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Friday, 25 October 2019 17:33

Big Trouble in Little China extras, Disney Movie Club’s fixed Black Hole BD, Memory doc, Cotton Club Encore & more

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We’ve got a few interesting news items to report today, but first some more reviews...

Tim has posted his thoughts on Scream Factory’s new The Omen Collection Blu-ray box set and it sounds like it’s pretty fantastic. The title is well worth a look and you’ll find the review here.

Also, Dennis has turned in his thoughts on The Art of Self-Defense on Blu-ray from Universal and the remake of The Lion King (2019) from Disney also on Blu-ray.

And I’m working on a review of Warner’s The Wizard of Oz in 4K Ultra HD, which looks absolutely fantastic. The title streets on Tuesday and I hope to have my review posted on Monday. So stay tuned for that. [Read on here...]

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Also here at The Bits today, we have a new History, Legacy & Showmanship column from our own Michael Coate featuring a look back at the classic TV series The Twilight Zone in honor of its 60th anniversary this year. The piece features a great roundtable discussion with TV historians that include Nicholas Parisi, Herbie J Pilato, Steven Jay Rubin, and Marc Scott Zicree. Enjoy!

Big Trouble in Little China (Blu-ray Disc)Now then... Scream Factory has just announced the extras you’ll find on their forthcoming Big Trouble in Little China: Collector’s Edition Blu-ray, due on 12/3. New extras on the 2-disc release will include an audio commentary with producer Larry Franco and a second commentary with special effects artist Steve Johnson, moderated by filmmaker Anthony C. Ferrante. There will also be 12 new interview featurettes, including You’re the Hero (with actor Dennis Dun), The Soul of Lo Pan (with actor James Hong), Able to Be Myself (with actor Donald Li), The Tao of Thunder (with actor Carter Wong), The Tao of Rain (with actor Peter Kwong), The Hatchet Man Speaks (with actor Al Leong), Damn Wiley Prescott (with writer W.D. Richter), It Was a Western Ghost Story (with writer Gary Goldman), The Poetry of Motion (with associate producer/martial arts choreographer James Lew), Into the Mystic Night (with The Coupe De Ville’s member Nick Castle), Since We Were Kids (with second unit director/The Coupe De Ville’s member Tommy Lee Wallace), and Love and Art (with movie poster artist Drew Struzan).

The set will also include legacy extras, among them audio commentary with director John Carpenter and actor Kurt Russell, an isolated score, trailers and TV spots, a vintage audio interview with Carpenter, the Electronic Press Kit, a gag reel, a music video, deleted and extended scenes, the extended ending, photo galleries, a vintage featurette, an interview with visual effects artist Richard Edlund, and 5 additional interview featurettes including Return to Little China (with director John Carpenter), Being Jack Burton (with actor Kurt Russell), Carpenter and I (with director of photography Dean Cundey), Producing Big Trouble (with producer Larry Franco), and Staging Big Trouble (with stuntman Jeff Imada).

Whew! And don’t forget that it will be available as a regular Blu-ray release, a Steelbook limited edition, and a Limited Edition Steelbook with Exclusive Lithograph + Vinyl 7” album.

Are any of you Disney Movie Club fans? If so, you’ll be pleased to know that Dr. Syn: The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh (1964) is now available as a Club-exclusive Blu-ray release. It was released back on 10/8. It was released previously on DVD as part of the Walt Disney Treasures series.

Speaking of Disney Movie Club, the version of the Club-exclusive The Black Hole Blu-ray that’s now available on their online store is the corrected version (it allows you to access the film’s overture). For those of you who purchased the error version (which we reviewed here), you can contact DMC’s customer service and they’ll send you the fixed disc.

And while we’re talking Disney, Vulture has a story up today about how the studio seems to be quietly making 20th Century Fox catalog films unavailable for theatrical exhibition. It’s an interesting (if not entirely unexpected) development. You can read that here.

In terms of upcoming titles, Lionsgate will be releasing Francis Ford Coppola’s new Cotton Club Encore on Blu-ray and DVD on 12/10. There’s no word yet of a US 4K edition, but we’re waiting for official announcements. Meanwhile, you can find the Blu-ray available for pre-order here on Amazon.

Screen Media is going to be releasing the excellent Memory: The Origins of Alien documentary on Blu-ray and DVD on 11/19. I’ve seen it and it’s absolutely worth your time, a perfect companion to the voluminous extras on the existing Alien Anthology Blu-ray set. Don’t miss it.

Universal has set The Good Boys for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 11/12.

And Amazon is now taking pre-orders for the Blu-ray and 4K release of the animated Superman: Red Son from Warner and DC.

Here’s a look at the cover artwork for a couple of these titles (click to pre-order them on Amazon)...

Memory: Origins of Alien (Blu-ray Disc) The Good Boys (Blu-ray Disc) The Wizard of Oz (4K Ultra HD)

That’s all for now. Have a great weekend!

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