Icarus Films Teams With The KimStim Collection For The Domestic DVD And Blu-ray Release Of Filmmaker Hu Bo's An Elephant Sitting Still On Dec. 10

Icarus Film will be teaming up with The KimStim Collection on Dec. 10 for the domestic home entertainment launch of filmmaker Hu Bo’s An Elephant Sitting Still.   Both DVD and Blu-ray editions will be available on that date.

It has been a long and winding road to market for this award-winning film from Chinese filmmaker Hu Bo.   It opened at the Berlin International Film Festival in February of last year, where it won the Forum FIPRESCI Prize and the Best First Feature Award and was nominated for the Forum C.I.C.A.E. Award.

It was quite the feat for a first-time filmmaker, especially so for a film that clocks in at a remarkable 230 minutes.   The irony is that Hu Bo did not complete his film, but committed suicide during its production … the film was finished by a team assembled from China’s FIRST Film Festival.

Once completed, An Elephant Sitting Still then marched out on an epic film festival run, pulling down wins at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, Dublin International Film Festival, Philadelphia Film Festival and more.   Around May of last year KimStim acquired North American distribution rights and then opened the film theatrically for a limited arthouse showcase in March of this year.

For the record, the ARR comes in at 277 days.

Somewhere in a remote city in China we meet four of its residents and follow them over the course of a single day.  The four have little in common.   

One is a smalltime thug by the name of Yu Cheng (Zhang Yu — Ciao Ciao, Dying to Survive), who is rattled by the suicide of his best friend.  The next is Wei Bu (Peng Yuchang — Our Shining Days, The Last Wish), who runs away when he pushes the school bully down a flight of stairs.  His schoolmate, Huang Ling (Wang Uvin, aka: Wang Yuwen — Nice to Meet You), joins him — she’s been sleeping with the school’s principal.  And finally we have an old man by the name of Wang Jin (Liu Congxi — Her Father His Father) whose family wants to pack him off to a retirement facility.

They gather by chance and soon the topic of conversation turns to the story an elephant, living in the remote border city of Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia (bordering Russia), who ignores the world and just sits there.  They must see this and so they set off to find it (think: Stand by Me … the characters going off in search of a dead body) … a journey of escape, to see perhaps an imaginary creature, but nonetheless a journey.   

An Elephant Sitting Still is presented in Mandarin with English subtitles.

Also included on the Blu-ray is a short film by Hu Bo titled Man in the Well.

Cleopatra Entertainment Selects Jan. 21 For The DVD And Blu-ray Debut Of Documentary Filmmaker Brian A. Loschiavo’s Bluebird

Rather than being a honky-tonk café serving catfish and fries, Amy Kurland opened her little restaurant with the thought in mind of bringing a little upscale dining to Nashville.   That was in 1982 when she opened the Bluebird Café and, as history (or is legend?) records, she put in a small stage as something of an afterthought (for the occasional — emphasis on “occasional” — music performance).   

Little did she realize that a music landmark was being born.   Cleopatra Entertainment, with sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, will be opening the New Year with the Jan. 21 Blu-ray and DVD debut of documentary filmmaker Brian A. Loschiavo’s Bluebird. 

The film made its first appearance at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March of this year, played the Nashville Film Festival in October and Cleopatra will be giving Bluebird a limited theatrical showcase run beginning on Nov. 19.  The mid-January home entertainment launch will allow the film to reach a much wider audience.

The Bluebird Café has become a Nashville institution — only 90 seats — having been featured in the Nashville television series and in director Peter Bogdanovich’s 1993 film, The Thing Called Love (with Sandra Bullock and River Phoenix … his last film), it is the place where Taylor Swift was discovered (at just 14) and Garth Brooks got his start with the café’s “songwriters-in-the-round” (aka: “Writer’s Night”) weekly showcase for new talent.    Even Alan Jackson’s first big hit (which he co-wrote with one of the bartenders, seriously, one of the staff of the Bluebird Café) was presented at the place.

Producer and filmmaker Brian A. Loschiavo knows the Bluebird Café well and was more than happy to tell the history.   He does just that with an introduction and then a series of vignettes, including one with Kathy Mattea about the origins of her 1991 Grammy-winning song “Where've You Been” and fellow Grammy-winner (four times over) Jason Isbell relates how he was so nervous performing a new song that he wrote, that he sang the lines out of order — people loved it, so he left “Streetlights” as is (true story).

