Lionsgate Home Entertainment Targets Nov. 25 For The Physical Media Launch Of Director Francis Lawrence's Film Adaptation Of Stephen King's The Long Walk

Lionsgate Home Entertainment has tabbed Nov. 25 as the street for the full-spread physical media launch of director Francis Lawrence’s film adaptation of Stephen King’s 1979 novel — actually written by King in the late 60s but unpublished — The Long Walk.   

The ARR for the physical media rollout works out to 74 days and the current domestic box office take stands at $35.1 million.

Planned for distribution are stand-alone DVD and Blu-ray selections, plus an Amazon-exclusion 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack SteelBook edition.

Bonus features are the five-part making-off documentary titled “Ever Onward: Making The Long Walk,” plus exclusive to the 4K Ultra HD SKU are two featurettes — “Stephen King: An Appreciation” and “Cooper & David Scene Read” — plus an alternate ending.

Film Masters Has A Limited Edition Blu-ray Of Director/Producer William Castle's House On Haunted Hill Ready In Time For Christmas With A Dec. 16 Street Date

In July of 1958 there was some chatter in the press that director William Castle was going to direct and produce two additional horror films, this was as a result of the success of Macabre.  

 

Up until this point he had been a prolific director of B-action fair, including a number of Westerns, four entries in “The Whistler” series, some television work and the 1947 script and associate producer credits on Orson Welles’ The Lady from Shanghai.

 
Legend has it — and anything from the mid-1950s related to Castle will have some embellishments — that he got inspired by French filmmaker Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Diabolique and decided to branch into horror as both a director and producer.

 
The two future horror films — which would be written by the Macabre’s screenwriter, Robb White (Castle’s partner in Susina Productions) and directed by Castle — would be House on Haunted Hill and Hysteria (which ended up being The Tingler).

 

Film Masters has a new limited-edition Blu-ray of House on Haunted Hill ready for genre fans to enjoy just in time for Christmas … street date is Dec. 16.

 
Castle came up with the idea of issuing $1,000 insurance policies for anyone who dropped dead of a heart attack while in attendance at a showing of Macabre.   

 

For House on Haunted Hill, Castle teased the idea with Allied Artists (the film’s distributor) to have “Smell-O-Vision” and to use the newly developed “Emergo” process to give the illusion that objects were flying into the audience at the appropriate jump-scare points in the film.

The film got a test screening the Rives Theatre in Martinsville, Virgina on New Year’s Eve of 1958 and then opened at RKO’s Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco on Wednesday, January 14, 1959 touting “The 13 Greatest Shocks of All Time” and being the “First Film with the Amazing New Wonder – EMERGO – The Thrills Fly Right in to the Audience!”

 
Film critic Paine Knickerbocker, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, dismissed the “Emergo” gimmick, but had this to say about the film itself: “The film is far better than one might suspect from the title, and yet it actually pretends to be more: it is merely an old-fashioned mystery suspense film and a pretty good one.”   

 
Indeed, “a pretty good one” and suddenly William Castle was on his way as the producer and showman extraordinaire of genre films during the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s … The Tingler, 13 Ghosts, Homicidal, Mr. Sardonicus, Zotz, 13 Frightened Girls, The Old Dark House, Strait-Jacket, I Saw What You Did and more!

 
Bonus goodies include commentary by Cereal at Midnight host Heath Holland.

 

 

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Will Deliver A Full-Spread Of Physical Media Selections Of Director Darren Aronofsky's Caught Stealing On Nov. 11

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment joins the Nov. 11 release party — a very popular date for physical media releases making the transition from theatrical venues to the home entertainment marketplace — with a full-spread launch of director Darren Aronofsky's Caught Stealing.

The ARR comes in at 74 days and domestic box office receipts currently stands at $19 million.
The physical media distribution will be all stand-alone selections for the DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD formats.

