Fun City Edition's 4K Film Restoration Of Director Richard Benjamin's Racing With The Moon Arrives On Blu-ray On Feb. 11

Fun City Editions, with sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a new 4K film restoration (from the original 35mm camera negative) of director Richard Benjamin’s 1984 film release of Racing with the Moon.

 The Blu-ray will be available on Feb. 11.

 The script from Steven Kloves (The Fabulous Baker Boys, Wonder Boys … and eight Harry Potter film script adaptations) was his first and it was only element in place (as early as 1981/1982) — long before discussions about who would direct or star in the film.  

However, when studio heads are hired and fired the projects in the pipeline tend to go into “turnaround.”   That is an industry turn for “limbo,” which was the case with Kloves’ script … in limbo, not once but twice!   

The third time was the charm for Racing With the Moon as it landed at Paramount during its Footloose/Flashdance period, which featured a focus on young actors in the early stages of their careers coupled with high energy, engaging productions.    

Here you have Sean Penn, Nicholas Cage and Elizabeth McGovern (early in their respective careers) starring … what more can ask for?

 Bonus features include two commentary options.   The first is an archival commentary with director Richard Benjamin, while the second teams Bill Ackerman with Marya E. Gates.   There is also a making-of featurette.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Tabs Jan. 21 For The Full-Spread Physical Media Launch Of Director Tom Hardy's Venom: The Last Dance

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has selected Jan. 21 as the street date for the full-spread physical media launch of director Tom Hardy’s Venom: The Last Dance.

The ARR comes in at 88 days and the domestic box office haul was $139.2 million.

The premium VOD launch is Dec. 10, which gives the “Helper” community six weeks to peddle their own Blu-ray editions of Venom: The Last Dance to unsuspecting genre fans and physical media consumers in general.

As for SKU configuration, the DVD and Blu-ray editions will be stand-alone, while the 4KUltra HD arrives as a Combo Pack product offering (with Blu-ray).

Bonus goodies include deleted and extended scenes, a blooper reel, outtakes, the Tom Morello and Grandson music video (“One Last Dance”) and five featurettes — “Venom’s Inner Circle,” “Venom Unleashed: The Action & Stunts,” “Selected Scenes PreVis,” “Savor the Last Bite: The Venom Legacy” and “Brock Bottoms: Mr. Chen Interview.”

What's The Story With Director Clint Eastwood's Juror #2 And Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment's No-Frills Blu-ray And DVD Rollout On Feb. 4?

Clint Eastwood and Warner Bros. have been in something of a filmmaking and distribution partnership for going on fifty years.    The auteur filmmaker of legend, Clint Eastwood, who learned the trade from his mentor director Don Siegel — on time, under budget and commercial — delivered the studio hit after hit over the years.

So it came as something of a surprise when his latest film, Juror No. 2, was delegated to made-for-cable status.   What?  An Eastwood film ... stream-able, but not theatrical!!

When the word got out that Juror No. 2 was being sacrificed to the streaming pit of doom on MAX, the blog-o-sphere erupted in amazement … as a result of the blowback, the studio reluctantly found something like 38 screens to release the film theatrically (limited) on Nov. 1 (in the “dead zone” before the Thanksgiving rollout of Oscar-contenders).   

Those who were lucky enough to catch the film theatrically gave it a 90% rating (Rotten Tomatoes) and an amalgamation of critics agreed with an average 94% rating.   In other words, Juror No. 2 is commercial (Eastwood hasn’t lost his touch despite being 94 years old … and of course Juror No. 2 was on time (debuting at the AFI Fest) and likely under budget (the Don Siegel school of filmmaking).

It’s not for us, mere mortals, to question the studio’s decision, just to report on what took place.

The physical media launch will be on Feb. 4 as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings (no 4K Ultra HD in the mix at this time).   

For the record, the ARR works out to 95 days and the estimated box office take from the film’s limited run is $270,000 (Warner has declined to provide box office totals).

The VOD window is Dec. 3, which means that the “Helper” community gets nine full weeks to distribute their own Blu-ray editions as a result of the quick streaming window (the format of choice by pirates for its capacity … HD has nothing to do with it).

As to bonus features for the physical media launch on Feb. 4 from Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment … nothing.   No making-of featurette, no behind-the-scenes, no commentary, deleted scenes nada … just the movie!