Tagged: DVD

‘Hellboy II’ gets 3-Disc Treatment

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has announced a November 11 street date for Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Mike Mignola’s character will receive the full treatment, as a three disc special edition will contain the movie, which earned over $75 million domestically, and a ton of special features. The Blu-ray edition will be a mere two disc affair.

According to Universal’s release: “With bigger muscle, badder weapons and more ungodly villains than ever before, Hellboy II: The Golden Army is available in multiple home entertainment versions. In standard definition DVD, fans can purchase either a widescreen or full frame single disc version for $29.98 SRP.  For a limited time only, fans can take home a widescreen 3-disc special edition DVD  ($34.98 SRP) or 2-disc Blu-ray Hi-Def ($39.98 SRP), featuring a digital copy of the film and hours of additional in-depth bonus features that take fans deep inside the movie’s extraordinary creative process – all encased in 3-D packaging. Just in time for the holidays, Hellboy II: The Golden Army is also available in a limited edition collector’s set featuring all of the bonus features of the 3-disc special edition plus a collectible Golden Army statuette, limited edition poster, director’s production journal and certificate of authenticity.  This set is priced for collecting and gift giving at $64.98 SRP for standard definition DVD and $69.98 SRP for Blu-ray Hi-Def. “ (more…)

‘Shrek the Halls’ Comes to DVD in Time for Holidays

shrek-the-halls-1694483Paramount Home Video has begun the Christmas shopping season with the announcement of Shrek the Halls coming to DVD on November 4.  The CG-animated television special debuted last holiday season and featured a brand new story, cramming all the trilogy’s characters into a thirty minute event.  It received good reviews and had an impressive audience averaging 22.7 million viewers.

The DVD will feature fun and interactive holiday-themed bonus material including a sing-along version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” starring the entire gang of characters from DreamWorks Animation’s Madagascar, a unique take on “Deck The Halls” with the hilarious Madagascar penguins and sing-along lyrics, a Gingy Dunking Game that tests your matching skills, plus a Shrek Carnival Craze game demo and cheat codes. 

The DVD will be available as a single disc in either full screen or widescreen, as well as in a special two-pack with Shrek the Third and in limited edition holiday packages featuring Holiday Shrek, Holiday Puss, Holiday Donkey or Gingy plush characters.

Disc details:

  • The Twelve Days of Christmas Sing Along—Join along and watch the entire Madagascar gang as they celebrate the holidays in style with their own take on the “Twelve Days of Christmas.”  Sing along to the Madagascar-inspired lyrics, including “lemurs leaping, foosas fussing and a penguin who made a loud squeak!”  In classic sing-along style, the words appear on screen as the characters perform.
  • Deck The Halls Sing Along—“Deck the halls, it’s time to party.”  This is your chance to sing along with everyone’s favorite Penguins from Madagascar.  Join Skipper, Private and Kowalski for their version of the classic holiday song as they get into the spirit of the season. 
  • Gingy’s Dunking Game—Test your skills at being a master baker and make sure you have plenty of flour as you try to match the Gingerbread cookies that come out of the oven with the Gingy that appears on screen. 
  • Shrek Carnival Craze video game demo and cheat code
  • DreamWorks Animation Video Jukebox
     

‘Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 6’ Coming in October

looneytunes-gcv6-final-1-3305514Warner Home Video has announced a sixth DVD box set in their Looney Tunes Golden Collection series.  The new set will be released on October 21 with 60 classic, fully re-mastered and restored cartoons, presented in their original un-edited format. Most of the shorts in the collection have never been available on DVD before.

Retailing for $64.92, the set will feature a disc dedicated to Bosko, Buddy and Merrie Melodies while the bonus features includes a never-before-seen documentary on voice genius Mel Blanc.

A smaller Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volume Six will also be released that day with material drawn from both Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Six and Volume Two for $26.99.
 

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ComicMix Radio: Meet Jane And The Dragon

Already a children’s classic book and a worldwide TV success, Jane & The Dragon are now both a part of NBC’s Saturday morning line-up and the local DVD rack. Here’s what you are missing, plus:

  • Darwin Cooke tackles Madman
  • Conan gets a tribute
  • Marvin The Martian gets a film to himself

Let your imagination run a little wild and Press the Button!

