The Polar Express (1 Viewer)

[Andrew Radke]

Well I only saw this once at a $3 discount theater. Both picture and sound quality were terrible. Despite this fact, I thought the movie was amazing. The imagery was literally breathtaking. Why this film wasn't nominated for a "Best Animated Film" Oscar is beyond me. It seems I've really missed out though. I'd love to see this on an IMAX screen. Needless to say, I'll be getting this whenever it hits DVD. I'm guessing November. I think it'll look pretty amazing on my 52" set.

 

[Steve Phillips]

Here's the worldwide box office break down:

IMAX 3-D: $46 million on just 72 screens
Flat 2-D: $229 million on 4000+ screens

As they say, do the math!

The 3-D version is reportedly going to be revived again this year. It was still playing in Las Vegas until last week!

 

[felipenor]

275 million dollars... quite good, isn't it?

 

[Scott_MacD]

An advert for the likely 3D version revival sounds like a good cross-promotion to put on the DVD. Must try to stay awake for the WB chat to ask about this one.

The obvious cross-pollination of style and genre is what caused it to be overlooked, methinks

I don't give a monkeys, to be honest. It's the first CG film that made me just gasp at how well everything was pulled together, the way Zemeckis uses the technology to make the film look so sublime in tone and character, and of course, the cinematic little flourishes that just help tell the story. Dazzling set-pieces, and impossible camera moves, and whatnot.

And of course, it made my heart just leap at the moments where childlike imagination just pours from the screen.

Let's just hope for a DVD that truly does the film justice. (Hopefully not just family-friendly extras, but some substance, commentaries, documentaries, The Works. (tm))

 

[PaulP]

Well WB just announced this for November 22, a 2-disc set, that, at least at first glance, look very sub-par. And no Zemeckis commentary? He's done one for all of his special editions!

Via DavisDVD:

 

[RolandL]

If the DVD was in field-seqential 3-D I would buy it. I'll wait to see it at an IMAX 3-D theatre.

 

[WillG]

Not really. There are no Zemeckis commentaries on the Back to the Future Movies. There are the live Q&A sessions that ran alongside the films and the Bob Gale commentaries on which Zemeckis does not appear. "Forrest Gump" and "Cast Away" commentaries are just edited pieces from interviews. "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" may have been that way as well, but I can't remember off the top of my head.

 

[Neil Joseph]

I missed this one in the theatre.... the kids wanted to see Spongebob the movie instead but I will definitely be picking this up.

 

[PaulP]

Well, Will, that may be true, but at least they all had some sort of running commentary. Surely if "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" can get a commentary, this can too.

 

[WillG]

Just trying to point out that it does not seem all that unusual that there is no Zemeckis commentary as some of the "Commentaries" that have gone along with some of his films are not scene-specific. But it is too bad that this will not have one as it seems.

 

[Scott_MacD]

Not the most generous selection of extras, but I'll learn to live with it, the film is brilliant. And it's getting nearly a full disc to itself, so image quality should be superlative.

 

[AlexK]

Didn't Zemeckis provide (group) commentaries for "Contact" and "What Lies Beneath"?

 

[Andrew Radke]

Now I'm psyched! I was waiting for this announcement with baited breath! This stands as one of the best holiday films in recent memory. I actually saw it a month AFTER Christmas, when I thought all of the spirit was drained out of me. lol. I couldn't help but have a smile from ear-to-ear after seeing it. Truly a marvel. I expected this to come out around November. Of course it's the perfect time to see this film again. Can't wait.

 

[David Owens]

To the best of my knowledge...(and it's been a while since I've watched some of his titles), the only scene-specific commentary I've heard from Zemeckis was his track on Used Cars with Gale and Kurt Russell. It's a great, and funny commentary, sort of what I term a "pizza and beer" commentary, where the key players just kick back and reminisce. (Still one of the funniest movies of all time for my money)

Looking forward to Polar Express, nonetheless!

 

[PaulP]

Something weird's going on with The Polar Express and Amazon:

I count six different DVD editions:

The Polar Express (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition)
The Polar Express (Two-Disc Full-Screen Edition)
The Polar Express (Widescreen Edition)
Polar Express (Full Dub Sub Ac3 Dol)
The Polar Express (Widescreen Edition)
Polar Express

What I want to know is, which of these is the rainbow-foil slipcased version, talked about on DavisDVD:


I'm guessing it's the ASIN# B000AGTPUA, but it doesn't have the discount the non-slipcased version has, and i can't justify paying 5 extra bucks for a "collectible" slipcover.

And am I the only one who thinks the single and double discs should switch artwork?

 

[PaulP]

Well Amazon updated their listing and removed one of the ASINs it seems. Very confusing.

 

[PaulP]

Not that anyone cares, but, to further confusion, Amazon no longer has the 2-disc widescreen edition for whatever reason...