New Warner multi-disc sets coming! (1 Viewer)

[Dewitte]

Once again, I was contacted to take one of Warner's DVD surveys (through a third-party market research firm) and respond I did. According to the survey, the following titles are forthcoming:

Ben-Hur: Four-Disc Collector's Edition September 2005
Special Features are scheduled to include:
*Original 1925 silent film version of Ben-Hur
*All new documentary on Ben-Hur: Ben-Hur Revisited
*Scene specific commentary by Charlton Heston
*Collectible Souvenir Booklet, reprinted from original theatrical program
*Documentary - The Making of an Epic
*Screen tests
*Photo Gallery
*Theatrical Trailers

New Jack City: Two-Disc Special Edition August 2005
Special Features are scheduled to include:
*Interviews with members of the hip-hop community as they describe their favorite moments in the film.
*Screen tests
*Making-of Documentary
*A Historical Look at Harlem
*Music Video: New Jack Hustler by Ice-T
*Music Video: I'm Dreamin' by Christopher Williams
*Music Video: I Wanna Sex You Up by Color Me Badd

The Wizard of Oz: Two-Disc Special Edition October 2005
Special Features are scheduled to include:
*New documentary on the phenomenon of Oz and its impact around the world
*Making-of documentary hosted by Angela Lansbury
*Oz composer Harold Arlen’s home movies
*Musical outtakes including the Jitterbug dance
*Filmographies, story boards, costumes, and makeup tests
*New, graduated trivia game
*Feature-length sing-a-long

The Outsiders: Two-Disc Special Edition September 2005
Special Features are scheduled to include:
*Casting director interview on discovering the amazing cast of The Outsiders.
*Screen tests and auditions.
*A private tour of the filming location with author of the book, S.E. Hinton
*Making-of featurettes.
*NBC Today Show reveals how The Outsiders sprang to life from a series of letters written by school children from Fresno, CA.
*Hollywood Closeup shows up for the movie premiere in Fresno, CA.
*Photo galleries
*Trailers

King Kong: Two-Disc Special Edition November 2005
Special Features are scheduled to include:
*3 featurettes with Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy
--Tour of Jackson’s personal Kong memorabilia
--The Magic of Kong’s Stop Motion Wizardry
--The Mystery of the Spider sequence
*Fascinating feature-length documentary on the Creator of King Kong, Merian C. Copper
*Interview with Peter Jackson on how King Kong influenced his filmmaking
*Theatrical Trailers

Keep in mind that this was the stuff contained in the survey and could change at any time (much like the Heat: Special Edition in the last survey that took about six months longer than originally scheduled).

To prevent a repeat of the last thread I started on this stuff: This came from a consumer research survey and I do not claim to have some kind of insider info.

De

 

[Brandon Conway]

AWESOME!

 

[Ray H]

Sounds cool.

 

[Patrick McCart]

If that 4-Disc Ben-Hur is released and:

- The '25 version is remastered (I suspect it has been, since some stunning clips appeared in the TCM Irving Thalberg documentary)
- The '59 version is remastered (from a correctly framed 2.55:1 source)

I'll anticipate it. I really hope they do this...

 

[Jeff Reis]

These all sound good but I really hope commentaries aren't going the way of the dodo. Only on Ben Hur is there any mention of commentary tracks...hopefully these are just partial specs.

 

[Jim Barg]

I'd be shocked if that Kong set doesn't include a commentary. Wouldn't it be cool if they got Ray Harryhausen, Forrest Ackerman and Ray Bradbury together for one?

That's certainly mine, and I might pick up Ben-Hur.

 

[Doug Bull]

Will the exsisting transfer be used again with The Wizard of Oz?

Doesn't seem like there is very much new stuff in the extras.
One also wonders if the Feature Length Sing-a-long is only Sub Titles added to the existing soundtrack or if we will be treated to the Music and Effects track that was featured on one of the earlier Laserdisc releases.

 

[Drew Reiber]

According to Coppola, the upcoming Outsiders DVD was to be an extended version.

 

[Chip_HT]

Oz: I want Dark Side of the Moon as an alternate audio track.

 

[Chris Cheese]

I'll be disappointed if half the features on the King Kong set involve Peter Jackson. Those would make much more sense on the eventual DVD release of his own version. I'd rather have more historical-based features rather than things involving Jackson. But I guess that will sell more copies if his name is on it.

 

[Brandon Conway]

I'm pretty sure it recently had the Warner Ultra-Resolution treatment, so it better.

 

[MichaelSloan]

Rather dissapointing. "King Kong" definitely deserves at least one audio commentary. I don't want special features focused on a film that hasn't even come out yet which is a remake of a film that shouldn't have been remade once and of all the people to remake it AGAIN why does it have to be the director of some of the most overrated films of all time. People complain about the 80s having stupid movies? While, the 90s were dumber and so far, this decade is still more dumb. Maybe by the teens they'll have monkeys directing successfull movies, they're already smart enough to buy porn. I haven't seen any Peter Jackson films besides "Lord of the Rings" and I enjoy the trilogy, they're decent enough, but I've seen enough films to realise that these are not the greatest films of all time and if I had to list a top 100 greatest films based on my own opinion, I don't think any of the "Lord of the Rings" films would even make the 100th.I'll admit I'm basing it on reviews but look how bad MGM's second "Tarzan the Ape Man" remake was. Some films I criticise without seeing but mostly because every review I read of it is a negative one. Sometimes I watch a film before I read a review, like "Pirates of the Carribean", which I didn't think much of and I read a Leonard Maltin review which said almost exactly the same thing. I don't think Merian C. Cooper would appreciate other people making movies out of his ideas which he made his own movies out of and if I may jump to one or two reasonably likely conclusions was happy with and wanted to be left on their own.I'll probably end up seeing it anyway, I may enjoy it, but I think I'll get sick of it pretty quick.