Bonus nuggets for this drug caper (and $4,000,000 in missing cash) starring Austin Butler (as Tex in Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood, Elvis, Dune: Part 2) are four featurettes — “Aronofsky: The Real Deal,” “Casting Criminals, Chaos and a Cat,” “New York Story” and “I Don’t Drive.”

Arrow Video Has Horror, Sci-Fi And Fantasy Film Bonanza Ready For Genre Fans On Dec. 9 With The Blu-ray Limited Edition Release Of Shawscope, Volume 4

WOW.   That’s the word that best describes the Dec. 9 ten-disc Blu-ray collection from Arrow Video — domestic sales and distribution expertise will be provided by MVD Entertainment Group.

 
Titled Shawscope, Volume 4, this Blu-ray set is almost totally devoted to the Hong Kong-based Shaw Brothers studio’s horror, sci-fi and fantasy films produced between 1976 and 1984.

 
What is included in this treasure trove of genre-fan films from the vaults of the Shaw Brothers?   We will do the reveal in the chronological order of their theatrical debuts in the United States … yes, these are theatrical classics from the late 70s and early 80s!  However, if you were living in a major city — or even in rural America — other than Honolulu, Hawaii, you were unlikely to have known of their existence until they showed up in the world of VHS way, way back in the mid 1980s.

 

With the exception of director Shan Hua’s 1976 sci-fi thriller, Infra-Man — which was acquired by Joseph Brenner Associates and dubbed into English for national theatrical distribution — the bulk of this magnificent collection is comprised of films that were released in Hong Kong and then followed shortly by a theatrical release in Honolulu at the Empress Theatre on Nuuanu Avenue.    
The residents of Hawaii had an almost exclusive look at these genre treasures from the Shaw Brothers (occasionally the Kim Sing Theatre on Figueroa in Los Angeles would also get access to a print for exhibition).   If you missed them theatrically (living on the mainland), then circle Dec. 9 on your Blu-ray release calendar and get your order in the mix ASAP and be ready to discover these sci-fi, horror and fantasy films for the first time (a Limited Edition).  

 
The kick off was on Mar. 8, 1976, when the Empress unveiled director Meng-Hua Ho’s spell-casting horror tale, Black Magic.   Infra-Man opened in the Pittsburgh area in June (and marched out wide after that), filmmaker Meng-Hua Ho was back with the offbeat horror release of Oily Maniac as the Christmas-season release at the Empress (Dec. 13, 1976) and then it was once again back to Honolulu on Mar. 21, 1977 for Black Magic 2.

 

Before we get too far along, let’s take a look at the special features for these four films.  Infra-Man has three audio viewing options — Mandarin, Cantonese (both with English subtitles) and the English-dubbed theatrical release — and commentary by Frank Djeng and Erik Ko.   

Also included with Infra-Man are two featurettes — “Shaws’ Little Dragon” and “Super Ultra Infra Action.”

 
Black Magic features commentary from film critic James Mudge (easternkicks.com) and Black Magic 2 has commentary from film critic Samm Deighan (“The Legacy of World War II in European Arthouse Cinema”) … both films can be viewed with the original Mandarin soundtracks or with English-dubbed audio.

 

Oily Maniac features Mandarin (with English subtitles) and English-dubbed viewing options and commentary by film critic Ian Jane.

 

Now back to the hit parade — and we are just getting started — with director Hsueh-Li Pao’s fantasy entry, the Sept. 23, 1977 Empress Theatre debut of Battle Wizard.   Presented in Mandarin (with English subtitles), plus an English-dubbed viewing options, the bonus included is commentary by writer Jonathan Clements, “A Brief History of the Martial Arts”).

 
There was then a three-year gap and phase two kicked in with the Hex trilogy, which kicked off with director Chih-Hung Kuei’s creepy ghost story at the Empress on Oct. 20.  He followed that up with Hex vs. Witchcraft at the Empress Theatre on Mar. 31, 1981, and then capped it off with Hex After Hex on Sept. 21, 1982.

