Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment's First Physical Media Release Under The New Sony Pictures Distribution Agreement Will Be The First Omen On July 30

The distribution deal worked out between studio competitors, Sony Pictures and Walt Disney Studios, kicked in this past week.   One studio handling the sales and distribution of a rival studio … it just seems so very odd, but not without precedent.

Back in 1990 Giancarlo Parretti, an Italian waiter, bought MGM from Kirk Kerkorian and being without operating and production funds gutted the very profitable home entertainment unit.   He then turned around and cut a distribution deal with Warner Bros., the terms of which left him without cash flow and within months the studio was insolvent.

We don’t think the same dynamics apply here, so that’s why it is an odd arrangement.

In any case, the first release under this distribution agreement is writer/director Arkasha Stevenson’s The First Omen, a re-boot prequel of the 20th Century-Fox film franchise that began with the release of director Richard Donner’s The Omen in 1976.

Stand-alone DVD and Blu-ray editions will be available on July 30.   

With that street date, the ARR comes in at 116 days.  Domestic box office receipts of $19.3 million seem to suggest that this is the end of the line for The Omen film franchise series (director John Moore’s 2006 remake pulled in $54.6 million).

As is common practice these days, a premium VOD window will open on May 28, which means the “Helper” community will have easy access to a pristine master of the film and will (absolutely) have Blu-ray editions on the street the same day.   63 days of peddling their illicit wares before the real SKUs arrive … consumers are unlikely to be aware of the difference.

Bonus selections include a trio of featurettes — “The Mystery of Margaret,” “The Director’s Vision” and “Signs of The First Omen.”