Actor/director Clint Eastwood will be the special focus of a pair of new box sets (due Q2, sometime in mid-May), including a Clint Eastwood 40 Film DVD Collection and a Clint Eastwood 20 Film Blu-ray Collection. Details of the BD set weren’t available, but the DVD will include Where Eagles Dare, Kelly’s Heroes, Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Enforcer, The Gauntlet, Every Which Way But Loose, Bronco Billy, Any Which Way You Can, Firefox, Honkytonk Man, Sudden Impact, Tightrope, City Heat, Pale Rider, Heartbreak Ridge, The Dead Pool, Bird, Pink Cadillac, White Hunter Black Heat, The Rookie, Unforgiven, A Perfect World, The Bridges of Madison County, Absolute Power, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, True Crime, Space Cowboys, Blood Work, Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Letters from Iwo Jima, Gran Torino, Invictus, The Eastwood Factor documentary, Hereafter, J. Edgar, Trouble with the Curve and Eastwood: Directs: The Untold Story (an all new documentary directed by Richard Schickel).
TV and animated titles will feature in new DVD collector’s sets including Best of Warner Bros.: Superman TV Collection (May 2013 – SRP $100), Best of Warner Bros. : Hanna-Barbera 25 Cartoon Collection (May), Best of Warner Bros. : Looney Tunes 25 Cartoon Collection (July) and Best of Warner Bros. : DC Comics 25 Cartoon Collection (August). SRP on the 25 Cartoon Collections will be $26.99 each.
For Blu-ray fans, among the films that will be released for the first time ever on the format in 2013 are Mrs. Miniver, Grand Hotel and Driving Miss Daisy (already announced for release on 1/8), The Jazz Singer and Cabaret (Q1 2013), Little Caesar, Public Enemy, Petrified Forest and White Heat (Q2 – as part of an Original Gangsters Collection: Volume 2 or BD singles), House of Wax Blu-ray 3D (Q3), East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant (TBA - available as BD Book singles or together in a James Dean: Ultimate Collector’s Edition), The Big Parade (Q4), The Right Stuff: 30th Anniversary Edition (Q4) and The Best Years of Our Lives, A Star is Born (1976), Sommersby, Easter Parade, Westworld, Best in Show and The Nativity Story (all TBA).
Note that the James Dean: Ultimate Collector’s Edition will be a 9-disc set that includes all three films remastered with a trio of new documentaries (James Dean: Forever Young, James Dean: Sense Memories and James Dean: TNT Biopic), plus a book and more.
A few previously released catalog films will also be revisited during 2013. Among them are:
The Dark Knight Trilogy: Ultimate Collector’s Edition Blu-ray box set (Q3) which includes all three films plus exclusive collectables and nearly an hour of all new material.
The Mad Max Collection (Q2) that includes Mad Max, The Road Warrior and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.
The Enter the Dragon: 40th Anniversary Edition (Q2).
The complete Ocean’s Collection (Q3) including all three films plus new special features on the making of each film and the legacy of the franchise.
The Exorcist: 40th Anniversary Edition (Q3).
A Christmas Story: 30th Anniversary Edition (Q4).
Here’s an interesting one: The Wizard of Oz: 75th Anniversary Edition on Blu-ray 3D (Q4)! The film will also return to theatres for the anniversary.
Note that there will also be a Contemporary Gangsters: Volume 1 set that includes Goodfellas, Heat, The Departed and The Town (Q2).
Of course, all of the film’s catalog releases on Blu-ray and DVD will be rebranded with the 90th Anniversary logo.
And finally, among the new films you can expect on Blu-ray and DVD in 2013 are The Wachowskis’ Cloud Atlas and Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (both TBA).
Obviously there’s always the possibility of additional catalog releases as yet unannounced. But there you go: The gems of Warner’s 2013 home video release slate on Blu-ray and DVD. More specific details and cover art will follow in the weeks and months ahead.
Start saving your money, folks.
- Bill Hunt
