Site created 12/15/97.		page updated: 7/21/99 Rumor Mill (Archived Posts 5/14/99 - 3/10/99) Back to Previous Archives Back to Current Posts 5/14/99 OK, we've got a bunch of stuff to cover today, so here goes... Anchor Bay has a bunch of titles coming to DVD over the rest of 1999, including an Army of Darkness: Special Edition, Return to OZ (1985), Something Wicked This Way Comes, Trilogy of Terror, The Car, I Saw What You Did, The Happiest Millionaire, Two-Lane Blacktop, Melvin and Howard (in September), and Fitzcaraldo (by Werner Herzog, who also directed Nosferatu the Vampyre). Look for DreamWorks' The Prince of Egypt on September 14th, day and date with VHS, and possibly Saving Private Ryan in October, when it goes sell-through on VHS (although no green-light has yet been given). Universal's The Mummy should find its way to DVD on September 28th. Warner's Wild, Wild West should also reach DVD before Christmas, pending its performance at the box-office this summer. And look for MGM's The Thomas Crown Affair remake to street in October, and Buena Vista's The Other Sister in September. Finally, Buena Vista's The Faculty has been moved to June 15th (day-and-date with VHS), up from June 29th. 5/12/99 Well, DVD.com has confirmed some Fall titles we've told you about here recently, and has revealed some new ones as well. Coming from Universal are new Collector's Edition titles, including EdTV, Grace of My Heart, Liar, Liar (yes, the same one that's already out), Cape Fear (1991), and Rear Window. A Hitchcock 3-pack is on the way to commemorate the director's 100th birthday, and all 3 Back to the Future movies are finally expected before the end of the year as well. Also coming are Buffalo 66, and all those Universal monster movies we told you about a long while back. And Paramount titles to expect for the Fall include 200 Cigarettes, 3 Days of the Condor, and two discs of Star Trek episodes on August 17, The Out-Of-Towners, Breakfast at Tiffany's and Barefoot in the Park on September 14 (along with two more Star Trek TV DVDs, and a pair of Next Generation episode DVDs as well). Finally, on October 12th look for Election, Apocalypse Now, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Friday the 13th and Friday the 13th, Part 2, as well as ANOTHER two Star Trek episode discs, and two more Next Generation discs as well. Whew! 5/10/99 Word is that Fox 's The Thin Red Line DVD is being delayed from its June 29th street date, because of some production issues. The delay is expected to only be temporary, so look for the title to be rescheduled soon. I've also been hearing this weekend, that Apocalypse Now is in development for DVD over at Paramount. Stay tuned... 5/3/99 Ah, yes... the Net is (as expected) burning with the latest rumors on the Star Wars DVDs, courtesy of The Force.net's Bothan spies at this weekend's Star Wars Celebration in Denver. As you know, Lucasfilm producer Rick McCallum officially confirmed that George has special plans for the DVD version of the Trilogy. This, we already knew. Alas, in later posts to The Force, several people claim to have "bumped into McCallum" later in the day, and asked him more about the DVDs. Among the things they were allegedly told, are that the DVDs wouldn't be available for "another year and a half", and that the hold-up would be due to the fact that George wanted home Dolby Digital EX decoders available to the public before releasing the DVDs. To our knowledge these last two rumors are completely bogus. Here's what we at the Bits can tell you, based on VERY good sources. First, Lucas is planning on personally supervising the DVD production himself, as he does with nearly every aspect of anything to do with Star Wars. He had very tentatively planned to begin working on the DVDs last month, once work on Episode I was completed. As most of you know, work on the film ran until the very end of April, and with the theatrical release now just over two weeks away, Lucas will no doubt be busy for the next month or more. The latest information we have is that he'll turn his attention to the DVDs as soon as things with Episode I settle down, and he can spare the time. We have also been told that Fox hopes to distribute Episode I to home video in March of April of next year (although any timetable will no doubt be determined by Lucasfilm). Our information is that the Trilogy will reach DVD in the month or two prior to Episode I's home video debut. Nothing we've heard indicates "a year and a half delay", and