By Peter M. Bracke

'6th Day' specs

Columbia has just announced the full details on that special edition of Arnold Schwarzenegger's The 6th Day, due on 3/13. It looks to be quite a feature-packed special edition, and includes an anamorphic widescreen transfer, English 5.1 and 2.0 surround mixes, a making-of featurette, 10 additional making-of segments on the special effects, tow animatics, three storyboard-to-screen comparisons, an isolated score in 5.1, a bonus "RePet" commercial, trailers, TV spots and talent files. All this can be yours for only $27.95.

'Blair Witch 2' date

Artisan has finally announced the street date for the Book Of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 special edition, and it is 3/13, a little less than a month after the VHS debuts on 2/20. The DVD will include all the previously mentioned features, including a commentary with Joe Berlinger, and retail is $24.95. A Blair Witch two-pack with both films will also be available for $39.95.

New Image titles

Today's final update is the latest big batch of Image titles due in March. Another varied assortment, including Mad Butcher, Cat Women Of The Moon, Hollywood Vice Squad, Lockdown, Oasis Of The Zombies and Zombie Lake, ad more music titles featuring Phish, Ray Charles and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Check out the full Image update for all the details.

January 4 : '2001' lands; Columbia's 'Starship Roughnecks'; 'Being There' correction

2001 finally lands...but where's HAL?

Who woulda thunk it? Can it REALLY be the year 2001 already? Pretty wild, and if only the world today was as cool as the one envisioned by Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick back in 1968, with the science fiction classic 2001: A Space Odyssey was released. While I guess some aspects of the film have dated, one can't argue that the film still holds some astounding, awe-inspiring images.

Unfortunately, the previous DVD releases (first from MGM, later reissued with new packaging by Warner) were decidedly lacking in most fan's opinions, but now the film has finally been remastered. As we all know, 2001 can't come and go without Warner reissuing this film theatrically (duh!) But when oh when will it finally show up? Well, we contacted Warner International, and the film has arrived...at least overseas. The remastered version has returned just this past Monday, January 1 at London's National Film Theater. Then in February it plays at the Berlin Film Festival, before it is off to Japan, France and other locations in Germany and Britain. As for a U.S. release, it won't be until later in 2001...just in time for those Kubrick DVD reissues. Hey, how could Warner miss such an obvious excuse to cross-promote?

Anyway, maybe some of our overseas friends can email us here and let us know if they get to see this remastered version, and how it is? Hey, throw us poor Americans a bone!

Starship Poopers

The specs for that Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles - The Pluto Campaign disc from Columbia have come in. The disc contains five episodes, including "Freefall," "Plasma Bugs of Navarone," "Handle With Care," "Basic Training" and "Deep Trouble," for a total of 95 minutes. It is presented in full frame and English 5.1 surround, with only some production notes and trailers as supplements. Street date is 3/13, and retail $24.95.

'Being There' correction

Just a quick note that my post on 1/2 for Warner's upcoming release of Being There mistakenly listed the soundtrack as being 2.0 surround. The disc only features English and French 1.0 mono tracks. Sorry for the error!

January 3: Indie Wrap-up?; Columbia announces "6th Day"; new Troma and Anchor Bay titles

Wither the Indie Wrap-up?

Some of you more long-term readers might remember that last year, on every Friday we posted the "Indie Wrap-up," which was that week's latest new announcements from independent and smaller distributors. Mainly, we did this because Fridays generally lacked for release news, and it was fairly easy to cover all the indie titles. But, with so many titles being released now each week, we usually have plenty of stuff to talk about every Friday, so starting this week, all indie announcements are just being folded into the daily updates here. Hope you like this change, and no need to worry, we haven't dropped our coverage of indie titles!

A 'Titan'ic DVD

Buena Vista announced last week what looks to be a pretty gangbusters DVD, a special edition of Remember The Titans on 3/20. The disc includes a THX-certified anamorphic widescreen transfer, Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 mixes, an audio commentary with Director Boaz Yakin, the imaginatively titled "Making 'Remember The Titans" featurette, a interview gallery with the cast and Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, deleted footage reel and the trailer. Retail is $29.95.

