DVD NEWS-O-RAMA!!! IT’S GETTING’ INTO MY HEAD MAN!!!A whole lotta updates for the weekend, babies!!ALIEN QUADRILOGY!!!THE MATRIX SPECIAL EDITION?!?!!INDY TRILOGY NEWS!!!FOX!! CTHE!! MGM!! UNIVERSAL!!!Everybody is here, let’s start the party!!!Read on, you magnificent beasts!, First up is some goods from the folks over at Fox Home Entertainment.THE TRANSPORTER has been announced for an April 15 debut. Look for a full 15 minutes of deleted action footage, additional deleted scenes, a Making-Of doc-umentary and commentary by director Corey Yuen and leading man Jason Statham.Fox also has the STV feature DARKWOLF on the way for April 15. Horror legends Kane Hodder (yes, Jason from FRIDAY THE 13th) and Tippi Hedren. This modern werewolf yarn comes in a 1.78:1 Fullscreen package with extras including a making-of featurette, cast and crew bloopers, and a trailer. Oh, and a club full of Playboy Bunnies…Shooting ahead to May 13, look for THE X FILES: SEASON 7 to spook up your living room. As with the previous sets, this will be a six-disc affair, with episodes presented in 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen. Extras include deleted scenes, episode specific commentaries, deleted scenes, international clips, X FILES Profiles of A.D. Skinner and Samantha Mulder, 13 special effects featurettes with commentary, 44 TV spots, THE TRUTH ABOUT SEASON 7 doc-umentary, a DVD-Rom game and a preview of the upcoming PS2 game.Also ahead on the Fox slate, May 20 marks the long-awaited debut of superhuman “Max” and her genetically altered siblings in DARK ANGEL: SEASON ONE. This will also be a six-disc package with 1.33:1 Fullframe transfers, audio commentaries, audition tapes, gag reels, “Dark Angel Genesis”, “Seattle Ain’t What It Used To Be” and “Creating An X-5” featurettes and a trailer for the JAMES CAMERON’S DARK ANGEL video game.Fox has also subtly announced the upcoming release of a new ALIENS QUADRILOGY package. All 4 ALIEN titles – ALIEN, ALIENS, ALIEN 3 and ALIEN:RESURRECTION have been slated for new 2-disc “Special Editions”. The QUADRILOGY box set will contain all 4 Special Edition sets, and an extra disc of further bonus material. No technical deets or an exact date is known yet, but inserts advertising the set are shipping with copies of the studios XMEN 1.5, which hits shelves February 11. Look for details soon, and presumably, an announcement that a fifth film will soon be underway…Warner Home Video has been making the big-time announcements all week, including the “unofficial” announcement that the upcoming Special Edition release of the original KING KONG, at once hoped to be finished for release this year, will not be ready for shelves until 2004. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the theatrical release of the landmark film, and WB was hoping to commemorate it with the DVD release. Restoration and remastering has proven more time intensive than previously thought. Of course that means it should be a real doozy when it shows up in 04’…WHE also announced the April 29 release of a new “Special Edition” double-disc version of THE MATRIX, just in time to lead in to the theatrical release of THE MATRIX RELOADE on May 15. This set will include commentary by the effects supervisor, editor and by star Carrie-Anne Moss, a 26 minute MAKING THE MATRIX doc-umentary, the “Take The Red Pill” effects doc-umentaries, the 9 “Follow The White Rabbit” branching jumps seen on the original DVD release, an anatomy of bullet time photography and a musical montage. That’s all on Disc 1 with the feature, which will have the same specs as the current release. Disc 2, will include PRELOADED:ON THE SET OF RELOADED a behind-the-scenes sneak peek at the sequel, as well as the first two episodes of THE ANIMATRIX: THE SECOND RENAISSANCE, a music video from Marilyn Manson, a trailer for the new ENTER THE MATRIX video game, the entire two-hour MATRIX REVISITED with 6 featurettes, music from RELOADED and a preview of the ANIMATRIX DVD.If that’s not quite enough Neo for ya, WHE has also announced a June 3 release date for the DVD of THE ANIMATRIX, collecting the 9 animated films concieved by the Wachowski brothers as a supplement to the films, and directed by world-famous Anime directors like Koji Morimoto and Takeshi Koike. The episode THE FINAL FLIGHT OF THE OSIRIS, which is a prelude to THE MATRIX RELOADED, will play before prints of Warners DREAMCATCHER which will be in theatres March 21.Also just announced by Warner Home Entertainment is a 2-disc Special Edition version of THE MISSION. Packaged in a 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen transfer with 5.1 DDS sound, this set will come with commentary by