as I said, our sources are very good. One thing to keep in mind, is that Dolby Digital EX is ABSOLUTELY not the reason for this delay. A DVD release that REQUIRED an EX decoder would severely limit the market for the disc, even if lots of people were to buy the new equipment. Lucas and Fox want to make money on these DVDs, make no mistake. They're not going to limit their market in such a stupid fashion. If they wanted, they could release Star Wars on DVD next month, with an EX signal encoded on the disc, and make it fully compatible with standard Dolby Digital 5.1 decoders, just the way that lots of people buy DVDs with 5.1 tracks on them now, and listen only to Dolby ProLogic. That way, when people eventually upgraded to EX equipment, that audio would be there for them, but they'd still be able to watch the disc in 5.1 sound now. This rumor is just plain silly. We are keeping a very close eye on the Star Wars DVDs, rest assured. And we'll definitely be in a position to let you know as events move forward. In the meantime, just let's be glad that we have official confirmation from Lucasfilm that the DVDs are being planned. And let's just all enjoy Episode I for now. Moving on, we've got some other upcoming DVD information for you today. First of all, we've gotten word on some of the other titles Fox has planned for the rest of the year. We've already talked about their September titles, so let's look beyond that. Keep in mind, this schedule is VERY tentative. October should see Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Dr. Doolittle (the recent Eddie Murphy version), Never Been Kissed, and two holiday titles, the original 1947 Miracle on 34th Street, and the 1984 TV version of A Christmas Carol, starring George C. Scott. November should see Midsummer Night's Dream, Entrapment, and the first wave of episodes of The X-Files TV series. December plans call for at least the first Planet of the Apes film to hit DVD (and possibly the whole series), as well as Broken Down Palace. Also, add the following to the August Fox titles we've mentioned before: Buffy the Vampire Slayer(the movie AND a few TV series episodes), and a Bruce Lee 4-pack of films on DVD (which includes Fists of Fury, Return of the Dragon, Game of Death, The Chinese Connnection, as well as a documentary). The same 4 pack is currently available on VHS from Fox (see this link at Amazon.com). Word has also reached us that Buena Vista has Fall 99 plans to release My Favorite Martian, The Rocketeer, Quiz Show, Like Water for Chocolate, and both of Jackie Chan's Operation Condor films to DVD, among other titles. Stay tuned... 4/28/99 Is Men In Black coming to DVD later this year? So it seems. We've been told that Columbia TriStar had hoped for a 3rd Qtr release of the title here in the US, pending Spielberg's approval. Word has just arrived that the film has been green-lit for Region 2 DVD release late in '99, by Scandinavian distributor Egmont Entertainment (which also handles Universal and Fox DVD titles). Other Columbia titles we've learned are coming from Egmont in Region 2 this year are Ghandi, Easy Rider, Heavy Metal, Five Easy Pieces, Gilda, Mary Reilly, Mr. Jones, Age of Innocence, Guns of Navarone, Hook, and Remains of the Day. You can reasonably expect all of them to be released in Region 1 as well. 4/23/99 We got an upcoming DVD blowout today here at the Bits. We've been able to obtain tentative street dates for most major titles through the 3rd quarter. So let's get started, shall we? Starting in July, you'll find She's All That and A Civil Action available from Buena Vista (on July 13th), as well as Life Is Beautiful (on July 20th). I have to say, I'm REALLY looking forward to the Life Is Beautiful DVD - what a great movie. July 13th will also see Office Space (another fun flick), and Wing Commander, both from Fox. On the 20th, look for 8mm from Columbia, and Virus from Universal. And on July 27th, we should see Payback from Paramount, Cruel Intentions and Baby Geniuses from Columbia, October Sky from Universal, and Blast from the Past from New Line. Warner's Analyze This will also street sometime in July. August 3rd will see True Crime, starring Clint Eastwood, from Warner. And there are a bunch of titles stacked on August 10th, which I expect will be moved around on the schedule a bit (to prevent crowding). In any case, currently slated for that day are Carrie 2 and The Mod Squad from MGM, The Corruptor from New Line, Shakespeare in Love and Celebrity from