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‘Max Headroom’ coming from Shout! Factory

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Shout! Factory is quickly becoming one of my favorite DVD companies, and this news only furthers that opinion.  From the press release:

Shout! Factory and Warner Home Video, a division of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Inc., announced a multi-property alliance to bring the highly anticipated Warner Bros. television series Max Headroom and The Norm Show to the home entertainment marketplace. Under its multi-year agreement with Warner Home Video, Shout! Factory will be the exclusive media company to distribute Max Headroom and The Norm Show DVDs for home entertainment releases in the United States and Canada. The announcement was made today by Shout! Factory founding partners Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos; and Jeff Brown, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Non-theatrical Franchise Marketing.

Production has begun to develop a wide range of bonus content for Max Headroom: The Complete Series DVD box set, as well as re-transferring the episodes from the original elements to provide the highest picture quality.

“Max Headroom is a uniquely sought-after television property, boasting a large fan following and consumer interests. We have been pursing this property with Warner Bros. for years, and we’re thrilled that it’s finally coming to fruition,” state Shout! Factory founding partners. ”We’re pop culture fanatics at Shout!, and both of these shows are loved by fans of TV and are highly requested.  We’ll do them justice with great extras and packaging.”

You can read the full press release on Shout! Factory’s agreement with Warner Brothers here: Shout! Factory and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Inc. Announce Content Deal

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A home video release 45 years in the making – ‘Crack in the World’ coming to DVD in 2010

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Color me surprised, but when a company I’ve never heard of announces that they’ve licensed titles from Paramount’s hefty catalog of previously unreleased productions it can be nothing but good news.

There is no firm street date as yet for this Olive Films DVD, just one of around 20 older Paramount properties the company intends to release by the end of the year.  And while I find it doubtful that there will be much in the way of supplemental content given past experience, this is still exceptional news for fans who have been waiting for a proper video release of the title for the past two decades or more.

You can read Wtf-Film’s review of the film here: Crack in the World (1965) dir. Andrew Marton

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Gamera, The Giant Monster – cover art and more

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

Thanks to both SciFi Japan and August Ragone’s The Good, The Bad, and the Godzilla blog, we’re getting a nice sneak peak at the cover art for Shout! Factory’s upcoming Gamera, The Giant Monster DVD Special Edition.  It looks great to this reviewer, and is an improvement over what Kadokawa has produced for their own recent Blu-ray editions.

August is working with Shout! Factory and, thanks to his latest blog entry, we know a little more about the work that’s going into these releases:

“For Shout’s Gamera releases, I’ve assembled an international rag-tag unit of die-hard fans, known as the “Z Plan Team”, who have been working overtime in gathering as much information and materials on the original films as possible for the on-disc Special Features supplements (as well as the corresponding printed booklets), and we have uncovered tons of fascinating facts and trivia about the production of Daiei’s beloved series. The Special Features will also include Audio Commentaries, with the first recorded by none other than Yours Truly.”

Sounds like good stuff all around to me, as August says in his entry, “I can say that these will be DVDs that any self-respecting kaiju eiga fan shouldn’t pass up!” SciFi Japan has a nice new article up as well, including an interview with Cliff Macmillan, VP of DVD Production and Acquisitions for Shout! Factory. Click here to check it out.

Gamera, The Giant Monster streets on May 18th, and can currently be pre-ordered through Amazon.com at a discounted price of $17.99.  Click here to order.

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Gamera, The Giant Monster (1965) Special Edition DVD details announced

Friday, February 12th, 2010

From the Shout! Factory press release here:

From Japan – the country that brought us such mythical movie monsters as Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah – storms Gamera, the titanic terrapin feared by adults and loved by children. On May 18, 2010, Shout! Factory will unleash Gamera, The Giant Monster – Special Edition on DVD for the first time in its unedited original version, with English subtitles — in anamorphic widescreen from an all-new HD master. The DVD includes a 12-page booklet with an essay by director Noriaki Yuasa, a photo gallery, trailers and more. The collectible Gamera, The Giant Monster Special Edition DVD is priced to own at $19.93.

The disc is currently up for pre-order at Amazon.com at a reduced price of $17.99.  Click here to order.

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Showa “Gamera” coming from Shout! Factory in 2010!

Sunday, February 7th, 2010

More huge news for cult movie fans from Shout! Factory, who look to be keeping pretty busy this year.

Word is currently coming down the pipeline that the company has officially licensed the entire Showa Gamera (1965’s Daikaiju Gamera through 1980’s Uchu Kaiju Gamera) series for release domestically on DVD and will reportedly be working from the latest HD transferred elements.  Right now news is slim, though Monster Island News reported roughly two months ago that the company is / was on the lookout for 35mm elements for the American cut of the first Gamera feature.

At present only the first film is listed for pre-order at Amazon.com, with May 18, 2010 as the scheduled release date  – Gamera: The Giant Monster

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Out now and upcoming . . .

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

This past weekend UK outfit Eureka! released under their Masters of Cinema label what is already one of the most exciting foreign language DVD releases of the year – Nobuhiko Obayashi’s bizarre fantasy horror House / Hausu, arguably the best coming of age story ever to revolve around a house that eats people.  The disc includes a new anamorphic widescreen transfer, a 90-minute collection of interviews about the film featuring the director, cast, and crew, a theatrical trailer, and an extensive booklet.  The disc is highly recommended for stateside fans who just can’t wait for the eventual Criterion Collection offering (as of yet still unannounced), and is currently offered at 39% below retail at Amazon.co.uk.

Out on the 19th of the month was another fine offering from Shout! Factory, a lavish DVD re-release of Kingdom of the Spiders, previously only available as an expensive German or pathetic Goodtimes release.  The new special edition includes a restored 1.77:1 anamorphic transfer, a commentary featuring director Bud Cardos and many of the crew, a new interview with star William Shatner, and a slew of other featurettes.  The disc is currently available at a savings of 25% from Amazon.com.

And last but not least among notable new releases is a new multi-film collection from Warner, the 4 Film Favorites: Urban Action Collection, released with absolutely zero fanfare on the 14th of January.  The four film collection includes Three the Hard Way, Hot Potatoe, and Black Samson, but the big news of the packages has to be the DVD debut of Jim Kelly’s Black Belt Jones.  While budget in price the transfers are great, and the package can be had for $14.99 at Amazon.com (note: you may be able to find a better deal at your local retailers, so shop around).

Upcoming is the just announced Forbidden Planet, slated for Blu-ray release from Warner on September 7th.  No word on extras as of yet, but I imagine that (in line with previous Warner hi-def offerings) that the package will more or less mimic the special edition DVD from 2006.  Even if it was an unlikely bare-bones release, Wtf-Film would still love to add this classic to his high-def collection.

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