DVD & Blu-Ray Release Report: 2020-07-05

Monday, July 6, 2020

For the period ending July 03, 2020 ... New DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD selections added to the DVD & Blu-ray Release Report's database

DVD New Additions

Bayview Entertainment

09/08/20 — Sets Battle of Memories (Mandarin) (ARR of 1,229 days; box office: $587,470), Dr. Smith and the Fantastic Castle (Italian), Finding Sara, Fist and Faith (Mandarin), Gangster's Daughter (Mandarin), No More Lights in the Sky, Suicide of James Rider, Thrashers and Vampire Cleanup Department (Cantonese)

Cinema Libre

07/14/20 — Sets Enter the Forbidden City (Mandarin)

Coaches Choice/Healthy Learning

06/30/20 — Released Deeper Dive Into Cover 3 (1 High Zone) Match Principles Vs. RPO’s, Secondary: Setting the Overall Backfield to Align & Defend the Spread and Seeing the Big Picture: Implementing a Defensive Structure Suited to the Spread and RPO’s

EWTN

06/23/20 — Released @ Home with Jim & Joy: Jim and Joy Pinto Answer Viewer Calls, Questions, And E-Mails Live From the Pinto House, @ Home with Jim & Joy: Kevin Stephen M. Div / Spirituality and mental health, growing in undestanding of others while moving closer to God, Called to Communion, EWTN Live: Fr. Joseph Fessio / Discusses the writing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Western Culture and World Over with Raymond Navarro: President Donald J. Trump /Newt Gingrich / Steven Mosher / Thomas Morestead

06/30/20 — Released @ Home with Jim & Joy: Jim and Joy Pinto Answer Viewer Calls, Questions, And E-Mails Live From the Pinto House, Called to Communion, Journey Home: Phally Burdock - Former Agnostic and Life on the Rock: Joshua Miller Ph. D. / helping people understand their unique calling from God

Excel Entertainment

07/14/20 — Sets Heart of Africa (ARR of 123 days; box office: $19,697)

Film Movement

07/07/20 — Sets Wild Goose Lake (Mandarin) (ARR of 123 days; box office: $12,573)

FilmRise (MOD)

06/30/20 — Released Short History of the Long Road

Frolic Pictures (MOD)

06/30/20 — Released Double Feature (2 film set: Beach House, Battling Amazons)

Gravitas Ventures (MOD)

06/30/20 — Released 16 Sunrises (French), Beyond Driven, James vs. His Future Self, Lection, People Power: The Rise of the Civilian Rescue Movement and Ski Bum: The Warren Miller Story

Greenwich Entertainment

06/30/20 — Released Deerskin (French)

I-Cine

06/30/20 — Released 1 Chang, 3 Nang (12 disc set), Kiem Vuong Trieu (13 disc set), Noi Anh Duong Soi Sang, Part 1 (14 disc set) and Noi Anh Duong Soi Sang, Part 2 (14 disc set)

Icarus Films

08/04/20 — Sets Destruction of Memory

Indican Pictures

06/02/20 — Released Powerbomb (ARR of 88 days; box office: $8,712)

KDMG (MOD)

06/30/20 — Released Craft: Rhode Island

Kino Lorber

06/30/20 — Released Not for Publication, Paracelsus (German), Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills, Stop and Ten Little Indians and Wild Palms (2 disc set)

07/07/20 — Sets Sorry We Missed You (ARR of 123 days; box office: $28,273)

Liberation Hall

07/14/20 — Sets House of the Sleeping Beauties (German) and Senior Week

08/11/20 — Sets Five Corners

09/11/20 — Sets Chuck Berry: Brown Eyed Handsome Man

Lionsgate Home Ent.

06/30/20 — Released Four Kids and It

MPI Home Media

07/28/20 — Sets Other Lamb (ARR of 116 days; box office: $6,024)

08/11/20 — Sets Wretched (ARR of 102 days; box office: $1,623,292)

09/22/20 — Sets Babyteeth (ARR of 95 days; box office: $4,500)

Menemsha Films

06/30/20 — Released Promise at Dawn (French)

Mill Creek Entertainment

09/15/20 — Sets No Safe Spaces (with Digital Copy) (ARR of 326 days; box office: $1,291,514)

Movie Detective (MOD)

06/23/20 — Released Adventure in Kigan Castle (Japanese), El Crimen de la Calle de Bordadores (Spanish), La Fortuna Viene dal Cielo (Italian) and Una Moglie Americana (Italian)

06/30/20 — Released Alraune (German), Woe to the Young (Greek) and Husband and Wife (Japanese)

PCN Productions (MOD)

06/30/20 — Released Pennsylvania Country Roads: Monroe County & Tractor Parade

Paramount Home Media

09/22/20 — Sets Nick Jr.: Fastastic Fall!