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-6871928 or RSS!

 

 

The Iron Man Ultimate DVD Commeth!

If you’ve grown tired of watching that bootleg copy of Iron Man that you’ve crammed onto your iPod/iPhone, then you will be happy to know that details of the Iron Man DVD release are now available for you to drool over.

First off, you can get your hands on the movie on DVD and Blu Ray September 30th, and rather than aim for the wallet and release seven versions over a period of two years, Paramount is putting out the two-disc "Ultimate Edition" first. This doesn’t mean that there won’t be a Super Deluxe Buy Me Now Edition with a piece of Robert Downy Jr.’s hair.
 
One of the coolest features announced is that the Blu-ray disc will include an exclusive "Iron Man IQ", which will allow you to create quizzes based on clips from the film and share them with your friends. This probably won’t enhance your movie-watching experience, but will allow you to educate your friends on "how many buttons Tony Stark’s suit has." Here are the rest of the details.
 

Disc 1:
 
– Feature film
– Deleted and Extended Scenes
 
Disc 2:
 
– I Am Iron Man Documentary Series
          o The Journey Begins
          o The Suit that makes the Iron Man
          o The Walk of Destruction
          o Grounded In Reality
          o Beneath the Armor
          o It’s All in the Details
          o A Good Story, Well Told
 
– The Invincible Iron Man
          o Origins
          o Friends & Foes
          o The Definitive Iron Man
          o Demon in a Bottle
          o Extremis and Beyond
          o Ultimate Iron Man
 
– Wired: The Visual Effects of Iron Man
– Robert Downey Jr. Screen Test
– The Actor’s Process (scene rehearsal with cast)
– The Onion “Wildly Popular Iron Man Trailer to be Adapted into Full Length Film”
– Image Galleries

SDCC: Jeph Loeb Presents ‘Heroes’ Panel

The NBC show Heroes went from fan-favorite to afterthought very quickly during last year’s strike-impaired season two. The cast and producer Jeph Loeb set about rebuilding momentum with an energetic panel at Comic-Con.

From the L.A. Times comes word that a full episode was shown and it did the trick:

Tim Kring came in with a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist. He held aloft a DVD, the DVD for the premiere of season three’s villains-themed offerings.

Then we got to see "The Second Coming."

It’s a great episode, and it should draw back those who’ve dropped off. It may even bring in new viewers. And if not, maybe you’ll want to watch simply because, as the guy in my row said, "Hayden is hotter than ever!"

If you’re inclined, there are some spoilers in the link.

Del Toro’s ‘Hellboy 2’ Diary

hellboy2poster5-4157023Over at the New York Times, reviewer A.O. Scott takes an almost apologetically positive stance on Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. Among the many things he compliments is director Guillermo del Toro’s extensive use of puppets in lieu of CGI.

It’s one of the things I’ve long loved about del Toro’s movies, an appreciation driven into overdrive by the extra DVD wih the first Hellboy movie that explained how the puppets were made.

As part of the Times’ coverage of the new flick, they have extensive excerpts from del Toro’s production diary, as well as audio of del Toro himself explaining the entries.

And of course, don’t forget to check out the multitude of Hellboy 2 coverage right here at ComicMix.

Editing Challenges Trouble ‘Watchmen’ and Other Movie News

watchmen-cover-9841292Fans have long wondered how any director could condense Watchmen into a feature-length film (I always liked the suggestion of doing it as an HBO miniseries), and now director Zack Snyder is feeling that pinch.

The Geek Files blog has a comprehensive entry about Snyder’s difficult editing task. The current length sits at an epic three hours, and this is already after the Black Freighter storyline and other material has been excised into a wholly separate film that will come out as a companion DVD.

[Snyder] added: "I’ve lost perspective on that now, because to me, the honest truth is I geek out on little stuff now as much as anybody. Like, people will go, ‘We’ve got to cut. You don’t need that shot of Hollis Mason’s garage sign.’ And I’m like, ‘What are you talking about? Of course you do. Are you crazy? How will people enjoy the movie without s**t like that in it?’

"And we had Dave Gibbons in there, too, and he would draw on our books, and it was just sick cool.

