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updated: 4/14/99
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Studio
News -
Columbia / TriStar |
Here's
the full text of Columbia TriStar's LOOOONG new press release on the
Ghostbusters DVD, packed with
detail on the discs features:
GHOSTBUSTERS TO BE RELEASED ON DVD ON
JUNE 29, 1999
EXTENSIVE INTERACTIVE OPTIONS INCLUDE "MAKING OF"
DOCUMENTARIES, INTERVIEWS, COMMENTARIES AND MORE
Culver City, CA (4/14/99) - Columbia TriStar Home Video has
announced the much anticipated June 29, 1999 DVD release of the
blockbuster comedy Ghostbusters,
which stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson.
This ground-breaking DVD release features the most extensive and
sophisticated interactive options ever offered on DVD releases to
date from CTHV. Besides the original theatrical trailer and
interviews with the film's principals, the DVD version includes:
- Animated, 3-D action menus
- Contemporaneous feature-length film commentary by Harold Ramis,
director Ivan Reitman and producer Joe Medjuck
- Many "never-seen-before" deleted scenes
- Two new featurettes including Dan Akroyd & the original
visual effects team
- Split-screen comparison of film to animated original storyboards
- SFX "before & after" comparison, utilizing angles
feature
- Various trailers
- Feature-length production notes
- Production photo, storyboard & conceptual art galleries
- DVD-ROM with weblink
- and more!
This exciting DVD package represents a benchmark in value-added
options offered to consumers and marks CTHV's on-going commitment to
maximizing this format's entertainment potential.
SPECIAL FEATURES
"Live" feature-length Video Commentary. We have filmed
Harold Ramis, Ivan Reitman (director) and Joe Medjuck (producer) in
silhouette, watching the entire film, and commenting on it. The
viewer can choose to watch the commentary with or without their
silhouettes pointing and gesturing as they watch the film.
Feature-length production notes. We have taken the text of The
Making of Ghostbusters by Don Shay and put it into a
subtitle stream, so that the viewer may choose to watch the film
with anecdotes, trivia and bits of interviews that pertain to
particular points in the film.
Three complete featurettes:
A. 1984 featurette of the making of Ghostbusters
with interview of cast and crew.
B. 1999 Star featurette: New interviews with Harold Ramis, Ivan
Reitman and Dan Aykroyd talking about the origins of Ghostbusters,
how it changed their lives and careers, and how their kids like it.
C. Meet the SFX Team: 1999 interview with more than a dozen of the
original visual effects team. Includes original production photos
and conceptual art.
Storyboard to Film compare: this has a split-screen comparison of
three scenes in the film next to animated original storyboards.
Before and After SFX utilizing ANGLES feature of DVD. With the
ANGLES feature of DVD, the viewer can toggle back and forth from the
rough cut to the final cut of the film to see three scenes before
and after the final visual effects were added. (This kind of
creative utilization of the ANGLES feature is something that many
DVD consumers are looking for.)
Three still photo galleries, including:
A. More than 50 original pencil and chalk conceptual
drawings of ghosts and monsters. (Three of these have been selected
to be given away in CTHV contest.)
B. Many original storyboards.
C. Hundreds of production photos taken of the SFX team
sculpting monsters, creating and destroying sets, and generating
animation.
Ten deleted scenes.
DVD-ROM: Includes the following:
A. Filmographies of cast and crew… these will be
hyper-linked to detail pages of most of the CTHV DVD titles through
filmographies with degrees of separation.
B. Original Final Shooting Script: This will also be
hyper-linked to the film so that the viewer may jump from the script
to that point in the film in order to compare it to the final
partially-improvised film.
C. Web-link: There will be various links from the DVD-ROM to
the SPE site, the CTHV site and to www.ghostbusters.com.
Three-dimensional animated menus. The main menu is a 3-D view of
the Manhattan skyline, with the StayPuft Marshmallow Man wandering
through the buildings.