 

The Hex trilogy bonus goodies include commentary by film critic James Mudge, Hex vs. Witchcraft and Hex After Hex can be viewed in either Mandarin or Cantonese with English subtitles.

 
In the middle of the Hex trilogy run was the June 1, 1981 debut of director Shan Hua’s supernatural horror tale, Bloody Parrot.   Film critic Samm Deighan provides commentary for the film, which is presented in Mandarin with English subtitles.

 
There are five more horror, sci-fi or fantasy films in the Shawscope, Volume 4 ten-disc Blu-ray collection.   Arrow Video could have wrapped it up with the Bloody Parrot and this would have be a very good presentation, but more … yes more!   

 
Director Chih-Hung Kuei’s Bewitched was the Jan. 11, 1982 arrival at the Empress Theatre, which carried the warning in the movie section of the local Honolulu papers, “Scenes in this film may be too horrifying to some viewers.”   Excellent, that should pack them in … and if you weren’t in Honolulu at the time, you can catch the “horrifying scenes” on Blu-ray for the first time on Dec. 9.

 

Film critic James Mudge provides commentary on Bewitched, which has both Cantonese and Mandarin audio options (with English subtitles).

 
On Mar. 28, 1983 the Empress Theatre presented Hong Kong New Wave director Kwok-Ming Cheung’s (aka: Alex Cheung) space alien abduction tale Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, starring Cherie Chung … a wild send up of contemporary America sci-fi films.   Just a couple of weeks later (Apr. 11), the Empress showcased filmmaker Shan Hua’s fantasy/horror story, Portrait in Crystal, which is about a work of art that comes alive and goes on a murderous rampage.

 
For Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, martial arts cinema expert Frank Djeng provides commentary, plus there are newly-prepared video sessions with filmmaker Alex Cheung and film scholar Victor Fan.   Both Mandarin and Cantonese language tracks are included here (with English subtitles).

 

As for Portrait in Crystal, Mandarin and Cantonese language tracks are available (with English subtitles).

 
On Sept. 16, 1983, the Empress Theatre opened writer/director Tak-Cheung Tang’s fantasy fairytale, Demon of the Lute, which requires a special bow and arrow to bring down this “demon” manufactured from left-over dinosaur parts … a demon who has fellow demons that must be overcome first!   In short, Demon of the Lute is a wild ride!!

 

Frank Djeng also provides commentary for Demon of the Lute, which has both Mandarin and Cantonese viewing options (with English subtitles).

 
Director Kuen Yeung’s Seeding of a Ghost surfaced at the Empress on Mar. 12, 1984, which is a cautionary tale about not hitting a wizard/sorcerer with your taxi cab.  Film critic James Mudge provides commentary … Mandarin and Cantonese language tracks are available (with English subtitles).

 
And finally, we have two films that don't quite fit in the genre mix ... these are writer/director Yuen Chor’s 1980 mystery film, Bat Without Wings (commentary by film critic Samm Deighan) and director Liu Chia-Yung’s 1982 comedy, The Fake Ghost Catchers.

 
That’s 16 Shaw Brothers productions on Blu-ray, 14 of which fall into the horror, sci-fi and fantasy world of motion pictures released theatrically in the United States.   Talk about a bonanza for genre fans … take note, Arrow Video will be shipping Shawscope, Volume 4 on Dec. 9!

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Celebrates The 35th Anniversary Of Writer/Director Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands With The 4K Ultra HD Debut On Oct. 28

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment will be celebrating the 35th anniversary of writer/director Tim Burton’s and his writing partner and producer Caroline Thompson’s wildly imaginative Edward Scissorhands on Oct. 28 with the 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack debut.

 
Starring Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder, the film was carefully launched on Dec. 7 in just two theatres — General Cinema’s Avco Complex in Westwood and Cineplex Odeon’s Ziegfeld in New York City.   The lines were around the block … one week later 1,021 additional venues nationwide were added    (eventually reaching over 1,300 screens).   

