My Two Cents
Head's-up folks: Are any of you out there fans of the Criterion Collection? Yeah, we know you are! Our own Todd Doogan would like you to know that today Barnes & Noble kicks off their big 50% off art house films on DVD/BD sale, featuring the Criterion Collection! The sale extends only for a limited time but LOTS of great Criterion titles are available on disc for half off so hurry to take advantage!
Also this morning, Dr. Jahnke's posted his penultimate Hell Plaza Oktoberfest review for the year... Warner's Chernobyl Diaries on Blu-ray Disc! Be sure to tune in tomorrow for his final review of the Fest. What ghoulishly horrorific title has the Doctor saved for last? Check back in here at 12:01 AM tomorrow - Halloween itself - to find out!
Also today, as you can probably tell by the pictures and video on the news this afternoon, lot of people in the communities affected by Hurricane Sandy can all the support they can get right now. So please consider making a donation to the American Red Cross or a similar relief organization. Every little bit helps.
Back with more later. Stay tuned...
- Bill Hunt
Holy guacamole! Here’s an industry news shocker that’s breaking around the newswires as we speak: Walt Disney Studios has just announced that they’ve purchased George Lucas’ Lucasfilm Ltd for an estimated $4.05 billion. This includes the rights to the Star Wars franchise among other properties. What’s more, Disney has announced that they plan to make at least one and maybe several new Star Wars sequels, beginning with the release of Episode VII in 2015! WOW.
Here’s a quote from the original announcement: “Lucasfilm reflects the extraordinary passion, vision, and storytelling of its founder, George Lucas,” said Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger in a release announcing the deal. “This transaction combines a world-class portfolio of content including Star Wars, one of the greatest family entertainment franchises of all time, with Disney’s unique and unparalleled creativity across multiple platforms, businesses, and markets to generate sustained growth and drive significant long-term value.”
Just when you thought the Star Wars franchise had been milked right into the ground, the cycle begins anew. There’s obviously going to be TONS of additional details and coverage of this breaking news in the hours, days and weeks ahead, so we’ll check back here with updates as more information comes in. Meanwhile, additional details can be found at Deadline Hollywood and Variety.
UPDATE – 1PM: We’re hearing that the deal also includes Lucasfilm’s technology companies – LucasArts, Industrial Light + Magic and Skywalker Sound. It MAY also include Lucas’ share of the Indiana Jones franchise as well, which would make Disney a partner with Paramount on future projects. Additional stories here at the L.A. Times and Hollywood Reporter.
Statement by George Lucas: “For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next,” said George Lucas, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lucasfilm. “It’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I’ve always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime. I’m confident that with Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy, and having a new home within the Disney organization, Star Wars will certainly live on and flourish for many generations to come. Disney’s reach and experience give Lucasfilm the opportunity to blaze new trails in film, television, interactive media, theme parks, live entertainment, and consumer products.”
UPDATE – 3 PM: Here are new and updated details on this deal from the official Disney investors’ conference call this afternoon:
- Deal signed and announced earlier today – includes Star Wars franchise and all Lucasfilm operating businesses.
- Indiana Jones franchise rights ARE also included in this deal.
- Disney loves the Indiana Jones franchise, but it wasn't included in the studio’s Lucasfilm valuation due to its “encumbrances” (meaning existing financial/legal involvement of Paramount).
- First project under the joint under Disney/Lucas partnership will be Star Wars: Episode 7 in 2015, followed by Episode 8 and Episode 9.
- Disney purchased “extensive and detailed” treatment for Episodes 7-9 as part of this deal which they “feel very good about.”
- Disney long term plan is to release a new live-action Star Wars film every 2-3 years – films may eventually explore entire 20,000 year time-span of the franchise.
- It’s Lucas’ plan to stay retired, but he will serve as creative consultant on new Star Wars films. Kathleen Kennedy will executive produce. Both are now sitting down with writers to discuss stories.
- Fox retains certain distribution rights to the existing Star Wars films but not the new franchise films going forward.
- Kennedy will serve as Lucasfilm president, reporting to Bob Iger at Disney.
- Disney plans to expand Star Wars brand into many new product categories and internationally.
- Star Wars brand will also be expanded into Disney parks, games and TV businesses.
- Iger feels Disney XD would be a good TV home for the franchise going forward.
- Star Wars interactive strategy: Disney will focus more on social and mobile platforms, opportunistically on consoles.
- Deal was 50% cash and 50% stock – $4.05 billion
- Disney believes Lucasfilm value is comparable to value of Marvel, but valuation is only based on Star Wars alone – value of other Lucasfilm intellectual properties are in addition to this.
- Disney plans to let ILM continue operating as it currently does.
