Oops They Did It Again — Big Box Retails Out Early With Pre-Orders For Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment's Dumbo On June 25

Way, way back in the spring of 2000, Britney Spears had a number one hit single titled “Oops! … I Did It Again.”   

That was 19 years ago, but it might just be the theme song for today’s “Big Box” retailers when it comes to their order-taking activities.

Sing-a-long … “Oops! … I Did It Again” … “I jumped the gun on taking orders for Dumbo!”    Target and Best Buy like to get in early on announcing the release of new theatrical titles for delivery to the home entertainment marketplace and grab their “fair” share of the release pie … and that’s before the studio in question can officially put out the word.

The latest “Oops” is a pre-order push for director Tim Burton’s $170 million film production of Dumbo, which both of these big box retailers are currently in the process of taking orders for with respect to their exclusive “special edition” 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack editions.   They say these will be available on  June 25.   

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, of course, hasn’t officially announced the title as of yet.   But with the deck stacked against them — the Disney Store and its mega-list of “in-house” customers — you can hardly blame Target and Best Buy for acting in their own best interests in ignoring any embargoed announcement protocols.

Just three weeks ago both retailers did the exact same thing with Captain Marvel.  They said June 11 was the street date.   The PR department over at Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment didn’t get around to confirming that date until this week.   

Target and Best Buy were correct in saying June 11 was the street date for Captain Marvel, so we are once again going to take their word for it when it comes to Dumbo being released on June 25.

So, with that said, June 25 will be the street date for a three-SKU helping of filmmaker Tim Burton’s live-action update of the 1941 animated classic … Combo Pack editions for both the 4K Ultra HD (with Blu-ray) and Blu-ray (with DVD) formats, plus a stand-alone DVD edition will be the release mix.

The ARR works out to just 88 days and domestic box office receipts currently stand at $109.8 million.   

Since this is a defensive order-grab on the part of these “big box” retailers and the official word from Disney has not been circulated, there is no information available as to any bonus features.   That will come in time (if the timing follows that of Captain Marvel, expect a formal press announcement in two to three weeks from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment for Dumbo).

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Picks June 18 For The Home Entertainment Rollout Of Director Jordan Peele’s Us

June 18, jot it down … that’s the street date that Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has assigned for the three-SKU home entertainment launch of director Jordan Peele’s blockbuster horror tale, Us.

The ARR of Us works out to a swift-to-market 88 days and domestic box office receipts were a stellar 172.9 million.

As to home entertainment packaged media selections, Universal will be giving consumers the choice between Combo Pack editions for both the 4K Ultra HD (with Blu-ray) and Blu-ray (with DVD) formats, plus there will be a stand-alone DVD viewing option.

As to bonus features for this puzzle-book horror tale, there are a half-dozen deleted scenes, outtakes, a trio of “Scene Explorations,” an extended version of the dance sequence from the film titled, “As Above, So Below: Grand Pas de Deux,” and five featurettes — “The Duality of Us,” “The Monsters Within Us,” “Tethered Together: Making Us Twice,” “Redefining a Genre: Jordan Peele's Brand of Horror” and “Becoming Red.”

The Criterion Collection Announces Its July Slate Of Film Restorations Destined For DVD And Blu-ray Release

The Criterion Collection announced a six-strong slate of 2K and 4K film restorations that will be ready during the month of July for release as either DVD or Blu-ray product offering.

As always, it is a subjective call as to what the frontrunner might be, so with that in mind we’ve picked the new 4K film restoration of director Alan J. Pakula’s summer of 1971 thriller, Klute, starring Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland.  It will be available as double-disc DVD and single-disc Blu-ray editions on July 16.

Bonus features include a newly prepared video session with Jane Fonda (she won the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance here as Bree), who is joined by actress Illeana Douglas, documentary filmmaker Matthew Miele’s newly prepared documentary titled, Pakula: The Whole Damn Thing, a featurette titled “The Look of Klute,” archival interviews with filmmaker Alan J. Pakula and actress Jane Fonda and a vintage short film about the making of Klute shot during the film’s production in New York City.

Another film of interest in the July mix is director Michael Radford’s 1984 remake of George Orwell’s prophetic 1949 novel, 1984.   It will be available as DVD and Blu-ray editions on July 23.

Originally adapted for the screen by director Michael Anderson in 1956, with Edmond O'Brien as Winston Smith and Jan Sterling as Julia, Radford’s update features John Hurt as Smith and Suzanna Hamilton as Julia. 

