Paramount Home Media Distribution Announces New DVD And Blu-ray Releases For Early July

Paramount Home Media Distribution unleashed a flurry of new Blu-ray and DVD SKUs that are scheduled to be retail-ready during the first two street-date Tuesdays in July (July 7 and July 14).

Leading the parade — and streeting on on July 14 — is the latest two-and-a-half hour collection of Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael adventures, which is titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Return to NYC!    

Included in this collection of seven thrill-packed adventures is the recently aired two-part episode, Battle for New York Part 1 and Battle for New York Part 2, which finds the boys locked in battle with Kraang Subprime and his minions with the future of the people of New York City at stake!

Bonus features include “Mutation of a Scene” for all seven episodes.

Also streeting on July 14 is the five-disc Blu-ray collection of I Love Lucy: The Ultimate Season Two.   This particular season had the best Lucy episode ever … “Job Switching,” which Lucy fans know as the “Lucy and the Chocolate Factory” fiasco.    It gets special treatment in this collection with a newly-prepared colorized presentation and a French-Canadian listening option.

Bonus nuggets include a May of 1953 comedy sketch from The Red Skelton Show and a 1952 broadcast of Stars in the Eye showcasing the cast from I Love Lucy.

Comedy Central is teaming with Paramount Home Media Distribution on July 7 for three DVD volumes of Comedy Central Stand-Up Vault.   Three-hours of stand-up comedy is included on each DVD presentation from such greats as Ron White, Jeff Dunham, Zach Galifianakis, Patton Oswalt, Amy Schumer and more.

And lastly, July 7 brings to retail the three-disc DVD collection from Nickelodeon, Play Date Pack, featuring Dora, the Bubble Guppies and more ... a total of seven hours of fun-packed animated adventures.

Olive Films Announces Four Blaxploitation Classics From The 1970s For Blu-ray And DVD On June 9

Olive Films goes for a Blaxploitation vibe on June 9 with four classic films on both DVD and Blu-ray from the Golden Era of 1970s — one each from 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1975, with three of the four starring the timeless Pam Grier.

In chronological order we kick off with director Bruce Clark’s 1972 film, Hammer, starring former Oakland Raider football player Fred Williamson in the title role.   He’s an up-and-coming boxer who gets tangled up with some questionable promoters, but when they grab his girl (Vonetta McKee) and threaten to do harm to her, if he doesn’t throw a fight, it is hell to pay … smash, smash, smash goes the HAMMER!

The selection on Blu-ray and DVD from 1973 is writer/director Jack Hill’s Coffy, starring the tough-as-nails Pam Grier as Coffy, a sweet young nurse who takes on the mob when her sister falls victim to their drugs. 

She becomes the perfect vigilante, but when she discovers that someone very close to her is not only crooked, but sleeping around, it is a vengeance she deals out that he (Booker Bradshaw) will not soon forget!

So good was Pam Grier in Coffy — both acting and as a commercial success (money maker) — iconic filmmaker Jack Hill (The Big Doll House, The Swinging Cheerleaders, Switchblade Sisters, etc.) re-teamed with her in 1974 for Foxy Brown.  While Coffy made her a rising star in the world of exploitation cinema, Foxy Brown made Pam Grier an out-and-out superstar.

The same revenge formula that worked so well in Coffy is repeated — this could almost be a sequel — as Foxy Brown (Pam Grier) takes to the streets as a hooker to ferret out those who were responsible for her lover’s murder.   They can run, they can try to hide and they can beg when found, but there is no mercy!!!

Lastly, the 1975 film entry is director Arthur Marks’ Friday Foster, which also stars Pam Grier, who is teamed with Yaphet Kotto (fresh from the success of Across 110^th Street and as Bond villain Mr. Big in Live and Let Die) in a more elaborate story.   Grier gets to go more up-scale as a character, playing a magazine photographer who gets caught-up in an international scheme to assassinate various black leaders from around the world.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Prepares Both DVD And Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Editions Of Scooby-Doo! and KISS: Rock And Roll Mystery For Delivery To Retail On July 21

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has selected July 21 as the release date for DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions of Scooby-Doo, Shaggy and the rest of the Mystery, Inc. gang’s latest feature-length animated adventure/mystery, Scooby-Doo! and KISS: Rock And Roll Mystery.

The challenge for KISS and Scooby-Doo comes in the form of the Crimson Witch, whose power threatens to bring The Destroyer from another dimension.    

