Site created 12/15/97.	page updated: 8/2/04 My Two Cents (Archived Posts 7/20/04 - 6/30/04) Back to Previous Archives Back to Current Posts (LATE UPDATE - 7/20/04 - 11:45 AM PDT) We've got new details for you today on a number of DVDs just announced by 20th Century Fox. To start with, the 4-disc In Living Color: The Complete Second Season streets on 9/28 (SRP $49.98). Roswell: The Complete Second Season streets on 10/5 (SRP $59.98) on 6 discs, which include audio commentary tracks (by the writers, producers and directors), the A Little Something Extra for the Fans video montage, a storyboard to scene comparison, and the featurettes Here with Me: Making of Roswell Season 2, The Shiri and Majandra Show, and Art of Composing Roswell. The Garfield Movie will street on 10/19 (SRP $27.98) including a behind-the-scenes featurette, sneak peeks of additional films and the Baha Men Holla music video. Arrested Development: The Complete First Season also debuts on 10/19 (SRP $39.98) on 3 discs, including the unaired pilot episode, audio commentary tracks, deleted/extended scenes, audio of original songs, behind-the-scenes featurettes, video of The Museum of Television & Radio Q&A (with creator Mitchell Hurwitz and the cast), promos, Easter eggs and more. Greg the Bunny: The Complete Series arrives on DVD from Fox on 10/19 as well (SRP $26.98) on 2 discs, including 2 unaired episodes, audio commentaries, deleted/extended scenes, promos, behind-the-scenes featurettes, interviews, a publicity gallery, Easter eggs and much more. The big title in this batch is That 70s Show: The Complete First Season, which is due on 10/26 (SRP $49.98) as a 4-disc set, including audio commentary on 8 episodes, featurettes, a trivia quiz, cast audition tapes, promos, a Cheap Trick music video and 2 Easter eggs. Moving into November, the studio will release The Simple Life on 11/2 (SRP $19.98). Finally today, we've got more hot new cover art for you. Here's a first look at Universal's new The Mummy: The Legacy Collection, The Invisible Man: The Legacy Collection and Creature from the Black Lagoon: The Legacy Collection (all due on 10/19)... Back tomorrow with Todd's Weekly Roundup. Stay tuned... (EARLY UPDATE - 7/20/04 - 12:01 AM PDT) We're very pleased today to bring you yet another massive Upcoming DVD Cover Artwork update. Well over 100 new scans have been added to the section today, many of which you haven't seen before (and most of which can be pre-ordered now on Amazon.com to support The Bits). We've got titles big and small, mainstream and off-beat, including these... There's lots of cool covers to see, so you definitely don't want to miss it. Special thanks to our own Russell Hammond for his usual yeoman's work in finding and formatting all the art. In other news today, we have word that Warner's Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete First Season has been delayed until 9/14 (it was originally scheduled to be released last week). Also, Variety is reporting that Warner Vision International will release the historic 1985 Live Aid concert on DVD on 11/1 (note that Billboard is reporting a 11/10 street date). Performers included U2, Sting, David Bowie, Elton John, George Michael, The Who, Neil Young, Madonna, Queen, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Phil Collins and the surviving members of Led Zeppelin to name but a few, and permission to release the concert on DVD had to be obtained from each individually. The 4-disc DVD set is expected to include the documentary Food, Trucks & Rock 'n' Roll, along with additional performances from related events around the world. Before we go this morning, we have final details about our DVD Producers 2004 panel discussion at ComicCon on Thursday. Both Todd and I will be on hand to host the event and moderate the discussion. The final list of producers scheduled to participate includes Charles de Lauzirika (Alien Quadrilogy, Spider-Man 2), David Prior (Panic Room: SE, Master and Commander), Javier Soto (Devil's Backbone, Hellboy), Robert Burnett (X2, The Chronicles of Narnia) and Suzie Lee (Lord of the Rings, King Kong). We'll discuss how the DVD format is changing and where the technology is headed, our panelists will talk about projects they currently have in production, and we'll have lengthy Q&A with the audience. If all goes well, some of our producers will give you exclusive sneak peeks at never-before-seen DVD materials (from existing and forthcoming titles). We're even going to give away a Mitsubishi DVD player, great movie discs and signed copies of our book, The Digital Bits: Insider's Guide to DVD. The panel will be held on Thursday, July 22nd from 1:30 to 3:00 PM at the San Diego Convention Center (Room 6AB). We hope to see you all there! Stay tuned... (LATE UPDATE - 7/19/04 - NOON PDT) Just a quick update... Variety is reporting that Warner may be closing in on a deal to buy MGM. Sources inside Warner are telling us that things are "looking good" for the deal to happen, and word is Nobuyuki Idei (chairman of original bidder Sony) is claiming that the deal is "up to the MGM management now." We'll keep an eye on this situation and let you know if anything goes down. Stay tuned... (EARLY UPDATE - 7/19/04 - 11 AM PDT) Morning, folks! Hope your week's starting off well... and not, you know, mired in dreary board meetings and the like. Sarah and I spent the weekend with family visiting Phoenix, AZ... and let me tell you, it was HOT. Beautiful, but HOT. You Arizonians... I don't know how you do it. My sunburns have sunburns. Anyway, we have some interesting news this morning. DVD-wise, Columbia TriStar has announced that it will release Super Size Me on 9/28, along with Sniper 3, Best of the Best, My New Gun, Sherlock: Undercover Dog, Tess: Special Edition, The Big Town, 227: The Complete First Season, Christine: Special Edition, Easy Rider: 35th Anniversary Special Edition, Little Women: Limited Collector's Series (with book), Persuasion: Limited Edition (with book), Sense and Sensibility: Limited Edition (with book) and Tess: Limited Edition (with book). So get ready to do a lot of reading in late September. A lot of people have been asking us what's up with New Line's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Special Extended DVD Edition. We know that the 4-disc set will be released in December, and that it will include more extras than either of the 4-disc editions of the previous films. We also expect it to be officially announced by New Line at a special panel discussion on Friday at ComicCon in San Diego. We should get the street date, a look at some of the extras AND a first look at some of the newly-added footage. So if you're going to be at Comic-Con, be sure to check it out. You can bet I'll be there, so expect to hear all