Columbia announces "Angels" and "6th Day"

Columbia has just announced the street dates for two big recent releases. While certainly not the biggest hit in Arnold Schwarzenegger's career, the recent The 6th Day did see a return to the "Arnold of old," namely him running around in the future and shooting people. Anyway, following its disappointing box office run, Columbia has set a 3/13 date for the DVD. The full specs haven't been announced yet, but the info so far is to look for an audio commentary, multiple featurettes on the effects, and more TBA. Retail is $27.95. Then two weeks later on 3/27, watch for those Charlie's Angels. Details are also still slim, though director McG was recently quoted as saying he was personally involved in the DVD in a big way, including contributing a commentary. I'm sure plenty of other surprises, and watch for the press release soon, and retail is $27.95.

Another Oliver Stone update

Alright, I know most of you are probably sick of this one already, but we finally got a confirm on just what versions of what titles are going to be in the upcoming Oliver Stone Collection 6-pack and 10-pack. Artisan's The Doors will be the 2-disc set, which won't be available separately until February, while Buena Vista's Nixon will also be a new special edition, featuring at least some of the extras from the prior laserdisc release excluded from the currently available DVD version. While Buena Vista has plans to release this version separately in the spring, for now the only way to get it is in the box set. And note that these sets will feature consistent packaging amongst all the titles, so it should be interesting to see what this all looks like. We're expecting our review copy of the box real soon, so we're looking forward to finally getting a look at just what this thing is gonna look like...stay tuned.

Anchor Bay March fun

Anchor Bay has just added three new titles to their March slate, all due on 3/13. Coming are 9 full episodes of the classic television comedy That Girl. Each episode has been digitally remastered, and is presented in its original full frame aspect ratio and English 1.0 mono. The disc also includes a 4-page booklet with additional info. Also on tap is the 80's comedy Tapeheads, in anamorphic widescreen with a English 5.1 mix, an audio commentary with director Bill Fishman, executive producer Michael Nesmith, and production designer Catherine Hardwicke, and a 16-page booklet. Finally, coming is the 1994 version of Nightwatch, also in anamorphic widescreen and a Danish 5.1 track and optional English subtitles, audio commentary with director Ole Bornedal and the trailer. Retail for all of the above is $24.95 each.

Troma terror

Finally today, the folks at Team Troma have unleashed another collection of amusing Z-movie titles. You gotta love such titles as "legendary" director Sid Pink's Pyro and the "Sam Sherman" collection (complete with commentary and featurettes on each disc) including I Spit On Your Corpse, Satan's Sadists, Blood Of Ghastly Horror, Dracula Vs. Frankenstein and Angels & Wild Women. All are full frame, in mono and feature trailers and other Troma promos. Retail is $19.95 each, and street date 2/27.

January 1 and 2: Holiday catch-up...lots of new releases!; latest Top Pick contest and previous winners

Well, here we are. It's 2001 and time for another year of release news. Of course, I thought the last week or so would be sparse for announcements, but there was plenty of big titles announced. If this is any indication, 2001 should be pretty packed for DVD. So this week will see a bit of catch up, and don't forget to check out the post from this past Saturday, which has some pretty cool news you might have missed...

This week's Top Pick contest

After last week's big Holiday Spectacular, we have just one Top Pick again, but it is a good one. One lucky winner this week will snag Columbia's excellent new special edition of Paul Verhoeven's "Invisible Man on speed" sci-fi thriller Hollow Man. The disc features a great transfer and sound mix, a commentary, tons of featurettes, and more. Enter here for your chance to win.

And now here are all the winner's from last week's Holiday Spectacular. Congrats to all who entered, and boy did we get a lot of 'em! Congrats goes out to Jake McClenthen, Hugo Rosales, Robert Stoke, Michelle Martinez-Salom and Makiek Nowak, who take home copies of the Friends: Best Of collection and Todd Stout, who snagged a copy of The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen, courtesy of Warner Home Video. Jamison C. Frost, Brian Dun, Carrie Stanton, Mark Joseph and Dag Hugdahl each won a copy of Dreamworks' Small Time Crooks, while Jason Amerson, Sven Michaels, Rod Hughes, Merrick Langton and Christopher Patterson all won a copy of Dreamworks' other December release, Road Trip (along with a pair of Road Trip underwear!) Tom Warnock won a copy of New Line's Se7en two-disc set, while courtesy of Anchor Bay, 20 lucky winners each won a copy of A Better Tomorrow and A Better Tomorrow II, along with an Anchor Bay T-shirt. And those winners are Brandon Herring, Alex Garcia, Chris Vinh, Scott Foundas, Doug Hammond, Landon Zackheim, Butch Rosenbalm, Raymond Chau, Francis Rizzo III, Allan Rast, Gerald Myers, Paul Kessold, Duke Hong, Joel Julian, Cary Gordon, Kenneth Keith, Jeremy Overton, Danny Marquardt, Scott Schwartz, Derrick King.

