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Friday, 01 August 2014 16:12

Duck, You Sucker, Maleficent, Rosewater, Walking Dead extras, Knight Rider & new Amazon pre-orders

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We’re closing out the week with a bunch more interesting bits of announcement and release news, and a little bit of detail on some already announced upcoming titles. And just to let you know… if you come back here on Monday, you’ll find Dr. Adam Jahnke’s epic Blu-ray review of CBS’s Twin Peaks: The Entire Mystery box set! So don’t miss it.

Now then… let’s get to some good announcement news. Are any of you fans of Sergio Leone and/or Spaghetti Westerns? If so, you’ll be pleased to hear that MGM is finally releasing Leone’s Duck, You Sucker (a.k.a. A Fistful of Dynamite, a.k.a. Once Upon a Time in the Revolution) on Blu-ray Disc on 10/7 (SRP $19.99). You can pre-order it here on Amazon. Now if we could just get The Colossus of Rhodes from WHV, we’d have nearly all of the key Leone classics. [Read on here…]

In new releases, Disney has officially set Maleficent for Blu-ray Combo and DVD release on 11/4. As you’d expect from Disney’s recent actions, there’s no Blu-ray 3D version listed. Extras will include 5 featurettes (From Fairy Tale to Feature Film, Building an Epic Battle, Classic Couture, Maleficent Revealed, and Aurora: Becoming a Beauty), 5 deleted scenes, and more.

Open Road has announced that they will release Jon Stewart’s directorial debut, Rosewater, in theaters and on home video later this year. As some of you may know, Stewart took a leave last summer from hosting The Daily Show to work on this project. We’ll update you with details on a disc-based release when we have it.

Anchor Bay has revealed the extras you’ll find on The Walking Dead: The Complete Fourth Season on Blu-ray and DVD on 8/26. Look for two extended episodes (After and The Grove), audio commentary on 5 episodes (30 Days Without an Accident, Internment, After, Still and The Grove), deleted scenes, and 8 featurettes (Inside The Walking Dead, The Making of The Walking Dead, Drawing Inspiration, Hershel, The Governor Is Back, Society, Science & Survival, Inside KNB EFX, and A Journey Back to Brutality).

Universal has sent out their press release for Chef on Blu-ray and DVD (due 9/30), indicating that the release will include audio commentary by writer/director Jon Favreau and chef/co-producer Roy Choi, plus deleted scenes. We’ve mentioned that this is a good film before, and it such it remains. It’s well worth seeking out to see if it’s still playing in theaters in your area.

And Lionsgate Home Entertainment will release Words and Pictures on Blu-ray and DVD on 9/9. The film stars Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche.

Now then… in addition to the news above, we have word of a whole series of interesting Blu-ray releases based on new pre-order listings on Amazon.com.

First up, Amazon has an exclusive version of X-Men: Days of Future Past on Blu-ray that features a replica of Magneto’s helmet available on 10/14 (SRP $129.99 – but Amazon has it for $69.99).

Also newly up for pre-order are A Christmas Carol (1938) and Christmas in Connecticut (1945) from Warner on 11/11.

Lionsgate has listed The Faculty, From Dusk ‘Til Dawn, a Children of the Corn 4-film collection, a Hellraiser 4-film collection, and a Halloween 3-film collection all for release on Blu-ray on 10/7.

And pre-orders are also being taken for Hercules and Lucy (street date TBA).

Finally, this isn’t Amazon-related, but are any of you fans of the TV show Knight Rider? Apparently it’s being released on Blu-ray Disc in Japan on 11/27. There’s no word of a U.S. release from Universal and we suspect it’s unlikely one will happen, but hey… Japanese discs (expensive though they are) are Region A. Thanks to Bits reader Robert H. for the heads-up on this one.

We’ll leave with a look at cover artwork for some of the titles we’ve mentioned above…

Maleficent (Blu-ray Disc)    Lucy (Blu-ray Disc)    Hercules 3D (Blu-ray 3D)

A Christmas Carol (Blu-ray Disc)    Christmas in Connecticut (Blu-ray Disc)    Halloween 3-Film Collection (Blu-ray Disc)

X-Men: Days of Future Past (Amazon exclusive BD)

See you back here on Monday for Twin Peaks! Have a great weekend.

- Bill Hunt