 

In short, it was a monster “Christmas season” for 20th Century-Fox with Edward Scissorhands, plus the number one theatrical hit, Home Alone!!

 
Bonus features include the two archived commentary options featuring filmmaker Tim Burton or composer Danny Elfman, plus the vintage “Tim Burton” making-of featurette.

 

 

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Readies A Full-Spread Physical Media Launch Of Director Simon Curtis' Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale For Delivery On Nov. 25

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment looks to Nov. 25 for the full-spread physical media launch of director Simon Curtis’ Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.

 
The ARR works out to a quick-to-market 60 days and the domestic box office take for this story of farewells and new beginnings currently stands at $34.4 million.

 
Planned for distribution are stand-alone DVD and Blu-ray purchasing options, plus a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack edition.

 
Bonus features are toplined by a commentary option featuring filmmaker Simon Curtis, who is joined by actor Elizabeth McGovern (as Cora).   Other bonus nuggets include a farewell “high tea” hosted by Hugh Bonneville (as Robert Grantham), plus seven production featurettes — “Changing Times,” “Society Season,” “Lady Peterfield’s Ball,” “Ascot Race,” “The County Show,” “Authentic to the Core” and “A Farewell to Fans.”

 
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment will also be releasing on Nov. 25 the Downton Abbey: The Ultimate Legacy Collection, featuring the entire television series and the three stand-alone feature films.

 

 

Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment Picks Nov. 25 As The Street Date For The Full-Spread Physical Media Launch Of Director Michael Chaves' The Conjuring: Last Rites

When you are nine films into a horror franchise and you generate domestic ticket sales of $161.9 million, it is not the end of the series, but just another stop on the horror express … at some point (when the creative powers work it out) there will be a next installment (you can bank on it).

 
So, what horror franchise film — in its ninth installment — generated $161.9 million in ticket sales this past summer?   Tick tock … tick tock … director Michael Chaves’ The Conjuring: Last Rites.   And it is heading home from Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment with a full-spread physical media presentation on Nov. 25.

 
For the record, the ARR is 81 days.

 
The series launched in 2013 with director James Wan’s The Conjuring, followed by Annabelle, The Conjuring 2, Annabelle: Creation, The Nun, Annabelle Comes Home, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and The Nun II.   An impressive run.

 
Arriving on Nov. 25 will be stand-alone DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD purchasing options, plus a 4K Ultra HD SteelBook selection.

 
Bonus features are limited to the Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD SKUs.   They comprise a trio of featurettes — “Last Rites: An Era Ends,” “The Conjuring: Crafting Scares” and “Michael Chaves: Believer.” 

 

 

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Taps Nov. 11 As The Street Date For The Full-Spread Physical Media Launch Of Director Nisha Ganatra's Freakier Friday

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has joined the Nov. 11 physical media release party with the long over-due sequel to director Mark Waters’ 2003 release of Freaky Friday, filmmaker Nisha Ganatra’s Freakier Friday — teaming Jamie Lee Curtis with Lindsay Lohan once again as Tess and Anna Coleman.

 
The ARR stands at 95 days and domestic ticket sales were an impressive $93.8 million.

 
Planned for distribution are stand-alone DVD and Blu-ray editions, plus a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack purchasing option.

 
Bonus delights include ten deleted scenes, the Lindsay Lohan/Julia Butters music video titled “Baby,” and a trio of featurettes — “Making Things Freakier,” “Where Were You When” and “Flashback Friday.”

 

 

Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment Loads Up In October With Two Summer Theatrical Hits: Writer/Director Joseph Kosinski's F1: The Movie (Oct. 7) & Filmmaker Zack Cregger's Weapons (Oct. 14)

Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment loads up in October with a pair of recent theatrical hits that are heading to the physical media marketplace.