As to bonuses, there is behind the scenes footage and a trio of newly-prepared video sessions featuring director Michael Radford (Oscar-nominated for Best Director for Il Postino in 1996), cinematographer Roger Deakins (13 Oscar nominations for his cinematography, finally winning for Blade Runner 2049) and author David Ryan (“George Orwell on Screen”).

On the foreign language front during the month of July, The Criterion Collection has writer/director Agnieszka Holland’s 1990 film release of Europa Europa set for July 9 as both DVD and Blu-ray editions; July 9 also sees the three-disc Blu-ray presentation of director Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s BRD Trilogy (The Marriage of Maria Braun, Veronika Voss and Lola) and July 16 finds both DVD and Blu-ray selections of director Marcel Pagnol’s 1938 (1940 for the domestic market) film release of The Baker’s Wife.

And wrapping up the proceedings is a new 4K film restoration of the boorish auteur filmmaker Spike Lee’s 1989 film, Do the Right Thing.   It will be available on July 23 and a double-disc DVD edition and a stand-alone Blu-ray release.

MVD Entertainment Group Sets July 11 For The Marquee Collection Release On DVD And Blu-ray Of Writer/Director Neil Burger’s The Illusionist

MVD Entertainment Group will be bringing both DVD and Blu-ray editions of writer/director Neil Burger’s turn-of-the-century (Victorian era, that is) romantic mystery, The Illusionist, to the home entertainment marketplace as a newly-minted Marquee Collection product offering on June 11.

Austro-Hungarian Empire politics in Vienna during 1889 serve as the backdrop for a forbidden love affair featuring the son of a cabinet maker-turned-magician, Eisenheim (Edward Norton) and Sophie (Jessica Biel), the would-be bride of a vicious prince (played by Rufus Sewell).

The story of the affair involving the aforementioned magician and the young Duchess (Biel) is told in flashback by Vienna’s Chief Inspector Walter Uhl (Paul Giamatti) to the Emperor as he tries to explain her murder and how it involves the Emperor’s son, Prince Leopold (Sewell).   There’s a peasant magician involved as well, who has developed a magic act with illusions of the dead woman that cannot be explained.

This Illusionist is a clever mystery, with twists and turns and packed with plenty of magician directed tricks — the art of misdirection — that baffles both Chief Inspector Uhl and the audience in equal measure.   Remember, with “magic tricks” nothing is as it seems!!

Bonus features include commentary from filmmaker Neil Burger (The Upside, Divergent, Limitless) and a pair of featurettes — “The Making of the Illusionist” and “Jessica Biel on the Illusionist.”

   

Icarus Films Teams With The KimStim Collection For The May 28 DVD Debut Of Director Christian Frei’s Genesis 2.0

Icarus Films will be teaming with The KimStim Collection on May 28 for the domestic DVD debut of documentary filmmaker Christian Frei’s Genesis 2.0.

Back in 1990, sci-fi writer Michael Crichton conjured up a bit of fiction that he titled “Jurassic Park,” which was brought to the screen three years later by Steven Spielberg.   Jurassic Park was a huge hit theatrically and it has spawned a whole film franchise that could go on forever.

Of course it is silly to imagine a bunch of scientists tapping into the DNA of an extinct species and bringing those creatures back to life.  But hell, it was (is) great fun to see Velociraptors and everyone’s favorite, the T-Rex, running loose once again.

But what if the fiction of Crichton’s “Jurassic Park” was the stuff that dreams are actually made of … and what if those dreams are the purview of geneticists who are actually working on bringing extinct species back from the grave?

Documentary filmmaker Christian Frei (Oscar-nominated for his 2001 film, War Photographer) teamed with adventure cinematographer Maxim Arbugaev to interweave two stories — a half-a-world apart — into one where sci-fi does indeed meet the world of science.

Frei works the circuit of researchers engaged in cloning and genetic research, while Arbugaev journeys to the remote New Siberian Islands, where access can only be had a few precious weeks each year — a place every bit as remote as the research station at the South Pole.

It is here that Arbugaev chronicles the search for Mammoth tucks in the frozen tundra — worth their weight in gold (in China) — and the discovery of an intact woolly mammoth, complete with frozen blood (the stuff of DNA).   So dangerous is the trip to this remote outpost that Arbugaev was able to capture on film a polar bear raid on their primitive encampment — a life and death struggle for outright survival again a trio of ravenous hunters, who know no fear of man.

The whole process of “weeding out” genetic material (disease cures) and the recreation of long-gone animals gives rise to all sorts of ethical issues, which are touched upon in Frei’s Genesis 2.0.   At what point does the fiction of Spielberg’s Jurassic Park film franchise meet the real world of genetic engineering?   Where is the line — these days — between science fiction and science reality?

