2004 DVD Release List

[SilverZ]

From The Digital Bits rumor mill:

We're also told that a Showgirls: VIP Edition is in the cooker for summer release with tons of... shall we say fascinating... extras (and a new anamorphic widescreen transfer).

Hey now!

I have fond memories of this steaming pile of crap. My girlfriend at the time dragged me to see it. First was the crowd of 16-17 year olds yelling boooooooooobs at the screen, then the hysterical sounds of dead silence once they were numbed by the shear badness and irrelevance of the booooooooooooooooobs.

Chalk up another purchase for the cheese collection.  

[aka DaBigKahuna]

Slightly OT, but what sites do you guys recommend going to for DVD news?  Mainly reviews?

In the mail I am awaiting Once Upon A Time In China Trilogy.  I remember a friend recommending the first movie to me years ago, I was blown away by the fight scenes.  It looks as thought the Waichowski Brothers saw this flick to.  

I was amazed when I saw they had a Trilogy for sale for less then $25.  Who else has seen any of the series?


-Fish-

[SilverZ]

For news and latest covers I mainly like Davis DVD these days since they post the fastest and refrain from a lot of inane text banter and stupid opinions sites like DVDFile are prone to.

However, for reviews, I'm not sure. Unfortunately DVDFile is the quickest on reviews, but I can't deal with their opinions, which I find all too subjective, and even times entirely based on ill-informed information. There's also the Home Theater Forum's software section. The reviews are great but the butt-kissing and everyone-must-be-happy-and-not-dissent air there totally bugs.

By the way, Flirting with Disaster was announced for mid-summer release as an SE. Anyone else seen this movie? It's an all-time favorite of mine but the DVD looks so bad I haven't bought it. It's coming out the same day as the SE of Trainspotting. Both top movies on my calendar so far this year!

[jokabofe]

Slightly OT, but what sites do you guys recommend going to for DVD news?  Mainly reviews?

as far as dvd news goes, i usually hit up a ton of sites on a regular basis, like the digital bits, upcoming horror movies, bloody disgusting, and  dvd review, just to name a few.

In the mail I am awaiting Once Upon A Time In China Trilogy.  I remember a friend recommending the first movie to me years ago, I was blown away by the fight scenes.  It looks as thought the Waichowski Brothers saw this flick to.  

I was amazed when I saw they had a Trilogy for sale for less then $25.  Who else has seen any of the series?

yes, great series, and a great price... i remember picking these up a few years back as import dvd's and paying close to $35 each for them. but i felt they were worth it, as they are some really good movies. early jet li stuff is awesome, before he got too "americanized". there's also "once upon a time in china and america" which i'm guessing is not included with that package, since you said it's a trilogy. you should try to locate that one too.

[Matt]

EDIT/UPDATE:

BETTER, LARGER PICS FOUND, and POSTED BELOW.

Now--whether they're the real deal or not, remains to be seen.  I have a tendency to think that if these aren't fakes, then they're just prototypes, which will be drawn down to one final design by September.  Three different packages (which would actually be six SKUs if they're doing separate widescreen and foolscreen releases) would be incredibly confusing at retail.

(And it could be, too, that Lucasfilm trying to gauge the reaction to the designs before they come up with the final packaging.  Warner Bros. did it last year with the Matrix Reloaded and Looney Tunes DVDs, so that wouldn't be unheard of. . .)

Just for fun, I'd like the Jedi/Dark Side packaging the best, if it wasn't for the silly CGI Clones Yoda.  So, the Vader packaging wins by default.

What do you guys think?

[aka DaBigKahuna]

Thanks Tydirium I'll check those sites out.  

Jokabofe, how is the Amercia one?  Is Jet Li in it or some other actor?  I recall hearing about it but thought another actor was in it.

Corgan, great stuff.  That packaging looks awesome!


-Fish-

[Matt]

Thinking about it, I don't necessarily think that even if they did have three different packaging styles, they would have to have three (or six) different SKUs.  They could still give them the same UPCs.  I don't think it's really happened with DVDs all that much, but there have been several CD releases over the last few years that had totally different artwork (I'm thinking of albums by Korn and Aerosmith), and those were all under the same SKU, respectively.

So, they could most defintely do it--but it would still be confusing at retail/online stores.

