Paramount Home Media Will Debut Blaze and the Monster Machines: Blaze of Glory On DVD This Coming Feb. 17

Paramount Home Media Distribution will be ready for action on Feb. 17 when the latest Nickelodeon animated series — a family-friendly series that is dedicated to science, technology, engineering and math — makes its DVD debut.   

Titled Blaze and the Monster Machines: Blaze of Glory, we join Blaze, a monster-wheeled truck and his driver, AJ, on a series of adventures and challenges that turn on scientific disciplines in order to solve problems and complete their tasks.  These often involve Crusher, a tractor-trailer that is not beneath taking short cuts and using brute strength to win races.

Also from Paramount and Nickelodeon on Feb. 17 is the seven-episode DVD collection (nearly two-and-a-half hours of fun) titled Nickelodeon Favorites: Springtime Adventures.   Included in the mix are spring-themed adventures featuring Dora the Explorer, Bubble Guppies, Team Umizoomi, Blue’s Clues and more.

Lastly, Feb. 17 also marks the street date for the DVD debut of Max & Ruby: Sweet Siblings.

Olive Films Adds Five New DVD And Blu-ray Editions On Jan. 27, Including Pork Chop Hill And King: The Martin Luther King Story

It was revealed this past week that Olive Films will release four films, plus Abby Mann’s 1978 Emmy-nominated mini-series, King: The Martin Luther King Story, on both Blu-ray and DVD this coming Jan. 27.

First, on the film front, we begin with director Lewis Milestone’s 1959 Korean War masterpiece, Pork Chop Hill, starring Gregory Peck along with Harry Guardino, George Peppard, Woody Strode, Robert Blake and Rip Torn.   As with Milestone’s All Quiet on the Western Front and A Walk in the Sun, the action is very much from the POV of the ordinary soldier … often put into impossible situations and yet they find the courage and the will to overcome the events of the day that will all too soon be forgotten.

Other films in the mix are director Frank Capra’s 1959 comedy, A Hole in the Head, starring Frank Sinatra, Edward G. Robinson, Eleanor Parker, Carolyn Jones and Thelma Ritter; the 1974 blaxploitation comedy Amazing Grace, starring Moms Mabley, Slappy White, Rosalind Cash and Moses Gunn, and actress turned writer/director Bonnie Hunt’s 2000 romantic comedy, Return to Me, teaming Minnie Driver with David Duchovny.

Timed for delivery for the Black History Month is Abby Mann’s mini-series, King: The Martin Luther King Story, starring Paul Winfield as the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., with Cicely Tyson as Coretta Scott King (both were nominated for Emmys).

Dracula Untold To Be Released As DVD And Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Editions By Universal Studios Home Entertainment On Feb. 3

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has targeted Feb. 3 as the release date for a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack edition (with UltraViolet) of director Gary Shore’s Dracula Untold.   A stand-alone DVD SKU will also be available on this first street-date Tuesday of February.

The ARR for Dracula Untold is 116 days and domestic ticket sales were a tasty $55.9 million.

The origins of Dracula (aka: Vlad the Impaler) are revisited (very much in the spirit of Coppola’s 1992 Dracula) in this clever saga about the Ottoman Empire’s invasion of Christian Romania with only Vlad (Luke Evans — The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Fast & Furious 6, Clash of the Titans, etc.) standing in their way.   When the invaders make the assault on his land personal, he, as legend has it, found a dark and brutal power to resist.

Bonus features here include commentary from filmmaker Gary Shore (making his debut here), who is joined by Production Designer François Audouy (The Wolverine, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter), five featurettes, including one titled “Luke Evans: Creating a Legend” and an alternate opening and deleted scenes (both include optional commentary by Shore).

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment's Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Heads To DVD And Blu-ray On Feb. 10

News arrived from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment this past week that director Miguel Arteta’s film adaptation of Judith Viorst’s illustrated children’s book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, will be heading to the home entertainment arena as DVD and Blu-ray SKUs on Feb. 10.

The ARR for this early 2015 release date works out to 123 days.   Domestic ticket sales for this Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner family comedy vehicle came to $64.1 million.

Bonus features include the featurette titled “Alexander … In Real Life” (that is exclusive to the Blu-ray SKU), plus “Snappy Crocs And Punchy Roos: the Australian Outback Yard Party,” “Walkabout: A Video Diary,” a blooper reel and The Vamps’ music video, “Hurricane.”

Blu-ray And DVD Editions Of The Best Of Me Will Be Dumped In The Home Entertainment Market Place By 20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment On Feb. 3

The Relativity Media film production of novelist Nicholas Sparks' The Best of Me — adapted for the screen by director Michael Hoffman (Restoration, Promised Land, The Last Station, etc.) — has been assigned a Feb. 3 street date for the release of both DVD and Blu-ray editions by 20^th Century-Fox Home Entertainment.

As has become the modus operandi for the studio’s home entertainment division of late there will be little effort made in promoting this latest Nicholas Sparks novel-to-screen release.   Of course, there is also no word at this time on any bonus materials that might be included in either the DVD or Blu-ray SKUs.

For the record the ARR is 109 days and ticket sales at the local multiplex were light at just $26.4 million.