"And so then you come back from that experience, and you go to the studio, and the studio’s cool, don’t get me wrong, but they don’t love it like we do. Right? It’s like just a movie, like, ‘Oh, we have this movie, Watchmen, and it’s ****ing long.’ Like, ‘What are these superheroes? They look crazy.’ So you have that experience. So for me, right now, I’m in the middle of that."

Snyder has already said he is planning a 4hrs 30mins Director’s Cut DVD edition of the movie. There will also be a companion DVD called Tales of the Black Freighter, based on a background story depicted within the panels of Watchmen.

There’s also some other comics movie news:

The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports some anecdotal evidence that successful films are boosting sales of actual comics at shops.

And the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette offers an early look at Wanted and another article on the best and worst comic-to-film adaptations.

Viral Marketing and ‘Futurama: Beast With a Billion Backs’

The Earth is being invaded!… sort of. While Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs hit DVD shelves this week, the giant titular beast, Yivo, (pictured here) has been making his way across America all this week with "invasions" in various cities.

From ilovebender.com:

CENTURY CITY, CA – The Yivo invasion has arrived! Crash landing in key markets nationwide, Yivo has a tentacle span of 20 feet, and will be in constant tentacle motion! In Boston, Detroit, San Diego, Minneapolis and Chicago, each Yivo inflatable will be accompanied by “Space Babes” who will be distributing out-of-this-world promotional items, including T-shirts, tattoos and signed DVDs.

A “Mega-Invasion” is approaching Philadelphia when a 30-foot-tall Yivo takes over Love Park. In addition to “Space Babes” and giveaways, visitors will have a chance to meet Bender himself and get “Yivo-ized” via green screen!

According to various reports, Yivo’s next big invasion is planned for Wizard World Chicago this weekend. You can find out more about Yivo, shlis or shler lovers, check out shlis or shler (trust me, I’m typing that correctly) on MySpace and Facebook. You can also check out my ComicMix review of Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs.

 

‘Incredible Hulk’ Director Discusses Deleted Captain America Cameo

cap-vs-hulk-200-6883408Many rumors have been spreading since the release of the latest Incredible Hulk television spot, in which the Robert Downey Jr. (as Iron Man‘s Tony Stark) cameo is revealed. But was this the big cameo we were all waiting for?

One of the big rumors was that a Captain America scene was more than definite after an interview with Incredible Hulk director Louis Letierrer on G4’s Attack of the Show, where Leterrier stated, “You will see Captain America in this movie."

Later at a press event, Leterrier was questioned by Collider.com about the quote and said, "That’s crazy.  Did I say that?"

"I threw [an Easter Egg into the movie] like this [and] I was like, ‘Let’s see how many pick it up,’" he added, confirming that any Captain America appearance in the movie is more an Easter Egg than a true cameo.

Collider then asked the director to get more specific, to which Leterrier replied, "No, I can’t.  Otherwise it’s not fun. Are you crazy?  It’s an Easter Egg."

He eventually offered, "It’s not like ‘Oh, it’s Captain America and it changes everything.’ It’s still a Hulk movie, but it’s really Captain America and it’s there, you’ll see. It’s the real deal. You have to look for it."

Finally, at the same press event, Brazilian news website SOS Hollywood asked Leterrier the same question, and got a very different response:

There’s a point when Bruce Banner gives up on his quest for the cure and decides to kill himself. So he travels far North and reaches the Arctic Circle. You might have seen bits of it in some of the promos. The result was a very dark and strong scene, which Marvel, me and everyone else’s considered to be too hard [for] young audiences to take, so we’ve cut it. Having that said, when Bruce arrives at his destination he meets up with Captain America! At some point this week, we will make it available on the Internet – but I cannot tell you where or when – and the material will definitely be on the DVD.

Other sources state that the DVD is now slated to have an extra 70 minutes of deleted footage (which will no doubt be where we can find the missing Doc Sampson footage as well). So will we have to wait for the DVD to get a glimpse at Marvel’s American Eagle? Or is this all part of a bad viral marketing plan to get more DVD or ticket sales?

You can also read a bit more about the alleged Captain America cameo at Cinematical.