Warner Home Video Begins 2014 With Extensive DVD And Blu-ray Catalog Push

Warner Home Video wasted no time at the start of 2014 to pepper its DVD and Blu-ray release calendar with a slew of new product offerings.

In chronological order we need to look no further than Jan. 14 for the arrival of Fibber McGee and Molly Double Feature, which features the comedy duo in Here We Go Again and Heavenly Days.   The following week, Jan. 21, there are two Western-themed collections being made available, Kirby Grant and Chinook Adventure Triple Feature, Volume 2 (a three-film collection that includes: The Wolf Hunters, Snow Dog and Call of the Klondike) and the Monogram Cowboy Collection #7 (nine vintage B-Westerns from the Poverty Row” studio spread over three discs: Trigger Fingers, Whistling Hills, Man from the Black Hills, Saddle Serenade, Across the Rio Grande, Gunslingers, Silver Raiders, Arizona Territory and Lawless Cowboys).

On Mar. 25 is the latest animated Scooby-Doo! feature film — available on both DVD and as a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack (with UltraViolet) — Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery.

Getting a Blu-ray push on Apr. 15 are Rock Star and Vanilla Sky … the following week, Apr. 22, look for five action flicks making their debut as hi-def product offerings: Conspiracy Theory, Exit Wounds, Get Carter (with Michael Caine), Get Carter (Sly Stallone remake) and Torque.

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

Thor: The Dark World Ready For The Home Entertainment Market Place On Feb. 25

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has discovered the secret to marketing new DVD and Blu-ray releases.   Gather around and learn … you will be amazed!!!

It’s simple.  It’s eloquent.  And their stockholders must absolutely love it (along with their cheering over this year’s Razzie Award frontrunner).  The secret is: Do as little as possible … their films simply sell themselves.   They are, after all, Disney.

That’s being a little harsh, but the studio does have this tradition of believing that because they are Disney there is little that needs to be done beyond the waving of a magical wand (or would that be the Royal Wave?) when it comes to setting street dates for their products (and everything that follows after that).   

They simply slap old Walt’s name on it and their job is done.   Sales, marketing and publicity are just afterthoughts ... and they never give a whip about the competition.

The studio is in that mode right now.   Been that way for a few months.  Maybe they will wake up and snap out of it, or maybe they won’t.   So why are they sleepwalking their new product announcements right now?   The answer is simple … they are DISNEY!

The latest example in this head-in-the-clouds product launch (or, perhaps, anatomically elsewhere) is the recent theatrical hit from Marvel, Thor: The Dark World.  It is heading to the home entertainment market place as a three-SKU product offering on Feb. 25 — single-disc DVD and Blu-ray editions, plus a 3D/2D/DVD Combo Pack (which also features Digital Copy), but their PR people are giving every indication that they will not be supporting it.

For the record, the ARR is 109 days and domestic ticket sales currently stand at a hefty $202.4 million.   You would think that with that magnitude of box office success those collecting paychecks over at Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment would at least go through the motions in promoting their home entertainment releases.   

As to bonus features, in addition to a gag reel and deleted scenes, director Alan Taylor and producer Kevin Feige will be providing commentary … they are joined by cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau and actor Tom Hiddleston.

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

John Wayne: Bigger Than Life DVD Collection From Film Chest On Jan. 28

Film Chest announced this past week that a three-disc DVD collector’s set containing over seven hours of film material honoring screen legend John Wayne will be available on Jan. 28.  

Titled John Wayne: Bigger Than Life, the collection begins with director Andrew V. McLaglen’s 1963 Western, McLintock!, which teams John Wayne with Maureen O'Hara, Stefanie Powers and Patrick Wayne, plus an impressive array of co-stars that includes Chill Wills, Edgar Buchanan, Strother Martin and Yvonne De Carlo.

There are also three documentary feature films, The American West of John Ford, No Substitute for Victory and John Wayne: Bigger Than Life, plus some vintage television guest appearances, including People are Funny, The Colegate Comedy Hour and The Lucy Show.    

And more, including the 1958 television series episode, Wide Wide World: The Western.

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

 

 

It's Better To Jump Documentary On DVD From Cinema Libre Jan. 28

Symbols can be powerful things.   Such is the subject of Cinema Libre’s Jan. 28 DVD debut of documentary filmmakers Gina Angelone, Patrick Stewart and Mouna Stewart’s It’s Better to Jump.

In the northern most reaches of Israel is the ancient city of Acre or Akka (Arabic), which has been continuously occupied — plus conquered and re-conquered — for over 3,500 years.   It has been a literal crossroads of cultures — name a Mediterranean or Asia Minor power from antiquity and they’ve been and left their mark.   

The symbol that the filmmakers have used to describe the city — and it’s cultural diversity — is the remains of the ancient seawall, a massive structure that juts out into the Mediterranean.   

For the locals, despite signs that read “Do Not Jump,” it has become both a symbol of life and something of a rite of passage for many of those of Palestinian heritage.   It is a political statement as well as one of culture, religion and even of “resistance.”

