It’s 4K Ultra HD time for director Richard T. Heffron’s summer of 1976 sci-fi entry,
Futureworld, the much-travelled follow-up to
Westworld. Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has selected Oct. 20 as the 4K debut date (a Blu-ray purchasing option will also be available on that date).
Writer/director Michael Crichton’s 1973 release of Westworld, despite its budget limitations — the luxury of looking back exposes the film’s flaws and weaknesses which were overcome by solid storytelling and Yul Brynner’s iconic performance — was a huge hit and then MGM studio chief, James T. Aubrey, wanted to green light a sequel. With his departure in October of 1973, his slate of potential film productions was wiped clean by Frank Rosenfelt, and suddenly Futureworld was without a home.
No problem, Aubrey shoved the project in his briefcase on the way out the door and shopped it around as the producer of the film … eventually landing at American International Pictures. Richard Benjamin got sidetracked in the shuffle and Peter Fonda entered the arena along with Blythe Danner ... and Yul Brynner was recruited to reprise his role as "The Gunslinger."
Arrow has a brand new film commentary featuring film historian Daniel Kremer (Adventures in Auteurism, Sidney J. Furie: Life and Films, etc.) and the newly-minted featurette titled “Future Present” (featuring Paul N. Lazarus III, Aubrey’s co-producer on Futureworld). There is also a vintage Johnson Space Center (where the film was shot) featurette titled “NASA: Science Fact and Fiction.”