Others interviewed in the film include Steve Earle, Vince Gil, Faith Hill, Kacey Musgraves, Trisha Yearwood and more!  Mark this one on your must-see calendar come Jan. 21 in the New Year, you will not be disappointed!!

Bayview Entertainment Tabs Nov. 5 For The DVD Debut Of Writer/Director Peter Monet's Hot Knives

Bayview Entertainment has selected Nov. 5 for the DVD debut of writer/director Peter Monet’s stoner comedy, Hot Knives, starring “Harry Knuckles” himself, Phil Caracas (Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter, The Dead Sleep Easy and cult star of the Harry Knuckles short films and mini-series), as Stan, the man on a mission.

Ottawa, may not be the crossroads of world cinema in Canada — Canada’s city of Toronto gets that honor — but when local television producer and documentary filmmaker, Peter Monet and local acting celebrity Phil Caracas got together one night (over drinks as rumor has it) a five-year film odyssey began.   A plan was hit upon to shoot Bayview Entertainment Tabs Nov. 5 For The DVD Debut Of Writer/Director Peter Monet's Hot Knivesa movie in Ottawa for next to nothing, and do it over five consecutive summers.   The result, Hot Knives, a stoner/slacker comedy, satire and, well, performance art piece … like an abstract painting assembled a little bit at a time.

The story arc is simple enough, Stan is a nebbish lay about who is into drug experimentation, but he does have a hot neighbor and when her dog goes missing, he suddenly has meaning in his life … if he can just remember from one day to the next what the mission is.

His quest takes place over five days, which is not only bizarre because of Star constantly partying with his slacker friends, but because Monet shot the film over a five-year period.   Same characters, same actors, which means that if an actor was, oh say, clean shaven on day one, by day four or five of Stan’s dog-seeking adventure he might have a full beard.   Talk about weird.

During the filmmaking process, Peter Monet, who is also into the local music scene, contacted — literally — every band, group or recording artist in the Ottawa area and them contribute music to the film.   They all chipped in, which makes the Hot Knives soundtrack read like a who’s who of the Ottawa music scene.

Hot Knives is a film that would make Cheech and Chong, Jesse and Chester and all of the stoners proud. 

In other early November DVD release news from Bayview Entertainment, Nov. 5 also brings writer/director Richard Tanner’s FrankenThug to market … a gang shooting, a science experiment gone wrong and suddenly the streets of Atlanta are the home to the recently departed, a drug-dealer by the name of Detriot Jones (Soze Bagley in his film debut), who is out for revenge against the gang who gunned him down … and anyone else who gets in the way.

Also streeting on Nov. 5 is writer/director John Bacchus’ (aka: Z. Winston Brown) Vampiyaz, starring Richard Carroll, Jr. (The Coolest White Boy Ever, Bloodz vs. Wolvez) as a ghetto thug who suddenly finds that vampires are living — and hunting — in the hood.

Rounding out the Nov. 5 DVD release slate from Bayview Entertainment are two from indie filmmaker William Lee, Kill Every Last One and King Killer.

Paramount Home Media Targets Jan. 14 For 35th Anniversary Celebration Of Beverly Hills Cop

News arrived this past week that Paramount Home Media will be celebrating the 35^th Anniversary of director Martin Brest’s Beverly Hills Cop in the New Year with a newly-prepared 4K restoration of not only the original Eddie Murphy film, but the two sequels as well.   The street date for this three-disc Blu-ray Beverly Hills Cop three-movie collection will be Jan. 14.

Additionally, there will be new bonus goodies included with the newly-remastered Beverly Hills Cop blu-ray presentation … these include two never-before-seen deleted scenes and four new behind-the-scenes featurettes.   There will also be an isolated audio track of the Grammy-winning original score by Harold Faltermeyer.

And, yes, all of the previously released special features, including commentary by director Martin Brest, will be included with this upgraded Blu-ray presentation.

In other release news this week from Paramount Home Media, last Christmas seasons one-night theatrical event, director Tim Janis’ musical treat, Buttons: A Christmas Tale.