Paramount Home Media Distribution Announces The Jan. 20 DVD Debut For Director William H. Macey's Rudderless

Paramount Home Media Distribution will deliver actor-turned-filmmaker William H. Macey’s Rudderless, a tale of tragedy and redemption as a DVD-only release this coming Jan. 20.

This lovely little film arrives in the home entertainment market place after working the film festival circuit and then moving to a very limited post-Labor Day theatrical showcase run.   The ARR is 95 days and ticket sales currently stand at $58,293.

Every year there are a few of these beauties that are best described as actor’s actor films … a small budget, a terrific script and a “named” actor taking on the role for the love of the process.   Here it is Billy Crudup, who has scored in such films as Almost Famous, The Good Shepherd and The Hi-Lo Country, who gets a script and a character that actor’s would kill for.

He plays Sam, a man whose life has come undone after the tragic death of his son Josh (played by Miles Heizer).    In the two years that has passed since that fateful day he has pissed away a career, become estranged from his wife Emily (Felicity Huffman) and now spends his time on a boat (anchored) drunk or getting drunk.   The day his son died he also died.  

Billy Crudup delivers this lost life angst in spades … it is a killer performance.   But he’s not alone here as events unfold in a serendipitous way that finds Sam in possession of the music that his son has written.   Since we know Crudup has the chops to deliver a song (he was, after all, Russell Hammond in Almost Famous) — and spends most of his time drunk or getting drunk — it comes as no surprise that he’d sing one or two at an open mic night at the local watering hole (Trill Tavern run by Macey).   

It is here that he meets Quentin (Anton Yelchin — perhaps best known to audiences as the new Pavel Chekov in the rebooted Star Trek series), who absolutely loves the music.   Before you know it they form a band and begin performing Josh’s music.   And shock of shocks, Anton Yelchin delivers a performance that matches Crudup’s note for note.   

Rudderless, a film that needs to be seen in the home entertainment market place this January ... and not lost in the clutter and noise of the post-Christmas rush of new product releases.   It is a film that is blessed with strong performances, a haunting script ‑ that covers the whole range of emotions — and a soundtrack that can stand on its own (Eef Barzelay of Clem Snide, Brit-rocker Simon Steadman, Charlton Pettus and Ben Limpic all contribute music here).

Bonus features include the featurette titled “Hear This Song,” deleted scenes and the Selena Gomez/Ben Kweller music video, “Hold On.”

Mill Creek Entertainment Announces A 21-Strong DVD Release Slate For The Month Of February

Mill Creek Entertainment announced this past week a 21-strong selection of new DVD product offerings that will arrive in two waves during the month of February.

The first group comes crashing home on Feb. 3 and features the seven-film, three-disc collection titled 7 Shades of Sexy.    Carrying a $14.98 price point, this collection of seven “intense and seductive” films includes Bliss (1997, Craig Sheffer, Sheryl Lee, Leigh Taylor-Young and Terence Stamp are featured), Angie Everhart and Daniel Baldwin team in Bare Witness, brother Steven is on hand with Kari Wuhrer in Spider’s Web and James Spader stars with Joanne Whalley-Kilmer and Jason Robards in Storyville.

Rounding out the films in 7 Shades of Sexy are Impulse, Youth Without Youth (2007 with Tim Roth and Alexandra Maria Lara) and Where the Truth Lies (2005, Kevin Bacon).

Also on Feb. 3 and priced at just $9.98 each are four double-features arriving under the “Remake Rewind Double Feature” promotional banner.   The original D.O.A. from 1950, starring Edmond O'Brien, Pamela Britton and Beverly Garland, is billed with the 1988 remake of D.O.A. starring Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan.   

Others in the mix are Gloria (1980, Gena Rowlands) and Gloria (1999, Sharon Stone), The End of the Affair (1955, Van Johnson and Deborah Kerr) and The End of the Affair (1999, Ralph Fiennes and Julianne Moore) and lastly, both versions of When a Stranger Calls.

Rounding out the Feb. 3 selections are Roxanne, starring Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah, Man of the Year (starring Tommy Lee Jones), a double-disc presentation of Maude: The Complete First Season and the DVD debut of Canterbury's Law: The Complete Series starring Julianna Margulies as defense attorney Elizabeth Canterbury — all six episodes of this short-run series are featured here.

Two weeks later — Jan. 17 — Mill Creek Entertainment is back with the next wave of new DVD selections.   This group is a kidvid bonanza that features eight “Retro TV Toons” SKUs and four Baby First presentations.

Arriving under the “Retro TV Toons” promotional banner are selections from such animated series as Dungeons & Dragons, The H.E.A.T. is On!, Godzilla: The Animated Series, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe,  Jumanji - The Animated Series, Where on Earth is Carman Sandiego, Wish Kid - The Complete Series and a double-disc helping of Action Man the Complete Series.

Baby First DVDs include Baby First: Joey's Toy Box, Baby First: Peek-a-Boo, I See You, Baby First: The Best of Baby First, Volume 3 - Baby Playpen and Baby First: Tillie Knock Knock.    All are priced at just $9.98 each.

For more information on these February releases — or other Mill Creek Entertainment priced-to-own DVD and Blu-ray releases — please visit the company’s website at Mill Creek Entertainment.