Miike's Sukiyaki Western Django For June 16 Release

There was some terrific news coming from MVD Entertainment Group this past week regarding their latest candidate for inclusion in the company’s popular Marquee Collection.   A great choice for release on DVD and Blu-ray on June 16 is none other than Japanese auteur filmmaker Takashi Miike’s 2007 Spaghetti Western homage, Sukiyaki Western Django.

Let’s get the details about the DVD edition out of the way first.   MVD is making available the 98-minute domestic theatrical cut available for the bargain price of just $14.95.   This edition of Sukiyaki Western Django includes a 57-minute making-of featurette (presented in Japanese with English subtitles), deleted scenes and a sizzle reel.   

The tug of war over the services of “The Gunman” (Hideaki Ito — Terra Formars, Wood Job!) between the Heike Clan’s Kiyomori (Kōichi Satō) and the Genji Clan’s Yoshitsune (Yūsuke Iseya) arrives on Blu-ray as a Collector’s Edition.   

Bonus features begin with an extended cut of Sukiyaki Western Django that clocks in at roughly 160 minutes.   The same aforementioned bonus features that are included on the DVD buying option are also included here.

This Spaghetti Western, with a Samurai twist, also stars Kaori Momoi as the mysterious Ruriko, Yoshino Kimura as the fatefully doomed prostitute, Shizuka, and Quentin Tarantino does a nice turn as the local medicine man, Piripero.

Mill Creek Entertainment Preps Blu-ray Double Features For Release On June 9

Mill Creek Entertainment has two new priced-to-collect double-feature Blu-ray selections set for delivery this coming June 9.   

Genre fans and film buffs will be singing a happy tune with the double-disc Blu-ray release of Sci-Fi Double Feature, which features two classics from Japanese director Ishirô Honda.   

The first is the June of 1958 Japanese version of The H-Man, which arrived domestically the following June (English dubbed) as a double-feature from Columbia Pictures (it was billed with director Charles Saunders’ The Woman Eater).   Mill Creek Entertainment is providing fans with both viewing options for The H-Man, both the original Japanese edition and the English-language dubbed presentation.

The H-Man is a sci-fi tale that serves as a warning to mankind.  We observe strange creatures consuming humans by liquefying them.   Pretty gruesome stuff and during the course of the action, which involves drug dealers, the police and a lovely night club singer by the name of Arai (Yumi Shirakawa — who was familiar to American audiences after appearing in both Rodan and The Mysterians), we learn that these “H-Men” are the product of hydrogen bomb testing!!

Teamed with The H-Man is director Ishirô Honda’s Battle in Outer Space, which was released theatrically in the United States in July of 1960 as a double-feature that was teamed with director David Bradley’s 12 to the Moon.

In the future — 1965 — a series of disasters strike the Earth, including the mysterious destruction of an international space station.   The Space Research Center traces these attacks to the moon and an alien invasion force called the Natals.   An all-out battle follows between the Earth’s defense forces and the invading Natal flying saucers … will they succeed?   

The other Blu-ray double feature heading home from Mill Creek Entertainment is the White Crane Chronicles, which showcases the martial arts discipline of David Carradine — in Shanghai on the eve of the Japanese invasion of China — in the two-part feature film presentation of director Philip Spink’s Kung Fu Killer and Kung Fu Killer II.   Daryl Hannah co-stars. 

AGFA Unearths Director Dean Alioto's Landmark The McPherson Tape For A Blu-ray Debut On Apr. 28

AGFA (aka: American Genre Film Archive) announced this past week that they, in association with OCN Distribution, Vinegar Syndrome and Bleeding Skull, will be releasing a Blu-ray edition of director Dean Alioto’s 1989 production of The McPherson Tape (aka: U.F.O. Abduction), on Apr. 28.

The “found footage” sub-genre began in 1989 with this indie-film from a first time director.   It went unnoticed at the time, but has now become the touchstone of the “found footage” sub-genre … a full decade before filmmakers Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez hit the goldmine of indie film releases with The Blair Witch Project.

With U.F.O. Abduction, Alioto came up with a limited-budget project that he could produce quickly use as a calling card for future work.   This “calling card” turned out to be an inspired indie classic and a worthy addition to any serious DVD and Blu-ray sci-fi and horror library. 

The story is simple, which makes it all the more remarkable.   Michael Van Heese (played by Dean Alioto, so that he could control the cinéma vérité presentation of the story in one-take) is videotaping (8mm video stereo format — cutting edge at the time) his niece’s fifth birthday party when the party attendees suddenly find themselves in the middle of an alien encounter.

Shot in one take, just as if it were actually happening (yes, Alioto reports that the amateur cast rehearsed what they were going to do, much like a stage production), we witness the family discover “something” outside, they investigate, spot a ship and three space visitors, shoot one, drag it inside and, well, the remaining aliens come knocking.   What follows proves to be a hopeless defense … and the Van Heese clan vanish. 

One take, perfect … Alioto has his calling card and actually cuts a VHS distribution deal.   This is where the history of U.F.O. Abduction gets really squirrely.   VHS Screeners of Alioto’s film were actually sent out to a few retailers (aka: rentailers) at the time.   

Meanwhile, Axiom Films — the company that he had the distribution deal with — had a “warehouse” fire and the master and all of Alioto’s artwork for the film were lost.   True story.

A few years later, Alioto had moved on, but he gets a phone call from some television producers who want to talk to him about using the footage from his film.  What?   

It seems that one of the VHS rental stores, which had received one of those screeners, edited off the credits and began sending around copies of the mysterious tape to various U.F.O. aficionados as the real thing. 

This found footage tape of an actual U.F.O. abduction was screened at the International U.F.O. Congress Convention in Las Vegas in 1993, which was six years before The Blair Witch Project was released theatrically.

Now, for the first time, The McPherson Tape (aka: U.F.O. Abduction) is available for viewing … you can see what all of the U.F.O. buzz was about.   Alioto had the original master, Axiom had the replication master, and AGFA has been able to access Alioto’s copy for the Blu-ray debut of the film that started it all.

Bonus features include commentary from director Dean Alioto, the 2017 director’s cut, the “Encounters” television segment that featured Alioto and the Q&A session from Fantastic Fest.