director Roland Joffe, a 60 minute MAKING OF THE MISSION doc-umentary, filmographies, awards list and trailers. May 13.Filling out our WB news today are the other May 13 titles, Leonardo DiCaprio and Bobby DeNiro in THIS BOYS LIFE in an AW transfer with 2.0 Surround, and the Warner Classics OPERATION PACIFIC and OBJECTIVE BURMA! In the original Fullscreen with mono sound.Universal Home Video has announced the final deets on the smash Eminem flick 8 MILE.2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, with 5.1 DDS sound, this one will feature both censored and uncensored footage of five “Rap Battles” from the film, the unreleased video for “Superman” from “The Eminem Show” album, and a “Making of 8 MILE” doc-umentary. March 18Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment has been another busy studio with another batch of announcements for the end of the week. April 1 sees the release of the highest grossing film in Mexican history – EL CRIMEN DEL PADRE AMARO (THE CRIME OF PADRE AMARO). This critically acclaimed and multi-award winning possible Oscar contender stars Gael Garcia Bernal in the story of a tortured young priest dealing with corruption, sin and forbidden passion in a rural Mexican village. Widescreen, with 5.1 DDS sound (original Spanish or dubbed English), extras include director and actor commentary, a Making-Of featurette, filmographies, and a poster gallery.April 8, CTHE releases indie cult fave DREAM FOR AN INSOMNIAC, starring Ione Skye, Jennifer Aniston and Mackenzie Astin in a sweet natured comedy that unravels in a quirky update of classic fairy tale romance. Anamorphic Widescreen, Dolby surround with bonus trailers.And after what seems like an endless series of stops and starts, CTHE has set April 22 as the day for all of us P.T.Anderson fans to get our hands on PUNCH DRUNK LOVE. This is not the Special Edition version that P.T.A. is still working on, this will be a bare-bones affair, movie only, available in Fullscreen or Anamorphic Wide, with the Special Edition to follow later in the year.CTHE also has the James Woods flick IMMEDIATE FAMILY, the thriller IGNITION, ONCE A THIEF and MAD ABOUT YOU: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON ready to go for April 22.MGM has the excellent Michael Moore doc-umentary BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE set for an April 22 release in a Special Edition package (details to come), as well as the Pierce Brosnan tearjerker EVELYN also in a Special Edition wrapper. EVELYN will have commentaries by director Bruce Beresford and Brosnan, a “Story Behind The Feature” featurette, a “Behind-the-Scenes” featurette, photo gallery and trailers.Video Business Online has reported that Paramount Home Video is apparently working with Spielberg and Lucas to release THE INDIANA JONES TRILOGY on DVD at the end of 2003.In other Paramount news, BLOODY SUNDAY is gearing up for release on April 22. Anamorphic Widescreen and 5.1 DDS sound, with extras including audio commentary, cast and crew interview and a trailer.In Criterion news, the big C has announced that it will release a package of Fellini’s THE WHITE SHEIK on April 29. A new transfer of the original 1.33:1 aspect ratio will be supplemented by original Italian sound, new English subtitles, interviews and an essay by Jonathan Rosenbaum.Studio Entertainment will release the recent indie hit SECRETARY with James Spader and IT girl Maggie Gylenhaal, on April 1. Anamorphic Widescreen with 5.1 DDS sound, extras will include commentaries with director and stars, deleted scenes and a trailer.Trimark has the controversial film THE BELIEVER on deck for April 22. All about a self-loathing jewish teen who becomes a neo-nazi, this film drew raves and reprimands. This Special Edition package comes stacked with an Anamorphic Widescreen transfer, 5.1 DDS sound, audio commentary, a Sundance Channel “Anatomy Of A Scene” featurette, video interviews with director Henry Bean and trailers.And finally, from the chillingly dark to the sublimely silly, Image Entertainment has announced their April line-up which includes MILLAY AT HILLTOP, MERRY-GO-ROUND and CHINESE CHOCOLATE, THE WAILERS: LIVE, HEART: ALIVE IN SEATTLE, the BENNY HIL’S WORLD TOUR NEW YORK compilation and new entries in the Something Weird Video line – the triple feature of OLGA’S HOUSE OF SHAME, OLGA’S DANCE HALL GIRLS and WHITE SLAVES OF CHINATOWN as well as a new BEAUTIES AND BEASTS box set which includes such titles as NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES, FEAST OF FLESH, ONE MILLION AC/DC, THE MIGHTY GORGA and THE BEAST THAT KILLED WOMEN. More details on these and other Image titles as specs become available.
