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The Law Is A Ass

BOB INGERSOLL: THE LAW IS A ASS #346 THE EMINENT MR. WAYNE LOSES HIS DOMAIN

arkham-manor-612x968-f3e97-8869823So in Batman Eternal #29…

What? No I didn’t promise that I wouldn’t write about Batman Eternal this week, I promised I’d try. Also I’m not really writing about the year-long Batman story that is certainly living up to its name, so chillax. (Chillax. How is that even a word? Sounds like a murder weapon in Alaska.) This week I’m writing about what came after Batman Eternal #29. With a little of what came after Batman Eternal #34 thrown in. Which means what I’m writing about is Arkham Manor #1.

In Batman Eternal #29, Arkham Asylum – the hospital for the criminally insane located on the outskirts of Gotham City that houses Joker, Two-Face, Mister Zsasz, and most of the rest of Batman’s rogue gallery – blew up. Although how and why isn’t really important what the hell, I’ve got some time to kill. To put it succinctly, Deacon Blackfire, a magically delicious villain was using his magic in a fight with Jim Corrigan in the tunnels below Arkham Asylum. Blackfire was attempting to pull the Spectre, the ghostly spirit of God’s vengeance that lives inside of Corrigan’s body, out of Corrigan’s body. But Blackfire wasn’t adept enough for this kind of magic and in Batman Eternal # 29, his attempts resulted in …

SPOILER WARNING!

Usually, this is where I’d warn you I’m going to tell you how Batman Eternal #29 ended. This time I’m not. Arkham Manor #1 came out about a month before Batman Eternal # 29, even though it takes place after that story, and it gave away the ending to Batman Eternal #29. If DC didn’t mind spoiling its own story, why should I?

… an explosion. An explosion which caused Arkham Asylum to collapse in on itself in Batman Eternal #30.

Hundreds of people died when Arkham Asylum came tumbling down. But wouldn’t you know it, they were incidental deaths. Collateral damage, as it were. Somehow Joker, Two-Face, Mister Zsasz, and most of the rest of Batman’s rogue gallery survived.

Arkham Asylum’s destruction left Mayor Hady and Gotham City with a big question, where to put “the city’s most dangerous lunatics.” Any time someone suggested a possible new location for all those dangerous lunatics, the citizens of Gotham City basically responded, “Not in my backyard.” Even the ones who lived in brownstones and didn’t have back yards.

Fortunately for Mayor Hady and the city fathers, in Batman Eternal #34 the federal government seized control of Wayne Enterprises and all of its assets. I talked about the how and why of this three weeks ago, so you can go there to read about it, if you don’t already know. (BTW, I really recommend that you go to my old column to read about how and why the Feds took over Wayne Enterprises rather than reading Batman Eternal #34. Not because my new web-based home for the column needs the hits, I just think the experience will be more pleasant.)

Anyway, Bruce Wayne was left largely penniless. (Well, he does have this one giant penny sitting around doing nothing, but I’m not sure it’s negotiable.) Bruce had moved out of Wayne Manor and was living in an apartment in Gotham City. So Gotham City used eminent domain to take over Wayne Manor and make it Arkham Manor, the new home for Gotham’s criminally insane.

Eminent domain, the process by which the government may take private property for public use, is not a new concept. The concept dates back to biblical times, when King Ahab of Israel, offered to purchase the vineyards of one of his subjects, Naboth. Naboth declined Ahab’s offer, so Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, framed Naboth for blasphemy and had him stoned to death. After which Ahab got the vineyards. Since that time, they’ve refined the concept of eminent domain. It’s a little more fair and a little less killy. After the French Revolution, the French formally adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789. Among it’s provisions is the sentence, “Property being an inviolable and sacred right no one can be deprived of it, unless the public necessity plainly demands it, and upon condition of a just and previous indemnity.” The Founding Fathers drafted similar language in the Fifth Amendment of Constitution of the United States, “nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.” Like I said, a little less killy. (Yes, there’s a bit of a history lesson here, but history is important. To paraphrase George Santayana; those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Usually in summer school.)

So Gotham City decided to take Wayne Manor through eminent domain and convert it to Arkham Manor. In order to invoke eminent domain, the government must prove four elements” 1) there’s some private property, that 2) the government plans to take, for 3) a public use, after 4) making just compensation to the owner of the property.