Phantom Pain Films (MOD)

06/30/20 — Released Ouija Blood Ritual

Rarefilmsandmore.com (MOD)

06/23/20 — Released Anna Karenina (Russian), Cossacks (Russian), Die Grosse Kur (German), Drei Unteroffiziere (German), Kennwort: Machin (German), Mein Vater, Der Schauspieler (German), Rette Sich, Wer Kann! (German), Sebastiane (Latin), Time of His Life and Vice and Virtue (French)

06/30/20 — Released Anna Cross (Russian), Das Gasthaus an der Themse (German), Door with Seven Locks (German), Entscheidung der Morgengrauen (German), Freunde Furs Leben (German), Illusion Travels by Streetcar (Spanish), Jour de Fete (French), Sawdust and Tinsel (Swedish), Secret of the Red Orchid (German) and Village Teacher (Russian)

Rising Sun Media (MOD)

06/30/20 — Released Attic

Ships of Tarshish

06/30/20 — Released Blind Eyes Open (ARR of 144 days; box office: $234,505)

Shout! Factory

07/21/20 — Sets Resistance (ARR of 116 days; box office: $7,464)

08/04/20 — Sets Ride Your Wave (Japanese) (ARR of 165 days; box office: $330,572) and Swallow (ARR of 151 days; box office: $31,646)

09/08/20 — Sets True History of the Kelly Gang (ARR of 137 days; box office: $33,758)

Smart Mark Video (MOD)

06/30/20 — Released Bizarro Lucha: 4 Letter Word - Indianapolis, IN, Bizarro Lucha: A Beautiful Enemy - Indianapolis, IN, Bizarro Lucha: Burning Sensation - Indianapolis, IN, Bizarro Lucha: Hatching the Egg - Indianapolis, IN, Bizarro Lucha: Into the Luchaverse - Indianapolis, IN, Bizarro Lucha: The Same as it Never Was - Indianapolis, IN, Bizarro Lucha: Who's Your Daddy - Indianapolis, IN and IWA Mid-South: Unfinished Business - Indianapolis, IN

Sony Pictures Home Ent.

09/08/20 — Sets Burnt Orange Heresy (ARR of 186 days; box office: $39,858)

Starry Night Publishing, LLC (MOD)

06/30/20 — Released Erotic Ghost Story (Cantonese), Erotic Ghost Story 2 (Cantonese), Eye (Cantonese), Eye 2 (Cantonese), Eye 3 (Cantonese), Monkey King (Cantonese), Monkey King 2 (Cantonese) and Monkey King 3 (Cantonese)

Universal Pictures Home Ent.

08/11/20 — Sets High Note

Blu-ray New Additions

Aniplex of America

06/30/20 — Released Demon Slayer Kimetsu No Yaiba, Volume One (3 disc set) (with 3 bonus CD soundtracks) and Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl

Arrow Video

09/29/20 — Sets Mallrats (2 disc set)

Cinema Libre

07/14/20 — Sets Enter the Forbidden City (Mandarin)

Dread Central

06/30/20 — Released Redcon-1

Eastern Star

06/30/20 — Released Astroganger: The Complete Series, City Hunter, Season 1, Set 2 (4 disc set), Crusher Joe: The Movie, Lupin III: Goodbye Partner and Ninja Scroll: The Series (2 disc set)

Film Movement

07/07/20 — Sets Wild Goose Lake (Mandarin)

FilmRise (MOD)

06/30/20 — Released Short History of the Long Road

FUNimation

06/30/20 — Released Black Clover Season 2, Part 5 (2 Blu-ray/2 DVD Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy), Sengoku Basara: The Last Party - The Movie and Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings - Seasons 1 & 2 (4 disc set) (with Digital Copy)

Gravitas Ventures (MOD)

KDMG (MOD)

06/30/20 — Released Craft: Rhode Island

Kino Lorber

06/30/20 — Released Narrow Margin, Not for Publication, Paracelsus (German), Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills, Ten Little Indians and Wild Palms (2 disc set)

07/07/20 — Sets Sorry We Missed You

Leomark Studios, LLC (MOD)

06/30/20 — Released Dead End

Liberation Hall

08/11/20 — Sets Five Corners

Lionsgate Home Ent.