the details on Monday after the show. A lot of people are also asking us about Warner's La Femme Nikita: The Complete Second Season, which had been set to street tomorrow. A number of online retailers have sent e-mails to their customers that they've already shipped pre-ordered copies of the DVD. We've also heard from many retailers that the discs are in stock, ready to be placed on the shelves tonight. We honestly don't know what the story is - we have a review copy in our hands as well. I expect this is going to end up like what happened when Buena Vista yanked Ed Wood at the 11th hour earlier this year - some retailers got the recall order, some didn't and sold the disc anyway, and many copies ended up on eBay for way too much money. In any case, here's the exact wording of the recall notice from Warner: "Please be advised that the DVD release of La Femme Nikita: The Complete Second Season, which was scheduled for July 20, 2004, has been delayed until further notice due to unforeseen circumstances" That's a new notice that we received just today. Note that instead of using the word 'cancelled', the studio is now telling us the title is only delayed. In any case, if you're a fan of the series and have been dying to get your hands on the set, head on out to your favorite video retailer tomorrow morning anyway. You never know - you just might get lucky. In other news, Yahoo has posted a story on Fox's Millennium: The Complete First Season DVD, which features comments by series creator Chris Carter and star Lance Henriksen. And while this has nothing to do with DVD, we think it's pretty swell news anyway... X-Men director Bryan Singer has been tapped to helm the next Superman movie. FINALLY, Warner's placed this languishing franchise in the hands of someone who might actually be able to breathe a little life into it (while also respecting the character, the fans and the genre). You can read more on this at CNN. Stay tuned... 7/16/04 Just one last quick post before we go for the weekend: The 2004 Home Entertainment DVD Technical Awards were announced yesterday at the Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) show in Las Vegas (click here for the complete press release). Todd and I were among the many industry judges involved in the awards this year, and we were honored to be part of the event. Here's the complete list of winners - congratulations to all! Best Overall Presentation - Theatrical Release The Adventures of Indiana Jones - Paramount Home Entertainment Best Overall Presentation - Foreign Language Release La Femme Nikita: Special Edition - MGM Home Entertainment Best Overall Presentation - Television Release The West Wing: The Complete First Season - Warner Home Video Best Overall Presentation - Direct-to-DVD Release The Lion King 1 1/2 - Buena Vista Home Entertainment Best Overall Presentation - Adult Release Space Nuts - Wicked Pictures Best Audio Presentation The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition - New Line Home Entertainment Best Use of Menu Features Alien Quadrilogy - Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Best Commentary The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition - New Line Home Entertainment Best Direct Digital Transfer Finding Nemo - Buena Vista Home Entertainment Best Video Transfer from a Non-Digital Source Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - Buena Vista Home Entertainment Best Re-Mastered DVD The Adventures of Robin Hood - Warner Home Video Best Supplementary Material Presentation The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition - New Line Home Entertainment Best Use of DVD-ROM Features Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Warner Home Video Best Music DVD Non-Theatrical Release The Grateful Dead: The Closing of Winterland - Monterey Video Best Music DVD Theatrical Release The Who: The Kids Are Alright - Geneon Entertainment Have a great weekend and we'll see you Monday! 7/15/04 Morning, folks! We're kicking things off today with word that 20th Century Fox has officially announced the DVD release of The Day After Tomorrow on 10/5 (SRP $29.98). The disc will be available in anamorphic widescreen and full frame versions, and will include audio commentary by director Roland Emmerich and producer Mark Gordon, a second commentary by writer Jeffrey Nachmanoff, cinematographer Ueli Steiger, editor David Brenner, and production designer Barry Chusid, deleted scenes, an interactive audio demo, DVD-ROM weblinks and more. We posted the cover art on Tuesday, so be sure to check it out. In other news today, Buena Vista has announced Raising Helen for release on 10/12 (SRP $29.99). The disc will be available in separate anamorphic widescreen and full frame editions, both of which will include bloopers and outtakes, deleted scenes, audio commentary by the director and writers, and Liz Phair's Extraordinary music video. Warner has announced that it will release a Seven Brides for Seven Brothers: Special Edition on 10/12. Look for the 2-disc set to include the film presented in anamorphic widescreen video (2.35:1) with Dolby Digital 5.1 and the original mono audio (additional extras TBA). Other titles newly announced by the studio include Salem's Lot: The Miniseries (16x9 - also for 10/12), and Doctor Who: Lost in Time - Patrick Troughton Years, Doctor Who: Lost in Time - William Hartnell Years and Doctor Who: Lost in Time Collection (all for 11/2). Here's the cover art for Warner's Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Salem's Lot: The Miniseries, Return of the Living Dead, Part II (10/5) and That's Entertainment: The Complete Collection (10/12), MGM's Stargate SG-1: Season 7 (10/19), and HBO's Gia: Unrated (8/24 - which I have to say, some Bits staffers are looking forward to a little more than is probably healthy, but what the hell)... Around the site today, we're pleased to bring you Adam Jahnke's latest Bottom Shelf column... The Idiot Disc, or I'll Be a Son of a Witchiepoo: More Cult TV on DVD. In it, Adam reviews Rhino's H.R. Pufnstuf: The Complete Series and HBO's The Hitchhiker, all while waxing philosophic about the recent trend toward heavy doses of nostalgia on disc. Don't miss it. Finally this morning, remember that King of the Ants DVD signing we told you about a couple of weeks ago (held on 6/29 here in L.A.)