Wayne Manor is clearly the private property of Bruce Wayne. Yes, even though the federal government seized Wayne Enterprises’s assets, Wayne Manor would probably still have been Bruce’s property. Remember, Wayne Enterprises was a corporation. The reason a business incorporates is to protect the property of the owners from lawsuits. After the corporation is created, it becomes a legal entity of it’s own and is solely responsible for its actions. If the corporation is sued, those harmed by the corporation can seize the corporate assets but not the assets of the corporation’s owners, that is to say the shareholders.

When the Wayne family established Wayne Enterprises, none of their lawyers would have allowed the Waynes to transfer ownership of Wayne Manor over to the corporation. Such an act would have completely negated the whole reason behind creating the corporation in the first place, limited liability. An attorney would have to be the Chief O’Hara of lawyers to let a client do something that stupid. So let’s assume, even after the Feds seized Wayne Enterprises, Bruce Wayne still owned Wayne Manor.

The government wanted to take Wayne Manor and convert it into a hospital to house the criminally insane, which would be a public use. The only question left would be the just compensation element.

Usually the just compensation happens this way. The government makes an offer which it considers to be fair market value for the property. Generally it’s a lowball offer, because we all know the government never overpays for anything. The property owner rejects the offer as too low and makes a counter offer of what the owner thinks is fair market value. Generally it’s high. The two parties negotiate over what is a fair market value for the property. If they reach an agreement, that amount is paid and the government takes over the property. If the two parties can’t reach an agreement, then they go to court and there’s a condemnation hearing during which the court will determine fair market value.

Sometimes the property owner doesn’t want to lose his property. So he might argue that the taking isn’t for public use. Again there’s a condemnation hearing, this time to determine whether the intended use is really a public use. If the judge rules it is a public use, the condemnation goes forward. I’ve never been able to figure out why these are called condemnation proceedings. No one is condemning the property, they’re just putting it to a new and different use.

None of those steps happened in the case of Wayne Manor. Why not? It wasn’t because the story got the law wrong. It was because Bruce Wayne knew he presently didn’t have the assets needed to maintain Wayne Manor or, in all probability, pay its property taxes. Bruce also believed his father, a doctor who advocated for better treatment of the mentally ill, would have given Wayne Manor to the city in the face of this emergency were he still alive. So Bruce voluntarily agreed to the condemnation proceedings and gave up Wayne Manor.

Bruce apparently believed in the old concept of noblesse oblige. And that makes him a better man than I am. Me, I would have held out for some money from Gotham City. Maybe I wouldn’t have soaked them, but if I just lost my personal fortune and was sitting on a house that was easily worth ten or twenty – and more probably thirty or forty – million dollars that the government wanted to buy, I would have wanted a little something something to get myself back on my financial feet.

But Bruce asked for nothing. He let his ancestral home go not for a pittance, not for a song but for nothing. Because he felt it was his duty. With a sense of noblesse oblige that strong, had Bruce lived back in the times of Caesar, he would have been the noblesse Roman of them all.

Marc Alan Fishman: Selling Out

richie-rich-8523452The other afternoon, whilst sipping on a cool beverage and shooting the breeze with a comic book making cohort, I stumbled upon a most interesting What If scenario. You see, this pal of mine loathes Kevin Smith (of Jay and Silent Bob, and a dozen other ventures). Knowing this, I pressed:

“What would you do if Kevin Smith got a hold of your [Amazing Indie Book I’ve Plugged Before], and decided he just had to turn it into a film. Would you make a deal with him?”

A little bit of hemming and hawing later, the answer was a resounding yes – pending a considerable amount of money was put on the table, as well as some subsidiary rights. It ultimately got me to question myself: Would I put aside my integrity as an artist if it meant a more lucrative life? Well, as much as I’d love to be able to side with the staving artists of the world, I’m a fat dude who loves a good Faberge egg omelet far more than resting on a pile of unsold ideas.

It’s oftentimes the pipe dream of the indie creator, is it not? Certainly Banky and McNeil of Chasing Amy had courted selling out as means to better ends, and no one looked down on them much. The fact is that we barnacles on the S.S. Comics may enter into the endeavor or making pulp for the masses with nothing more than good intentions to entertain, but there’s only so long that one can sustain the hobby without lucrative backing.