Genesis 2.0 is presented in English, with some Russian (English subtitles when appropriate).

VCI Entertainment To Release Red Ryder: The Color Westerns - The Complete Cinecolor Collection As A Double-Disc DVD Product Offering On July 30

Western cowboy legend Red Ryder began life as a comic hero in November of 1938 and ran continuously until 1965 in newspapers across the country.   He was the brain child of Stephen Slesinger, who had the foresight of acquiring the exclusive rights to market a loveable little bear by the name of Winnie-the-Pooh, which would eventually (after his death, his wife took charge) find his way to the Walt Disney Studios.

Slesinger, who also developed the “King of the Royal Mounted” comic strip, recruited Fred Harman to illustrate the comic panels … he did so until his retirement in 1964.   The comic strip for Red Ryder and his sidekick, Little Beaver, was so successful that it spawned the 12-chapter serial, The Adventures of Red Ryder in 1940, a prime time radio series in 1942 (which ran for seven years) and beginning in 1944 a total of 27 theatrical films featuring Red Ryder and Little Beaver were released.

VCI Entertainment announced this past week that the last four films in the venerable Red Ryder film series — which were all filmed in color — will be available on July 30 as the DVD product offering titled, Red Ryder: The Color Westerns - The Complete Cinecolor Collection.

We kick off the series with director Lewis Collins’ February of 1949 theatrical release of Ride, Ryder, Ride, starring Jim Bannon (T-Men, Johnny O'Clock, The Thirteenth Hour and star of the 1950s TV series, The Adventures of Champion) as Red Ryder and child actor Don Reynolds (as an adult he would become a horse trainer and handler for Hollywood film and TV productions, including the three Lord of the Rings films) as his sidekick, Little Beaver.     Emmett Lynn co-stars as Buckskin Blodgett, another Red Ryder sidekick, with the legendary Peggy Stewart (her film career spanned 75 years and 129 screen credits, including such non-Western films as The Vampire’s Ghost, The Tiger Woman, The Runaways, etc.) as a newspaper editor who teams with Red to avenge her brother’s death at the hands of outlaw Frenchy Beaumont (Edwin Max) and his gang.

In August of 1949, Bannon, Reynolds and Lynn teamed once again with director Lewis Collins for the second color film in the series, Roll, Thunder, Roll!   The female lead this time was none other than Nancy Gates, who would go on to star in such films as Suddenly — opposite Frank Sinatra — Torch Song, The Atomic City, Hell’s Half Acre and writer/director Edward Bernds’ 1956 sci-fi masterpiece, World Without End.

Others included in the cast of Roll, Thunder, Roll! are Glenn Strange (House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein), I. Stanford Jolley and Marin Sais reprises her role as The Duchess (Red Ryder’s aunt).

In October of 1949 the same core group team up once again for the release of The Fighting Redhead, with Peggy Stewart returning as rancher Sheila O’Connor, whose cattle are being rustled by Faro Savage (John Hart — as Hawkeye in the ‘50s TV series Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans and was the TV version of The Lone Ranger from 1950 to 1953, when Clayton Moore “went on strike”).

The gang is back for one last ride during Christmas of 1949 in Cowboy and the Prizefighter, with Karen Randle (Blonde Dynamite, Mysterious Island) as the female lead, with John Hart back as another heavy in partnership with none other than Marshall Reed.

All four of the color films in the venerable Red Ryder film series are here in one priced-to-own DVD collection … mark it down, July 30, Red Ryder: The Color Westerns - The Complete Cinecolor Collection.

Director Todd Strauss-Schulson's Isn't It Romantic Heads Home On May 21 From Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

Rebel Wilson gets to have fun — and play against type — in a “PG-13 romantic comedy,” literally.   Isn’t It Romantic, the laugh-out-loud comedy gem from director Todd Strauss-Schulson, gives the Aussie comedy star free reign to turn the streets of New York City into a “Pretty Woman” fantasy … well, at least for 18 hours (although it seems like days and days from her point of view).

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced this past week that Isn’t It Romantic will be making the move to the DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack universe on May 21.

The ARR comes in at 95 days and the box office haul currently stands at $47.5 million.

Although the storyline plows similar ground to Amy Schumer’s I Feel Pretty comedy from last year, Rebel Wilson makes her head-banging alternate reality all her own.   She’s funny, a little sad and her co-stars play off of her energy to good effect.   In short, Isn’t It Romantic is a winner. 