? Well, we're pleased to bring you a couple of photos from the event. The first picture is of producers Duffy Hecht, Stuart Gordon, and David Michael Latt (L to R). The second picture features the cast and director (L to R), Chris McKenna, Vernon Wells, Stuart Gordon and Lionel Mark Smith. We're going to be dark tomorrow, as we continue to prepare for our ComicCon DVD panel next week. But we'll be back on Monday with lots of news and more. So have a great weekend, and we'll see you then! 7/14/04 Here's some interesting news... according to CNN and the BBC (and some of the video industry trades), a deal has reportedly been struck between a number of studio and hardware partners in the HD-DVD camp (including Time Warner, Matsushita, IBM, Microsoft, Disney, etc) that would allow users of the next-generation DVD format to make legal, fair-use back-up copies of their discs to play on portable devices. The agreement is only in principle at the moment, but it would still mark a significant shift in the way the industry approached the copying issue. Click the links for more (but not MUCH more). Along the same lines, there's a recent story up at The New York Times on the on-going battle over DVD copying relative to 321 Studios and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. It's worth checking out. Back with more later. Stay tuned... (LATE UPDATE - 7/13/04 - 3 PM PDT) One last update for all of you this afternoon - Buena Vista has just re-announced their Ed Wood: Special Edition for release on 10/19 (SRP $29.99). The disc will reportedly include audio commentary (with director Tim Burton, actor Martin Landau, the co-writers, the costume designer and the cinematographer), 5 deleted scenes, the Let's Shoot This F#%@R! documentary, a music video, 4 featurettes (including Making Bela, Pie Plates Over Hollywood, The Theremin and When Carol Met Larry) and the theatrical trailer. Video will be 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, with audio in Dolby Digital 5.1. Near as we can tell, it's the same as the disc that was originally (nearly) released earlier this year. We've also just posted Todd's latest Doogan's Views/Weekly Release Roundup. In this edition, Todd runs down the major titles arriving in stores today, and reviews five of them, including Universal's Bourne Identity: Explosive Extended Edition, 20th Century Fox's The Dreamers, Anchor Bay's Poker for Dummies, Home Vision's Un Deux Trois Soleil and AnimEigo's Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman and Lone Wolf & Cub: White Heaven in Hell. Enjoy! Stay tuned... (LATE UPDATE - 7/13/04 - 11 AM PDT) We've got some breaking news that's gonna bum out you La Femme Nikita fans. Warner has just cancelled (until further notice) the release of La Femme Nikita: The Complete Second Season, which had been slated for 7/20. There's no word on exactly why this happened, although we suspect a legal snafu. Warner's message to retailers states only: "unforeseen circumstances have prevented this title from being released." We'll keep you up to date as we learn more. Also today, the great B-movies-on-DVD website DVD Drive-In is reporting that MGM's August batch of Midnight Movies double-feature discs will be Best Buy exclusive titles. Yes, that's right... you'll ONLY be able to buy them at Best Buy stores, which is certain to piss lots of people off. Check the website for the complete list. Stay tuned... (EARLY UPDATE - 7/13/04 - 12:01 AM PDT) We've got some very cool new upcoming DVD cover art for you this morning. Here's your first look at 20th Century Fox's The Day After Tomorrow (TBA October), along with Universal's The Thing: Collector's Edition (10/5), Warner's MAD TV: The Complete First Season (9/21), The Hunger (10/5) and North and South: The Complete Collection (10/5) and Miramax's The Big One (9/28)... Around the site today, we've updated the CEA DVD Player Sales numbers to include data for the entire month of June. In addition, we've also updated the software sales and rental data (above). We've kicked off THREE new Contests today, giving each of you the chance to win copies of Anchor Bay's Hercules: Season Four, Warner's Batman: The Animated Series - Volume One and Challenge of the SuperFriends: The First Season, and Red Distribution's The Man Show: Season Two. The contests will run until Noon PDT on Sunday, July 18th. And Matt and the crew over at our MusicTAP site have posted a trio of new SACD reviews: The Wallflowers' Red Letter Days, Herman's Hermits' Retrospective and The Animals' Retrospective. Be sure to check out Barrie's latest Classic Coming Attractions column as well, which we posted late yesterday afternoon. Barrie reviewed 5 recent box set releases, including more than 25 classic films. Don't miss it! Stay tuned... (LATE UPDATE - 7/12/04 - 5 PM PDT) We've got one last update to make this afternoon. We've just posted Barrie Maxwell's latest Classic Coming Attractions column. This edition is another Classic Reviews Roundup, which includes in-depth reviews of 5 recently released classic film box sets, including Kino's The Douglas Fairbanks Collection and The Fanny Trilogy, MGM's The Ingmar Bergman Collection, and Warner's Cary Grant: The Signature Collection and The Tarzan Collection. That's 25 films in all! As you'll see in the reviews, all are well worth your time and money. See you tomorrow! (LATE UPDATE - 7/12/04 - 3:15 PM PDT) We've got MORE big news today. Universal has announced the second wave of their new Monsters Legacy Collections. On 10/19 (SRP $29.98 each), look for the following 2-disc sets: The Mummy: The Legacy Collection, The Invisible Man: The Legacy Collection and Creature from the Black Lagoon: The Legacy Collection. The Mummy set will include The Mummy (1932), The Mummy's Curse, The Mummy's Ghost, The Mummy's Hand and The Mummy's Tomb. The Invisible Man set will include The Invisible Man, Invisible Agent, The Invisible Man Returns, The Invisible Man's Revenge and The Invisible Woman. Finally, the Creature set will include Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Creature Walks Among Us and Revenge of the Creature. Didn't we just talk about this earlier? Universal has now OFFICIALLY announced a 5-disc Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: The Complete Epic Series release for 11/16 (SRP $89.98). No word yet on extras, but we've heard that series star Gil Gerard was tapped to do audio commentary for a few episodes. Also, there's no word yet on whether the theatrical film will be released on disc. Additional Universal titles newly announced by the studio include Quantum Leap: The Complete Second Season (10/26 - SRP $59.98), the W.C. Fields Comedy Collection (11/9 - SRP $59.98 - includes The Bank Dick, International House, It's a Gift, My Little Chickadee and You Can't Cheat an Honest Man), The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection (11/9 - SRP $59.98 - includes Animal Crackers, The Cocoanuts, Duck Soup, Horse Feathers and Monkey Business) and Hell's Angels (12/7 - SRP $14.98). Stay tuned... (LATE UPDATE - 7/12/04 - 1 PM PDT) We've just gotten word from A&E/The History Channel that the acclaimed series The World at War will be released on DVD on 8/24 (SRP $149.95). The 11-disc