In announcement news today, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has set an Outlander: Season One – The Ultimate Collection box set for release on Blu-ray on 11/3 (SRP $164.99 but Amazon has it for $105), though I have a feeling it’s going to irritate fans who already purchased Season One Volumes 1 & 2 on Blu-ray. The set will include “a book, keepsake box, engraved flask, and collection of photographs in addition to the Season One Soundtrack and a bonus disc with special features including a 45-minute Outlander Yule log.” So... I guess some of you guys are probably wishing you’d waited to buy any version of this on disc right now. Here’s what it looks like...
Sony has also announced Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser for Blu-ray and DVD release on 1/12, including an extended edition of the film. They’ve set Wolf Totem for Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD and digital release on 12/15. And if Amazon is to be believed, Sony will release its CG-animated Hotel Transylvania 2 on Blu-ray and DVD on 1/12 as well.
Lionsgate will release Army Dog, Power Rangers Dino Charge: Unleashed, and Duck Dynasty: Wedding Special on DVD only on 1/12.
Dark Sky Films has set One Eyed Girl for release on Blu-ray, DVD and digital on 12/8 (SRP $29.98 and $24.98 for the disc versions).
Warner Home Video has confirmed that it’s releasing a number of catalog titles on Blu-ray in December, including the newly-remastered National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Paramount’s Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear, and Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (all on 12/1), Project Almanac (12/22), and MGM’s Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (12/29).
Alchemy will release the cop thriller Operator on Blu-ray, DVD and digital on 11/3.
Kino Lorber has revealed that they’re working on a Blu-ray release of Sam Wanamaker’s The File of the Golden Goose (1969). Street date is TBA.
Scorpion Releasing is getting ready to release Paolo Cavara’s The Wild Eye (1967). They’re also preparing to release Stanley Donen’s Movie Movie on Blu-ray on 2/23/16. That last title has long been one of Jahnke’s Most Wanted Picks.
In other release news today, Cinedigm has set The Look of Silence for Blu-ray release on 1/12.
Olive Films has set It Runs in the Family for Blu-ray release on 11/24.
And John Grissmer’s Blood Rage: 2-Disc Special Edition is coming to Blu-ray on 11/24 from Arrow Video.
In other news today, this is kind of exciting except that we really don’t know too much about it: CBS has just officially announced that a new original Star Trek TV series is in development for launch in January 2017, on CBS and a new CBS All Access digital subscription service. The series will apparently be produced by Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek 2009) and Heather Kadin (Scorpion) and it will not tie into the Bad Robot films. Beyond that, who knows. Still, we’d sure love for this to be a success. We’ll see.
Finally today, a number of friends have been recommending a new audiobook to me in recent weeks – including the likes of Charles de Lauzirika, Cliff Stephenson, and Chris Gore. I finally got around to checking it out: Michael Kaminski’s The Secret History of Star Wars. It’s amazing. It’s an unabridged (24-hour long) audiobook version of his book of the same name, and it’s incredibly well researched – just an exhaustive history of the Star Wars saga for diehard fans. But what makes it especially rewarding is that the book is read by Josh Robert Thompson, who does all the interview quotes “in character” voice, including George Lucas, Gary Kurtz, Irvin Kershner and others. It’s a hoot. The book is available here on Amazon, and you can find the audiobook here. I highly recommend it. By the way, if the name sounds familiar, it could be because Michael participated in our own Michael Coate’s recent Empire Strikes Back 35th anniversary roundtable interview column here at The Bits back in May. Do check that out here.
We’ll leave you today with a look at a little more Blu-ray cover artwork (with Amazon pre-order links if available)...
Stay tuned...
- Bill Hunt