As I’ve detailed time and again: each issue of my Samurnauts series represents roughly 250 work hours from concept to completion. Three guys working full time jobs and maintaining contact with loved ones – like our fiancés, wives, and kids – put in those hours. While there’s no greater feeling in the world than seeing a complete stranger plunk down his hard earned cash for my comic, there’s no bigger dream then being able to sustain a career actually making the next issue.

If there were to be a fly on the wall when Shuster and Siegel were pitching Superman, do you think they were contemplating points on the backend when they signed their names on the dotted line? I doubt it. They sold the rights for $130 and a contract to produce more material, to the tune of $150,000 a year for the pair. Superman, of course, went on to become a radio show, a newspaper strip, a cartoon, a television program, and countless cartons of collectable crap. The creators would end up suing DC and other respective owners for a fairer cut for the rest of their natural lives. The notion was clear from the start: putting food on the table will trump a stiff upper lip every time.

When an artist is given carte blanche to see their truest work come to fruition, I’ve no doubt it will always be better than had it been built by a focus group. But there’s a reason why DC and Marvel hire known names to helm their biggest titles. They’re not in the business to take leaps of faith. In the best cases, one could argue that a collaboration between art and commerce leaves the most people happy. See The Avengers. And when it goes wrong, well, funny enough, no one is exactly blaming Eastman and Laird over Bay’s Ninja Turtles now, are they.

The notion of selling out was always troublesome to me. The thing is, the Million Dollar Man was right: Everyone has a price. But there will always be those creations we hold nearest to our hearts and feel the need to protect. I believe for most of us indie creators, our ideas are always on the table for sale because we pride ourselves in the ability to create more where they came from. The hope is when we’re well off enough we can afford to give life to those new ideas without the slimy hand of an unwanted third party. Left to their own devices, Green Day became Foxboro Hot Tubs and without any focus groups to get in the way… ended up sounding like Green Day (from 1968).

So, I say unto all those amidst the Artist Alleyways! You are free and clear to seek that big payday without fear of repercussion. For you see… the artist that pays his bills, and lives to see another day has plenty of integrity in my book.

 

Martha Thomases: What’s Up With The Future?

adam-strange-2207308Comic books and science fiction shaped my hopes for the future. I want to be able to live under the ocean, like Aquaman and I want to have a flying car, like <a href=”

Jetson.

It never ends, the things I want. Just this week, I started to want a personal jetpack with missile launchers, like I saw over the weekend in this.

The future, to me, was about technology. Technology that would make cool things for me.

In some ways, that’s working. I mean, I carry around more computing power in my pocket than they had on the Starship Enterprise. Television sets turn on and off, change channels and more with voice commands.

And now, technology is making life ever so much cooler for kids with certain disabilities.

This story describes how it is now possible to make inexpensive prosthetic hands for kids with missing fingers. These are not state-of-the-art instruments, in the sense that they don’t completely mimic human hands. Those cost tens of thousands of dollars, and a growing child would need a new one every year or so. Instead, these cost under $50, and can be made on a 3-D printer.

That is so cool I can barely stand it.

Instead of being teased for being physically different, these kids are now awesome, like superheroes they see in the movies — Iron Man, say, or Cyborg. They can get new hands in whatever colors they like, whenever they need them.

I got to see an enormous 3-D printer at the Youngstown Business Incubator a few months ago. They weren’t, at the time, making cyborg hands, but it was cool to see how a big model worked, and how much more the machine did than I imagined when I heard the term. One pass through the printer, and multiple pieces could be made and connected, which I would not have believed if I hadn’t seen it.

Perhaps it’s a limit of our imaginative fiction, whether in comics or in prose, that the first thing we think about when we imagine future tech is weapons or personal pleasure. I understand that these make entertaining story elements, with conflict and maybe explosions. I’m an adrenaline junkie. I like conflict and explosions in my fiction.

But we don’t, as a society, think about future tech and kids in need.

At least, not in the books I’ve been reading. If you know some that do, please suggest them in the comments. It’s winter and I could use a reading experience that feels good.