Four original trailers (These will be accessible through the DVD
menus, and can also be played from the detail pages of these titles
in the DVD-ROM catalogue of CTHV DVD's)
A. Ghostbusters
B. Ghostbusters II
C. Groundhog Day
D. Stripes
SYNOPSIS
Bill Murray (Groundhog Day),
Dan Aykroyd (Academy Award-nominee, Driving
Miss Daisy), Harold Ramis (Parenthood)
and Ernie Hudson star as a maniacal band of parapsychologists who
try to save Manhattan from ghosts on the rampage. Also stars
Sigourney Weaver (Alien) and
Rick Moranis (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids).
Rated PG
Feature: 105 minutes
Color
Closed-Captioned
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Widescreen (Enhanced for 16x9 TV's)
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Price: NSL/ M.A.P. $24.95
DVD #01439
ALSO AVAILABLE ON JUNE 29:
GHOSTBUSTERS II
SYNOPSIS
Sidelined for five years since their spectacular save (and near
destruction) of New York City, the superstars of the supernatural
(Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis) spring back into action
when the infant son of single mother Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver)
becomes the target of a powerful demonic force. Reunited with the
no-nonsense Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), nerdy, near-sighted Louis
(Rick Moranis) and their ever industrious secretary Janine (Annie
Potts), the heroes of the hereafter must put a stop to an enormous
underground river ready to rot the roots of the entire Big Apple.
Rated PG
Feature: 102 minutes
Color
Closed-Captioned
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby 2 Channel
Format: Widescreen (Enhanced for 16x9 TV's)
Languages: English, Spanish and Portuguese
Subtitles: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean and Thai
DVD #50169
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PREVIOUS
NEWS (12/4/98)
Columbia TriStar has just announced the following DVD titles for
February 2nd, 1999 release:
The Alarmist - day-and-date,
92 minutes, Dolby Surround Sound (English), widescreen (16x9
enhanced), theatrical trailer, subtitles in English, Spanish,
Portuguese, Chinese, Korean and Thai, Close-Captioned, MAP $24.95
Jackie Chan's Who Am I -
day-and-date, 108 minutes, Dolby Surround Sound (English and
Spanish), widescreen (16x9 enhanced), theatrical trailer, subtitles
in English and Spanish, Close-Captioned, MAP $19.95
Devil in a Blue Dress - 101
minutes, Dolby Digital 5.1 (English) and Dolby Surround Sound
(English and French), full screen and widescreen (16x9 enhanced),
theatrical trailers for Devil in a Blue
Dress, One False Move
and A Soldier's Story,
subtitles in English and French, cast screen tests, Close-Captioned,
MAP $24.95
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner -
108 minutes, Dolby Surround Sound (English and French), full screen
and widescreen (16x9 enhanced), theatrical trailer, subtitles in
English and French, Close-Captioned, MAP $24.95
One False Move - 106 minutes,
Dolby Surround Sound (English, French and Spanish), full screen and
widescreen (16x9 enhanced), theatrical trailer for One
False Move and Devil in a Blue
Dress, subtitles in English, French and Spanish,
director's commentary, Close-Captioned, MAP $24.95
Three Stooges: Curly Classics
- 108 minutes, B&W, Dolby Digital Mono (English, French and
Spanish), full screen, contains the episodes Men
In Black (1934), Micro-Phonies
(1945), Punch Drunks (1934),
Three Little Pigskins (1934)
and Woman Haters (1934),
subtitles in English, French and Spanish, MAP $19.95
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PREVIOUS
NEWS (9/15/98)
Columbia TriStar yesterday faxed me the text of their press
release, announcing their DVD release of The
Mask of Zorro. So here it is. Enjoy!
THE MASK OF ZORRO
To Be Released On DVD By Columbia TriStar Home Video On December 1,
1998
DVD Release Day And Date With VHS And Laserdisc
Culver City, CA (9/14/98) On December 1, 1998, Columbia TriStar
Home Video will release The Mask of Zorro
on DVD. This disc will carry a minimum advertised price of $24.95
and will be available in Keep Case packaging.