 
First up, on Oct. 7 is the full-spread physical media rollout of writer/director Joseph Kosinski’s F1: The Movie, starring Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem and Damson Idris.  The configuration of consumer buying choices includes stand-alone DVD and Blu-ray editions, plus two 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Packs (standard and SteelBook).

 
The ARR comes in at 102 days and the domestic box office haul currently stands at $189.5 million.

 
Bonus features for F1: The Movie are limited to the 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray SKUs, which are a whopping nine production featurettes — “Inside the F1: The Movie Table Read,” “The Anatomy of a Crash,” “Getting Up to Speed,” “APXGP Innovations,” “Making it to Silverstone,” “Lewis Hamilton: Producer,” “APXGP Sets and Locations Around the World,” “APXGP and F1: How it was Filmed” and “Sound of Speed.”

 
Arriving the following week, Oct. 14, is writer/director (producer) Zach Cregger’s summer horror hit, Weapons, which will be a full-spread physical media launch.

 

The ARR is a quick-to-market 67 days and the domestic box office gross is an impressive $150.1 million (plus another $114 million in box office receipts overseas) against a reported $38 million production budget.   Can we say “franchise” might have been created here?

 
There is a certain irony in Warner Bros. delivering this New Line Cinema production to the physical media marketplace in 67 days, while Disney has yet to release his 2022 film, Barbarian, on DVD, Blu-ray or 4K Ultra HD, despite in pulling in $40.8 million in domestic ticket sales … you can, however, purchase a Blu-ray copy from the vast “Helper” community (our term for pirates, bootleggers, etc.).

 
Genre fans, and consumers in general, will have stand-alone DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD purchasing options for Weapons on Oct. 14.

 
Bonus goodies (limited to 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray editions) are three featurettes — “Director Zach Cregger: Making Horror Personal,” “Weaponized: The Cast of Weapons” and “Weapons: Texture of Terror.”

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Celebrates The 40th Anniversary Of Director Lawrence Kasdan's Silverado With A 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack (SteelBook) Edition On Oct. 7

You could make the argument that the Western, a staple of the movie-going experience from the birth of film, and especially in the immediate post-war period of the late 1940s and 50s, had reached its zenith — as a genre — with the release of Sam Peckinpah’s 1968 masterpiece, The Wild Bunch.

 
To quote Deborah Caulfield, reviewing director Lawrence Kasdan’s Silverado in the Los Angeles Times’ “Calendar Section” just before it opened in July of 1985: “Ironically, ‘Silverado’ opens shortly before the publication of “Final Cut,” the story of the last big-budget Western, ‘Heaven’s Gate,’ by former United Artists executive Steven Bach.”

 
Caulfield continues, “Michael Cimino’s $40-million-plus movie was a financial disaster that led to UA’s absorption by MGM in 1981.”   And then comes this, “Even before ‘Heaven’s Gate,’ Westerns were unpopular at movie studios.  Should this year’s offerings fail to make dents at the box office, the genre could be retired … permanently.”

 

Clint Eastwood hadn’t directed a Western since The Outlaw Josey Wales in 1976, but suddenly within the space of a week or two in 1985 we have Eastwood’s Pale Rider and Kasdan’s Silverado … the Western was back in a big way!   Eastwood’s Unforgiven would arrive in 1992 and win Best Picture (he also won Best Director) ... so the Western, as a genre, was alive and well. 

 
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of this landmark Western, Silverado, on Oct. 7 with the debut of a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack edition.  Make that a SteelBook 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack edition!!
 

This 4K restoration is from the original camera negative and the bonus goodies are housed on the companion Blu-ray disc which features the archived group commentary from film historians Frank Thompson, Paul Hutton and Steve Aaron, plus two vintage featurettes — “A Return to Silverado with Kevin Costner” and “The Making of Silverado.” 