set will include all 26 episodes of this documentary look at WWII, in the original full frame video with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio. Extras will include over 12 hours of bonus materials, such as a number of documentaries (Secretary to Hitler, The Two Deaths of Adolf Hitler, Warrior, Hitler's Germany: 1932-1939, Hitler's Germany: 1939-1945, The Final Solution and From War to Peace), a 30th anniversary feature-length retrospective film, biographies, a timeline, galleries of photos from the Imperial War Museum collection and more. This edition is expected to be MUCH more in-depth (in terms of extras) than HBO's previous DVD release, which was issued in 2001 as a 5-disc set. We've got an update in The Rumor Mill today on new Warner plans for Gone with the Wind on DVD. Don't miss it. Video Store is reporting that Warner is indeed quietly phasing out its much-derided Snapper packaging. This is due to internal research conducted by the studio that discovered (surprise!) "a portion of consumers do prefer the Amaray-style packaging." Amazing that it only took, what... SEVEN years to figure this out? You just have to scratch your head sometimes. In a bit of other news from Video Store, word is Columbia TriStar has signed a deal to distribute Discovery Communications titles, which would mean documentary material from Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, The Travel Channel, The Science Channel, Discovery's Wings and Home Channels and Discovery HD Theater (can you say Blu-ray Disc?). More release news this afternoon... First Look Home Entertainment will street Stateside (staring Val Kilmer) on 10/12 (SRP $24.98). Artisan will release Lars von Trier's Dogville on 8/24 (SRP $26.98). Dogville will include audio commentary with the director and cinematographer. Showtime will release DC 9/11: Time of Crisis (a film based on events in the White House immediately after the 9/11 attack) on 8/10. A&E/New Video will also release the 3-disc Benny Hill: The Naughty Years - Complete & Unadulterated, Volume 1 on 8/24 (SRP $49.95 - featuring all 11 hour-long episodes from 1969-71, including 3 rare shows in B&W, plus extras). And Lions Gate will release Godsend (staring Greg Kinnear, Robert De Niro and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) on 8/17 (SRP $26.98). Audio commentary and alternate endings will be included. We also have an update on a story we posted earlier. According to Video Business today, Columbia TriStar HAS officially acquired the DVD release rights to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. No other release details are available yet. Finally, word is that there's a framing error on Universal's recent DVD release of Airport 1975 (which was part of the studio's Airport Terminal Pack of all the films in the series), that results in the image looking a little stretched vertically even if you have your DVD player set to the correct type of TV. Reportedly, if you compare the new Universal DVD to the previously released Goodtimes edition, the difference is obvious. We're looking into this and we'll let you know what's up as soon as we hear anything. Stay tuned... (EARLY UPDATE - 7/12/04 - 11 AM PDT) We're going to have a number of posts today, but we've got some good news to tell you about with this first one. Variety is reporting that Universal and NBC are expanding their great slate of classic TV series on DVD. Set for release in the months ahead are Miami Vice, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Amazing Stories, Night Gallery, Murder, She Wrote, Columbo, Magnum P.I., The Munsters and Knight Rider (some of which have already been announced). A number of new series are on the way too, including Las Vegas, the various Law and Order series, American Dreams and The Apprentice. Many of you will also be glad to know that the recent miniseries version of Battlestar Galactica will be released sometime between August and November, just in time for the debut of the new series on the Sci-Fi Channel. Speaking of Sci-Fi, the much-maligned (often deservedly so in our opinion) network has just announced that it will debut the new 4-hour Farscape miniseries, Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars, on 10/17. What do you wanna bet ratings will be through the roof? Hhhhhmmmm... Farscape... Tremors: The Series. Which would you have cancelled? Warner Bros. has announced that it's releasing a 4-disc That's Entertainment!: Complete Collection on 10/12. The films will be remastered and the set will include more than 5 hours of extras on a fourth disc of bonus materials called That's Entertainment: Treasures From the Vault. Among the items to look for on the bonus disc are the new The Masters of the Musical documentary, several never-before-seen deleted musical numbers and footage from the original premiere of That's Entertainment! in Beverly Hills. You can read more here. While we're on the Warner front, there's also word that the heirs of late director Francois Truffaut have launched legal action against Time Warner and its French subsidiary over the DVD release rights to Truffaut's 1973 film La Nuit Americaine (a.k.a. Day for Night). Read more here. In other news today, 20th Century Fox will release Harry Thomason's documentary The Hunting of the President on DVD on 9/28 (SRP $19.98). The disc will include both full frame and anamorphic widescreen versions with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio. Extras will include audio commentary, deleted scenes and the trailer. Columbia TriStar has announced the DVD release of Asylum of the Damned, Carandiru and Twenty Bucks on 9/21. Also on the Columbia TriStar front today, rumors have been circulating that the studio's home entertainment division is close to acquiring the DVD release rights to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. Other bidders apparently include Lions Gate (which distributed the film theatrically) and NBC/Universal. We're also hearing that the street date for MGM's Walking Tall has been moved up from 9/28 to 9/14. Back with more soon. Stay tuned... 