And now (drumroll, please) the mega winner was Clive Young of Rockville Center, New York, who takes home a copy of all of the above, plus a $100.00 gift certificate to BetterCables.com. Great job, Clive!

'Dogma' delay

First up is just a quickie, though one that is bound to disappoint. Columbia has issued a notice that "Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Street Date for Dogma Special Edition DVD will be delayed until further notice." You're guess is as good as ours...stay tuned. Also, in addition to the commentary, deleted scenes and featurette, the Urban Legends: Final Cut DVD due on 2/27 will also include a gag reel. Now I know your pulse is quickening...

Warner April comedy gems, 'Ab Fab' and new 'Killing Fields' date

Warner has issued the dates for a quartet of their comedy catalog favorites. Being There, The World According To Garp, Albert Brook's Defending Your Life and Lost In America and Empire Records all hit DVD on 4/3. New anamorphic transfers highlight these releases, along with the trailer and English 2.0 surround tracks (Garp and Being There are mono only.) Also on 4/3 is Martin Lawrence: You So Crazy, which is full frame only and 5.1 surround. Retail is $19.95 each. Last but not least, Warner will also be releasing another volume of The Powerpuff Girls, appropriately titled The Mane Event. The disc, like the others in the series already released, is full frame and 2.0 surround, and includes Powerpuff bios, games and more kid fun. Retail is $19.95.

Also coming from the Warner laugh factory is the BBC import Absolutely Fabulous. Some of you may recall that the BBC used to have a U.S. distribution arrangement with 20th Century Fox, but now releases their product through Warner. A big request title, they've wasted no time in getting Absolutely Fabulous: The Complete Collection ($99.95) and three volumes of the series only three seasons ($29.95 each, one disc per season.) These seem to be direct ports of the previous laserdisc and VHS editions, with the $99.95 Complete Collection featuring an extra disc. Supplements include a photo gallery, outtakes and more. Also, the BBC has told us to watch for more surprises in the coming months, including Dr. Who and a new edition of Wallace & Gromit...stay tuned.

Finally, the Warner website has posted a new date for that delayed The Killing Fields special edition, which is now 3/13. The disc includes a new anamorphic transfer and a audio commentary with director Roland Jaffe. Retail is $24.95.

Buena Vista February titles

Buena Vista has just announced the dates for some more February catalog titles. 2/13 sees the arrival of a special edition of the hip-hop concert film Backstage and the documentary Rhyme & Reason, along with the comedies Ride and I Got The Hook Up. Then on 2/20 comes the foreign import Butterfly. All are $29.95, and features have yet to be announced.

Scary movies

For all of you out there who wish it was Halloween every month, New Concorde has a few scary movie cult favorites on the way this winter. Coming on 3/27 are Transylvania Twist, Saturday The 14th and its sequel Saturday The 14th Strikes Back, Last Resort, The Intruder and Die Die Die. As is usual with New Concorde, these are all full frame and featureless, though The Intruder features a new interview with Roger Corman and William Shatner(!) as well as a 1.85:1 non-anamorphic widescreen transfer. Retail is $19.95 each.

Sony Music fun

Finally today, Sony Music has announced a quartet of cool titles. First is the "what took ya so long" Oasis live extravaganza Familiar To Millions. Due on 2/27, the disc includes, multi-angle on "Cigarettes And Alcohol," screen films and graphics on separate tracks, a documentary that "links into the performance in real-time," interviews, discography, weblinks and even CD-ROM compatible audioclips. Retail is but $24.95.

Also on 2/27 comes Sade Live and Sade: Life Promise Pride Love. Both feature a biography, discography, lyrics in English, French & Spanish and on the Live disc, a bonus video for "By Your Side." Retail is $24.95 each. Then comes Babyface: A Collection Of His Videos, featuring 13 clips and a biography, discography, and lyrics in English. Retail is also $24.95.

Sony also has a couple of other titles due in winter. On 1/16 comes Elmo's Musical Adventure, in full frame and 2.0 stereo. The $19.95 disc features the exclusive Boston Pops performance of "Peter and the Wolf," the "Meet the Sesame Street Muppets" talent bios, two interactive games and voiceover navigation to help younger users. Finally, also on 1/16 is Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band: Blood Brothers. This television highlights the 1995 reunion of the band, and is presented in full frame with 5.1 and PCM 2.0 stereo tracks. The disc also features lyrics to the songs. Retail is $24.95.