NEW VIDEO: George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy discuss the future of Star Wars at Disney…
Whew! Stay tuned…
- Bill Hunt
Happy Halloween, folks! Hope you’re all enjoying this spookiest of days on the calendar each year. Here at The Bits today, we’re celebrating in a couple ways…
First, the good Dr. Jahnke has delivered the coup de grace in this year’s Hell Plaza Oktoberfest with a review of Criterion’s new Rosemary’s Baby on Blu-ray – just the perfectly creepy film to end the Fest-ivities with and it’s a great release to boot. And hats off to Adam for another successful Oktoberfest celebration – his sixth in a row!
Also today, we’re kicking off a new regular column here at the site – Tim Salmon's Dailies! This first installment features another Halloween-appropriate topic with Tim's in-depth appreciation of the Friday the 13th franchise. We hope you enjoy it!
In release news today… 20th Century Fox has set House at the End of the Street for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 1/8/2013. Both will include an unrated cut of the film. The BD will exclusively add the Journey into Terror: Inside the House at the End of the Street featurette and the film’s theatrical trailer.
Warner and the BBC have set Red Dwarf: X for Blu-ray and DVD release on 1/8/13 (SRP $39.98 and $34.98). This is the brand new series. No word yet on extras if any, but all 6 episodes will be included.
Magnolia Home Entertainment has set the ‘Claymation’ animated film The Adventures of Mark Twain for release as a Blu-ray and DVD Collector’s Edition on 12/4 (SRP $19.98 and $14.98). Extras will include director’s commentary, 2 featurettes (Story of Claymation and Behind the Scenes), soundtrack selections, crew interviews, a gallery and the film’s trailer.
Magnolia also has V/H/S coming to Blu-ray and DVD on 12/4 (SRP $29.98 and $26.98). Extras will include deleted scenes, 3 featurettes (Visual Effects, Behind the Scenes and AXS TV: A Look at V/H/S) and trailers.
And Shout! Factory has revealed the extras to be included on their Deadly Blessing: Collector’s Edition Blu-ray and DVD (due 1/22/2013). Look for an all-new audio commentary with director Wes Craven, 4 interview featurettes (Say Your Prayers!, Secrets Revealed, Rise of the Incubus and So It Was Written), radio and TV spots, and the film's theatrical trailer.
Also today, I wanted to let you know about a couple changes we’ve made here at The Bits based on some of your reader suggestions about the new website. A number of you had mentioned that you missed the way you could read an entire week’s worth of daily My Two Cents news columns in one glance just by scrolling down the home page. Some of you had also expressed a dislike for the way the new site made you click into a post to read the whole thing, then click back out and into the next one, etc. I totally agree with both points! So what we’ve done is:
- On the home page, you can now read an entire week’s worth of My Two Cents posts in their entirety without having to click in and out of individual posts.
- To read back beyond a week, we’ve added a link at the bottom of the home page: READ MORE MY TWO CENTS>> Clicking on that will take you to the My Two Cents column page where all the columns are archived.
- On the My Two Cents column page, I’ve also altered the formatting so you can scroll through a full week’s posts in their entirety without having to click in and out of individual posts. What’s more, going back to read older columns is easy – all you have to do is navigate back a page at a time using the links at the bottom of the page or you can access all the posts for a particular month using the MY TWO CENTS ARCHIVES links on the right-hand column.
So there you go! Hopefully, that will make the experience of reading my daily news update here on the new updated Bits similar to that of the old site.
All right, we’ll leave you with a look at more new cover artwork. Here’s the updated BD Book art for Warner’s Empire of the Sun (now set for release on 11/13), Warner and the BBC’s Red Dwarf: X and Shout! Factory’s Deadly Blessing: Collector’s Edition…
Have a happy and safe Halloween and we’ll see you back here tomorrow! Stay tuned…
- Bill Hunt
We’ve got a bit more announcement news to report today, as well as updates on some previously announced titles…
First up, CBS has revealed more details about the extras that you’ll find on the Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season Two Blu-ray set due on 12/4 (SRP $130). In addition to including all 22 episodes from the season, you’ll get The Measure of a Man in both the original broadcast version and an Extended version “which includes deleted scenes and different angles from the broadcast version.” You’ll also get a Hybrid Extended Cut of the episode that combines the broadcast version with “video of the extra material taken from an early VHS rough-cut of the episode that was in the writer’s (Melinda Snodgrass) archives.” Audio commentary on the episode is also provided by Snodgrass and Mike and Denise Okuda. Nice! That’s one of my all-time favorite episodes of the series, so this should be a real treat. [UPDATE: I'm told there's also a second audio commentary for the episode Q Who? with director Rob Bowman, VFX supervisor Dan Curry and Mike and Denise Okuda.] On top of that, you’ll also get promos for each episode, an On-Air Season Two promo from 1998, a 1988 Reading Rainbow segment with LeVar Burton, a 2012 Reading Rainbow iTunes promo, a gag reel, deleted scenes [from the episodes The Icarus Factor and Up the Long Ladder], 5 Archival Mission Log featurettes (including Departmental Briefing Year Two: Production, Inside Starfleet Archives: Penny Juday, Star Trek Coordinator, Selected Crew Analysis: Year Two, Departmental Analysis Year Two: Memorable Missions and Mission Overview Year Two), an additional featurette (Energized! Season Two Tech Update), the all-new Reunification: 25 Years After Star Trek: The Next Generation cast documentary [hosted by our old friend and regular Bits Comic-Con panelist Robert Meyer Burnett] and the 2-part Making It So: Continuing Star Trek: The Next Generation retrospective production documentary (includes Part 1: Strange New Worlds and Part 2: New Life and New Civilizations).
