In announcement news today, Warner Home Video has set American Sniper: The Chris Kyle Commemorative Edition 2-disc Blu-ray for release on 5/3. It will include the previous special features and will add an exclusive bonus disc with 60 minutes of new content including 2 new documentaries (Chris Kyle: The Man Behind the Legend and Navy SEALS: In War and Peace).
HBO has set Ballers: The Complete First Season for Blu-ray and DVD release on 6/14. Extras will include behind-the-scenes content for all ten episodes.
Universal has set The Boy for Blu-ray and DVD release on 5/10.
Lionsgate has set Orange Is the New Black: Season Three for Blu-ray and DVD release on 5/17.
Warner Home Video has set The Last Ship: The Complete Second Season for Blu-ray release on 5/3. Extras are set to include 80 minutes of behind-the-scenes featurettes.
Scream Factory has revealed the extras you’ll find on their upcoming 2-disc The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2: Collector’s Edition Blu-ray due on 4/19. Look for the film to be included in both a new 2K HD transfer and MGM’s original HD transfer (the latter with color correction supervision by director of photography Richard Kooris) on separate discs. The new transfer disc will offer a new audio commentary (with director of photography Richard Kooris, production designer Cary White, script supervisor Laura Kooris, and property master Michael Sullivan), audio commentary (with director Tobe Hooper), audio commentary (with actors Bill Moseley, Caroline Williams, and special effects makeup creator Tom Savini), new Extended Outtakes from It Runs in the Family, a new Behind-the-Scenes Footage Compilation from Tom Savini’s archives, an alternate opening credit sequence, deleted scenes, still galleries, trailers, and TV spots. The original transfer disc will include 4 new interview featurettes (House of Pain, Yuppie Meat, Cutting Moments, and Behind the Mask), the new Horror’s Hallowed Grounds featurette, and the original 6-part It Runs in the Family feature-length documentary.
Also today, Arrow Video has set a Suture: Special Edition for 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo release on 6/21.
Acorn has set The Last Panthers for Blu-ray release on 5/24, starring John Hurt.
Anchor Bay has set Jane Got a Gun for Blu-ray and DVD release on 4/28, starring Natalie Portman and Joel Edgerton.
Film Movement has set Don Hardy’s Theory of Obscurity: A Film About The Residents for Blu-ray and DVD release on 4/19.
And 20th Century Fox has officially set Joy for 4K Ultra HD release on 5/3, day and date with regular Blu-ray and DVD. You can see the 4K cover artwork below (the final BD art is not yet available).
In other news today, this is very interesting: Major Hollywood studios and exhibitors are apparently considering a plan that would debut first-run theatrical movies at home “day and date” with the theatrical release. The startup service is backed by Sean Parker, who was involved with Facebook and Napster, and would be called The Screening Service. You’d have to buy a special secure set-top box for $150, and then you’d be charged $50 per title for a 48-hour viewing period. That price would also give you two tickets to see the film theatrically. It’s an interesting idea and one that, like it or not, is almost inevitable. The window between theatrical and home release has been narrowing for several years now. It’s only a matter of time before they merge. The audience for this service probably wouldn’t be huge initially, given the $50 price, but if it worked (and all parties remained comfortable with it), you could see the idea expand with more affordable options over time. There are always movies you really just want to see in a huge screen with a big crowd, but then there are those films you’d like to see but the bother of getting the family ready and heading out to fight the crowds just isn’t worth it. An affordable home viewing option might really make sense. The point is, I could see something like this really taking off over time. You can read more here at Variety today.
And finally this afternoon, DirecTV has just announced that it will be broadcasting The Masters in UHD on the DirecTV 4K channel (April 7-10). You can read more here at Digital Trends.
We’ll leave you today with a look at some of the cover artwork for the titles we’ve mentioned above (and more). Click on the links to pre-order them on Amazon.com if they’re available. Doing so helps to support The Bits and we certainly thank you for it! Here you go...
Stay tuned...
- Bill Hunt (@BillHuntBits)