 

 

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Selects Oct. 14 As The Street Date For The Full-Spread Physical Media Launch Of Director Matt Shakman's The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment reveals that Oct. 14 will the physical media launch date for director Matt Shakman’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps.  This will be a full-spread delivery featuring two 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Packs (one is a SteelBook edition), plus stand-alone DVD and Blu-ray purchasing options.

 
The ARR is 81 days and the domestic box office haul for this Marvel Studios’ production currently stands at an impressive $272.5 million.   Add in the foreign markets and Disney is looking at $518.8 million in ticket sales!

 
Indeed, the only negative to the rollout of The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the three-week premium VOD window that opens on Sept. 23.   This gives the “Helper” community (aka: pirates, bootleggers, etc.) 21 days to move their own Blu-ray editions (the format of choice) to unsuspecting consumers.

 

On the plus side, the VOD launch date is 60 full days after the theatrical release.  There are some major theatrical releases that find the VOD window opening just 18 days after the theatrical launch (may we say that this is insane) ... anything that closes down this "Helper" activity window is good for the health of the entertainment industry.

 
Bonus goodies kick off with commentary by director Shakman and production designer Kasra Farahani.   There are deleted scenes (five), a gag reel and a trio of production featurettes — “Meet the First Family,” “Fantastic Futurism” and “From Beyond and Below.”

 

 

Liberation Hall Restores The Buster Keaton Show (1949-1950) For Release As Double-Disc DVD And Blu-ray Editions On Sept. 16

Zuma Palmer, entertainment columnist for the Los Angeles Citizen News, wrote on Dec. 26, 1949 about the debut of The Buster Keaton Show on KTTV: “What was done was more important and amusing than what was said.”   Yes!   The “stoned face” comedian could convey more with his face and his timing skills in one instant, than 500 words of dialog could deliver.  

Liberation Hall, with sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, will be release both double-disc Blu-ray and DVD editions of the nine surviving episodes of The Buster Keaton Show for fans to discover on Sept. 16.   

Two of the episodes included in the presentation — Feb. 2 and Feb 23, 1950 — are available for the first time since their broadcast on television 75 years ago.

As to bonus nuggets, both the DVD and Blu-ray selection include two of Keaton’s classic silent short films — The Blacksmith (1922) and The Love Nest (1923) — while exclusive to the Blu-ray release are the CBS television special titled “Three Comedians in Closeup,” the “The is Your Life” episode showcasing the career of Buster Keaton and the 1957 Paul Winchell-hosted episode of Circus Time featuring Keaton.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Will Release The Handmaid's Tale: The Complete Series On DVD This Coming Dec. 2

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has the perfect stocking-stuffer lined up for the Christmas season for fans of Bruce Miller’s episodic series adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s famed 1985 novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale.”   Miller developed Atwood’s work into a six-season, sixty-six episode award-winning series.

On Dec. 2, fans can purchase The Handmaid’s Tale: The Sixth Season (for those who have been collecting the series on physical media as available) or The Handmaid’s Tale: The Complete Series (the perfect Christmas-season gift for those who enjoyed the series).

This is a 20-disc collection, with bonus features including “Inside the Episode” details.

Arrow Video Presents Solar System Sci-Fi Thrillers With New 4K Ultra HD Editions In November For Outland (Nov. 4) & Red Planet (Nov. 18)

Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has 4K Ultra HD solar system action lined up for genre fans to savor come this November.   So let’s get right to it!

 
Sourced from the original 35mm camera negative and landing (or taking off as the case might be) on Nov. 4 is a newly-minted 4K Ultra HD edition of writer/director Peter Hyams’ 1981 trip to Jupiter’s sulfuric moon Io, Outland, starring an outgunned Sean Connery as a “Federal Marshall.”   