7/9/04 Morning, folks! Sorry we disappeared for a day there. We got caught nose-deep in preparations for our upcoming ComicCon DVD Producers panel, and time unfortunately got away from us. Anyway, we wanted to jump in here this morning to catch you all up on the big news from yesterday, namely Universal's announcement of the release of Van Helsing on 9/28. There will be 3 versions of the film on DVD - separate single-disc, full frame and anamorphic widescreen editions (SRP $29.98 each), both with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, and a 3-disc Ultimate Collector's Edition (SRP TBA) containing the film in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio (Disc One), behind-the-scenes bonus materials on the film (Disc Two), and the original classic film versions of Dracula, Frankenstein and The Wolf Man (Disc Three) in full frame with 2.0 mono audio. We'll post the artwork as soon as it's available. Additional titles to be released or re-released by the studio to coincide with Van Helsing are the 1979 version of Dracula, An American Werewolf in London, the recent The Mummy and The Mummy Returns and the animated Van Helsing: The London Assignment. In other news, Columbia TriStar will release Baadasssss!, Young Adam, Blazing Across the Pecos, Hardcore, Watermelon Man, Diff'erent Strokes: The Complete First Season and Sanford & Son: The Fifth Season all on 9/14. Due on 9/7 are Decoys, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring, Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Greek Myths, Music in My Heart, Naked in New York, Peep Show, single disc versions of Bad Boys II and The Missing, the Resident Evil: Deluxe Edition and The Best of Beakman's World. Meanwhile, as we all wait for the extended Return of the King to be announced, New Line has unveiled DVD releases of Iron Eagle III: Aces, Detonator II: Night Watch and Live Wire: Human Timebomb, all for 10/5. Here's some big news - Warner has announced a 2-disc Tom and Jerry: Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume for 10/19 (SRP $26.99). The set will include 40 classic restored and remastered shorts, along with audio commentary by Jerry Beck (on The Zoot Cat, Kitty Foiled and Heavenly Puss), the Behind the Tunes: The MGM Orchestra documentary, the How Bill and Joe Met Tom & Jerry documentary and 2 film excerpts (Jerry Dances with Gene Kelly from Anchors Aweigh and Tom and Jerry Swim with Esther Williams from Dangerous When Wet). Video will be full frame with Dolby Digital 1.0 mono audio. In other Warner news, look for D-Day: Reflections of Courage and Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer on 11/2, with HBO's Handful of Dust and Henry VIII following on 11/16. Additional recently announced Warner titles include The Hunger, The Fearless Vampire Killers, Frosty's Winter Wonderland/Twas the Night Before Xmas, He Knows You're Alone, It's Alive, It Lives Again/It's Alive III: Island of the Alive, North & South: The Complete Collection - Collector's Edition, Return of the Living Dead 2, Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, To Grandmother's House We Go and Tom and Jerry: Paws for a Holiday all on 10/5, and Batman: The Animated Series - Secrets of the Caped Crusader, Justice League: The Brave and the Bold, Superman Animated Series: A Little Piece of Home and Wacky Races: The Complete Series all on 10/29. That's it for today. We'll see you all on Monday with Barrie's next column and lots more. Have a great weekend, everyone! 7/7/04 We've just posted Todd's Weekly Release Roundup, featuring a rundown of the major DVDs hitting store shelves this week, along with reviews of three of them: New Line's The Butterfly Effect: Infinifilm Edition, Warner's Film Noir Collection and Shout! Factory's Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election. Also today, we have Adam Jahnke's in-depth review of Disney's recent Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Volume 2. In case you missed it, late yesterday afternoon, we posted Barrie's latest Classic Coming Attractions column as well, featuring reviews of 14 more titles, all of them classic war films. In terms of DVD news today, we've got the latest for you on Columbia TriStar's forthcoming Hellboy: Director's Cut, straight from director Guillermo Del Toro himself. This comes from his latest post (dated 7/5) on the studio's official Hellboy message board: "DVD (Director's cut): Comes out in November (3 discs) all the same extras (minus commentary track original) but with an extra disc full of features. The special box edition will have a Sideshow Hellboy mini-bust. This disc has my preferred cut (15 extra minutes but they go a long way in terms of story and character) and a new commentary track that I feel very happy with. Devil's Backbone DVD: for those of you that love this movie as much as I do, this one will have a better transfer, more extras than any international edition, including a unique and really useful doodle-storyboard-final shot comparison of several key sequences. The commentary track in this disc is new and it is my favorite of any disc I've done." You can read more from Guillermo (alias GDT) on the board. Special thanks to Bits reader Imran H. for sending us the link. Stay tuned! (LATE UPDATE - 7/6/04 - 4:30 PM PDT) We've just posted Barrie's latest Classic Coming Attractions column, in which he reviews 14 classic war films newly released on DVD by 20th Century Fox, MGM and Paramount. We'll be back in the morning with Todd's Weekly Release Roundup and a new DVD review from Adam Jahnke. Then on Thursday, we expect to have yet another Classic Coming Attractions column from Barrie. Lots of stuff to look forward to, along with the usual DVD news, so be sure to stay tuned! (EARLY UPDATE - 7/6/04 - 12:45 PM PDT) Any Zatoichi fans out there? Yeah, we thought so. To kick things off right today, we've got some more new cover art for you. Let your eyes make sweet, sweet love to this... Is there anything better than Ichi on DVD? We just don't know. Those are, of course, the final three Ichi releases expected from Home Vision (barring a miracle, at least), due on 8/24. We believe there's a chance that Home Vision owns the rights to Zatoichi 14: Zatoichi's Pilgrimage (the only film in the series that will NOT be on DVD in the U.S. after 8/24) as well, but we're going to have to wait and see. Anyway, you probably also noticed Lions Gate's The Punisher (9/7), MGM's Soul Plane: Unrated Edition (9/7) and BCI Eclipse's New Zoo Revue: Season 1 (8/24). And here's one last tasty little cover for you today... yep, the final art George Romero's 4-disc Dawn of the Dead: The Ultimate Edition from Anchor Bay (due 9/7)... By the way, we've got a quick update for all of you on a title we mentioned yesterday. The Miramax press release for the Clerks: 10th Anniversary Edition listed the original unaired Clerks TV pilot as an extra. However, director Kevin Smith is reporting on his View Askew website that it will NOT be included after all. Just FYI. Finally, we've got a little information on those Michael Moore DVDs we mentioned yesterday as well. According to the latest issues of Video Business and Video Store, it's still unknown who will be distributing the DVD of Fahrenheit 9/11 (apparently, Lions Gate does NOT have the DVD release rights which will likely go to one of the major studios, possibly even Buena Vista). However, word is Moore's production company has already completed many of the special features for the disc. In addition, Bits reader Chris M. recently had the chance to speak with Moore in person, and learned that the director has recorded a new commentary for The Big One, due from Miramax on 9/28. Chris also learned that the DVD rights for Moore's only other unreleased project, TV Nation, belong to Sony, but the studio is sitting on the title at the moment (we'll keep you up to date on plans if and when they develop). Back later with more. Stay tuned... 