The street date for the long-anticipated DVD debut will be Dec. 3, which yields a long-in-the-tooth ARR of 361 days.   Ticket sales generated from the one-night Fathom Events screening were $151,983.

Set in the time of the American industrial revolution, two orphan girls come under the watchful eye of guardian angels played by none other than Dick Van Dyke and Angela Lansbury.    Buttons: A Christmas Tale features narration by Robert Redford and Kate Winslet and stars newcomer Alivia Clark as Buttons and Noelle Parker as Emily, plus performances by Abigail Spencer, Jane Seymour, Roma Downey, Ioan Gruffudd, Katie McGrath, Robert Picardo, Charles Shaughnessy, Paul Greene and John de Lancie.

Bonus goodies include additional songs, an extensive photo gallery and a surprise music video.

Arrow Video Restores Director Roy William Neill’s Black Angel For Blu-ray Release On Jan. 28

Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a new film restoration of prolific director Roy William Neill’s 1946 film adaptation of Cornell Woolrich’s 1943 novel, Black Angel, in the works for delivery as a Blu-ray edition in the New Year … Jan. 28 to be exact.

The legendary Sherlock Holmes film series in the mid-40s starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce were often the work-product of filmmaker Roy William Neill who, astonishingly, delivered 11 in the series for Universal Pictures between 1942 and 1946.   After Dressed to Kill finished the series in 1946 (Rathbone wanted to move on, so Universal decided against a replacement and called an end to the series), Neill turned his attention to the post war film phenomenon of film noir with the production of Black Angel.   It would be his last film … he died shortly after the film’s completion of a heart attack.

Dan Duryea, who had just come off of Frit Lang’s Scarlet Street, stars as washed-up songwriter Martin Blair, who is still married to, but not living with, popular songstress Mavis Marlowe (Constance Dowling — Boston Blackie and the Law, Gog, etc.).   As the film opens he attempts to see her, but is turned away at her up-scale apartment building by the doorman, only to the see the little weasel Marko (fittingly played by Peter Lorre) granted admission.   

As a result of the rebuff, Martin does the only sensible thing and gets drunk again!!    Smashed, he is finally taken home by his old buddy Joe (Wallace Ford), who has him locked up is his apartment so that he won’t do any harm to either himself or others.  

Meanwhile, Kirk Bennett (John Phillips), a musician, arrives at Mavis’ apartment late that same evening and finds her dead.   He thinks about calling the police, changes his mind and takes off.  During the investigation it is revealed that he was being blackmailed by Mavis.   With nothing more than that, he is arrested, tried and sentenced to death for her murder.

Bennett’s wife, Cathy (June Vincent — The Climax, Trapped by Boston Blackie, The Creeper), desperately turns to Martin for help and he tells her that it was Marko, not her husband, that he saw going up to Mavis’ apartment.   The police, headed by Captain Flood (Broderick Crawford), aren’t buying it, case closed, move on.   So they decide to go after Marko themselves.

The clues we have, as the audience, are as follows.    A missing brooch, the record playing when Kirk Bennett found the body, “Heartbreak” and the discovery by Cathy and Martin (who have gotten jobs as a musical act at Marko’s Rio nightclub) that Mavis was a serial extortionist, who was also blackmailing Marko.    

During the amateur investigation Martin sobers up and falls in love with Cathy, but that’s a problem as the date is drawing ever nearer for her husband’s execution.   Oh, and there is one other problem, the obvious suspect, Marko, was in police custody when the murder took place.    So who killed Mavis?   

Black Angel is a solid mystery/thriller with film noir overtones that comes complete with a twist ending … and enough red herrings to keep you guessing.

Bonus features include a newly-prepared commentary by author and film scholar Alan K. Rode (“Michael Curtiz: A Life in Film,” “Charles McGraw: Biography of a Film Noir Tough Guy,” etc.), the featurette titled “A Fitting Ending” and extensive gallery of stills and promotional materials associated with the film.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Makes It Official • Director Andy Muschietti's It: Chapter Two Will Be Available On Dec. 10

The rumors that have circulating for at least the past month are true.   Warner Bros. Home Entertainment made it official on Thursday of this past week when the company announced that director Andy Muschietti's It: Chapter Two will be available as a three-SKU selection on Dec. 10.