06/30/20 — Released Four Kids and It (with Digital Copy)

MPI Home Media

07/28/20 — Sets Other Lamb

08/11/20 — Sets Wretched

09/22/20 — Sets Babyteeth

Olive Films

06/30/20 — Released Hair

PCN Productions (MOD)

06/30/20 — Released Pennsylvania Country Roads: Monroe County & Tractor Parade

Phantom Pain Films

06/30/20 — Released Ouija Blood Ritual

Sentai FilmWorks

06/30/20 — Released After the Rain: Complete Collection (2 disc set) and Run with the Wind: Premium Box Set (3 disc set)

Severin Films, LLC

06/30/20 — Released Complete Lenzi/Baker Giallo Collection (4 film set: Orgasmo, So Sweet … So Preverse, A Quiet Place to Kill, Knife of Ice) (Italian) (4 disc set with two bonus CDs)

Shout! Factory

06/30/20 — Released Orca: The Killer Whale

07/21/20 — Sets Resistance

08/04/20 — Sets Ride Your Wave (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack) (Japanese) and Swallow

09/08/20 — Sets True History of the Kelly Gang

Smart Mark Video (MOD)

06/30/20 — Released IWA Mid-South: Unfinished Business - Indianapolis, IN

Starry Night Publishing, LLC (MOD)

Universal Pictures Home Ent.

08/11/20 — Sets High Note (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy)

Universal Pictures Home Ent. (MOD)

07/21/20 — Sets Danish Girl, Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer's Curse, In the Name of the Father, Larry Crowne, Reality Bites, Seabiscuit and Zookeeper's Wife

VIZ Media

06/30/20 — Released Bleach: Set Seven (4 disc set)

4K Ultra HD New Additions

Sony Pictures Home Ent.

09/22/20 — Sets Whiplash (4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy)

Mill Creek Entertainment Preps DVD Debut Of Director Justin Folk's No Safe Space For Delivery On Sept. 15

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey

Mill Creek Entertainment has tabbed Sept. 15 as the DVD debut date for one of the most prophetic films in recent memory. This would be documentary filmmaker Justin Folk’s No Safe Spaces.

Released theatrical last October, before the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic; before the shutdown of the economy … and before the almost daily grievance protests that range from peaceful to riotous. The film pulled in $1.3 million in its limited theatrical showcase run and arrives on DVD with a leisurely ARR of 326 days.

It is important to note that the film played theatrically last October, which makes it almost prophetic as comedian Adam Carolla and radio talk host Dennis Prager talk about things in the future tense that are literally playing out on the streets of our major cities and 24/7 on cable news networks.

“Woke,” projecting, social warriors attack those who dare disagree with them. They range from violent “cancel-culture” activities, who burn, loot and tear down symbols that they find offensive. There are the “Karens,” a new name coined recently that Carolla and Prager predicted … they just didn’t have THE name worked out yet.

No Safe Spaces is a fascinating film, made all the more so by events that have unfolded related to the Covid-19 pandemic, the shuttering of the economy and the George Floyd incident … a perfect storm. Carolla and Prager saw it coming; showed the why and where of it, and down Justin Folk’s No Safe Spaces is truth-become-reality.

DIrector Hu Mei's Entertainment The Forbidden City Heads To Blu-ray And DVD On Aug. 18

These are challenging times for film exhibition and distribution. One day there is cautious optimism that cinemas can re-open with distancing guidelines … and the next, edicts are issued saying that they must remain closed. How do you work in an environment like that?

Consider the checkered history of director Hu Mei’s Enter the Forbidden City as just one example. The film opened at the Shanghai International Film Festival in June of 2018 and captured awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay (Zou Jingzhi — Coming Home, Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles) and Best Actor (Dalong Fu — Purple Sunset). An impressive launch!!

The film then proceeded to work the festival circuit for an entire year, piling up more accolades along the way before opening theatrically in Mainland China, where it did quite well. In November of this past year, the domestic trades were ablaze with the news that Cinema Libre had scored a major coup and had acquired Enter the Forbidden City for theatrical exhibition and home entertainment distribution in the domestic marketplace.

Coupled with this acquisition announcement was the news that Enter the Forbidden City had just scored Best Director and Best Picture wins at the Chinese American Film Festival in Los Angeles.

So there you have it. A stunning film, award-winning, already exhibited successfully in China and now poised for a domestic theatrical launch … what could possibly go wrong?

We all know the answer to that. In mid-March all theatres in the United States shut down and despite Cinema Libre’s best efforts to find a path forward, in terms of theatrical exhibition, it has become clear that if the major “Hollywood” studios can’t get their films launched theatrically, how can an indie!

Cinema Libre announced this past week that it will forego further efforts to exhibit the film theatrically and instead move Enter the Forbidden City into the domestic home entertainment packaged media arena on Aug. 18 as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings.

