Paramount Home Media Picks Dec. 15 As The Release Date For DVD And Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Editions Of Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation

Paramount Home Media says “open the door!!!” on Dec. 15 for Tom Cruise’s latest box office smash, Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation.   On that date look for both DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions to be retail-ready.

The ARR is 137 days and domestic ticket sales were a robust $193.6 million.   This film franchise is a winner for Cruise and he can return as Ethan Hunt as many times as he wishes (figure 2018 for the next installment).

This is quite the year for important film franchises.   We had Avengers kicking off the summer hit parade on May 1, Mad Max made a triumph return on May 15, the dinosaurs scored big (once again) on June 12 with Jurassic World, for fans there is nothing like Arnold as the cyborg from the future in Terminator: Genisys (July 3) and bee do, bee do, bee do with The Minions the following week (July 10) and of course Mission: Impossible added a fifth chapter on July 31.   

That was just a sample of the summer fun … now comes Bond, Daniel Craig as James Bond/007 in Spectre on Nov. 6, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 on Nov. 20 and the mega-monster film franchise of them all, Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Friday, Dec. 18 (countdown clocks are all ticking away).   

Mark 2015 as the year of the Hollywood film franchise — large and small.   Fans can catch Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation, complete with Tom Cruise’s breath-taking stunt, on every device possible while they wait in line for Star Wars: The Force Awakens … the timing of the release is spot-on.

As to that much talked about “stunt,” there were no doubles in that takeoff sequence.   If the safety line snaps (which is, of course, digitally removed for the film), it’s goodbye Tom.  Can you imagine Stanley Kubrick shooting that sequence … “ahh, Tom, let’s do that one again, it wasn’t quite what I was looking for.”  “No, let’s do that one more time.”  “Tom, it’s not working for me, once again.”  Nightmares of Eyes Wide Shut (over a year of filming)!!!

Writer/director Christopher McQuarrie, who won the Oscar for his brilliant The Usual Suspects script, does a lot of smart things with this entry in the Mission: Impossible film series (very nice writing touches).   

And Cruise is relentlessly smart in knowing when to be the center of attention and when to let co-stars Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson have their moments.   Indeed, Simon Pegg as Benji seems the perfect sidekick to Cruise’s Ethan Hunt.  

This is a film that you can watch again and again and never get bored.  It flows, it moves and it is what every studio hopes for when the next installment of a film franchise is planned.

As to bonus goodies, they are all exclusive to the Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack edition.   Included are commentary with Tom Cruise and director/writer Christopher McQuarrie (he also wrote the scripts for Cruise’s Valkyrie, Jack Reacher and Edge of Tomorrow films) and seven production featurettes — “Lighting the Fuse,” “Cruise Control,” “Heroes,” “Cruising Altitude,” “Mission: Immersible,” “Sand Theft Auto” and “The Missions Continue.”

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Will Bring DVD And Blu-ray Editions Of Director Jonathan Demme’s Ricki and the Flash To Market On Nov. 24

The early trailer for director Jonathan Demme’s Ricki and the Flash gave one the impression that Meryl Streep was borrowing a film idea from Tom Cruise and doing Rock of Ages-like gig.    

While there are rock ‘n roll elements, Ricki and the Flash is more of a tale of failed family relationships, with Streep’s real-life daughter, Mamie Gummer, up-staging mom at every turn.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has selected Nov. 24 as the street date for DVD and Blu-ray SKUs.   The ARR works out to 109 days and ticket sales for the film’s August theatrical run were a lackluster $26.8 million.

Streep is certainly believable as Ricki, the aging and failed rocker, whose career choices over family never panned out, but it is Gummer as her daughter Julie who delivers the stronger of the two performances.    

She is costumed and made to look “plain Jane” — a polar opposite to her mother’s flashy and provocative style — and in doing so projects heartbreak at every turn.   She’s angry with her mother (a lifetime of reasons) and devastated over being dumped by her husband.

A nice ensemble cast — that includes Kevin Kline, Audra McDonald and Rick Springfield — does their best to perk up this downer of a film.   The musical numbers are solid, but in the end Ricki and the Flash needs more flash and less soap.

Bonus features for the DVD and Blu-ray editions include the making-of featurette titled “Getting Ready for Ricki: The Making of Ricki and the Flash.”  Exclusive to the Blu-ray are deleted scenes, a photo gallery and the featurette titled “Rediscovering Rick Springfield.”

Universal Studios Home Entertainment Tabs Oct. 27 For DVD And Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Editions Of Actor-Turn-Writer/Director Joel Edgerton’s The Gift

Universal Studios Home Entertainment announced this past week that writer/director Joel Edgerton’s tense thriller, The Gift, will be heading to the home entertainment market place on Oct. 27 as both DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions.

The ARR is a surprisingly quick 81 days, which suggests that Universal, with its very successful summer theatrical slate, is moving The Gift to market to clear the decks for the likes of The Minions, Straight Outta Compton and Ted 2.   

 For the record, ticket sales were a solid $43.7 million.

Bonus goodies include commentary from actor-turned-filmmaker Joel Edgerton (his feature film directing debut), deleted scenes, an alternate ending and pair of featurettes — “Karma for Bullies” and “The Darker Side of Jason Bateman.”

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Preps Three Helen Hays Film Vault Treasures For DVD Delivery On Oct. 6

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is a bit sluggish of late in getting the news out about its new-to-DVD film vault selections, but that can easily be forgiven and overlooked if the powers that be continue to mine those golden cinematic nuggets on a regular basis.