Are any of you fans of TV’s JAG or the classic Mission: Impossible? Well, CBS is releasing both in new complete series DVD box sets on 12/11. JAG: The Complete Series - Collector’s Edition (56 discs - SRP $310.99 but just $267.83 on Amazon) includes an exclusive bonus disc with new cast and crew interview featurettes (The Jagged Edge and JAG: Beyond the Scenes) plus promos and a 40-page JAG Manual. Meanwhile, Mission: Impossible - The Complete Television Collection (56 discs - SRP $370.99 but just $267.83 on Amazon) also offers a new bonus disc of extras including 5 featurettes (Birth of the Mission, Mission Debriefing, Hour Magazine segment featuring Martin Landau, Peter Lupus and Greg Morris, Clip from CBS Fall Preview Show “Seven Wonderful Nights” (1966) and Archival interview with Greg Morris), select series and episode promos and a photo gallery montage with a vocal version of the show’s theme performed by The Kane Triplets. Here’s what the opened packaging will look like for each (you can click on the image to pre-order on Amazon)...
Meanwhile, Warner Home Video has set the animated Duck Dodgers: Dark Side of the Duck - Season 1 for DVD only release on 2/19/2013 (SRP $19.97). Warner also has the 29-disc Gossip Girl: The Complete Series (SRP $199.70) and Gossip Girl: The Complete Sixth Season (SRP $39.98) coming on DVD only on 2/19. And for you Christopher Guest fans, Warner has set the pedigreed pooch comedy Best in Show for Blu-ray release on 2/19/2013 (SRP $19.98)!
Universal has set Guns, Girls and Gambling for Blu-ray and DVD release on 1/8/2013. The film stars Gary Oldman, Christian Slater and Dane Cook.
Anchor Bay Entertainment has set the documentary Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis for DVD only release on 1/22/2013. SRP is $19.98. The films looks at the comedian’s life and career.
Also, Artsploitation Films has set Lapland Odyssey – essentially the Finnish version of The Hangover – for DVD only release on 1/8/2013.
Shout! Factory has announced that they’ve acquired the U.S. home video release rights to a pair of British titles – the zombie apocalypse comedy Cockneys vs. Zombies and the action-thriller Tower Block. Look for them to be released in early 2013.
And don’t forget that Disney has The Muppet Christmas Carol: 20th Anniversary Edition due on Blu-ray on 11/6. That same day they’ll also have the Prep & landing: Totally Tinsel Collection on Blu-ray Combo featuring the original Prep & Landing and Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice.
Here’s a look at the Blu-ray cover artwork for CBS’ Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season Two, Shout! Factory’s The Nest (1/22/2013), Disney’s The Muppet Christmas Carol, Fox’s Beasts of the Southern Wild (12/4) and Warner’s Best in Show, along with DVD cover artwork for Warner’s Duck Dodgers: Dark Side of the Duck - Season 1…
Stay tuned!
- Bill Hunt
All right, we're getting settled into the new site nicely. The old site has been archived for your browsing pleasure - just look in the menu under FEATURES for THE ORIGINAL BITS. Also, those of you who enjoy Russell Hammond's weekly Release Dates & Artwork update can now find it in its new location here at the site - just click the RELEASE DATES option in the menu above. More updates are coming so keep checking back.
Here at the site today, we're pleased as punch to offer you the next in Jahnke's Hell Plaza Oktoberfest 666 line-up of reviews: a look at Lionsgate's Cabin in the Woods on Blu-ray. Enjoy!
In release news this morning, we've got a few more details for you on Warner Home Video's 3-disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo release of The Dark Knight Rises due on 12/4 (SRP $35.99). Extras will include the Batmobile documentary, the feature-length multi-part Ending the Knight documentary (includes The Prologue: High Altitude Hijacking, Beneath Gotham, Return to the Batcave, Batman vs. Bane, The Bat, Armory Accepted, Gameday Destruction, Demolishing a City Street, The Pit, The Chant, The War on Wall Street, Race to the Reactor, The Journey of Bruce Wayne and Gotham's Reckoning), 2 character featurettes (A Girl's Gotta Eat and Shadows & Light in Large Format), The End of a Legend, trailers and a gallery of artwork.