Buena Vista, The Deep End of the Ocean from Columbia, and Simply Irresistible and Ravenous from Fox. August will also see Message in a Bottle from Warner, and EdTV from Universal, street date unknown. The Matrix is coming in August or September. Also, I've been hearing rumblings that Paramount may try to move the Titanic street date up, to as early as August 31st. Current September titles include the Nightmare on Elm Street boxed set (early in the month, along with the first film separately), and a host of titles from Fox. The street dates are uncertain as yet, but look for: The Abyss: SE, The Fly (both the original 1958 and the 1986 versions), ID4: SE, Strange Days, The Day the Earth Stood Still (all as part of a Millennium promotion), Pushing Tin (day and date), Among Giants (day and date), and a Wallace & Gromit 10th Anniversary DVD, which will include the shorts A Close Shave, The Wrong Trousers, and A Grand Day Out, all on one DVD. Universal's The Mummy should also street in September, as well as Hideous Kinky from Columbia. Finally today, I'm told that as part of the deal including Columbia's Dr. Strangelove in Warner's Kubrick DVD set, Dr. Strangelove, Gloria and the Taxi Driver: SE will all be released in Snapper cases. Yuck. 4/20/99 From one of our best sources yesterday, came word that Warner Brothers will be packaging 7 of director Stanley Kubrick's films in a DVD boxed set on June 29th (see Snapper artwork here). But there's good and bad news involved. The films themselves are Barry Lyndon, A Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket, The Shining, Lolita, 2001: A Space Odyssey (via MGM), and Dr. Strangelove (via arrangement with Columbia TriStar). The SRP for this Kubrick boxed set is set to be $149.92. But there's a problem or two. Full Metal Jacket (1.85:1 original aspect ratio) will be released in pan and scan only. The Shining (which was intended to be seen at 1.66:1 ratio) will be released full frame as well (but will feature Vivian Kubrick's The Making of The Shining documentary). And 2001 will come in Warner's dubious Snapper packaging, instead of the keep case it's been available in from MGM, as will (I suspect) Dr. Strangelove. All films will be available individually as well. June will also see lots of other Warner distributed titles come to market, including more of their "value" line of DVDs (which may as well just be VHS tapes for all I care, given that they've mostly been lousy thus far). June 2nd will see Sweet Dreams and The Hitcher (from HBO). June 22nd will see New Line's Hurly Burly (with two commentary tracks, featuring Sean Penn, the director and others), as well as WB's Murder in the First (priced at $19.98), and a DVD re-release of Gremlins. The new batch of $14.98 titles from the WB will also street on June 22nd, and include Billy Jack, Cannonball Run 2, Sour Grapes, and Witches (all in pan and scan), and Just Cause and The Power of One (in widescreen). All right, I've held my tongue for long enough. Warner, your DVD work has been a decidedly mixed bag recently. You folks are spending far too much time, money and effort on this crappy "value line" of $14.98 DVDs, and not enough time on good A and B-list titles. While we get pan & scan crap like Lovesick and Cannonball Run 2, where are the titles people really want.. like Heat, Excalibur and The Shawshank Redemption? Let's try to focus a little more on quality, and not just cranking out quantity for the masses. You've been DVDs strongest supporter in the past, politically and in terms of advertising support, as well as the quality of your titles. I'd LIKE to see you try to remain so. By the way, it's bad enough that we have to deal with the crappy Snapper case, which I'm sorry, DOES absolutely bite compared to the Amaray keep case. Several of my Snappers have gotten scratched, dented or otherwise deformed by nothing more than routine use. Just FYI. OK, in other quick news, look for Columbia to release So I Married an Axe Murderer to DVD on 6/1, and Clerks is officially unofficially a 6/29 release from Buena Vista. And by the way... DreamWorks' In Dreams DVD IS a 6/1 release after all - that's official from the studio. 