Posts Tagged ‘Shout! Factory’

Shout! Factory’s ‘Gamera vs. Barugon’ DVD up for preorder

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

The second installment of the original Gamera franchise is on its way from Shout! Factory, with a scheduled release date of July 6, 2010.  Box art and disc specs have yet to be announced, though you can bet this is going to be the best domestic release of the title for some time to come.  You can currently pre-order the title through Amazon.com at considerable savings (30% off retail!).

Gamera vs. Barugon is easily the most traditionally dramatic of the Showa series and is ostensibly a tale of greed and consequence (and giant monsters, of course!).  It follows several men who travel to the South Seas in search of a giant opal, only to inadvertently unleash the monster Barugon upon the world.  Luckily Gamera is on the prowl, having been extricated from that pesky Z-plan rocket by a wayward meteor.

Gamera vs. Barugon was released, dubbed and re-edited, to American television by A.I.P. under the generic title War of the Monsters and later (uncut and with an alternate dub track) on VHS and Laserdisc through King Features and Image Entertainment.  The Shout! Factory release will mark the first time the film has been made officially available in the USA its original Japanese.

‘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

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.

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.

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

Luigi Cozzi hits high definition hard – “Starcrash” Blu-ray due out this September from Shout! Factory

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Details (as they currently stand) are available at Blu-ray.com

At least the bad news of the day (that the upcoming Blu-ray of Joe Dante’s Piranha is delayed until August 3rd) is tempered with great news, that Luigi Cozzi’s ridiculous spaghetti sci-fi epic Starcrash will be making its hi-definition debut just a month later, on September 7th.  Also newly announced for Blu-ray release is Death Race 2000 (street date June 22nd), recently remade by Paul W.S. Anderson as Death Race.  With Shout! Factory given access to the extensive New World library, we can expect more good things in the future.

Starcrash stars Caroline Munroe (At the Earth’s Core), Marjoe Gortner (Earthquake, Food of the Gods), David Hasselhoff (tv’s Knight Rider), and Christopher Plummer (The Sound of Music).  Special visual effects by Germano Natali (Monster Shark) and Armando Valcauda (Hercules).  Screenplay by Luigi Cozzi and Nat Wachsberger (The Mafia Wants Blood).  Original score by John Barry (King Kong, The Black Hole).  Directed by Luigi Cozzi.