Severin Films Targets Apr. 25 For 4K Ultra HD And Blu-ray Editions Of Writer Director Alex de la Iglesia’s Acción Mutante

Severin Films, with sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a new 4K film restoration (from the original camera negative) of writer/director Alex de la Iglesia’s 1993 debut film, Acción Mutante, ready for its domestic rollout on Apr. 25 as a two-SKU product launch.

Planned for release are both Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack editions of this dystopian thriller … genre fans will be delighted to actually have a “real” presentation to view, none-of-that-VHS-to-DVD pirated garbage put out way back in October of 2002 that they have had to live with for the past twenty years.  

In a distant future, humans have been divided into the haves — beauty and perfection — and the have-nots, those that are freaks, flawed, physically-challenged and just plain ugly; deemed unfit.   Lead by Ramon Yarritu (Antonio Resines — Celda 211, La Buena Estrella), who has just been released from prison, the have-nots have reached a breaking point and have decided to put “THE BIG PLAN” into operation — open revolt.

But Ramon, a criminal by nature, has his other plans and will use his “mutant” compatriots to further his own goals.   In other works, he’s a violent psychopath who is not to be trusted.

The big day comes and they assault the wedding of Patricia Orujo (Frédérique Feder — Three Colors: Red, Swept from the Sea), the daughter of a wealthy businessman, slaughtering many of the guests and abducting Patricia.   Off they go to the mining colony planet of Axturias, where women are prohibited.

It is here that Ramon puts his own “big plan” into motion, by killing off his pals — to have the ransom all for himself — but there’s a problem.   The planet’s miners have gone mad without women and they will have something to say about Ramon’s “big plan.”   Poor Patricia, caught in the middle!!

Of course, there is a violent ending to it all … massive carnage and now it is all in hi-def; to be savored and enjoyed!

Acción Mutante is presented in Spanish with English subtitles.

Bonus goodies include commentary from filmmaker Alex de la Iglesia (The Day of the Beast, Witching and Bitching), who is joined by co-writer Jorge Guerricaechevarría and production designers José Luis Arrizabalaga and Biaffra.

Other bonuses include behind-the-scenes footage, a music video and five featurettes — “Well-Done Baloney,” “Bad Blood Costumbrism,” “The F*cking Boss,” “Some Crazy Sh*t” and “Liters of Blood.”

 

 

 

 

Paramount Home Entertainment Has Announced That Director Adrian Lyne's Flashdance Will Be Getting A 4K Ultra HD Makeover To Celebrate Its 40th Anniversary On Apr. 11

A near-perfect film, hated by some of the major film critics at the time, is getting a new 4K film restoration to celebrate its 40^th Anniversary.   This would be none other than director Adrian Lyne’s 1983 base-of-real-life romantic tale, Flashdance.

The 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack edition will be available from Paramount Home Entertainment on Apr. 11.

Based on — or “inspired by” — the life of Maureen Marder, a Toronto stripper by night and an industrial welder by day, it proved to be a work combination that was simply too tempting not to turn into movie.  She received no credit for her story … and sadly, Marder spent years in litigation over her claims that she had been cheated … finally losing all appeals in 2015 (32-years after the film was originally released theatrically).

Flashdance launched the career of Jennifer Beals, whose only previous screen credit was a small part in director Tony Bills’ My Bodyguard.    This mega-hit also marked the first production collaboration between Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, who also produced Beverly Hills Cop and Top Gun for Paramount.

And, one other bit of irony, the critical dancing routines and climatic breakdance sequence were doubled by Marine Jahan and Richard Colón respectively, but neither received screen recognition.

Nevertheless, filmmaker Adrian Lyne delivered what has turned out to be an iconic romantic tale, blended with high-energy dance and music sequences (Oscar-winner for Best Song, “Flashdance... What a Feeling” and also Oscar-nominated in the same category for “Maniac”), that not only showcased the acting talents of Jennifer Beals, but set the tone for a number of film productions that would follow, including Kevin Bacon’s Footloose that would rock theatres the following year.

Bonus features include the special feature titled “Filmmaker Focus: Director Adrian Lyne” and a pair of featurettes — “The Look of Flashdance” and “Releasing the Flashdance Phenomenon.”