7/5/04 Morning everyone! Hope you all enjoyed the weekend, and that you American readers had a great 4th of July holiday. There's not a lot of news to report today, as Hollywood is "out to lunch" so to speak on a day like this. But there are some cool things to tell you about. First of all, Miramax has officially announced the DVD release of Kevin Smith's Clerks: 10th Anniversary Edition. The 3-disc set will street on 9/7 for an SRP of $39.99. The set will include the original theatrical version of the film as well as the extended, Sundance version. Both will feature audio commentary by director Smith and the cast and crew (the Sundance version will feature video commentary as well). The video/audio specs are listed as 1.85:1/16x9 enhanced and Dolby Digital 5.1, but I don't know if this applies to both versions or just the theatrical version. Extras will include the 150-minute Snowball Effect documentary, an animated missing scene, the Mae Day: The Crumbling of a Documentary featurette, the original unaired Clerks TV pilot [Editor's Note: since we first posted this, we've learned that the pilot will not be included after all], Jay & Silent Bob TV spots, the Flying Car short film seen on the Tonight Show, video of the 10th Anniversary screening Q&A, original audition tapes, theatrical trailers and TV spots, music videos for Soul Asylum's Can't Even Tell and Girls Against Boys' Kill the Sex Player, a still photo gallery, DVD-ROM "enhanced" playback, Kevin Smith's original journals, and 7 articles about the film by critics and film historians. Knowing Smith, you can bet there's lots of hidden material as well, and other items not listed in the press release. We'll have the final official artwork as soon as its available. Should be a very cool release. Out hats off to Kevin for all the TLC he puts into his discs. Speaking of which, we should mention that Miramax is also releasing Smith's Jersey Girl on DVD on 9/7 (SRP $29.99), but we're told that the director is working on a more elaborate special edition version that will be released at a later date. Here's a great bit of news for fans of director Michael Moore. Not wanting to miss a trick when it comes to cashing in on the recent blazing success of Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, Miramax has announced that it will release his earlier The Big One on DVD on 9/28 (which would lead you to wonder if maybe Fahrenheit 9/11 will be out on, or shortly after, 9/28 from Lions Gate as well). The film will be released in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio. No word yet on extras, if any. In other DVD news, Universal has delayed the street date for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind by a week, moving the release from 9/28 to 10/5. The studio has also postponed the Backbeat: Special Edition indefinitely (no reason given), and announced a pair of documentary releases: The War Room (10/12) and Twin Towers (9/7). We've got a few details on the extras to look for on a trio of upcoming Paramount DVDs. The Footloose: Special Collector's Edition (9/28) will include audio commentary by Kevin Bacon, audio commentary by producer Craig Zadan and writer Dean Pitchford, 3 documentary featurettes (Footloose: A Modern Musical - Part 1, Footloose: A Modern Musical - Part 2 and Footloose: Songs That Tell a Story), and the theatrical trailer. The Untouchables: Special Collector's Edition (10/5) will include several newly-produced featurettes (The Script, The Cast, Production Stories, Reinventing the Genre and The Classic), the original featurette The Men and the theatrical trailer. And The Prince & Me: Special Collector's Edition (8/10), will feature audio commentary by director Martha Coolidge, 3 featurettes (The Lawnmower Race of The Prince & Me, The Look of The Prince & Me and Inside The Fairy Tale: The Prince & Me), 8 deleted/extended scenes, a gag reel and the theatrical trailer. 20th Century Fox has announced The Three Faces of Eve as the 22nd release in its Studio Classics line. Expect the title to be released on 10/5 (SRP $19.98). Extras will include feature commentary by Aubrey Solomon, the theatrical trailer and a Fox Movietone News short. Warner Bros. has revealed that it will release National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2 on 10/5 (SRP $19.97). Bits reader Dave P. reports that a number of current Dark Horse comics issues (including Star Wars: Empire #21) have full page ads for Universal's Van Helsing on DVD, listing 10/19 as the street date. That falls in line with the expected street dates we reported on Friday. Turner Classic Movies is holding another DVD Decision online poll on their website, allowing you to choose 5 favorite films from a list of 20 potential titles. Those selected will be released on DVD in January 2005. Get on over there and get voting, because there are some real gems in the lot, including Greed (1924), Ice Station Zebra (1968 - GOTTA have this on disc!), International Velvet (1978) and Ivanhoe (1952). The winners will be announced in August. Thanks to Bits reader Jeff S. for alerting us to this. Finally this morning, there's a new report from The New York Times on that bidding war between Sony and Time Warner to buy MGM. Warner has indeed put together an offer challenging Sony's, reportedly worth $4.7 billion. Whichever rival wins, the final purchase deal for the studio isn't expected to be closed for several weeks. The article has interesting details on the bids of each potential buyer, so do check it out. Back tomorrow with columns, reviews and more news. See you then! (LATE UPDATE - 7/2/04 - 11:30 AM PDT) Some very sad news to report today. Legendary actor Marlon Brando has passed away in Los Angeles. Among his films were such classics as The Godfather, On the Waterfront and A Streetcar Named Desire. He was 80 years old. I just don't know what else to say about this, but he'll be missed. Click here for more from CNN. Now for some interesting DVD news, particularly for you fans of classic animation. Here's Todd to tell you about it: Hey kids. I know that Columbia TriStar's upcoming 2-disc Hellboy DVD is going to be a must-own for most of you, but while doing my notes for the review in my upcoming column, I stumbled on a very neat extra that all you classic cartoon collectors