[Matt]

[Matt]

And I think Sweater Boy Colman was asking about this a while back, so:



Dreamworks Home Entertainment have announced the Region 1 DVD release of Saving Private Ryan D-Day 60th Anniversary Commemorative Edition for 25th May 2004 with a retail price of $26.99. Full details have yet to be revealed but we do know this two-disc set will present the film in 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen with English DTS 5.1, DD5.1 and DD2.0 Surround audio options. Expect an update soon with details on the bonus features and hopefully a look at the artwork.

[SilverZ]

I think they look ok. But I'm a big stickler for uniform packaging, and this sure doesn't go with the E1-E2 cases or design. I'd prefer a more standard box ala Indy.

Apparently those pics originally came from the graphics design house that did the Alien Quad box. They were posted briefly on their site then reposted by the Frenchy site they're on now.

My thoughts are these are Fox commissioned mocks and don't really indicate what Lucasfilm will ok in the end. That could end up being them in the end, but its too early to call.

[Matt]

I think they look ok. But I'm a big stickler for uniform packaging, and this sure doesn't go with the E1-E2 cases or design.

Yeah, I definitely agree with you there, but at the same time, I have my box sets separated from my regular discs, so for me, it won't be much of an issue anyway.  

(And besides, whatever they wind up doing for the packaging, you know that internet people will have come up with dozens of alternatives by then, so you could always download the fan-made covers, print 'em out, and put those in regular keepcases right alongside the official prequel DVDs, and then put the empty Trilogy box away for "safe-keeping".  I've got some really nice fan-made covers for my OT boots that match up really well with the official DVDs already.)

I'd prefer a more standard box ala Indy.

Yeah, me too, probably.  Thinking about it, though, they've always done funky packaging for the trilogy (at least the VHS versions I've got, anyway).  The 1990 set had the slip that you had to pull off the top, and then an inner sleeve with these weird flaps on the sides.  (Never got the 1992 widescreen set with the hologram on the front).  I guess the 1995 THX pan & scan set was more traditional, but then the widescreen set was kind of different, with the wide, flat box.  And then the 1997 SE trilogy had the Vader sleeve that you had to pull out for the tapes or whatever.

I was reading a little bit about the stuff at the HTF today--and I think some people are thinking that when the Lucasfilm guy said it was going to follow along the lines of the Indy set, they meant packaging and everything.  I tend to think that he was just talking about the discs themselves (four discs/three movies, one extra), and not necessarily the packaging.

And while I think that in the end, it's all up to Lucasland, there is a difference in the studios--Paramount has always usually played it safe on DVD packaging, and Fox has typically been more inventive over the years.  I think Fox will probably do as much as they can to make this a really special DVD "event"--whereas Paramount was probably just happy with releasing Indy on DVD at all.

Well, I've gone on for far too long--but one thing's got me really salivating/worried--trying to figure out who's gonna have the best price for this thing come 9/21--and especially what stores are gonna have what exclusive bonuses.  

It'll be fun.

[SilverZ]

Ah yes, custom covers. They'll probably be available by tonight now that the real (if thats what it is) packaging has been shown. Knowing me I'll end up downloading them and never get around to printing them. So non-matching box it is.  

I'll also be an idiot and over-pay to get the set early. There's a game store that usually gets the big sellers in a couple weeks early for take it in the rear prices.

[Matt]

So, in case you haven't caught it, here's word from The Digital Bits yesterday regarding the Star Wars art:

"First of all, we've spoken with those in the know (the right people, you'll have to trust us on this) and have learned that the Star Wars DVD box art that's been circulating around lately is "work in progress" ONLY stuff that should NEVER have leaked on the Net. These are apparently very early concepts - stuff that we weren't meant to see - and the final packaging is likely to be quite different. This kind of thing happens all the time - that a company working on marketing designs for packaging, or even poster or cover art, will do many, many different concepts as they hone in on the final design. So while these packages are sort of the real deal, they're really not if you get our meaning. Anyway, that's the unofficially official word - take it as you will. We will, of course, post the final box art as soon as it's released by Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox."

[Matt]

Yeah.

[Matt]

From the New York Times this weekend:



April 4th is a Sunday, though, and it's awfully late in the game to announce something like this, so I'm thinking that this date is off, but it's official:

Every movie Lucas ever directed will have been released on DVD before the three most-important. . .