 

The Inevitable Return – Missy Stars In Doctor Who Premiere

  • News
  • February 19, 2015

We knew she’d be back – Michelle Gomez said she’d be back, we just didn’t know how soon she’d be back.  Well, now we know – Missy (AKA The Master) will make her return in the series premiere of Doctor Who later in 2015.dwdeathsquee-7234034

The two-part episode, The Magician’s Apprentice and The Witch’s Familiar, is written by the show’s lead writer Steven Moffat, produced by Peter Bennett and directed by Hettie Macdonald (Blink, the Hugo Award-winning Doctor Who episode).

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REVIEW: Justice League: Throne of Atlantis

1000427919brdlefo_14cd592-e1424190926807-9841489Aquaman finally gets his due in Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, out now from Warner Home Entertainment. In the latest installment in the new linked video continuity, all inspired by the uninspiring New 52 reality. As is fitting in a spotlight film like this, Aquaman’s origins are explored so we also get the tried and true enmity between Arthur Curry and Orm, the Ocean Master.  There’s lots of shouting, fighting, fish, and Sturm und Drang but honestly, not a lot of warmth and emotion—much like the current source material.

Queen Atlanna (Sirena Irwin) rules over forgotten Atlantis which is about to be proven a real legend as it braces for war. The undersea kingdom is discovered when Cyborg (Sean Patrick Thomas) investigates a sub having gone missing. Upon discovering the existence of Atlantis, he summons the rest of the Justice League — Superman (Jerry O’Connell), Batman (Jason O’Mara), Wonder Woman (Rosario Dawson), Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Flash (Christopher Gorham) and Shazam (Sean Astin).

As the story churns along we meet drifter (get it?) Arthur Curry (Matt Lanter), who gets caught up in the battle, displaying unusual abilities to telepathically command sea life. He also meets Mera (Sumalee Montano) who has powers of her own and its true love in an eye blink. Arthur finally meets Orm (Sam Witwer), his half-brother who is angry at everyone. Aiding him, because one villain is never enough anymore, is Black Manta (Henry Lennix).

What is missing from the mess of heroes, villains, and fish is heart. Writer Heath Corson has become their go to writer but he is a by-the-0numbers scripter so there’s a sameness permeating the video. Director Ethan Spaulding may need to learn about characterization and pacing but Producer James Trucker should know better given his strong pedigree.

I’ve written previously about my dislike of the current character designs, too top heavy, too angular, and not really resembling their comic book counterparts. It’s more of the same here but it also looks a little cheaper, a little more rushed and stilted which is a shame.

The video comes in 1080p/AVC-encoded format which is fine for this limp effort bettered only by the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track.

As has become habit with these discs, there are some fine and some less fine special features. What’s really missing is a piece placing Aquaman in context, exploring his 70+ year existence, noting his other media appearances and examining how he’s become the butt of pop culture humor. But that piece is missing. Instead, we have Villains of the Deep (12 minutes), which examines, instead, Ocean Master and Black Manta. While good, it needs the good guy counterpoint. There’s also Scoring Atlantis: The Sound of the Deep (30 minutes) which is a lengthy examination of the development and scoring with composer Frederik Wiedmann, Tucker, recording engineer John Rodd, and conductor Russell Steinberg.

A nice surprise is the Robin and Nightwing Bonus Sequence (4 minutes) as Tucker explains how this 45-second piece worked as a prequel to the Batman/Green Lantern Scarecrow chase. 2014 NY Comic-Con Panel (27 minutes) showcases Tucker, Corson, character designer Phil Bourassa, dialogue director Andrea Romano, and Aquaman’s voice Matt Lanter.

From the DC Comics Vault (83 minutes) offers up four episodes: “Aquaman’s Outrageous Adventure!” and “Evil Under the Sea!” from Batman: The Brave and the Bold, “Menace of the Black Manta and The Rampaging Reptile-Man” from the 1967-70 Aquaman series, and “Far from Home” from Justice League Unlimited.

Tweeks: Experience The Marvel Experience

tweeksmexthumbnail-7923266Last week, we went to The Marvel Experience during its stop in San Diego.  Taking place in seven large domes, visitors become S.H.I.E.L.D recruits who undergo training in order to fight alongside the Avengers against Hydra in a final showdown. It reminded us of a Marvel themed amusement park, but is it worth the ticket price (ranging from $24.50 to $34.50) when it comes your city?  Watch our review to find out.