 
In this space Western, Marshall O’Niel (Connery) is set up to fail when he investigates a series of bizarre deaths on the super-productive Con-Am 27 mining operation on Io.  When he discovers the reason, which is directly related to why Con-Am 27 is so profitable, the manager, Mark Sheppard (played by Peter Boyle) calls in a hit team to do away with the pesky Marshall (think: High Noon in space).

 

Bonus features include two commentary options.   The first is an archived commentary with Hyams, and the second features film critic Chris Alexander.   There are also five newly-prepared featurettes included with this 4K Ultra HD presentation from Arrow Video on Nov. 4 — “A Corridor of Accidents,” “Outlandish,” “Introvision: William Mesa on Outland,” “No Place for Heroes” and “Hollywoodland Outland.”

 
The other thriller taking place in our solar system is director Antony Hoffman’s 2000 film release of Red Planet, starring Val Kilmer, Carrie-Anne Moss, Tom Sizemore and Terence Stamp.  The 4K Ultra HD debut takes place on Nov. 18.

 
Bonus goodies kick off with Cereal at Midnight’s Heath Holland’s newly-prepared visual retrospective titled “Angry Red Planet.”   There are also deleted scenes and two additional featurettes — “The Martian Chronicles” and “Suit Up.”

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Celebrates The 60th Anniversary Of Director Robert Wise's The Sound Of Music With The 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack Debut On Sept. 23

The magic happened on a Tuesday at 8PM at the corner of Broadway and 49th Street in New York City.  The date was March 2, 1965 and the venue was the Rivoli Theatre.   

The magic?   The film debut of director Robert Wise’s The Sound of Music.

The reported production budget was right around $8 million (1965 dollars).   Ticket sales, domestically, were a whopping $163.2 million (again, 1965 dollars).   It won Best Picture and Best Director for Robert Wise (as producer and director), which was a double-Oscar repeat for Wise — West Side Story in 1962.

Julie Andrews was nominated for Best Actress, but the members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences — perhaps — thought it was little much to give her Best Actress Oscars two years in a row (she won in 1964 for Mary Poppins), so they gave the little gold statue to Julie Christie for her performance as Diana Scott in director John Schlesinger’s Darling.   Ask yourself these 60 years later which is best remember (not saying the Academy got it wrong, mind you).

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has tabbed Sept. 23 (a very short window) as the 60th anniversary celebration street date for the 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack (with Blu-ray) debut of The Sound of Music.    There will also be a double-disc Blu-ray edition available on the same date.  

The 4K Ultra HD disc has a “sing-along” viewing option and also has vintage commentary tracks from, first, filmmaker Robert Wise and second, Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Charmian Carr (as Liesl Von Trapp), Dee Dee Woods (choreographer) and Johannes Von Trapp.   

The first of two companion Blu-ray discs is a repeat of the 4K Ultra HD in terms of content.   

The second companion Blu-ray disc contains a collection of featurettes, newsreels and vintage interviews, including documentary filmmaker Steven C. Smith’s 2015 film, The Sound of a City: Julie Andrews Returns to Salzburg and the featurette titled “A City of Song.”

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Tabs Sept. 16 For The Debut Of 4K Ultra HD Editions Of Writer/Director Steven Lisberger's Tron & Director Joseph Kosinski's Tron: Legacy

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has a quick turn on its 4K Ultra HD SteelBook Combo Pack (with Blu-ray) announcement for writer/director Steven Lisberger’s 1982 sci-fi thriller, Tron.   The film, starring Jeff Bridges, David Warner, Bruce Boxleitner and the late Cindy Morgan, will be available on Sept. 16.

 

Nominated for two Oscars — Best Costume Design and Best Sound — this new 4K restoration of Tron was supervised by filmmaker Lisberger.

Bonus features include the multi-part “The Making of Tron” featurette series (with “Design” introduction by Lisberger) and two stand-alone featurettes — “Photo Technology” and “The Tron Phenomenon.”

Also get a 4K Ultra HD SteelBook Combo Pack (with Blu-ray) release on Sept. 16 is director Joseph Kosinski’s 2010 sequel, Tron: Legacy.