4/19/99 All right... we've got some more interesting DVD release news today. First of all, Mel Gibson month over at Paramount has now been bumped from June to July. You can tentatively expect Payback day-and-date on 7/27, with the aforementioned Galipoli. The studio's been seriously mum about Braveheart, which tends to lead me to believe that it's still coming as a special edition DVD in July or August, as we've been told before. Witness is also expected 7/27. And remember how we said Titanic in September? Well, I'm now told that's a few days premature - the street date has tentatively been set at October 4th. Go figure. One can at least hope Paramount gets the message about anamorphic enhancement of this title... Just the Ticket is anticipated from MGM on June 1st, along with three Stanley Kubrick films on June 29th (which have been officially announced by the studio): Paths of Glory, The Killing, and Killer's Kiss. New Line is planning to release a DVD boxed set of all seven of the Nightmare on Elm Street films in early September. Only the original Nightmare will be available on DVD separately (apart from the boxed set) until next year, when they're all expected to be released, in conjunction with the theatrical release of Freddy vs. Jason. Look for Warner Bros. to street a day-and-date DVD version of their animated The King and I in July, packed with extras a la Quest for Camelot. Trimark is delivering The Eternal in July, complete with anamorphic enhancement. As for Fox... well, we've heard that August titles will include Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ravenous, Rising Sun, The Stunt Man and White Men Can't Jump, in addition to the previously mentioned The Full Monty, and There's Something About Mary. X-Files fans MAY see the first episodes of their favorite alien/government conspiracy show hit DVD before the year is out. But if it's aliens you're looking for (and June's Alien Legacy doesn't give you your fill), you'll get the old destructo-ray kick to the teeth in September, when the Independence Day: Special Edition hits DVD, along with The Abyss: Special Edition. Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' 'bout! Bring it ON, Fox! Stay tuned... 4/14/99 There's lots of new upcoming DVD titles to talk about today, so let's get started. First of all Criterion has DVD versions of Black Orpheus (5/25) and Brazil (6/29), the latter of which will include storyboards, a theatrical trailer, deleted scenes and additional footage, audio commentary, documentaries, production notes, and a photo gallery, among other things. Artisan has Fortress, Plenty, Francis and Tender Mercies scheduled for 6/22. Universal has scheduled Affliction, Always and Trigger Effect for 7/13. As for the smaller labels, Program Power has the so-called "worst film of all time" set for DVD release on 4/27 - Plan 9 from Outer Space. DVD International will release Merry War on 5/19. Delta Entertainment has Chaplin: Special Edition - The Kid (which also includes 3 other shorts), and Angel and the Badman (4/6), as well as Beatles: Celebration (4/27). Fox Lorber brings David and Lisa, Don's Party, The Funeral, Gray's Anatomy, Majestic Journeys and Natural Wonders of America on 4/27. Simitar has High Voltage set for 5/18. VCI is bringing out The Devil's Rain and Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things on 5/25, followed by And Then There Were None, The Southerner, Chariots of the Gods and the Late Great Planet Earth on 6/29, and Black Sabbath on 7/13. Pioneer has Kitaro: World Tour Kojiki coming on 5/25, Altius: On Air Extreme Sports on 6/1, Wings of JSDF: Challengers and Wings of Swiss Air Force on 6/8, and several new karaoke discs on 6/22. Finally, remember those Roan Classics we told you about a few weeks ago? All right, here's the full list (don't hold your breath - it's a long one): Fighting Sullivans, Film Noir of Anthony Mann: T-Men, Raw Deal and He Walked By Night, The Outlaw, Pre-Code Hollywood: Of Human Bondage, Kept Husbands and Millie, and Roy Rogers, Volume 1: Roll on Texas, King of the Cowboys, and Days of Jesse James (all on 5/25), Classic Noir: The Stranger and Cause for Alarm, Hollywood Sleuths: Kennel Murder Case and Nancy Drew, Reporter, Horror Classics: Indestructible Man and Amazing Transparent Man, James Cagney: Time of Your Life, Something to Sing About and Blood on the Sun, Vincent Price Collection: The Bat and House on Haunted Hill, and the Mr. Wong Series: Mr.Wong, Detective, Mr. Wong of Chinatown, Mystery of Mr. Wong, The Fatal Hour, Doomed to Die and Phantom of Chinatown (all on 6/29). Whew! 4/13/99 Just a brief update today. We've learned that Fox's upcoming True Lies DVD will be in widescreen, but is NOT anamorphic - just FYI. The disc will also include a theatrical trailer. Also, that Paramount King Kong DVD (if it pans