And, of note, filmmaker Todd Strauss-Schulson gleefully lifts some of the alternate-reality fun from his 2015 direct-to-video release, The Final Girls (the ‘80s slasher genre gets the same treatment as his rom-com Isn’t It Romantic), which is certainly now worth a second look (if you missed it) after the success of this film.

As to bonus nuggets, we have deleted scenes and featurette titled “I Wanna Dance!”

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Looks To May 21 For The Home Entertainment Launch Of How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

With $145.7 million in domestic box office receipts (and counting … closing in on $500 million worldwide) it is clear that the DreamWorks Animation production of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is an animated film franchise to be reckoned with.  

This is the third installment in the series and all three films have easily pulled in over one hundred million dollars in ticket sales in the domestic market alone.   It will therefore come as no surprise that the home entertainment rollout will be just as popular.

To that point, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment announced this past week that director Dean DeBlois’ How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World will be available as a three-SKU product offering on May 21.

For the record, the ARR works out to just 88 days.

Planned for release are a stand-alone DVD edition and Combo Pack presentations for the Blu-ray (with DVD) and 4K Ultra HD (with Blu-ray) formats.

As to bonus goodies, we begin with commentary from writer/director Dean DeBlois (Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon (Oscar-nominated for Best Animated Feature), How to Train Your Dragon 2 (also Oscar-nominated for Best Animated Feature)), who is joined by producer Bradford Lewis (Antz, Ratatouille) and the head of character animation Simon Otto.

There are also deleted scenes, an alternate opening (with intro by filmmaker Dean DeBlois), two new animated short films — Bilby and Bird Karma — plus a whopping 11 featurettes — “How to Voice Your Viking,” “Creating an Epic Dragon Tale,” “How I Learned from Dragons,” “Brave Wilderness Presents: Nature + Dragons = Awesome,” “The Dragon Sheep Chronicles, A Deck of Dragons,” “Growing Up with Dragons,” “The Evolving Character Design of Dragons,” “Drawing Dragons,” “Epic Villain,” “Astrid's Whole Dragon Trilogy in 60 Seconds” and “Welcome to New Berk.”

Lionsgate Home Entertainment Tabs May 14 For The Home Entertainment Launch Of Liam Neeson's Cold Pursuit

Lionsgate Home Entertainment announced this past week that Norwegian filmmaker Hans Petter Moland’s English-language remake of his 2014 revenge thriller, Kraftidioten (aka: In Order of Disappearance) — re-titled for its domestic theatrical launch as Cold Pursuit — will surface as a three-SKU product offering on May 14.

This Liam Neeson action vehicle has pulled in $31.6 million and arrives in the home entertainment package media arena with an ARR of 95 days.

Planned for release are Combo Packs for both the Blu-ray (with DVD) and 4K Ultra HD (with Blu-ray) formats, plus a stand-alone DVD edition.

As to bonus goodies, common to all SKU configurations is the featurette titled “Welcome to Kehoe: Behind the Scenes on Cold Pursuit.”   Exclusive to the Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack editions are deleted scenes and video sessions with Liam Neeson and filmmaker Hans Petter Moland.

Icarus Films Tabs May 14 For The Domestic DVD Debut Of Director Laurent Tirard's The Return Of The Hero

Icarus Films will be teaming up with France’s Distrib Films on May 14 for the domestic DVD debut of director Laurent Tirard delightfully wicked comedy, The Return of the Hero.

Tirard’s film had a domestic arthouse break in August of last year and arrives with an ARR of 256 days.  

The never-ending Napoleonic Wars are the backdrop to this mischievous comedy about a test of wills and false facades.   It’s 1809 and Pauline (Noémie Merlant) is over-the-moon at the thought of marrying the dashing Capitaine Charles-Grégoire Neuville (Jean Dujardin — Best Actor Oscar-winner for his performance in The Artist), but her sister, Elisabeth (Mélanie Laurent — Inglourious Basterds) is wise to the Capitaine as a playboy and must figure out a way to stop the marriage.   

That arrives in the form of the 1809 call to arms, which includes Capitaine Neuville heading off to the front.   He promises to write Pauline every day, but that’s a meaningless bit of nonsense.   Elisabeth knows that even if he survives the war, his interest in Pauline is only sexual … he’s not likely to pursue the matter of marriage in any case.   Call that a big sigh of relief.

However, Pauline makes herself ill over her worry that Neuville will be killed in battle, which creates something of a family crisis when it appears that her broken heart will mean her death.   Her loving sister concocts a brilliant plan, she will start writing the letters that Neuville promised, but never sent … what is there to lose.