Bonus features include the Daft Punk music video, “Derezzed,” and six featurettes — “The Next Day,” “Special Look at Tron: Uprising,” “Launching the Legacy,” “Disc Roars,” “Visualizing Tron” and “Installing the Cast.”

Deaf Crocodile Looks To Nov. 11 For The Special Edition Blu-ray Release Of Lev Atamanov’s The Snow Queen, The Scarlet Flower & The Key: Treasures Of Soviet Animation, Volume 2

Deaf Crocodile, with sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a nice surprise for fans of film animation scheduled for Blu-ray distribution on Nov. 11.

The Blu-ray collection is titled Lev Atamanov’s The Snow Queen, The Scarlet Flower & The Key: Treasures of Soviet Animation, Volume 2.

Following World War II, but behind the “Iron Curtain,” there was a filmmaker who specialized in animated fairy tales.  His name was Levon “Lev” Atamanyan (Atamanov) and his work from the period is now widely regarded as excellent; superb; genius.   Sadly, during the 1950s his work was virtually unknown in the United States because of the “Cold War” and political tensions at the time.   Except for one film.

You may actually know Atamanyan’s most famous animated film and not realize it.  In 1957 he made Snezhnaya Koroleva, which was based on Hans Christian Andersen’s 1844 story, “The Snow Queen.”   

In early August of 1959, there is a short blurb in American newspapers from syndicated gossip columnist Louella Parsons that reads: “I didn’t know the Russians went in for anything as light as a Disney-like animated cartoon in full length.   Most of their movies are overloaded with Communist propaganda.”

She continues, “But, not only has Universal-International bought from the Soviets a charming cartoon fantasy, Hans Christian Anderson’s ‘The Snow Queen,’ but the studio’s own teenage queen Sandra Dee will dub the title role in English.”

There is no mention of Atamanyan in her column.   By September of 1959, we learn that Art Linkletter has been recruited by the studio to do a special prologue and The Bad Seed star, Patty McCormack, has also been added to the voice-dubbing cast ... still no mention of Atamanov/Atamanyan.

The film has its "World Premiere" on April 1, 1960 at the Colfax Theatre in South Bend, Indiana.  There's a certain irony in having a "World Premiere" of a film that had been around since 1957 on April Fool's Day!

The credits says that The Snow Queen features the voices of Sandra Dee, Patty McCormack and Tommy Kirk.  The credits also herald Art Linkletter as "starring" in the film's prologue (is that a unique credit in film history?).   If you read the small print, Alan Lipscott and Bob Fisher were the writers and Robert Faber was the producer ... "Cartoons, Animation and Screenplay by Soyuzmultfilm Productions," but no mention of Atamanov.

Patty McCormack was the on-stage celebrity for the 8:30 performance ... and there was a big parade the next day at 9AM in downtown South Bend! 

The Snow Queen arrived in the Los Angeles area in 13 theatres on July 6 … and expanded around the country with addition theatrical dates through December of 1960.   The film was a hit for Universal-International … perhaps Atamanyan received some royalties (perhaps film historian Rolf Giesen’s commentary track on the Deaf Crocodile Blu-ray release on Nov. 11 will shed some light).

As to the Blu-ray collection, these are all new film restorations of the original Russian-language versions (with English subtitles).   The Snow Queen is voice by Yanina Zheymo (no Sandra Dee, no catchy songs …), also included are Atamanov’s 1952 release of The Scarlet Flower and his 1961 animated treat, The Key. 

Bonus features include commentary on all three films by film historian Rolf Giesen and two newly-prepared video essays — “Written with Ice Crystals: Master Soviet Animator Lev Atamanov and The Snow Queen” (by film historian Evan Chester) and “Innocence & Cynicism: The Snow Queen and Hayao Miyazaki: (by “Animation Obessive” expert John Adkins).