out) will be the 1976 remake. Several readers correctly pointed out that the 1933 original is currently owned by Turner, the video release rights for which are controlled by Warner Bros (and I'm told that there is at least SOME talk about releasing the original to DVD). A quick follow up on Legend - no word yet on which cut of the film will be used for the DVD. That is currently being discussed. Also, look for Columbia TriStar to begin trumpeting their forthcoming Ghostbusters DVD this week. It looks to be the studio's most impressive disc thus far. Finally, have any of you noticed that Divx has let their ownership of the keyword "divx" lapse on most of the major search engines? Until a few days ago, searching on the word "divx" would result in a Divx banner being displayed on Yahoo, Go.com and many others. No longer. In fact, over at Go, DVD Express has purchased at least partial exposure on the "divx" keyword (no, this doesn't mean they're carrying Divx, just that they were smart enough to buy in when Divx dropped out). I have NO idea what this may mean for Divx, but I though it interesting at least. Stay tuned... 4/12/99 Well, now that a special edition DVD of Ridley Scott's Alien is well on its way to store shelves, what's next for the director? No less than a Universal Collector's Edition DVD of Legend, starring Tom Cruise, Mia Sara and Tim Curry. Preliminary work has just begun on the disc, which should street sometime in the late fall of this year. We'll have more on this as it develops. In other Universal news, work has already begun on an EdTV DVD, for release late summer/early fall. Out of Africa is also on tap for the end of the year. In the meantime, we've got some depressing information on Paramount's upcoming Titanic DVD. Reliable word is, that current plans call for a non-anamorphic DVD release, with only theatrical trailers in terms of extras. Since it is taking longer than expected to work out the production bugs on DVD-18, Paramount reportedly wants to "just get the film out" as a basic disc now, and then revisit it in a year or so as a fully-loaded DVD-18 special edition disc. This is just completely ridiculous to me. Paramount has already dragged their feet far too long in terms of readying Titanic for DVD. And now, after all that wait, fans will be treated to a bare-bones disc? Yuck. At the VERY LEAST, Paramount should ante up with ANAMORPHIC widescreen on this DVD. If we were going to get a bare-bones disc anyway, why not have released the disc when people still really cared? Titanic-fever has passed, folks. Grrr... I feel an editorial coming on. In addition to the letterboxed widescreen version, we're told there will likely also be a full-frame version for those who prefer it. Depressing, no? More MGM Bond info - work is already underway on special edition DVDs of all of the previously released Bond films, including Dr. No, Goldfinger, Moonraker, From Russian With Love and the rest. These are expected to be reintroduced to stores in the fall, in addition to the as yet unreleased titles. Finally, some follow up on our 4/9 Rumor Mill update: In Dreams is scheduled for June 15th (not June 1st - our goof). Also we're still being told that Braveheart is due in July or August, although we're now hearing that Independence Day may be a 4th quarter release. In addition to the other June Paramount releases we mentioned, look for The Parallax View as well. And we're still trying to determine if that King Kong disc is the 1933 classic, or the 1976 remake. Stay tuned... 4/9/99 Hang on to your hats, and hide those bananas! King Kong is coming to DVD this summer from Paramount. Yessir, June will see a host of DVDs from the studio, including the monkey movie. June 22nd will see Barbarella, Congo, King Kong, and A Simple Plan (which is a damn great flick). Then on June 29th, we'll get Varsity Blues, Witness, School Ties, and Galipoli. As far as Braveheart, 20th Century Fox apparently has plans to distribute an international DVD version of the film (they have foreign video rights to it), as well as Independence Day, in November. So look for DVD versions of both films here in the States later in the summer (ID4 from Fox, obviously). I've heard that Braveheart may be a July release from Paramount, to coincide with the DVD release of Payback. The next good information I have is way down the line in November (other, or course, than Titanic in September), when the studio is tentatively planning to release Friday the 13th, Friday the 13th Part 2, South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, and Beavis and Butthead Do America. In addition to those titles from Paramount, expect DreamWorks to ante up with their In Dreams on June 1st, as well as Forces of Nature sometime in August. Stay tuned... 