There will also be a 5-disc The Dark Knight Trilogy Limited Edition Blu-ray Giftset (SRP $52.99) and a 3-disc The Dark Knight Trilogy Limited Edition DVD Giftset (SRP $38.99). Each will include Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. The DVD only version of The Dark Knight streets on 1/1/13 (SRP $22.97). There's also The Dark Knight Rises: Limited Edition on Amazon that comes with a replica of Batman's cowl, and there are likely to be retailer-exclusives too so be sure to watch for them.
Warner Home Video has also officially set The Notebook: Ultimate Collector's Edition Gift Set to arrive on Blu-ray/DVD Combo on 1/15 (SRP $49.99). In addition to Blu-ray, DVD and UltraViolet digital versions of the film, you'll also get exclusive swag including a collectible golden locket, a set of postcards with scenes from the film and a "vintage leather-style blank journal with gold edging and ribbon marker; pages designed with watermarked letters and images from the film". So there you go.
Not to be outdone, Disney has revealed that the Peter Pan: Diamond Edition will soon be released on Blu-ray/DVD Combo and DVD. No street date is yet available, but retailer materials reveal a Spring 2013 release and sources are telling us to expect the street date to be sometime in February.
Meanwhile, Sony has set the 1998 Les Miserables for Blu-ray Disc release on 12/11 (SRP $19.99). Extras will include the A First Look at Les Miserables featurette.
Sony has also announced more new MOD DVD titles for release on 11/6, including Caught, The Vertical Ray of the Sun, The Endurance, Camp on Blood Island, Don't Panic Chaps, All Ashore, The Boogieman Will Get You, Men Without Law, Hannah's Law and Breaking In: The Complete Series.
Anchor Bay and The Weinstein Company have Lawless coming on Blu-ray and DVD on 11/27 (SRP $39.99 and $29.98). Extras will include audio commentary with director John Hillcoat and author Matt Bondurant, 2 featurettes (The True Story of the Wettest County in the World and Franklin County, VA: Then and Now), Willie Nelson's Midnight Run music video and deleted scenes.
And WWE Studios and Anchor Bay will release the horror film The Day on Blu-ray/DVD Combo and DVD on 11/17 (SRP $29.99 and $26.98). Extras will include audio commentary with executive producer/director Doug Aarniokoski, producer Guy A. Danella and writer Luke Passmore.
Also today, a lot of fans have asked us about the differences between Fox's 2-disc Prometheus Blu-ray/DVD Combo ($39.99 - Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy) and the Prometheus 4 Disc Collector's Edition (SRP $49.99 - Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy). The 4-disc edition includes the movie in Blu-ray 3D, the movie in 2D (with commentary by director/producer Ridley Scott and a second commentary by writer Jon Spaihts and writer/executive producer Damon Lindelof, The Peter Weyland Files, deleted and alternate scenes and the Weyland Corp Archive Second Screen with app functionality), a third Blu-ray of extras (including the The Furious Gods: Making Prometheus documentary, scores of Enhancement Pods, more Weyland Corp Archive, Pre-Viz material and screen tests) and finally the DVD/Digital Copy disc. Here's the key - the 2-disc set includes only the 2D movie disc and the DVD/Digital Copy disc. You don't get the bonus disc of supplements. So if you want absolutely everything, you have to get the 4-disc set. Both versions street next week on 10/9. Just so you know.
In other news today, we highly recommend that you Trekkers check out this radio story from KPCC's Off Ramp program - it's a feature on CBS' Star Trek: The Next Generation Blu-ray remastering effort. And you'll definitely want to stick with it right to the end, because for the first time in public (to our knowledge) there's the suggestion made that - provided demand is there and the TNG Blu-rays all sell well - CBS may continue their BD remastering/upgrade effort on to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine! Cool news indeed. This jives with what we've been hearing from our own industry sources. Keep your fingers crossed.
Also today, any fans of the raunchy 80's comedy Porky's? Bits reader Doc D. tells us that Walmart currently has an exclusive BD version in stores.
Finally, we'd like to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of actor Herbert Lom, who died last week at the age of 95. You'll best know him as Inspector Dreyfus from the Pink Panther series.
Here's a look at the Blu-ray artwork for Warner's The Dark Knight Rises and The Dark Knight Trilogy Limited Edition Blu-ray Giftset, as well as Disney's art for the Peter Pan: Diamond Edition (TBA)...
Stay tuned!
- Bill Hunt