will want to know about. I haven't heard this mentioned anywhere else, but there are four great UPA cartoons from Columbia's archives on Disc One of the set (listed as "recommended by Hellboy"). First, we get the original Gerald McBoing-Boing from 1950. As many of you know, the sequel, Gerald McBoing-Boing's Symphony, is already available on the DVD release of 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. Joining the original on Hellboy are the other two films in the four film McBoing-Boing series: How Now Boing Boing and Gerald McBoing-Boing on Planet Moo. Neater still, the classic and oft-touted as "one of the greatest cartoons ever made" short The Telltale Heart is on the disc as well. I was in cartoon geek heaven when I found these, and I just wanted to tell you guys in case you're on the fence about getting Hellboy. If you love toons as much as me, it's now a must-have. Thanks, Todd. That is pretty damn cool. Nice to have that whole series on disc finally. And finally today, could this be actual information about a forthcoming Matrix Ultimate Collection box set? U.K. retailer HMV has posted details on what would be a 10-disc set, which would include: 1 - The Matrix (with all-new transfer & audio commentary) 2 - The Matrix Revisited (the original version with behind-the-scenes footage) 3 - Matrix Reloaded: Extended Version (new cut with 55 minutes of new footage inserted back into the film) 4 - Matrix Reloaded Revisited (all new interviews, scene dissections and more) 5 - Matrix Revolutions (original cut with audio commentaries) 6 - Matrix Revolutions Revisited (a host of all-new extras) 7 - The Animatrix 8 - The Roots of the Matrix (3 hours of features) 9 - The Burley Man Chronicles (the people behind The Matrix discuss their work) 10 - The Zion Archive (a tour of Matrix design concepts, storyboards & drawings) The set would also include a 20-page booklet. Click on the link above for additional extras details. Obviously, this would be a U.K. release, but these generally mirror the R1 release pretty closely. We'll have to wait and see if Warner makes an announcement in the coming weeks. Have a happy and safe 4th of July weekend everyone. See you Monday! (EARLY UPDATE - 7/2/04 - 12:01 AM PDT) We've got some new street dates (and tentative release months) to give you today, for major studio titles through the end of 2004 (including some titles now in theaters). I want to let you know that most of these dates have yet to be announced, so consider them unofficial until we tell you that a studio has confirmed them. This would definitely normally go in The Rumor Mill, but for ease of posting they're in the daily column today. Here goes... September - Mean Girls (9/21), Jersey Girl (9/7), Saved (TBA), Super Size Me (TBA) October - The Day After Tomorrow (10/27), Troy (10/12), Van Helsing (TBA), Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (TBA), Garfield: The Movie (10/19), The Stepford Wives (TBA), The Terminal (TBA), Raising Helen (TBA), Fahrenheit 9/11 (TBA), The Notebook (10/19), Around the World in 80 Days (TBA), Two Brothers (TBA) November - Shrek 2 (11/5), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (TBA), White Chicks (TBA) December - The Chronicles of Riddick (TBA) Also this morning, we've got some cool new cover art for you to check out. Here's Paramount's Footloose: Special Collector's Edition (9/28), Untouchables: Special Collector's Edition (10/5), Eddie Murphy: Raw (9/7), Mork & Mindy: The Complete First Season (9/7) and Friday the 13th: From Crystal Lake to Manhattan - The Ultimate DVD Collection (9/14), Sony Music's Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Complete Season 2 (8/31), MGM's Walking Tall (9/28) and Species: Special Edition (10/19) and 20th Century Fox's Man on Fire (9/14)... How's that for a cool way to round out the week, huh? Have a great weekend, folks! See you back here on Monday. (LATE UPDATE - 7/1/04 - 5 PM PDT) You know how we've been telling you that Sony's ongoing bid to buy MGM, and obtain the MGM library of catalog films, was all about giving the edge to their next generation Blu-ray Disc format in the battle with HD-DVD? Well, here's the proof... now Warner Bros. is after MGM as well. According to published reports, Time Warner Inc. is hastily putting together a nearly $5 billion cash and stock offer to obtain the studio. As you know, Warner has a vested interest in the HD-DVD format seizing the high ground in the looming format war - they receive significant royalty payments based on current DVD technology, and HD-DVD is simply an extension of that. You can bet your asteroids that Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD are a big part of the reasoning behind the scenes for both Warner and Sony's interest. Whoever gets the MGM catalog instantly gets a BIG leg up for their format. As a side note, if Warner manages to get control of MGM, it would clear up a lot of the rights confusion that's kept Peter Jackson and New Line from going ahead with a film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. New Line is a Time Warner company, and while the studio owns the rights to produce a film of The Hobbit, MGM currently owns the rights to distribute it. Anyway... this is a very interesting development for a number of reasons. Click here, here, here, here and here to read more about it. DEFINITELY stay tuned... (EARLY UPDATE - 7/1/04 - 12:01 AM PDT) Well, I'm afraid we've got some bad news for you fans of animation legend Hayao Miyazaki. Disney's recently delayed 2-disc special editions of My Neighbor Totoro, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Porco Rosso, which had been slated for release on 8/31, have now been bumped into early 2005. No official reason was given to us by the studio, but we believe it's to coordinate with the U.S. theatrical release of the currently in the works film by Miyazaki, Howl's Moving Castle. Rest assured, we'll post anything else we hear on this in the coming weeks and months. In other news today, Warner has just announced a new slate of horror titles for 10/5, just in time for Halloween. Look for The Hunger, It's Alive, It's Alive II & III, Fearless, Vampire Killers, Return of the Living Dead, Part II and He Knows You're Alone (SRP $19.97 each). Lions Gate has announced the DVD release of The Punisher on 9/7. There will be a limited edition (just 10,000 copies) with a special comic book-style cover, along with a regular edition. As far as we know, extras will be the same on both versions. All will come with a 28-page prequel comic, written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Tim Bradstreet. We'll post cover art as it becomes available. And around the Net today, Bits reader Dave F. found this report over at PCWorld.com - Panasonic has just