All right, we’ve just kicked off a brand new column here at The Bits today! Our own Mario Boucher has turned in a number of Hollywood film “behind the scenes” feature for us in recent months, and now they’re all collected together under his new Inside Cinema column here at the site. His first official piece under the new label is Steven Spielberg & the Schindler’s List: 20th Anniversary Edition, so I hope you all enjoy it.
Also here at The Bits today, Tim has turned in a review of Fritz Lang’s Ministry of Fear, now available on Blu-ray and DVD from Criterion. We’ve also upgraded more than 50 Blu-ray and DVD reviews from the original Bits website into the new review database and we’re going to be gradually adding more each week until all 4600+ are in there.
And as usual, Russell Hammond has updated the Release Dates & Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD and Video Game cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. A portion of anything you purchase from Amazon after you click through to them through any of our links goes to help support our work here at the site and we surely do appreciate it.
Now then… in announcement news today, Warner Home Video has set Beautiful Creatures for Blu-ray Combo and DVD release on 5/21 (SRP $35.99 and $22.97). Extras will include 6 featurettes (including Book to Screen, The Casters, Between Two Worlds, Forbidden Romance, Alternate Worlds, Beautiful Creatures: Designing the Costumes and Icons by Margaret Stohl), as well as deleted scenes and trailers.
The Warner Archive has announced another new limited pressing Blu-ray release – Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan. Look for it to start shipping on 4/9 (SRP $19.95).
Universal has set Side Effects for Blu-ray Combo and DVD release on 5/21. Extras on both versions will include the Aliza Website Experience, the Behind-the-Scenes of Side Effects featurette and fictional commercials for Ablixa and Intenin as seen in the film.
20th Century Fox will release Broken City on Blu-ray Combo and DVD on 4/30. Extras will include 5 deleted and extended scenes, an alternate ending, the Putting It All Together documentary and the film’s theatrical trailer.
Here’s a nice surprise – 20th Century Fox has also set Mark Romanek’s One Hour Photo for Blu-ray release on 5/7. Our old friend Charles de Lauzirika was the special edition producer for the title when it was first released on DVD back in 2002, and he tells us that the disc will at long last include in-depth and unseen production features he originally produced for the film (that weren’t used on the DVD).
Paramount and Spelling Entertainment have set Stephen King’s Golden Years, The Langoliers and The Stand for DVD only re-release on 6/18
Shelter Island (a new indie label) has set the arctic exploration documentary Into the Cold for DVD (and digital) release on 4/9.
Virgil Films will release the documentary A Whisper to a Road on DVD on 4/16.
Well Go USA Entertainment has set The Assassin’s Blade for Blu-ray and DVD release on 5/7. The film was directed by Jingle Ma, whose previous work includes Hero and House of Flying Daggers.
And Lionsgate has set the documentary Citizen Hearst for DVD only release on 5/7, followed by History Classics: After People, Betty & Coretta and Ninja Masters on DVD only on 6/11.
Also, you Space: 1999 fans will be interested to learn that Lionsgate has just listed Season Two for Blu-ray release on 5/7 on Amazon. We do believe this is the real deal. A&E’s distribution recently switched from New Video to Lionsgate here in the States, so it’s quite possible that Lionsgate made the title a priority. We’ve got inquiries into all the right people at Lionsgate, A&E and Network in the U.K., so as soon as we have more official details we’ll let you know. But last we’d heard it was planned for sometime “late in 2013” so a May release is certainly plausible. More as it comes in.
And a quick Roger Rabbit Blu-ray update – the reason for the last of copies of the disc on many store shelves is that the studio mistakenly included the full frame version of the DVD in the packaging instead of the anamorphic widescreen version. That’s now being corrected by the studio and the new versions should start appearing in stores soon. In the meantime, if you get a copy with the full frame DVD you can contact Disney Customer Service to arrange in exchange.
Here’s a look at the Blu-ray cover artwork for Warner’s Beautiful Creatures, Fox’s One Hour Photo and the final art for Fox and MGM’s The Great Escape (due 5/7)…
Stay tuned...
- Bill Hunt