Of course it works like a charm.   Pauline recovers from death’s door with words of love from the bold and brave Capitaine Neuville.   But there is one more letter that needs to be sent once the conflict ends … the farewell letter; the kiss goodbye.   He will go off to India and never be heard from again.   Problem solved.

Now that would be a short film and leave out the best conflict.   A couple of years pass, Pauline marries some dolt and the affair of Capitaine Neuville is safely in the past.  Except, Elisabeth happens upon the drunken deserter one day and efforts to buy him off prove fruitless … she can’t let him expose her letter writing scheme and he suspects that he can take full advantage of that.   

The thought of Neuville having his way with her is so repulsive that Elisabeth must come up with a new scheme … and thus begins a test of wills.

The Return of the Hero is presented in French with English subtitles.

Arrow Video's 2K Film Restoration Of Director Carol Reed's The Running Man Available On Blu-ray On June 18

Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has tabbed June 18 as the street date for Blu-ray edition (a 2K film restoration) of director Carol Reed’s 1963 thriller, The Running Man.

Rex Black (Laurence Harvey — Room at the Top, The Manchurian Candidate, etc.) screwed up and failed to make an insurance premium payment on time and was subsequently driven out of business.   To get “even” with the insurance company, he concocts an elaborate scheme that involves him faking his own death and then collecting the insurance with the help of his wife, Stella (Lee Remick — Anatomy of a Murder).

It is a simple plan, seemingly foolproof, but as they say: “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!”   This pesky insurance agent (played by Alan Bates) just keeps showing up.   And, as a result, things get very, very complicated … but through it all, it is never as it seems.

Filmmaker Carol Reed’s The Running Man has clever plot twists galore as Rex has to stay one jump ahead of an ever-closing noose (or so it seems), with an ending that leaves one with a smile on their face at the irony of it all.

Bonus features include commentary by author Peter William Evans (“British Film-Makers: Carol Reed”), the featurette titled “On the Trail of the Running Man” and a vintage audio-only session with filmmaker Carol Reed (circa 1970). 

The Criterion Collection Announces Its June Release Slate Of New Film Restorations

The Criterion Collection announced its June line-up of film restorations set for both DVD and Blu-ray delivery during the month … the selections are bookended by a trio of films from auteur filmmaker Ingmar Bergman (June 4) and are capped-off by director Sergey Bondarchuk’s 1966 Russian epic, War and Peace (June 25).

The Film Trilogy by Ingmar Bergman (a three-disc Blu-ray set; four-disc DVD product offering) features new 2K restorations of Through a Glass Darkly (1961; domestic 1962 … Best Foreign Language Oscar-winner), Winter Light (1963) and The Silence (1963; domestic 1964).

As to bonus features, all three films include English-dubbed soundtracks, plus vintage video sessions with film historian and author Peter Cowie (“Ingmar Bergman: A Critical Biography”).

The following week, June 11, a new 2K restoration of director George Stevens’ 1936 musical masterpiece, Swing Time, which is often regarded as the best on-screen dance teaming of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers … they made ten films together and the four set-pieces in Swing Time showcase the pair at the top of their form.   Of note, “The Way You Look Tonight” won the Oscar for Best Song.

Bonus goodies include a vintage commentary featuring author John Mueller (“Astaire Dancing: The Musical Films”), a newly prepared video session with George Stevens, Jr., a new video session with film scholar Mia Mask (Professor of Film at Vassar College) focusing on the “Bojangles of Harlem” music number and vintage interviews with both Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, who are joined by choreographer Hermes Pan (nominated for an Oscar for his “Dance Direction”).

A new 2K restoration of the Soviet-era film behemoth, director Sergei Bondarchuk’s 1966 film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, arrives as double-disc Blu-ray and three-disc DVD product offerings on June 25.  

The epic, clocking in at 422 minutes (Gone With the Wind only runs 238 minutes), would capture the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Bonus features include newly prepared video sessions with cinematographer Anatoly Petritsky, filmmaker Fedor Bondarchuk (son of Sergei Bondarchuk) and historian Denise J. Youngblood (“Bondarchuk’s “War and Peace”: Literary Classic to Soviet Cinematic Epic”), plus there are two vintage documentaries on the film and a vintage 1967 television program featuring actor Lyudmila Savelyeva and Sergei Bondarchuk.

Rounding out the June selections from the Criterion Collection are L’humanité (June 18), La vie de Jésus (June 18) and Hedwig and the Angry Inch (June 25).