"Ben-Hur" 1959 sucks. Is it possible the number of people in the world who KNOW that Charlton Heston, as an actor, makes Arnold Schwarzenegger look good is a single digit number? I'll admit I haven't seen many films released in 1959, but if "Ben-Hur" was the best picture that year had nothing. I can't say anything positive what kind of work he's done lately because we're not aloud to talk about politics on this forum even though its a forum about DVDs and the editor of the best DVD site on the web talks about politics all the time. Ramon Novarro did such a better performance. Wasn't the 1925 film one of MGM's most expensive when it premiered? It may shock you people to know that sometimes big budgets help make good movies.Maybe not in this century. There's nothing new related to the 1925 version on this DVD but the 1925 version itself! If I'm not mistaken the sound re-issue still exists. Just in terms of special features for the 1925 version couldn't Warner at least include that? I don't even know if this DVD contains the original score to "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ" I know a musicologist has reconstructed the original music score by William Axt and David Mendoza. Anybody trying to tell me again that new silent film scores are better then the original. How many of you people have actually heard the originals? I've probably read less then 5 opinions on this musicologists reconstruction work on another silent film, "Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror", but all of them loved it. I doubt many people have the original scores to most silent films since they were originally released. Changing the music to a film that already has music is exactly like colorising a black and white film or making Greedo shoot first(Mind you that's what George Lucas wanted and with F.W. Murnau having died in 1931 it would be pretty hard for him to ask for all these new scores written post 1960, not to mention George Lucas tried to improve on that for the DVD). Look at Criterion's new DVD of Cecil B. Demille's 1927 version of "The King of Kings" William Axt co-composed the original music. I don't think any surviving silent films he worked on include his score, but many talkies he worked on are on DVD/VHS which do include his scores, like "Tarzan Finds a Son". "Tarzan Finds a Son" didn't have a whole bunch of music, but what it did have was not bad at all. Donald Sosin's Criterion score for "The King of Kings" sounds like an infomercial. Does the music in Tarzan Finds a Son sound like an infomercial to you? Just because one doesn't like it doesn't make it right to change it. The Directors are all dead now, people!

I really wish this DVD news was just a rumour, but it looks like it isn't. Remakes suck.

 

[Amy Mormino]

I will admit that the Kong features seem a bit Peter Jackson-dominated, but I'm sure that this is just a partial list of the extras. Jackson is a fairly big name, so they'd be inclined to promote his part more than some of the others. I especially hope they would consider putting Son of Kong on as an extra!

I'd be really surprised if there wasn't a commentary for Oz. The only thing that really seemed to be missing with the previous DVD was a commentary.

 

[Randall Dorr]

Complain much?

None of these are certain just yet. It's very likely some of them will change. Especially with Kong which is still nine months off. Yeah, it would be unfortunate if most of the extras were about the remake, but seeing as Kong's release was held off to coincide with the remake, it seems reasonable that they would use it's big theatrical release to help sell the DVD.

And leave Ben-Hur alone. You thought it sucked? Fine. But lots of other people liked it and would look forward to a four disc set. And the 1925 version might have the original score. We don't know yet 'cause it's still several months away.

 

[Paul_Scott]

i'll be more than a little disappointed if Ackerman, Harryhausen, and Bradbury aren't on the KK release, in more than just a passing nod fashion.
these guys don't just represent a bunch of interchangeable genre celebrities.
these men are the face of 20th century sci fi, fantasy, horror, etc.
i esepcially want to see the participation of Ackerman who has not only done more to fuel the appreciation of these genres , but has lived thru some very difficult times and won't be around all that much longer.
generations of kids grew up with Forry.
hes a national treasure as far as i'm concerned and we won't see his like again.

 

[oscar_merkx]

Sounds truly amazing if true about the 1925 silent Ben Hur which I only saw as part of the docu on 1959 Ben Hur.

I also would hope for the participation of Ackermann, Harryhausen & Bradbury for an audio commentary that could be moderated by Peter Jackson for King Kong

 

[george kaplan]

Well that's one opinion. I'll be the first to admit that Ben-Hur shouldn't have gotten the best picture oscar that year, a year with both North by Northwest & Some Like It Hot, but Ben-Hur is still a great movie, much better than the 1925 version. Heston isn't the world's best actor, but Novarro was doing the same typical silent-film overacting that was prevalent at that time, and is certainly nothing to admire IMO.

 

[Mike.B]

That would be pretty frickin' sweet!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

This may sound like a stupid
question, but I need clarification.

The King King release....

Is it the original or Jackson's version?

Reason I ask is because Jackson's
King Kong is due out (I am guessing) this
year and with all the Jackson involvement
in the supplements I am not clear if it is
his release we are talking about.

I also know Warner has been working on
the original King Kong as well.

 

[Eric Peterson]

Some very exciting news, but I second the comment about "Where are the commentary tracks?" I still have my LD "Ultimate Oz" because there are several missing features and one of these is the commentary track, which in my mind is the single best commentary track that I've ever heard. Please, please, please port this over to the new DVD.

I also second the involvement of Ackerman, Harryhausen, & Bradbury on the Kong set. I was holding out that maybe they'd pull out all of the stops on this set and include "Son of Kong" & "Mighty Joe Young" in a boxset along with Kong.