Home Media Magazine - September 2-8, 2007 - (Page 22) BUYING GUIDE HOLIDAY Edited by Kyra Kudick www.homemediamagazine.com In the Weeks Before Christmas, Suppliers Gave to Me Three Ebenezers, two cartoon movies and a Munster film on DVD By Brendan Howard very Christmas, home entertainment companies are faced with coming up with new and interesting ways to spur Christmas movie spending. This year is no different. Here are highlights from the coming batch of classic Scrooge-, Santa- and Munster-populated DVDs for 2007. E Ghost story Most film critics regard the 1951 A Christmas Carol as the best in film history. VCI Entertainment released the film, with Alistair Sim as the Charles Dickens-imagined miser haunted by ghosts on Christmas Eve, on DVD in 1999. Now the supplier has gotten its hands on the original 35mm film elements and cleaned up the sound and video and added extras for A Christmas Carol: The Ultimate Two-DVD Collector’s Edition ($19.99) The DVD streets Oct. 23; prebook is Oct. 1. The newly restored black-and-white film is joined by the colorized version as well as another adaptation, 1935’s Scrooge. Extras include audio commentary and a featurette with George Cole (who played Young Scrooge), an introduction by Patrick Macnee (who played Young Jacob Marley), and other featurettes on Dickens, the film’s original production company Renown Pictures and star Sim. For widescreen watchers, VCI said its “tilt and scan” version of the film is enhanced for 16x9 aspect ratio. And you thought no one had a reason to buy A Christmas Carol again. Another classic getting a reissue is It’s a Wonderful Life from Paramount Home Entertainment. The new Special Collector’s Edition (DVD $24.99) hits Nov. 13. It’s the same as the previously released and restored 60th Anniversary Edition, but it includes the colorized version of the film, too. For those into colorful cartoons, not black-and-white classics, there are A Flintstone’s Christmas Carol from Warner Home Video (DVD $14.98; street Oct. 2) and the newly repackaged Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol ($16.95) from Classic Media. The DVD streets Sept. 4. Deck the Halls Bah Humbug Suppliers have a batch of titles for a not-so-white Christmas By Billy Gil ot in the holiday spirit? Plenty of upcoming releases target the inner Scrooge in all of us. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Nov. 6 (prebook Sept. 12) brings the $35.1 million comedy Deck the Halls ($29.99), starring Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito as dueling neighbors. Paramount Home Entertainment and Comedy Central Nov. 13 (prebook Oct. 2) will release Christmas Time in South Park at $19.99. The DVD includes seven holiday-themed episodes of “South Park,” including “Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo,” “Merry Christmas, Charlie Manson,” “Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics,” “A Very Crappy Christmas,” “Red Sleigh Down,” “It’s Christmas in Canada” and “Woodland Critter Christmas.” Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Nov. 20 will release Badder Santa on Blu-ray Disc at $29.99. The antiholiday comedy stars Billy Bob Thornton as a con man acting as a mall Santa to rob department stores on Christmas Eve. Disney also on Nov. 20 (prebook Oct. 9) has Tim Allen’s The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause ($29.99), which racked up $84.5 million in theaters. Or, for an alternative take on the holidays, Ariztical Entertainment has Visions of Sugar Plums, available now at $19.95. The drama follows Joey and Bruce, a happy gay couple in New York, who must deal with a sudden holiday visit from Bruce’s conservative parents. TV movies Movies for TV and kids’ Christmas titles are always a staple. Why should this year be any different? Due Oct. 16 is Paramount Home Entertainment’s 1975 A House Without a Christmas Tree (DVD $12.99). The drama stars Jason Robards as a disgruntled dad who refuses his daughter a tree in their living room. For fans of resurrected classic TV franchises, Universal Studios Home Entertainment Nov. 6 has 1996’s The Munsters Scary Little Christmas (DVD $14.98). No, it’s not the original cast. N It’s a Wonderful Life A Flintstone’s Christmas Carol 22 Home Media Magazine September 2–8, 2007 http://www.homemediamagazine.com
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