It may seem a simple thing.  Even a dangerous thing to do, but as we discover from the people that we meet in It’s Better to Jump, this simple and dangerous thing — jumping into the unforgiving sea — has great meaning.

Bonus features include additional interviews not used in the final cut of the documentary.

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

 

For More Information On This Cinema Libre DVD Release - Click Here:  It's Better To Jump

Mad About Men Comedy Romp Heads To DVD From VCI Entertainment On Apr. 8

Two words: Gleynis Johns.   She returns as Miranda — the lovely, but oh so seductive mermaid from the 1948 film of the same title — on Apr. 8 when VCI Entertainment brings the DVD debut of director Ralph Thomas’ glorious Technicolor comedy, Mad About Men, to the home entertainment market place.

She pulls double-duty here as both the mermaid Miranda, who meets her look-alike “relative” Caroline, and in short order the two come up with a clever plan to switch places for a fortnight.   Caroline feigns an accident that will leave her wheel chair-bound (the blanket to disguise Miranda’s true features) and goes off on a bike trek to get away from it all.

With Miranda back among men, she wastes little time creating chaos.  Her first target is Caroline’s fiance Ronald (Peter Martyn), a dislikable public works bureaucrat, who has been dumping garbage into Miranda’s ocean.   She’ll fix that!

Once she gets rolling no man is safe.  Included in her flirtations is Colonel Barclay Sutton (Nicholas Phipps), the amore of the stuffy Barbara (Anne Crawford), who begins plotting an elaborate revenge on “Caroline” (that is sure to backfire).   Jeff (Donald Sinden) also becomes a target, which drives Ronald, who can’t figure what has gone wrong with his marriage plans, absolutely crazy.

Mad About Men is a terrific comedy, with a nifty twist ending — not to be revealed here — plus the iconic “Miss Marple,” Margaret Rutherford is on hand in a key comedic role. 

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

 

 

Green Apple Entertainment Says That It Is Surf Party Time On Mar. 4

Green Apple Entertainment has tabbed Mar. 4 as the DVD debut date for National Lampoon’s latest film comedy about surfing, sun, babes and beer from filmmaker Sam Pillsbury, which is appropriately titled, Surf Party.

It’s Ventura (all shot on location) and the summer of 1984 with Khan Chittenden starring as J.D., a college-bound surfer, whose only concern right at the moment is the surf, the sun and having a good time with the local beach girls.   The books can wait until the Labor Day weekend arrives!

The local “Moondoggie” (borrowing from that 1959 surfing classic, Gidget), who provides surfing wisdom, life lessons, etc., is Mooney (played to perfection by Matthew Lillard), an aging surfer who has designed a state-of-the-art board for J.D..   It quickly becomes the center of the film, when after a few choice rides, it is stolen by a rival surfer from the Valley (the San Fernando Valley that is).   

Of course this macguffin becomes the excuse for a road movie — and all that goes with it — that involves J.D. recruiting his friends to get his ride back.   Since John “J. D.” Drury provided the script, we suspect that the underpinnings of the story might be grounded in an actual experience (embellished of course and over-layered with the National Lampoon brand).   

Surf Party is a fun diversion that has the requisite T&A, surf-culture silliness, a sweet soundtrack and some nice surprises — Joan Jett doing a cool bit as a burned out beach bum whose sharp eye sets J.D. on the right track in getting the iconic board back!

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

Image Entertainment Sets Superhero Sparks Thriller For A DVD Rollout On Mar. 11

Writer/director Christopher Folino teamed with fellow filmmaker Todd Burrows for the award-winning combination film noir and superhero thriller Sparks (based on the comic book series of the same name), which will be making its way to DVD on Mar. 11 courtesy of Image Entertainment.

A throwback film — set in the noirish timeframe of the 1940s — finds Ian Sparks (Chase Williamson — John Dies at the End) trying to make the best of it after his parents are tragically killed in an auto accident.   At first all seems wonderful when this would-be masked avenger hooks up with the stunning Lady Heavenly (played to perfection by Ashley Bell, who appears to be doing all of her own stunts — best known as Nell in The Last Exorcism and The Last Exorcism, Part II) and they are able to combine their passion for crime fighting with romance.  But their bliss is shaken to the core when they cross paths with Metanza, a serial killer and an utterly ruthless villain.

It may come as a surprise to some — even shock — but Metanza is played by the comic book series co-creator, William Katt, who knows just a little bit about superheros.   Just take his Ralph Hinkley character from The Greatest American Hero and turn it completely inside out and upside down … that’s the evil of Metanza.

Not only do you have a top front line cast in Folino’s Sparks with Williamson, Katt and Bell, but the supporting cast is also top-notch (Clint Howard, Clancy Brown and Jake Busey … among others) and both the special effects and all of the post-filming work (editing, music, etc.) belie the production budget … it is easily what you would expect from a similar studio-level film production (how they pulled it off has be a combination of industry experience and planning).

No word at this time on bonus features … or if the film is going to get a brief theatrical break during the run up to its DVD debut.   This is certainly one worth marking on your must-see calendar come Mar. 11.

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report