The Mask of Zorro disc will
present the film in the widescreen format. Additional features
include a photo gallery, a "making of" featurette and a
theatrical trailer.
Movie Synopsis
Don Diego de la Vega (Anthony Hopkins, Academy Award-winner,
The Silence of the Lambs) is a
wealthy nobleman who leads a double life as the legendary hero,
Zorro. His efforts to assist the people of Mexico in their fight for
independence from Spain win him the respect and admiration of the
common people and the hatred and fear of the Spanish noblemen. The
fiercest of the Spanish tyrants, Don Raphael Montero (Stuart Wilson,
The Age of Innocence), sets a
trap to discover the identity of Zorro. The scheme succeeds more
horribly than Don Raphael could have foreseen, as in their zeal to
capture Don Diego, the Spanish soldiers kill Don Diego's wife,
Esperanza, and kidnap his infant daughter, Elena.
Don Diego spends two decades in prison and finally escapes only to
discover that Don Raphael has taken Elena as his own daughter and
raised her to believe that he was married to her mother, Esperanza.
Desperate to avenge the loss of his freedom and his family, Don
Diego searches for a successor and finds him in Alejandro Murieta
(Antonio Banderas, Evita), a
bandit with a troubled past. Although Alejandro's only knowledge of
the sword is that "the pointy end goes into the other man,"
he enters into his training with enthusiasm and is soon transformed
into an elegant hero.
With Don Diego posing as his servant, the new Zorro infiltrates Don
Raphael's inner circle. An unforeseen complication arises when
Alejandro meets the now-grown Elena (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a feisty
young woman who has inherited her mother's beauty and her father's
expertise with a sword. Alejandro is drawn to Elena and finds
himself courting her both as the sophisticated nobleman and as his
roughish counterpart, Zorro.
Armed with his mask, sword, whip and jet-black stallion, Tornado,
the new Zorro embarks on a mission to stop Don Raphael's plot to buy
California, set right 20 years of wrongs, bring justice to the
people ensnared by Spanish greed and win the heart of Elena.
TriStar Pictures presents an Amblin Entertainment Production.
The Mask of Zorro was produced
by Doug Claybourne and David Foster and directed by Martin Campbell.
Story by Ted Elliot, Terry Rossio and Randall Jahnson and screenplay
by John Eskow, Ted Elliot & Terry Rossio. Steven Spielberg,
Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald are the executive producers.
John Gertz co-produced.
Suggested List Price: $24.95
Catalog Number: 21699
Running Time: 136 Minutes
Rating: PG-13
Closed Captioned: Yes
Sound: Dolby Surround Sound and Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Letterbox only
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
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PREVIOUS
NEWS (9/12/98)
Columbia TriStar has forwarded me the details of several of their
upcoming DVD releases.
On October 13th, look for the following titles:
Fright Night - full frame and
16x9 widescreen, DD Surround, theatrical trailer, audio and
subtitles in English and French, Close Captioned
In God's Hands - full frame
and 16x9 widescreen, DD 5.1, theatrical trailer, audio and subtitles
in English and French, Close Captioned
Dancer, Texas - full frame and
16x9 widescreen, DD Surround, audio and subtitles in English and
French, Close Captioned
October 20th will see The Big Hit
and Midnight Express.
The Big Hit will include both
16x9 widescreen and full frame, and will also have three deleted
scenes, a theatrical trailer and audio commentary with the director,
executive producer and screenwriter. Audio will be full Dolby
Digital 5.1. Audio and subtitles in French and English are included,
and there is Close Captioning.
Midnight Express will include
a special making of featurette with the real Billy Hayes. It will be
in full frame and 16x9 widescreen. Look for English and French
subtitles and audio in DD 1.0 mono, a theatrical trailer, and Close
Captioning.
