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.