Dennis O’Neil: Gotham’s Doctor, Batman’s Saint

You may have seen it yourself: the scene a while back in which James Gordon and Dr. Leslie Thompkins stand in front of their police department colleagues getting very well acquainted. It happened during an episode of Gotham and although the television Leslie wasn’t the Leslie Dick Giordano and I introduced in Detective Comics #457, I didn’t mind. I know that television shows are not comic books: they have different techniques, strengths, weaknesses, and that the story being told there on the tube wasn’t our story and that serialized characters have to evolve if they are to survive for decades, as Leslie has.

In the weeks since the television Leslie was introduced, we’ve seen her become her own person – witty, intelligent, feisty. Independent. I’d happily watch her if her name were Honorifica Flabdiggle, especially if Bertha, like Leslie, were played by the talented and truly lovely Morena Baccarin.

She was created – Leslie, not Honorifica- to serve the plot of the particular story we were working on, to supplement Bruce Wayne’s biography, and to add an element to the Batman mythos.

I had a real person in mind when I was writing Detective #457, someone I’d once met named Dorothy Day. Dorothy began her professional life as a journalist, wrote a novel, lived the Greenwich Village life. In 1939, she cofounded The Catholic Worker, an organization located in a section of lower Manhattan not much frequented by the white shoe crowd. The Worker had three missions: to serve the poor by providing food, shelter and clothing; to help drunks get sober; and to protest war – all war, any war, and any violence.

We incorporated Dorothy’s pacifism into Leslie. There wasn’t much; I can’t recall any particular story in which it was a major element. But look for it and you could find it.

What the fictional Leslie did for Bruce Wayne was to serve as a surrogate for his murdered mother and to give him information; she told him that not everyone believed that violence solved problems. If Bruce had existed – these are fictions, remember – he might have been sympathized with Leslie’s convictions and regretted his own dependence on violence, while having nothing he considered to be another viable modus operandi.

I don’t expect to hear Dr. Leslie Thompkins endorsing Dorothy Day’s convictions. Gotham is a venue for action/melodrama, after all, and not a pulpit. And there are reasons why we respond to this sort of entertainment and they’re not too distant from the reasons our wonky species hasn’t gone the way of the dinosaurs. But still…what would be wrong with giving the video Leslie a pacifist leaning or two? She could maybe slip them into a subordinate clause where nobody would notice them anyway. And they would give the character Ms. Baccarin and her cohorts are so ably creating a nuance uniquely her own.

Just asking.

 

REVIEW: Bone: Out from Boneville Tribute Edition

Bone: Out from Boneville Tribute Edition
By Jeff Smith
192 ages, Scholastic Graphix, $14.95

bone-tribute-edition-6418103Bone is a phenomenon that just keeps growing, it seems.  Jeff Smith’s self-published debuted in 1991 and charmed readers who discovered the black and white fantasy. However, he found a brand new audience when Scholastic added the series, in color for the first time, to their Graphix imprint. There now are the nine volumes, Rose (with art by Charles Vess), Tall Tales, Bone Handbook and three illustrated prose novels from Tom Sniegoski.

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of this incredibly successful partnership, Scholastic is releasing next week a hardcover Tribute Edition of volume one. The complete, still-charming is on hand but there is also additional material. We start with the 10-page poem “An Ode to Quiche”, written by and critiqued by the monsters who plague the fellow from Boneville. There are nine pinups culled from the other volumes so it’s nice to see plenty of Smith’s lovely cartoon work.

The tribute comes from an assortment of talented folk, who just all happen to be producing work for Graphix, including Kate Beaton, Jeffrey Brown, Frank Cammuso, Nathan Fox, Jimmy Gownley, Kazu Kibuishi, Mike Maihack, Scott Morse, Jake Parker, Dav Pilkey, Greg Ruth, Dan Santast, Raina Telgemeier, Doug TenNapel, and new-to-the-party Craig Thompson. These are uniformly lovely images that are done with affection and shows the versatility of the source material.

Graphic novels have grown a lot since they became a thing back in the 1970s and it’s terrific there is a robust market now for children to discover graphic storytelling. The versatility and promise of the medium is more often found here than in the stand comic books no longer being produced for these readers. It’s nice to see Scholastic celebrate with Bone.