unveiled a Blu-ray Disc Recorder that will be available in Japan at the end of this month. The player will sell for about $2780, with the blank BD-ROM media costing between $35 and $50 depending on the capacity. With the more expensive, 50GB discs, the unit will record some 4.5 hours of high-definition video. It will also be compatible with DVD-R and DVD-ROM media. Finally this morning, cover art guru Russell Hammond has helped us to assemble another huge Upcoming DVD Cover Art update. We've added more than 150 additional cover images, including many you haven't seen before, so don't miss it. And remember, clicking on each cover allows you to pre-order the disc from Amazon.com, which supports our work here at The Bits. We surely do appreciate it! Stay tuned... (LATE UPDATE - 6/30/04 - 4 PM PDT) Back as promised with Todd Doogan's latest Weekly Release Roundup! This week, Todd checks out some 13 new DVD releases that you'll find in stores now, including Warner's Blazing Saddles: 30th Anniversary Special Edition, Paramount's South Park: The Complete Fourth Season and much more. Don't miss it! We'll be back tomorrow morning with another big update of our Upcoming DVD Cover Art section and more. Stay tuned... (EARLY UPDATE - 6/30/04 - 4 AM PDT) Well, here we are, kicking off the last day of June. The summer's barely started and we've already killed the first month! Time does fly. Matt and I just caught a Midnight screening of Spider-Man 2 - because that's the kind of film geeks we are - and let me tell you, it's a great ride. As critics have been saying, it IS even better than the first film. I would say it's a fuller and richer film emotionally. The action is great, the effects are great, but it's the characters that shine through here without a single weak link. Whereas in the first film, the story was about Peter Parker learning to use his new super powers, this film turns the tables and becomes his struggle to learn how to be Peter - a seemingly normal guy - at the same time as he's having to save everybody's day. There's plenty of the humor of the first film (even more this time actually), and a few wink-and-nod moments for the True Believers out there. Alfred Molina brings great humanity to the role of Dr. Octavius - his sinister transformation (and internal struggles thereafter) balance Parker's personal conflicts nicely. The film also opens up the comic book mythology in a big way and sets the stage for plenty of great sequels to come. I think you guys are going to love this flick. Like the original, it's one of those rare summer blockbusters that actually delivers everything it promises (and then some). The lines will be long at your local theater these next couple of weeks, but the payoff is definitely worth it. Remember Monday's Rumor Mill post when we mentioned that a new special edition of The Thing was on the way from Universal? Well... the studio has just announced The Thing: Collector's Edition for 10/19. The extras look to be virtually identical to those on the previous release, except that this re-issue features anamorphic widescreen video (the original was non-anamorphic). Other features include Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, commentary with director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell, the John Carpenter's The Thing: Terror Takes Shape documentary, galleries of photos, storyboards and artwork, behind-the-scenes footage, outtakes and the theatrical trailer. Just FYI, both the R and unrated versions of the new Dawn of the Dead are being rescheduled for release on 10/19 as well. Universal has also announced Dream On: Seasons 1 & 2 and The 5th Wheel: Naked Dating - Volumes 1 & 2 for 10/12. Here's a bit of news some of you guys are gonna love: Trey Parker and Matt Stone have just re-launched the official Orgazmo DVD site. According to the boys, the disc (street date TBA soon) will include 3 audio commentary tracks, a 40-minute documentary, 60 minutes of deleted scenes, and tons of other cool supplements. Check out the site for more details. Thanks to Bits reader Charles L. for sending us the link. Here's another huge bit of DVD news... Warner has finally re-slated their Iron Giant: Special Edition for 9/7 (SRP $19.97). The title, which was delayed from its original release date last year (to precede the theatrical release of Brad Bird and Pixar's The Incredibles in November), will include tons of cool extras. Look for the film in anamorphic widescreen video (from an all-new transfer) with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, commentary by the director and filmmakers, 8 deleted scenes (including an alternate opening, all with director's commentary), 13 "mini-documentaries" on the making of the film and The Voice of the Giant featurette (hosted by Vin Diesel), a "motion" gallery of original animation, a letter from author Ted Hughes, DVD-ROM weblinks and Easter eggs. Not to be outdone, Criterion has announced a great slate of new DVD releases for September. Look for a fantastic 3-disc special edition of Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers (we seriously can't wait to get our hands on it - check out this list of supplements!) and a 8-disc box set of John Cassavetes films, labeled John Cassavetes: Five Films. The package will include Shadows, Faces, A Woman Under the Influence, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie and Opening Night, along with extras. We'll post the exact street dates as soon as they're available. While we're at it this morning, here's the cover art for The Iron Giant, The Battle of Algiers and Columbia TriStar's Resident Evil: Deluxe Edition (due on 9/7)... We've got more cool news for those of you planning to attend our ComicCon DVD Producers 2004 panel. We've added an additional person to our list of producers scheduled to participate in the discussion - Robert Burnett, who crafted such special editions as The Usual Suspects, X-Men 1.5 and X2, and who is currently at work on the future DVD release of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. An already great event has just gotten even better, so be sure not to miss out on it. One final bit of news this morning has absolutely nothing to do with DVD, but we'll tell you about it anyway. NASA's Cassini-Huygens probe will arrive in orbit of Saturn this evening, after almost 7 years traveling across our solar system. If all goes well, the first close-up pictures of the ringed planet should start coming in tomorrow. These are gonna be some AMAZING photos, let me tell you. Head on over to the mission's official website when you've got a moment today for all the details. Back with Todd's column and more later. Stay tuned... More Archived Posts Back to Current Posts
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