Home Media Magazine - January 6-12, 2008 - (Page 34) NEWS www.homemediamagazine.com Stanley Kramer: The Legacy Lives on DVD By Kyra Kudick CLASSIC This year marks the 40th anniversary of one of the most controversial, socially conscious films about racism, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. To celebrate this anniversary and the work of Stanley Kramer, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release a 40th anniversary edition DVD of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner ($24.95) Feb. 12 (prebook Jan. 10). Also streeting that day is The Stanley Kramer Film Collection ($59.95), which includes Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Ship of Fools, The Wild One, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T and The Member of the Wedding. Extensive bonus materials include featurettes and introductions by Steven Spielberg, Tom Brokaw, Quincy Jones and Stanley Kramer’s widow, Karen Sharpe Kramer. The collection was chosen to show the diversity of Stanley’s work, Sharpe Kramer said. And the stories surely do — running the gamut from racism, to Nazism, to rabble-rousing biker gangs, to the woes of adolescence, with a little Dr. Seuss musical thrown in for good measure. Although Stanley Kramer’s work is diverse, his legacy is a repeating theme that Sharpe Kramer said can best be described by quoting one of his own films, Judgment at Nuremburg: “[Stanley stood] for justice, truth and the value of a single human being.” Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner is one of his films that illustrates just that. The movie stars Katharine Houghton, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Yet, with all that talent, the film was almost never made. According to Sharpe Kramer, when representatives at Columbia Pictures asked Stanley what his new film was about, he vaguely replied, “It’s a love story.” He knew the studio heads would balk at the contentious idea of romance between a black man and a white woman in 1967. But once the film was in production Stanley had to send a complete script to Columbia, Sharpe Kramer said. And the studio promptly canceled the film, citing Spencer Tracy’s poor health as an excuse; they said the studio could not afford to insure the picture. “So Stanley came home and put me in the car and said ‘we’re going to see Kate (Katharine Hepburn),’” Sharpe Kramer said. They drove to Hepburn’s home, where Stanley told her that Columbia had canceled the film “because of Spence (Spencer Tracy).” Stanley said he was going to put up his salary as collateral so the studio wouldn’t have any more excuses, and asked Hepburn if she would do the same. She did. And Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner took its place in cinematic history. JUST ANNOUNCED A Weekly Product Update* Dan in Real Life Michael Clayton STREET DATE BOX OFFICE (MILLIONS) In the Valley of Elah Burning Ups Retail Breadth Continued from page 6 TITLE PREBOOK GENRE PRICE subsequently be inclined to invest in a prepackaged DVD version of the full season. More retailers in the mix In addition to potentially making a broader selection of content available, MOD also could be harnessed to make video accessible through a wider variety of retail outlets. For existing DVD retailers, MOD can expand title breadth. But for retailers that do not currently offer DVDs, it could represent a way to add video to their product mix for the first time. In October 2007, Walgreens — the largest drug store chain in the United States — announced its intention to roll out an MOD service in early 2008. The company does not stock prepackaged DVDs. So this could represent the first large-scale instance of a retailer entering the DVD market via MOD. This allows the host store to offer a large video inventory without having to manage the physical product and all that entails. Thus, a fully-stocked MOD kiosk might eventually enable such stores to compete on range with specialist video retailers. For consumers, MOD represents convenience. Shoppers will have a wider range of titles to choose from when browsing for videos. And when they’re looking for a specific title, they will be more likely to locate it without having to visit more than one outlet. So in theory, it seems MOD does have the potential to generate incremental sales in an era of slowing growth for the video industry, something which already has persuaded two major retailers to explore the platform. E-tailer Amazon has implemented MOD services as part of it online operations, opting to manufacture select titles ondemand at its fulfilment centers in response to individual orders, rather than retain copies of these titles in the warehouse. At the moment, the MOD services burn content onto DVD. Nonetheless, there are issues surrounding DVD MOD, particularly the time it takes to burn to each disc. On average, it takes 15 minutes to burn a disc — a relatively long time in retail terms. And in-store MOD kiosks might be considered clunky. If providing MOD online — where the goods are manufactured remotely — production time is less of a concern. In view of this, MOD service providers also are developing solutions that will support other packaged media formats, such as flash-based memory cards and USB keys, as well as the digital delivery of directto-portable media devices. If successful, such systems might one day help to accustom mass market consumers to migrate away from packaged media and toward digital delivery. Marie Bloomfield is an analyst in the video department at Screen Digest. Dan in Real Life 3/11 1/15 $46.9 Comedy DVD $29.99, BD $34.99 Disney/Touchstone. 2007. Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche, Dane Cook, John Mahoney, Dianne Wiest. A newspaper advice columnist visiting his family finds himself caught between his brother and his brother’s girlfriend. Includes deleted scenes, audio commentary and featurettes. Michael Clayton 2/19 1/15 $39.1 Drama DVD $28.98, BD & HD DVD $35.99 Warner. 2007. George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack. A powerful New York attorney battles to save his firm’s top litigator in a $3 billion case gone wrong. In the Valley of Elah 2/19 1/15 $6.8 Drama DVD $27.95, BD & HD DVD $35.99 Warner. 2007. Tommy Lee Jones, Susan Sarandon, Charlize Theron, James Franco. A military officer and his wife team with a police detective to solve their son’s disappearance after his return from service in Iraq. Southland Tales 3/18 2/14 $0.3 Sci-Fi DVD $24.96 Sony Pictures. 2006. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Seann William Scott, Mandy Moore, Justin Timberlake. A humorous futuristic look at Los Angeles on the brink of the apocalypse. Includes a behind-the-scenes featurette and an animated short film. Revolver 3/18 2/14 $0.08 Thriller DVD $24.96 Sony Pictures. 2005. Jason Statham, Ray Liotta, Vincent Pastore, André Benjamin. An ex-con gambler is invited to play a private game with a crime boss and local casino owner, resulting in the mobster ordering a hit on the gambler. Raising Flagg 1/29 Now $0.004 Comedy DVD $24.95 DATE CHANGE. Cinema Libre. 2006. Alan Arkin, Lauren Holly, Barbara Dana, Glenne Headly, Austin Pendleton. An elderly handyman takes to his bed after a competition results in community ridicule. He insists he is going to die and his children are summoned to the house for the final rites. Madeline: Meet Me In Paris 2/5 1/9 DTV Animated DVD $14.98 Fox. 2007. Based on Ludwig Bemelman’s classic Madeline children’s books, the DVD features three episodes about Madeline’s adventures in France: Madeline at the Louvre, Madeline at the Eiffel Tower and Madeline in Cannes. Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project 2/19 1/22 DTV Documentary DVD $26.99 DATE CHANGE. Vivendi Visual/Salient. 2007. A biography of Don Rickles; comedians tell how he has influenced their work. Includes appearances by Robin Williams, Jay Leno, Chris Rock, Bob Newhart and Sarah Silverman. Pat the Bunny Playdates 3/4 1/22 DTV Family DVD $14.93 Genius/Classic Media. 2007. From the creators of the classic Pat the Bunny touch-and-feel books comes an interactive DVD with ideas to stimulate children ages 6 to 36 months in social and mental development. Includes interview with child education expert Jean Kunhardt. The Sickhouse 3/18 2/12 DTV Horror DVD $19.97 New Line. 2007. Gina Philips. While excavating a 17th century plague hospital, an archaeologist accidentally releases the angry ghost of a plague doctor who committed a series of murders more than 300 years earlier. * In order of box office, then prebook date Home Media Magazine January 6–12, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com
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