Mike Gold: Who Needs Comic Books?

disney-marvel-mickey-2262303Are you reading more comics now but enjoying them less? Worse still – if you happen to be a comics publisher – are you reading fewer comics now and still enjoying them less?

If the Internet is any indication, plenty of people are cutting back, bailing out, and getting highly more selective about their purchases. I realize the Internet has but three purposes: 1) as a medium for obtaining free porn, 2) as a platform for spirited anonymous bitching, and 3) to prove to the world that your cat is cuter than everybody else’s. Only #2 is relevant here, but you can’t use the Internet’s bitchy overtones to dismiss everything you don’t like. I think there’s a real problem here.

Part of this response is due to the fact that Marvel and DC have been making it exceptionally easy to rocket out of their universes by rebooting, refurbishing, and retconning their family jewels. Good lord, if you’ve been reading any of their major product lines for more than a decade and you know what’s going on and what was going on and look forward to what will be going on – those are three separate things – then William Shatner was correct: get a life.

Donate some of the money you’re spending on comics you don’t like to the CBLDF.

I think there’s another contributing factor, a big one. Forget about the plethora of superhero movies; your “television entertainment media” systems have been invaded by latex costumed nano-bedbugs. Right now, this week, there are at least five original broadcast series based upon Marvel and DC superheroes, six if you think Agent Carter is a separate program. In two months we’ll be getting another show, this time on Netflix, and they’ve got at least four more in active production. Powers, published but not owned by Marvel, will be appearing on Sony’s entertainment network pretty soon. And next season, which is only about seven months away, we may see several more as the broadcast nets are churning out superhero pilots as if they have no other ideas with commercial potential.

Here’s the rub. Of the five weekly series currently on broadcast teevee, people seem to like at least four of them. Constantine may or may not make it. I’ll bet, based on 100% presumption, that those who do like it include a hell of a lot of comics readers.

So, let me ask you this: how much time do you have to spend on spandex adventurers? Teevee, movies, comic books, e-books, trade paperbacks… the whole enchilada. Personally, I enjoy Arrow, Agent Carter, Agents of SHIELD, Constantine, The Flash, and Gotham and I’m looking forward to Daredevil. Add four superhero movies this year and I’d be spending at least 120 hours in the next twelve months watching comic books. Is it any wonder why I bought a new TiVo?

Comic book teevee shows used to be pretty stupid, shallower than the pretty stupid shows that surrounded them. A great many baby boomers were greatly embarrassed by the 1960s Batman show. I know one major comics writer/editor/producer who wanted to kill Lorenzo Semple Junior, who developed and wrote or story edited the show. I don’t quite share that feeling: Semple also wrote The Parallax View and Papillon.

But I digress (hi, Peter!). Today’s superhero shows are much, much better. Not Citizen Kane better, but they’re entertaining and they don’t condescend.

In a good year comics do not make enough money to impress the stockholders of Time Warner and Disney. Comic book movies make those same stockholders giggle like piggies (hi, George!).

So, I ask you: who needs superhero comic books? Well, honestly, not the conglomerates who own DC Comics and Marvel.

 

Two Deleted Scenes from Mockingjay Part 1 are Unveiled

MJP1_bd_packThe Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 went live today as a Digital HD purchase with the physical DVD or Blu-ray and OnDemand editions coming March 6. To whet your appetite, Lionsgate has released two deleted scenes from the blockbuster, which sets the stage for the final installment, coming later this year.

“I’m not asking” features a tense exchange between President Snow and Peeta, highlighting Peeta’s experience as a prisoner of Panem, previously unseen to audiences in Mockingjay: Part 1.

“Face of a revolution” features a humorous scene with Effie and Katniss as she’s prepped (and primped) to become the Mockingjay.

SANTA MONICA, CA and VANCOUVER, BC, (January 22, 2015) – Lionsgate’s (NYSE: LGF) global juggernaut The Hunger Games franchise continues to set the world on fire with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 arriving on Digital HD February 17 and on Blu-ray Combo Pack (plus DVD and Digital HD), DVD (plus Digital) and On Demand Friday, March 6, the Company announced today.