Even though the fate of the world is at stake, KISS does manage to find the time to rock out with six classic tunes, plus the presentation of a brand new song exclusive to the film.

The Criterion Collection Prepares Its July Blu-ray And DVD Release Slate

The Criterion Collection has its July release slate in place and once again it is an exciting mix of DVD and Blu-ray product offerings.

Kicking off the month is the July 7 double feature release of director Robert Siodmak’s 1946 version of Ernest Hemingway’s The Killers (Burt Lancaster) and filmmaker Don Siegel’s 1964 remake starring Lee Marvin.   

New transfers of both films for the Blu-ray also includes vintage interviews and a 1949 Screen Director’s Playhouse radio adaptation starring Burt Lancaster and Shelley Winters.

July 14^th brings a new 4K digital transfer (supervised by director of photography Caleb Deschanel) of director Carroll Ballard’s 1979 film adaptation of the Walter Farley 1941 adventure novel, The Black Stallion.

In addition to newly-prepared video sessions featuring Caleb Deschanel and director Pigs! (1965), The Perils of Priscilla (1969), Rodeo (1969), Seems Like Only Yesterday (1971) and Crystallization (1974).

Carroll Ballard there are five short films from Carroll Ballard —

Also streeting on July 14 are Blu-ray and DVD editions of French New Wave filmmaker Alain Resnais’ 1959 film, Hiroshima mon Amour and Swedish filmmaker Jan Troell’s 1966 film release of Here’s Your Life.

Rounding out the month on July 21 are two new Blu-ray and DVD film releases … director Stephen Frears’ 1985 film release of My Beautiful Laundrette (new video sessions with director Stephen Frears and producer Colin MacCabe) and Wes Anderson’s 2012 film release of Moonrise Kingdom (previously released by Universal Studios), which has a new hi-def digital transfer, commentary by Anderson and a behind-the-scenes featurette featuring Bill Murray.

Mae Whitman Stars In The DUFF From Lionsgate Home Entertainment On DVD And Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack On June 9

Lionsgate Home Entertainment has selected June 9 as the street date for director Ari Sandel’s laugh-out-loud funny film adaptation of Kody Keplinger’s high school-hell novel, The DUFF.   DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions will be available.

The Duff, starring voice actress and former child star Mae Whitman (the voice of Tinker Bell — among others — and in such films as When a Man Loves a Woman, Independence Day, Nights in Rodanthe, One Fine Day, etc.) in what is clearly a breakout role for her, has an ARR of 109 days and domestic ticket sales currently stand at $33.8 million.

This could be the next Diary of a Wimpy Kid-like franchise (with a Mean Girl twist) … The Duff is a smart, funny look at high school life as lived by a wallflower teen.   Keplinger has more tales on the way and it would not come as a surprise if Whitman is recruited to reprise her role as “Designated Ugly Fat Friend” Bianca Piper in a quick follow-up.

Bonus goodies include a gag reel and four featurettes — “The DUFF Hits The Red Carpet,” “Bringing the Book to Life,” “I Am the DUFF” and “Teen Comedies and The DUFF.”

Chappie On Blu-ray And DVD From Sony Pictures Home Entertainment On June 16

OK, we get it, writer/director Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 was about South African race relations dressed up as a sci-fi thriller.   Elysium was about the so-called “one-percenters” taking everything for themselves and leaving the rest to starve … dressed up as a sci-fi thriller.   

His latest, Chappie, due out on DVD and Blu-ray from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on June 16 is more of the same.   And judging from the domestic box office take of just $31.3 million genre fans are onto Blomkamp’s one-note dreary samba — distorted and unjust political landscapes presented as cutting-edge sci-fi.    

For the record, the ARR is a quick-to-market 88 days.

Bonus features an alternate ending, eight featurettes and an extended scene.

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Tabs June 2 As The Street Date For DVD And Blu-ray Editions Of McFarland U.S.A.

Kevin Costner’s latest feel-good sports tale, director Niki Caro’s McFarland, USA, will be ready for the home entertainment market place on June 2 as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings … so says Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

The ARR is 102 days and theatrical ticket sales were right at $43 million.

As to bonus goodies, there will be both deleted and extended scenes, a pair of production featurettes — “McFarland Reflections” and “Inspiring McFarland” — and the music video by Juanes (aka: Juan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez) titled “Juntos.”