4/8/99 I've been told that when Michael Apted's The World is Not Enough (aka Bond 19) is released in November, MGM will roll out more of their Bond DVD product, to include Diamonds are Forever, and Thunderball. All I've got to say is, "bring 'em on, Moneypenny!" 4/7/99 OK, several of those upcoming DVD street dates for the summer and fall are beginning to firm up, so let's take a look at the latest we've been told: In June, look for Psycho (1998): CE, and Gods and Monsters (both on 6/8), and Patch Adams: CE (6/22), all from Universal. Unfortunately, their Back to the Future DVD has been postponed, with no new street date in sight. July will see a host of titles, starting with Universal's Affliction (7/6), Always, Mallrats, and Xanadu (7/13), Virus (7/20), October Sky (7/27). July 20th will also see Carrie II from MGM. Several other titles are expected in July, street date unknown, including Fox's Never Been Kissed, Warner's Analyze This and Message in a Bottle, and New Line's Blast from the Past Columbia's Cruel Intentions is expected in late July or early August. August will also see New Line's The Corruptor, and The Mod Squad from Warner. Look for The Matrix in September now from the WB, due to a successful theatrical run. And it's looking as if DreamWork's Saving Private Ryan may not hit DVD until the holidays. Stay tuned... 4/2/99 We've mentioned that Fox's There's Something About Mary DVD is in the works - well now we have a tentative street date. Look for it to hit store shelves on Tuesday, August 10th (definitely not October 10th, as reported elsewhere, which is a Sunday). The Full Monty is also expected in August, and Wing Commander, Office Space (love that flick!) and 20 Dates should street a month earlier, in July. Official word has also just reached us that Trimark is about record a new full-length commentary track with writer Steven King, for their upcoming DVD version of Storm of the Century. A correction to our Columbia TriStar info from a few days ago - Jawbreaker is expected on June 15th, not June 1st. Stay tuned... 4/1/99 We've received more reliable confirmation that Paramount's Titanic DVD is in the works. One of our very best sources reported to us last night (vaguely, but the guy's never been wrong) that, "work on the various elements of the Titanic DVD is well underway..." Thank you, 007. By the way, James - Q has something new for you... We also got word last night of some official street dates for Buena Vista's July DVDs. On July 13th, look for A Civil Action, Life Is Beautiful, and She's All That. On July 20th, Down in the Delta is expected. There are other, as yet unnamed titles scheduled for those dates, but these are the titles that will be released day-and-date with their VHS counterparts. Finally today, Paramount has indeed pushed up the street date for their Star Trek: Insurrection DVD to May 11th, two weeks earlier than previously announced. 3/30/99 OK, we aren't messing around today - we've got a ton of upcoming DVD title information for you. Some of it has been confirmed elsewhere today, but some of it is new as well - here goes. Columbia TriStar is releasing a flood of good new titles in honor of their 75th anniversary. On 5/4, look for The China Syndrome, Hero, and the Taxi Driver: Special Edition. 5/25 will see Central Station, and Gloria. Streeting on 6/1, are Heavy, Jawbreaker, Silverado: Collector's Edition, So I Married An Axe Murderer, and Under Pressure. 6/8 titles include Dancing At Lughnasa and Matinee Idol/Frank Capra's American Dream. Never Talk To Strangers will appear on 6/15. And a host of great titles will arrive in 6/29, including The Blue Lagoon, Ghostbusters (a loaded SE), Ghostbusters II, Red Rock West, Still Crazy and Stir Crazy (no you're not seeing double). July titles include Bye Bye Birdie, Gilda, and Hideous Kinky (all on 7/6), Farinelli, The Professionals, Iron Eagle, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, and Double Platinum (on 7/13), and 8MM, Damn the Defiant, The General, The Loves Of Carmen, Nicholas and Alexandra, Orlando and Tango (all on 7/27). And August DVDs expected from the studio will include Monty Python's And Now For Something Completely Different, Christine, The Deep End of the Ocean, and