Mockingjay – Part 1 became the highest-grossing domestic release of 2014 when it reached nearly $333.2 million at the domestic box office yesterday.  The last two installments of The Hunger Games franchise (Catching Fire and Mockingjay – Part 1) have become the highest-grossing releases at the domestic box office each of the past two years, the first time in decades that a studio has scored back-to-back #1 films of the year and the first time ever for back-to-back sequels. Mockingjay – Part 1, which opens in China on February 8, has already grossed more than $700 million worldwide, bringing global box office for the franchise to over $2.2 billion.

“The number one theatrical release of 2014 is poised to become one of the biggest home entertainment events of 2015,” said Lionsgate Home Entertainment President Ron Schwartz and Lionsgate President of Worldwide Television & Digital Distribution Jim Packer. “With the film’s home entertainment rollout beginning on Digital HD next month and continuing on Blu-ray, DVD and on demand in March, we’re continuing to expand the portfolio of choices we offer to enrich the experience of our consumers.”

Academy Award® winner Jennifer Lawrence leads an all-star cast in the battle for Panem in a spectacular sequel packed with five hours of extensive, must-see bonus materials including the two-hour behind-the-scenes documentary “The Mockingjay Lives: The Making of Mockingjay – Part 1.” Featuring never-before-seen interviews and on-set footage of the cast and crew, the documentary takes an in-depth look at the making of the film including the script adaptation, location scouting, set design – including physically creating the hovercraft – casting the new characters, and bringing District 13 to life.

Additional special features include “Straight from the Heart: A Tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman,” deleted scenes, an audio commentary with director Francis Lawrence and producer Nina Jacobson, as well as the “Songs of Rebellion: Lorde on Curating the Soundtrack” featurette, the music video for the Golden Globe®-nominated song “Yellow Flicker Beat” and a brand new sneak peek at The Divergent Series: Insurgent. The Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $39.99 and $29.95, respectively.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 features an acclaimed cast including Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Willow Shields, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone with Stanley Tucci and Donald Sutherland reprising their original roles from The Hunger Games and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The impressive lineup is joined by five-time Academy Award® nominee Julianne Moore*, Mahershala Ali (Netflix’s “House of Cards”), Natalie Dormer (HBO’s “Game of Thrones”), Wes Chatham (The Help), Elden Henson (Jobs) and Evan Ross (Jeff, Who Lives at Home).

Based on the best-selling third novel of Suzanne Collins’ award-winning trilogy, with a screenplay by Peter Craig (The Town) and Danny Strong (Lee Daniels’ The Butler) and directed by Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 reveals that the rebellion is growing. Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived and is recovering from the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell deep inside the bunkered catacombs of District 13. Separated from some of her closest allies and fearing for their safety in the Capitol, Katniss finally agrees to be the Mockingjay, the symbolic leader of the rebellion. Still uncertain as to whom she can trust, Katniss must help District 13 rise from the shadows, all the while knowing that President Snow has focused his hatred into a personal vendetta against her-and her loved ones.

*(Best Actress, Still Alice, 2014; Best Actress, Far From Heaven, 2002; Best Supporting Actress, The Hours, 2002; Best Actress, The End of the Affair, 1999; Best Actress, Boogie Nights, 1997)

DIGITAL HD SPECIAL FEATURES**·

  • “The Mockingjay Lives: The Making of Mockingjay – Part 1“: 8-part feature-length documentary·
  • “Straight From the Heart: A Tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman” featurette
  • “Songs of Rebellion: Lorde on Curating the Soundtrack” featurette
  • “Yellow Flicker Beat” – Lorde music video
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Audio Commentary with Director Francis Lawrence and Producer Nina Jacobson
  • Sneak Peek of The Divergent Series: Insurgent

**Subject to change

BLU-RAY COMBO PACK SPECIAL FEATURES**·

  • “The Mockingjay Lives: The Making of Mockingjay – Part 1“: 8-part feature-length documentary·
  • “Straight From the Heart: A Tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman” featurette
  • “Songs of Rebellion: Lorde on Curating the Soundtrack” featurette
  • “Yellow Flicker Beat” – Lorde music video
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Audio Commentary with Director Francis Lawrence and Producer Nina Jacobson
  • Sneak Peek of The Divergent Series: Insurgent

**Subject to change

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES**·

  • Audio Commentary with Director Francis Lawrence and Producer Nina Jacobson
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Sneak Peek of The Divergent Series: Insurgent

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