Home Media Magazine - April 13-19, 2008 - (Page 32) PIPELINE www.homemediamagazine.com Shout! Factory Debuts James Brown Set ‘I Got the Feelin’: James Brown in the ’60s’ Gathers pivotal material By Billy Gil o mark the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination (April 4), Shout! Factory will release a boxed set of work from a social activist who’s known more for his work as the hip-shaking singer who helped invent soul music: James Brown. A three-DVD anthology of the late Godfather of Soul’s work hits shelves Aug. 5 (prebook July 8) at $39.98, distributed by Sony BMG in the United States. I Got the Feelin’: James Brown in the ’60s includes the director’s cut of The Night James Brown Saved Boston, several filmed concerts and a slew of bonus material. “He was arguably one of the greatest entertainers of the 20th century,” said Shout! Factory CEO Richard Foos, who was one of the executive producers on The Night James Brown Saved Boston. “There’s virtually nothing available on home video [of Brown in his prime].” Disc one of the set has The Night James Brown Saved Boston, a documentary narrated by “24” star Dennis Haysbert about Brown’s heroic performance April 5, 1968, the night after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. As riots broke out, the previously scheduled Boston Garden concert was televised live on Boston’s public station WGBH to help keep the people of Boston off the streets. The set includes an extended version of the film that originally aired on VH1 April 5 and premiered at the South by Southwest Festival in March. Picture This T “It’s very important people see the full version because we go into how James Brown was influenced by Martin Luther King Jr.’s death and all the events that happened in Boston,” Foos said. “It spurred him to really take the mantle as an activist.” The disc also includes additional interview footage with the Rev. Al Sharpton and Dr. Cornel West, and anecdotes from Charles Bobbitt, who worked with James for 40 years. Disc two of the set has that actual performance, James Brown Live at The Boston Garden. Special features include additional audio from the radio simulcast and additional interview footage with WGBH’s director and producer of the concert. Disc three includes Brown’s 1964 performance of “Out of Sight” as part of The T.A.M.I. Show, a 1964 concert film featuring artists such as The Rolling Stones, and Man to Man, Brown’s 1968 performance at the Apollo Theater. “[The T.A.M.I. Show] may have been the first time he was really exposed en masse to a white audience,” Foos said. “They might have heard his records, but not necessarily seen him. Man to Man documents him at his height, playing the Apollo … if you look at that and him doing ‘Out of Sight,’ [it’s] the peak of his pure out-and-out insane dancing. “It’s mind-boggling that you have this incredible entertainer and musical force, and virtually nothing has been available [on home video] from the height of his prowess.” Pretty as a ‘Picture’ Ashley Tisdale stars in MGM DTV ‘Picture This’ By Thomas K. Arnold DTV MGM Home Entertainment’s next project, Picture This, stars none other than Ashley Tisdale. The red-hot star of High School Musical and “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody” stars in the coming-of-age comedy that premieres on DVD July 22. Tisdale plays a high-school senior who gets grounded the night she has a date with a popular boy to go to the biggest party of the year. So she enlists her friends and snazzy new video phone to outsmart her dad — as well as her date’s ex-girlfriend. “Our timing was good, and we were able to get her before she became big,” said Charlie Cohen, who spearheads MGM’s DTV initiative. “We had a script that she really liked, especially the relationship between the father and her character.” Cohen said not only is Tisdale “very talented, but because of High School Musical she brings immediate recognition and purchasing interest on the part of our target audience.” Tisdale said the script is what attracted her to the project. “I just fell in love with the lead character, Mandy, this goofy, unpopular girl next door who knows what she wants but isn’t willing to sacrifice who she is to get it,” Tisdale said. “Mandy’s real, and I think a lot of kids will relate to that. It reminds me a lot of when I was in high school. I wasn’t really in the popular group, but I wasn’t in the nerdy group. I was somewhere in the middle, too.” Picture This, executive produced by Tisdale’s Blondie Girl Films and directed by Stephen Herek (Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure), is the latest DTV feature from MGM since the studio entered the direct-to-video business in January 2007. Like similar initiatives at other studios, MGM generally plies its catalog for films worthy of a sequel, banking on awareness of the original theatrical feature to drive TALENT TALK Wee-Man Celebrates Joy of DVD By Chris Tribbey e’s only a few feet high in real life, but he’s an absolute giant in the world of “Jackass,” skateboarding and in personality. Jason “Wee-Man” Acuna chatted recently with Home Media Magazine about “Jackass” on the Internet and DVD, of skateboarding and … Nacho Libre. “Jackass” on DVD? What about Jackass 2.5? H Acuna: Actually, it gets boring. By the time it gets to DVD, we’ve been series on DVD, I’ll wait for movies on DVD. I have about 1,500 DVDs, and for me it’s a write-off. And good for dates. I buy all the “Jackass” DVDs. I HM: Can you name your top five DVDs, movies you’d watch over and over again, no matter how many times you’ve seen them? I HM: Paramount Digital Entertainment and MTV just launched “Jackass” worldwide on the Internet. Everyone in the world can see you chasing Johnny Knoxville around naked for his birthday. Are you OK with this? Really? Acuna: Let’s see. Snatch; Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; Nacho Libre … “Jackass” regular Jason “Wee-Man” Acuna (right) and manager Alan Somers. I HM: Wait, Nacho Libre? Seriously? Acuna: Anything goes when it comes to the Internet, man. Hey man, they see what we want them to see, and it’s always a lot of fun stuff. They’re gonna see what’s on there, they’ll like it, and come back for more. I HM: Do you like going back and watching Acuna: $%#* yeah man! Really, come on, there are so many great to six premieres and done the com- quotes in that movie. And Jackass 2, just mentary for the DVD, and it just because I have to look out for my boys. gets boring. I’ve seen it 20 times by the time anyone else gets to see it. I HM: What are you working on next? Acuna: I’m really focused on getting I HM: What do you watch on DVD? Do you my skateboarding DVD out there. People always seem to wonder what I have a big collection at home? Acuna: That’s all I do is buy DVDs. I can do skateboarding, and that’s what don’t watch TV that much. I’ll buy TV I’m really focused on right now. interest. But that’s not the only game plan in play, Cohen notes. “We’ve made about 10 movies in the last year, ranging from two movies based on ‘Stargate SG-1,’ our popular science-fiction TV series, to family movies like Cutting Edge 3, Legally Blondes and Picture This,” he said. “We’ve also done horror movies and thrillers like Bumper and The Betrayed, as well as a couple of action movies, including a War Games sequel.” The primary audience for DTV films, Cohen said, are young men and women attracted to the movie because of a familiar title or appealing cast. “We tend to cast television actors from popular series that have youngerskewing demographics,” Cohen said. “When we have an original title, like Picture This, we look for a unique marketing and promotion aspect that will help make the title stand out.” With Tisdale on board, that shouldn’t be a problem. Cohen said that as the DTV field becomes increasingly crowded — most studios have a DTV initiative or label — it’s important to up the ante in both budget and star power. “I think the studios have all gotten into this business because they recognized an opportunity to make money while also extending some franchises or brands,” Cohen said. “There’s a lot more DTV product, so that makes it tougher to get any new movie to stand out to the consumer — not too unlike the theatrical business.” Cohen said DTV also provides the opportunity to take chances on young talent — writers, directors and actors. “It gives them an opportunity to step up to a directing assignment or first starring role or a first script shot into a movie,” Cohen said. “And it gives all of our executives a chance to see their work and forge a relationship that could result in the young talent having an opportunity to work on a theatrical feature.” Home Media Magazine April 13–19, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.