Welcome to the Dollhouse (on 8/3), Born Yesterday, The City of Lost Children, and Lost Horizon (on 8/10), The Adventures of Milo and Otis and Baby Geniuses (on 8/17), Birdy, Cruel Intentions, The Guns of Navarone, Only Angels Have Wings, Sahara, A Soldier's Story, and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (all on 8/24), and finally Go (on 8/31). Whew! Warner Bros isn't releasing much in June, but will have a bunch of titles in July, August and September. Look for Message in a Bottle, True Crime, Analyze This and The Matrix (pending the success of the theatrical run) in that timeframe. As for other studio product distributed by Warner, MGM will bring Carrie 2 to DVD in July, and The Mod Squad in August. And New Line will release The Corruptor, Blast from the Past, and Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me, also in the August to September timeframe. Buena Vista is ramping up their DVD slate for June, to include Enemy of the State, The Faculty and Little Voice (on 6/15), and The Mighty and Rushmore (on 6/29). They're also planning a number of catalog releases as well, through June and July, to include Ready To Wear, Flirting With Disaster, Mrs. Brown, Nixon, Arachnophobia, Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead, and Ridley Scott's White Squall. In August and September from Buena Vista, look for Shakespeare in Love, Hilary and Jackie, and Life is Beautiful among others. I've heard DreamWorks may release In Dreams in June or July. A DVD of The Prince of Egypt is likely in the fall. No word yet on Saving Private Ryan. I've saved the best news for last. Fox has tentatively scheduled a DVD version of A Thin Red Line for June 29th, day and date with VHS. There's still no official word on the Star Wars Trilogy or The Phantom Menace coming to DVD, although word is that tentative plans call for Episode 1 to find its way to VHS in March or April of 2000. But I have very reliable word that Titanic will finally reach DVD in September, from Paramount, with an international DVD release from Fox in September or November. Word is that the studios have been notified that DVD replication capacity will be maxed-out, as plants churn out DVD copies of Titanic over the summer, to meet the September street date. Given that capacity will be so stretched, I'd hazard a guess that 2 separate DVD versions will be produced - one in full frame, and another in widescreen. 3/25/99 It's been a week or so since the last Rumor Mill update, so I figured it's time to lay some new rumors on you. Word is that the Roan Group is gearing up to start a new Roan Classics line of DVDs, all mastered using good quality 35mm prints. Some of the titles to expect are The Fighting Sullivans, White Zombie (with Bela Lugosi), T-Men, and more, including a James Cagney double feature, the six Mr. Wong films, and a Roy Rogers DVD set. In other off-the-record news, word is that Criterion has postponed their Lord of the Flies DVD indefinitely. That's not to say it will never be released. The basic problem is that there are several missing elements (either print, audio, and/or supplement related), and new elements must be struck in order to complete a special edition DVD. 3/16/99 OK, this doesn't come from official studio sources, or anyone officially connected to their DVD work, and I don't expect it to be confirmed by Fox. But a generally reliable source has suggested to me that Fox may be considering including the new trailer for The Phantom Menace on one of their forthcoming DVD titles, as an added inducement to purchase. The most obvious choice would be the Alien Legacy box set (given its higher price), but that's only a guess. Keep in mind, that this is very tentative, but it was interesting enough that I wanted to mention it, while I work to check its validity, Stay tuned... 3/10/99 More DVD info continues to spill in today. Universal has moved Babe: Pig in the City to May 5th, along with The Land Before Time and others, including DTS versions of Blues Brothers 2000, The Boxer, Out of Sight and Primary Colors. Artisan has Belly, The Jazz Singer (1980), Millennium and Punisher all set for April 20th release to DVD. Also (and this is very tentative), I'm hearing that that Braveheart DVD from Paramount may be a special edition after all, and that the studio is considering DVD releases of Forrest Gump and Apocalypse Now for later in '99. Stay tuned... More Archived Posts Back to Current Posts
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