 

 

 

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Preps 4K Editions Of The Maltese Falcon (Apr. 4) • Cool Hand Luke (Apr. 4) • And Rebel Without A Cause (Apr. 18)

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced this past week that three film vault treasures will be upgraded to 4K Ultra HD status with the release of newly-minted 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack special editions.  This promotion is part of the studio’s year-long 100^th Anniversary Celebration.

Topping the list is director John Huston’s 1941 film adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 detective novel, The Maltese Falcon.   The street date is Apr. 4, mark that down if you are any sort of film buff … this one is must.

It is well documented that George Raft was selected by the studio to play Sam Spade, but since this was a remake — The Maltese Falcon in 1931 with Ricardo Cortez and Satan Met a Lady in 1936 with Bette Davis — Raft elected to turn it down.   He only appeared in A-list films and this wasn’t in that category.

And besides, it had some newbie filmmaker who had been a wanderlust for nearly a decade.   Thank you, Mr. Raft for making that move.

The Maltese Falcon is not only to be counted as one of Bogart’s great screen performances (read that as iconic), but the film itself was (an is) an important film; an A-list film earning three Oscar nominations — Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Sydney Greenstreet) and Best Adapted Screenplay (John Huston).

Bonus goodies include commentary by Eric Lax, make-up tests, a selection of Humphrey Bogart trailers, the featurette titled “The Maltese Falcon: One Magnificent Bird,” three separate vintage radio broadcasts and the “Warner Night at the Movies” selection of shorts, newsreels and cartoons from the period.

Also streeting on Apr. 4 as a 4K Ultra HD/Combo Pack is director Stuart Rosenberg’s 1967 film release of Cool Hand Luke, starring Paul Newman and co-starring George Kennedy (he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance here).

Rounding out the selections for this month of April 100^th Anniversary 4K Ultra HD promotion is Rebel Without a Cause, starring James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo.  The release date will be Apr. 18.

 

 

 

 

The Criterion Collection Reveals Its May Of 2023 Release Calendar • Targets And Thelma And Louise Among The Selections

It is official.   The Criterion Collection announced its month of May selections this past week and there are some real treats on the schedule, including a new 2K film restoration of auteur filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich's Targets and a 4K restoration of filmmaker Ridley Scott’s Thelma and Louise.

So let us get to it.   Back in the mid-60s, the late Peter Bogdanovich became friends with the legendary Roger Corman, a man who has launched more film careers than ships sent by Menelaus to rescue Helen from the Trojans.   Legend has it that Corman suggested that Bogdanovich take time off from being a film critic and instead write and direct a small-budget film for him using Boris Karloff, who owed Corman some screentime.   

The result was Targets, which was cobbled-together for under $150,000 by using roughly twenty-minutes-worth of footage from The Terror (a Karloff/Nicholson film that Corman had produced and directed in 1963) and another twenty or so minutes of newly-shot Karloff footage (the screentime he owed Corman).   

The balance of the running time was filled out with the main storyline and the performance of Tim O'Kelly as Bobby Thompson, the crazed killer/sniper (patterned after the Charles Joseph Whitman Texas Tower sniper event that took place on August 1, 1966), who sets up shop — after murdering his wife and mother — atop an oil storage tank near the old Sepulveda Drive-In Theatre and begins randomly killing people.

Targets is a marvelous example of indie filmmaking at its finest.  This “little” film launched Bogdanovich’s career … The Last Picture Show, What’s Up Doc, Paper Moon, Daisy Miller and more would follow and establish him as one of the great auteur filmmakers of the 20^th Century.

Targets will be available on Apr. 11 as both DVD and Blu-ray buying options.  Bonus features include an archived 2003 commentary with Peter Bogdanovich, a newly-minted video session with fellow filmmaker Richard Linklater, and excerpts from a 1983 interview featuring Polly Platt, who was married to Bogdanovich at the time and received screenwriting credit — along with Samuel Fuller — for Targets (Platt would go on to become a film producer — Pretty Baby, Broadcast News, The War of the Rose and Evening Star are counted among her producing credits).

Director Ridley Scott has been nominated for Best Director Oscar on three separate occasions, Black Hawk Down in 2001, Gladiator in 2000 and Thelma & Louise back in 1991.  Criterion has a new 4K digital restoration — supervised by Scott — of his first Best Director-nominated film, Thelma & Louise, lined up for a two-SKU push on May 30.