October 27th will see a number of new titles, including:
Nowhere to Run - full frame
and 16x9 widescreen, DD Surround, a theatrical trailer, theatrical
trailers for Knock Off,
Maximum Risk and
Double Team, English and
French audio and subtitles and Close Captioning
Sniper - full frame and 16x9
widescreen, DD Surround, theatrical trailer, audio and subtitles in
English and French, Close Captioning
Stripes - full frame and 16x9
widescreen, DD 1.0 mono, theatrical trailer, audio and subtitles in
English and French, Close Captioning
NOTE: Stripes will also
include trailers for Groundhog Day
and the long-awaited Ghostbusters.
To Die For - full frame and
16x9 widescreen, DD 5.1 audio, theatrical trailer, audio and
subtitles in English and French, Close Captioning
The Wild One - B&W, DD 1.0
mono, theatrical trailer, trailer for On
the Waterfront, audio and subtitles in English and
French, Close Captioning
Godzilla arrives in stores on
November 3rd, for a minimum advertised price (MAP) of $24.95. The
disc will be 16x9 widescreen, and will include: audio commentary by
the special effects supervisor, a photo gallery, theatrical teaser
trailers and a full-length trailer for the film, trailers for the
classic Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle
for Earth and Godzilla vs.
King Ghidora, biographical material on the producer and
director, cast filmographies, a Making of
Godzilla featurette, a Godzilla
Takes New York photo feature, and the
Heroes music video by the
Wallflowers.
NOTE: I'm told this will be Columbia TriStar's first RSDL
dual-layered DVD.
November 3rd will also see the following titles:
Les Miserables (1998) - full
frame and 16x9 widescreen, DD 5.1, theatrical trailer, audio and
subtitles in English and French, Close Captioned
Godzilla vs. Mothra /
Godzilla vs. King Ghidora -
full frame and widescreen (16x9?), both films on one disc, DD 1.0
mono, two theatrical trailers, audio and subtitles in English only,
Close Captioned
Geronimo - full frame and 16x9
widescreen, DD Surround, trailer, audio and subtitles in English and
French, Close Captioned
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PREVIOUS
NEWS (5/12/98)
Columbia/TriStar has informed me that their Gattaca
DVD has been postposed due to production capacity issues. It will be
rescheduled as soon as possible.
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PREVIOUS
NEWS (4/10/98)
The March 31st issue of Daily Variety
featured an in-depth look at the DVD format's first year. Among the
other things in the issue, were pictures of upcoming releases,
including these two of Starship Troopers
and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
from Columbia/TriStar. Enjoy!
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PREVIOUS
NEWS (3/11/98)
Columbia/TriStar has finally announced a release date for their
bugs-on-a-rampage SciFi flick Starship
Troopers. Look for it to hit store shelves on May 19th. I
expect the disc will be a sonic litmus test of your surround sound
system (more explosions than the campfire scene from Blazing
Saddles)! Some advice: make sure the kids are in bed for
this one (unless you don't mind 'em seeing the arms, legs and heads
flying). And be sure to stock up on that bug spray!
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PREVIOUS
NEWS (3/4/98)
Well, word is that Air Force One
has sold more than 200,000 copies on DVD, ranking it with Goldeneye
and Twister as one of DVD's
best sellers. Still no word on an exact release date for Starship
Troopers, but you can probably expect it sometime in May
or June. In the meantime, here's a rundown of upcoming
Columbia/TriStar titles for the next few months:
March 17
In the Company of Men, The
Assignment, Look Who's Talking
and Single White Female
March 31
Absense of Malace, Double
Team, High School High,
Only You, U-Turn
April 14
Chances Are,
Guarding Tess, The Karate Kid,
Multiplicity and My
StepMother is an Alien
May 5
Gattaca
May 12
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen,
Maximum Risk, My
Girl and No Mercy
For all you folks at Columbia/TriStar (who I know read these
pages), how about getting started on DVD versions of Lawrence
of Arabia, Ghostbusters
and Thunderheart? And someone
let me know what's up with your plans for Close
Encounters of the Third Kind. I know it's a Spielberg
film, but as far as I know Columbia/TriStar owns full rights to it.
And it is one of a handful of titles people tell me they want most
on DVD. So can we expect to see it anytime soon?