As to the film itself, this is a labor-of-love dramatic re-telling of the history of origins of the “Peking Opera” (Beijing). It took filmmaker Hu Mei six years to complete the film — which was interrupted for an entire year when the Anhui Province studio she was working with burned to the ground, destroying all of the costumes that were being used in the production … they had to be replaced and the studio rebuilt!

During the Qing Dynasty, Yui Jiu (Dalong Fu) is the most famous of all of the opera singers in Imperial China, but his personal excesses get him banned from Peking. While in exile in the Anhui Province, word arrives that a magnificent birthday celebration for Emperor Qianlong (his 80^th birthday) will be staged and opera troupes from all over the land are invited to compete.

Yui Jiu sees this as an opportunity to regain his fame. The performers from Anhui have a unique approach and he sees this as a way to set them apart from the others competing in the grand competition. History records that he was correct in his assessment and the famous “Peking Opera” was born.

Enter the Forbidden City, is a rich re-telling of the story and is peppered with magnificent performances. The film is presented in Mandarin with English subtitles.

Icarus Films Looks To Aug. 04 For The DVD Debut Of Director Tim Slade's The Destruction Of Memory

Icarus Films has set Aug. 4 for the DVD debut of documentary Tim Slade’s The Destruction of Memory, which in turn is based on Robert Bevan’s 2005 book, “The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War.”

Bevan’s book took a look at war and the destruction of landmarks, even entire cities, and argued that it is not always a by-product of combat, but often the destruction of architecture; its obliteration, is a conscious act to erase cultures. He used examples ranging from the decimation of the Aztec culture by Cortez to Hitler’s 1938 “Night of Broken Glass” (Kristallnacht) and more to illustrate to the deliberate use of destruction as a form of “cultural genocide” (his words).

Filmmaker Tim Slade (Blank Canvas, 4, I was Robert Mitchum) used Bevan’s book as a backbone for his documentary, which is more contemporary in tone, focusing on such events as the looting of the Iraqi National Museum, the destruction of the national library in Sarajevo, the Stari Most shelling in Mostar and more.

Slade sketches out the early efforts by Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin to build an international legal framework and details about the landmark 1954 “Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict” and then blends in interviews — along with some very dramatic footage — with various experts on the subject, including Fatou Bensouda of the International Criminal Court, Irina Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO, Corine Wegener of the Smithsonian Institution, among others.

Icarus Films timing is exceptional, in that contemporary news is filled with headlines featuring the destruction of monuments throughout the United States by angry mobs. At first glace, these actions appear random, but in light of Tim Slade’s The Destruction of Memory film, it could be argued that such actions as pulling down the statues of Ulysses S. Grant and Francis Scott Key in Golden State Park in San Francisco are actually with purpose.

This award-winning film is narrated by Sophie Okonedo (Oscar-nominated for her performance in Hotel Rwanda).

Liberation Hall Tabs Sept. 11 For The DVD Debut Of Chuck Berry: Brown Eyed Handsome Man

Hail! Hail! Rock ’N Roll!! And none better than the late Chuck Berry as a rock legend — a superstar of Rock ‘N Roll — who will be getting celebratory DVD release that will have fans joining in and singing along to their favorite Chuck Berry classics.

Word arrived this past week from Liberation Hall, with sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, that Friday, Sept. 11, will be the street date for a DVD presentation of the Ron Weisner Entertainment production of Chuck Berry: Brown Eyed Handsome Man.

This magnificent collection of his songs as performed by Chuck Berry and other legends of rock music. 16 classic performances are included here.

We have Chuck Berry solo for “Maybellene,” “Wee Wee Hours,” “You Can’t Catch Me” and “Nadine.” Keith Richard joins him for “Carol” … “Carol” is reprised by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Linda Ronstadt joins Chuck Berry for “Back in the USA … and Bruce Springsteen teams up with Chuck Berry for “Johnny B. Goode.”

Not done yet … The Rolling Stones do “Around and Around,” The Beatles rock the house with “Roll Over Beethoven” (as do Jeff Lynne and the Electric Light Orchestra), Jimi Hendrix kicks it with “Johnny B. Goode,” Paul McCartney goes solo with “Brown Eyed Handsome Man” … and the Billy Kingsley & Rockin’ Horse team up with Chuck Berry for renditions of “Sweet Little Sixteen,” “Let it Rock” and “Memphis.”

In a word, WOW!!

Plus, as a bonus, there is a thought-to-be-lost 26-minute vintage interview with Chuck Berry that was broadcast on German television included here.

Own Chuck Berry: Brown Eyed Handsome Man on Sept. 11 on DVD from Liberation Hall.