There will be a newly minted 4K Ultra HD/2 Blu-ray Combo Pack, as well as a double-disc Blu-ray edition available on that date.

Not only was Ridley Scott nominated for Best Director, but his leading ladies, Thelma/Geena Davis, and Louise/Susan Sarandon were both nominated for Best Actress — usually when that happens they tend to knock each other off, but in 1991 the Best Actor and Best Actress Oscars were a foregone conclusion with the leads from Silence of the Lambs, Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster, a lock.

Screenwriter Callie Khouri (Something to Talk About, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Respect … and the creator/producer of the Nashville television series) did, however, win the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Bonus features include two commentary options, video sessions with Ridley Scott and Callie Khourim, deleted and extended scenes, an extended ending (with commentary by Scott), a documentary on the film, the Glenn Frey music video titled “Part of Me, Part of You” and the 1965 Ridley Scott short film, Boy and Bicycle.

Rounding out the May release schedule for the Criterion Collection are 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack editions of director Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire (May 2) and Japanese filmmaker Seijun Suzuki’s Branded to Kill (May 9), plus DVD and Blu-ray SKUs for director Céline Sciamma’s latest, Petite Maman (French … ARR of 396 days; box office: $819.781).

 

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Locks Into Mar. 21 For Director Gerard Johnstone's M3GAN

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment announced this past week that director Gerard Johnstone’s robotic creep-out tale, M3GAN, will be arriving in the home entertainment packaged media marketplace on Mar. 21 as both DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions.

The ARR is 74 days and domestic box office receipts are a rock-solid $91 million and likely to continue to expand in the weeks ahead … the film has marvelous legs and will likely spawn not only a sequel (M3GAN 2.0 target for early 2025), but a film franchise series.

Although star billing goes to Allison Williams (Horizon Line, The Perfection, Get Out … and as Marnie in the Girls TV series) as Aunt Gemma, the developer of the Model 3 Generative Android, and Violet McGraw (Separation, Doctor Sleep) as her niece, Cady, the eight-year-old who is the target of M2GAN’s “affections,” the super-star of the film is gymnast/dancer Amie Donald (voiced by Jenna Davis), who gives an over-the-top performance as the pychopathic android with a mind of its own.

Bonus goodies include a trio of production featurettes — “A New Vision of Horror,” “Bringing Life to M3GAN” and “Getting Hacked.”

 

 

 

Director Marc Foster's A Man Called Otto Heads To DVD And Blu-ray On Mar. 14 From Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Director Marc Forster’s film adaptation of Fredrik Backman’s 2012 best-selling novel, “A Man Called Ove,” which was titled for the screen as A Man Called Otto, will be making its way to the home entertainment packaged media marketplace on Mar. 14 … so says Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

The ARR for this Tom Hanks heartwarming comedy works out to 74 days and domestic box office receipts currently stand at $57.4 million.

Planned for release are stand-alone Blu-ray and DVD editions.

Bonus nuggets include a deleted scene, the Rita Wilson and Sebastián Yatra music video titled “‘Til You’re Home” and two featurettes — “Breaking The Rules: Making A Man Called Otto” and “In the Studio with Rita Wilson & Sebastián Yatra.”

 

Lionsgate Home Entertainment Tabs Mar. 28 For The Home Entertainment Launch Of Director Jean-François Richet’s Plane

In what is as rare these days as four-leaf clovers on a winter’s day, but Lionsgate Home Entertainment did the smart thing with director Jean-François Richet’s thriller, Plane, starring Gerard Butler and Mike Colter. 

What was this “smart thing?”   The studio didn’t throw a viable theatrical release into the streaming blender — a place where movie after movie with multi-million-dollar budgets go to die —  instead, the studio took the film out theatrically in January and generated $30.8 million in ticket sales. 

Plane is now set for the home entertainment packaged media marketplace as a full-spread launch on Mar. 28.   The ARR for that date works out to 74 days.

Planned for release are Combo Pack editions for the 4K Ultra HD (with Blu-ray) and Blu-ray (with DVD) formats, plus a stand-alone DVD purchasing option.

Bonus features include a trio of production featurettes — “This is Your Captain,” “Plane Clothes” and “Brace for Turbulence.”