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PREVIOUS
NEWS (1/23/98)
Here's a quick Columbia/TriStar update for today. Word is that the
studio has received preorders for 80,000 units of
Air Force One.
Big Night was apparently
postponed due to production capacity issues, but will be rescheduled
in the near future. Finally, look for Absence
of Malice, Assignment,
Double Team, High
School High, I Know What You
Did Last Summer: Special Edition, In
the Company of Men: Special Edition, and Only
You to be released between mid and late March. The two
Special Edition discs will include Director's Commentaries.
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PREVIOUS
NEWS (1/22/98)
Effective immediately, Columbia/TriStar has decided to discontinue
releasing its DVD product in jewel case packaging. The decision was
apparently motivated by low sales numbers, as compared to its keep
case packaged product. DVDs already packaged and warehoused in jewel
cases WILL continue to be shipped until supplies are gone. There is
a chance that boxed collections of Columbia/TriStar's jewel case
DVDs will appear as supplies dwindle.
In other news, Columbia/TriStar is expecting big things from its
upcoming hit film-to-DVD release Air
Force One. This disc has apparently been their biggest
production pressing thus far, and sales are expected to be brisk.
2/10 can't come fast enough for me!
As I announced last month, The
Professional, Single White
Female, The Devil's Own,
Fools Rush In, and
Look Who's Talking are all on
schedule for release to DVD on February 24th [Remember,
you heard about these titles here first, folks!].
Unfortunately, Big Night has
been postponed, and as of 1/21, has yet to be rescheduled.
Finally, as evidence of Columbia/TriStar's continued commitment to
DVD, look for Starship Troopers,
Gattaca and Seven
Years in Tibet [titles also
announced here first] to be released day-and-date with VHS.
Expect Starship Troopers to
appear tentatively sometime between April and June.
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PREVIOUS
NEWS (12/6/97)
Columbia/TriStar continues to release (in my opinion) the very best
looking DVD titles available. Disc image and sound quality
definitely seems to be their highest priority. According to a source
within the studio, Columbia/TriStar is going to great lengths to
ensure that each of their DVD releases measures up to their high
standards. This often means taking longer to master and produce each
title, which can occasionally lead to release delays and fewer
titles per month. If a release is found to be substandard in any
way, it's pulled and remastered, rather than being released. I, for
one, am extremely glad they take the time to do it right. Have you
seen A
Few Good Men? It's an outstanding DVD - definitely not to
be missed. I also own four of their other titles (Dr.
Strangelove, Jerry Maguire,
In
the Line of Fire, and Legends
of the Fall), and every one of them is reference quality.
For those who would complain about the lack of disc features on
their releases, rest assured. That is definitely beginning to
change. Many upcoming titles (like Air
Force One and Anaconda)
will feature film-specific graphic menus, theatrical trailers and
more. And Columbia/TriStar has been rock solid in their support of
16x9 enhancement, which many home-theater buffs consider the most
important improvement of DVD over laserdisc.
As for the future… well, it looks bright indeed. Here is a
rundown of DVD releases to expect in the next couple of months:
Already announced for 1/20 are Anaconda,
Donnie
Brasco, Flatliners,
Glory,
Groundhog
Day, The
Mirror Has Two Faces and Much
Ado About Nothing.
On 2/10, look for Big
Night, The Devil's Own,
Fools
Rush In, The
Professional, Single White
Female and Look
Who's Talking, in addition to the previously announced
Air Force One.
Best of all, is the news that Columbia/TriStar is currently
planning to release more than 100 new DVD titles in 1998, at a rate
of 8-10 per month. Rest assured that Starship
Troopers, Seven Years in Tibet
and Gattaca
are all on the fast track for release to DVD early next year. Other
(as yet unannounced) titles you can look forward to in the coming
months: I
Know What You Did Last Summer, Guarding
Tess, Maximum
Risk, Multiplicity,
Karate Kid, and
My
Stepmother is an Alien.
Can you imagine Starship Troopers
on DVD? Jeez, I'm not sure my system can handle that level of
mayhem! To all you folks at Columbia/TriStar, keep up the good work!
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