The latest news relates to a three-film selection that will street on Oct. 6 celebrating the career of two-time Oscar-winning actress Helen Hayes (wins for The Sin of Madelon Claudet and Airport).    

Included in the mix are Another Language (1933, opposite Robert Montgomery), What Every Woman Knows (1934, with Brian Aherne and Madge Evans) and Vanessa: Her Love Story (1935, once again teaming with Robert Montgomery).

Alert: Chad Kapper Explains Rotor DR1 - On DVD And Blu-ray From Cinema Libre On Oct. 20

Alert: Cinema Libre has DVD and Blu-ray editions of director Chad Kapper's Rotor DR1 slated for release on October 20.

Be sure to check out this production video for more details about this unique sci-fi production - click here for link: Rotor DR1 With Chad Kapper

VCI Entertainment Tabs Nov. 3 For The DVD Release Of The Return Of Wildfire

It started out as one of those “programmers” that populated post-war theatres in the late 40s, but ended up being one of the best Western films of 1948.   And it is coming to DVD on Nov. 3 courtesy of VCI Entertainment!!!

Television wasn’t a commodity as of yet and theatres were packed during the summer of 1948.   The war was over and films were needed and prolific filmmaker Ray Taylor, a master of serials (Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, Don Winslow of the Navy, The Adventures of Smilin' Jack, etc.) and Westerns — with over 150 directing credits — had the ability to shoot and edit in camera.  That was learned craft-skill where he could line up the shots, shoot quickly and then just as quickly move onto the next assignment.

His assignment from Robert L. Lippert Productions that year was The Return of Wildfire and he delivered a quick programmer (much in the style of the half-dozen PRC films that he had churned out earlier in the year), but producer/writer Carl K. Hittleman saw an opportunity to expand Taylor’s efficient work product with additional footage that would flush-out a secondary storyline that would change the film from a quickie programmer to a full-length feature.

Hittleman asked veteran film editor Paul Landres, who was already assigned to cut the film, to shoot additional location and action footage featuring Wildfire (aka: Highland Dale, the future star of the Fury television series of the mid-1950s and who had just scored big time in the 20^th Century-Fox release of Black Beauty in 1946).   

Landres did so and then brilliantly cut together the Taylor footage, featuring Richard Arlan as a range drifter who comes to the aid of sisters Pat (Patricia Morison) and Judy Marlowe (Mary Beth Hughes) after their father (Stanley Andrews) is murdered in a scheme to take over their horse ranch, with the additional footage of the prized stallion Wildfire leading “his” band of wild horses and battling a rival for dominance of the herd.  

The Return of Wildfire, instead of being a 58 to 65 minute Western programmer, was now a full-length feature clocking in at 83 minutes.

Paul Landres, who served as a film editor at Universal Studios for years, used this opportunity to “direct” — even though he received no screen credit for doing so — as a springboard to future assignments.  By the mid-1950s he became one of the most prolific television series directors with episode work on such series as Mr. and Mrs. North, Topper, The Cisco Kid, Boston Blackie and The Lone Ranger (and many more).

The Return of Wildfire makes its DVD debut on Nov. 3 under the release banner of Western Double Feature, so film buffs and Western fans not only get this 1948 film gem, but VCI Entertainment has teamed it with Last of the Wild Horses, which has a story all of its own.

Producer Robert L. Lippert was so pleased with Landres work on The Return of Wildfire during the summer of 1948, he offered another opportunity for the Lippert Pictures’ Christmas release of Last of the Wild Horses.   Lippert took the producing and directing credit, but one suspects that most of the work here is from Paul Landres (who got credit for film editing).

James Ellison (The Plainsman, The Undying Monster, I Walked with a Zombie, etc.) stars as Duke Barnum, a cowboy who is mistaken for an outlaw and murderer.   But with the help of the winsome Terry Williams (played by Mary Beth Hughes) he is able to clear his name and reputation in a climatic courtroom showdown. 

Last of the Wild Horses — also feature-length — is not quite in the same league as The Return of Wildfire, but in the context of being the under-bill on this Western Double Feature DVD release it fits perfect.   VCI Entertainment has a real winner here!!

Paramount Home Media Readies Blu-ray And DVD Editions Of Extant: The Second Season On Dec. 15

Halle Berry returns on Dec. 15 as astronaut Molly Woods in both DVD and Blu-ray editions of Extant: The Second Season.

In the first season she returned to earth from a 13-month “solo” mission in space pregnant, which is mystery enough, but she also has to deal with the Humanichs Project — a plan to create a race of superior AI robots.   Her “offspring” has ever-growing powers and there is a closely guarded secret about a forthcoming invasion … quite the excitement for just 13 thrill-packed episodes.

Now comes season two, Molly doubts her sanity, aliens are here … and the terror of the Humanichs Project continues its relentless expansion.   Is this the end of humankind?

Bonus features include six featurettes — “Extant: A Look At Season 2,” “The Carnival Of The Mind,” “Chemistry: Molly & JD,” “The Season Finale,” “Two Humanichs: Ethan & Lucy” and “A Tour of the Sets — while deleted scenes are exclusive to the Blu-ray SKU.

Paramount Home Media is teaming with Nickelodeon on Dec. 8 for the four-disc DVD launch of Dora and Friends: Season 1, the newly-created spin-off of the original Dora the Explorer children’s educational series.

This four-disc collection showcases 18 Dora adventures (including two double-length episodes), with viewing options in both English and Spanish.   14 of the adventures can also be viewed in French!