The ARR comes in at 95 days and domestic box office receipts were a stellar $209.6 million.

Warner Bros. will be bringing It: Chapter Two to the home entertainment marketplace as a three-SKU product offering … Combo Packs for both the 4K Ultra HD (with Blu-ray) and Blu-ray (with DVD) formats, plus a stand-alone DVD edition.

Common to all three editions are five featurettes — “Pennywise Lives Again!,” “This Meeting of the Losers Club has Officially Begun,” “Finding the Deadlights,” “The Summers of IT: Chapter One, You’ll Float Too” and “The Summers of IT: Chapter Two, IT Ends.”

Exclusive to the 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray SKUs are commentary by director Andy Muschietti (It, Mama).

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Gets Whipsawed On The Home Entertainment Launch Of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood For Dec. 10

Best movie of the year.  Period.  That would be writer/director Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood.

Getting it from its successful theatrical run to the home entertainment arena has been a test for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.   For all-the-world it looked like Oct. 29 would be the “natural” street date for the home entertainment packaged media launch, but early October arrived and nothing, nada, zilch.   

Towards the end of October we found out that China, that big bad bully, was insisting that all of the Bruce Lee sequences be cut or the film would not be allowed to be released in the country’s theatres.    Tarantino told them to go pound sand (good for him).  Maybe it was the China dust-up that was creating the problem.

Crickets … still nothing.   And then it was announced that a longer version of Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood would be re-released theatrically on Friday, Oct. 25 — an additional four complete sequences that were cut from the original theatrical release (adding ten more minutes of running time) — on somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 screens nationwide.

And then, literally hours after those theatrical screens lit up with the longer version, Ingram’s Videoeta website jumped the gun early on Saturday morning (just about the time that The Ohio State University was taking Wisconsin to the woodshed) and revealed that Dec. 10 will be the street date — without details — for a three-SKU release.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has been whipsawed seven ways from sundown with the drama of it all, so it is understandable that the film’s backdoor home entertainment announcement arrived without a formal press release.

Dec. 10, we might add, is going to be a blockbuster street-date Tuesday for the home entertainment packaged media marketplace.   Already in place is Universal Pictures Home Entertainment’s Hustlers ($101.8 million in box office receipts) and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced this past week that It: Chapter Two would also be released on Dec. 10 ($209.6 million in domestic ticket sales … see separate announcement).

With all of this, the ARR for Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood works out to 137 days and domestic theatrical revenues crossed the $140 million mark during the weekend with the re-release of the longer version.

Planned for release are Combo Packs for both the 4K Ultra HD (with Blu-ray) and Blu-ray (with DVD) formats, plus there will be a stand-alone DVD edition.   At this time it remains a mystery as to which version of the film is being released.  It would not come as a surprise if there were additional SKUs in the works, including a much-rumored “Director’s Cut” of the film.   

Update: 5:15 AM Monday morning, Oct. 28.   Overnight Target started taking pre-orders for a Dec. 10 delivery at their on-line website.   Still no details.

Update: 8:15 AM Monday morning, Oct. 28.   Amazon went live with pre-orders for Dec. 10.   No details.

At 9:10 AM it became official with the Sony Pictures Home Entertainment press announcement.   It would be nice if some of the industry leaders (retailers, etc.) would show a little discipline and let the PR people — and those that represent them — over at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment do their job.   Getting the jump on everyone else has become an industry obsession.

With that said, the bonus goodies include — across all editions — an additional 20 minutes worth of additional scenes.    Exclusive to the Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack editions are give featurettes — “Quentin Tarantino’s Love Letter to Hollywood,” “Bob Richardson: For the Love of Film,” “Shop Talk: The Cars of 1969,” “Restoring Hollywood: The Production Design of Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood” and “The Fashion of 1969.”

There’s more … in addition to the aforementioned consumer buying options, there will be a limited edition 4K Ultra HD Collector’s Edition which includes the 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack discs, plus a 7” vinyl record, a collectible vintage poster for the Rick Dalton film Operazione Dyn-o-mite! and a a collectible vintage poster for the Rick Dalton film Operazione Dyn-o-mite!