Home Media Magazine - June 15, 2008 - (Page 30) NEWS Blu-ray ‘Steps Up’ Film Quality By Fred Topel PRODUCT Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment releases Step Up 2 the Streets on Blu-ray Disc July 15, day and date with the standardDVD release. Director Jon M. Chu is excited for fans to see all the extra detail the high-definition transfer will show compared to theatrical prints. “It’s beautiful,” Chu said. “The colors just pop. You get to see because we play a lot in the shadows. That’s what we wanted to do and sometimes the print was a little dark to me. “On the Blu-ray, just consistently you know what you’re getting and you can play in those shadows. You can see it and it doesn’t feel dark. It just feels moody.” The detail is so crisp that Chu worries some of his mistakes will be visible too. “Well, you definitely get to see more wires from the camera,” Chu said. “There’ll be like a sandbag or something somewhere.” Chu did some extra post-production work to remove as many gaffes as he could find. Making other adjustments for different www.homemediamagazine.com versions of the film was more of a struggle. “The most painful stuff is the 4:3 version, the standard-def version which is like ugh, we had to rearrange all the dance numbers and move things,” he said. “I did that a couple days ago and that was painful.” Special features will include more dancing in the deleted scenes. “We had to cut out an hour and a half of this movie,” he said. “We have so many dance numbers and we just gave like two hours worth of stuff to the DVD people to sort out.” With a cast of mainly first-time actors, Chu said he hopes to include audition tapes. In particular Adam G. Sevani provided a memorable demo. “He literally is talking to the camera and he dances,” Chu said. “It’s crazy.” Chu also wants to share star Briana Evigan’s enthusiasm for winning the lead role. “When I first tell her that she got the role, I was in New York and we called her up and it was really fun to hear her,” Chu said. “She’s like, yelling. It was fun.” Genius Products to Release Three Animal Planet DVDs in August By Lana Chichakly PRODUCT Genius Products will release Animal Planet: Growing Up Safari (DVD $14.95), Jane Goodall’s When Animals Talk (DVD $14.95) and season one of “Orangutan Island” (DVD $19.95) in August. Growing Up Safari streets Aug. 5. The DVD features four episodes from top-rated Animal Planet series “Growing Up Rhino,” “Growing Up Zebra,” “Growing Up Giraffe” and “Growing Up Hyenas.” The Aug. 12 release of Jane Goodall’s When Animals Talk explores the relationship between humans and animals. The 13-episode DVD of season one of “Orangutan Island” swings into stores on Aug. 19. Viewers watch the journey of 35 orangutans as they grow into adulthood on their own island. JUST ANNOUNCED A Weekly Product Update* Prom Night STREET DATE Smart People BOX OFFICE (MILLIONS) CJ7 TITLE PREBOOK GENRE PRICE Prom Night 8/19 7/17 $43.9 Horror DVD $29.96, BD $38.96 Sony Pictures. 2008. Brittany Snow, Johnathon Schaech, Scott Porter, Jessica Stroup. A young girl’s senior prom turns deadly when an obsessed killer from her past returns. Includes deleted scenes, a gag reel, four featurettes and commentary. Also on UMD ($24.94). Smart People 8/12 7/1 $9.5 Comedy DVD $29.99, BD $34.99 Disney/Miramax. 2008. Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ellen Page, Thomas Haden Church. A widowed professor receives a visit from his ne’er-do-well brother while finding new love. Includes interviews with cast and crew, deleted scenes and outtakes. CJ7 8/12 7/10 $0.2 Comedy DVD $28.96, BD $38.96 iHollywood: VOD Growing Continued from page 1 “If a DVD price is $20, a digital download to own is $15, while for a rental you’re looking at $2 to $3,” said Henry Wong, CEO and founder of independent movie download site Zipidee. “When we move to a [Digital Rights Management]-free model, you won’t have to worry about the device you’re using, the software you’re using. Right now you have to download two or three different programs or buy two or three different players.” Ken Papagan, president and chief strategy officer for Rentrak Corp, said: “We need more high-def online. The demand for HD is going to continue to increase. … It’s related to the amount of product released into the marketplace.” Rentrak estimated that there were more than 4 billion online, on-demand transactions in 2007, with free movies being among the top five videos downloaded or streamed online. “I think 2007-08 was proving the [online video] technology. The end of this year is all about the content,” said Patrick Cossen, VP of marketing for Vudu. His company aims to have more than 10,000 videos available on its rental set-top box by the end of the year. But with so many set-top boxes already in the house, and many HDTVs coming Internet ready, will set-tops still be around in the future? “Whether it’s a set-top box or not is the big question,” Pete Kocks with AOL Video said about how Internet video will be distributed to TVs. “And if it is a set-top box, what will break out?” However it’s delivered, on-demand Internet video is proving profitable. Still, it’s slow-going, compared to physical product. “It’s been tremendous, and we’re seeing increased growth,” Warner’s Edelman said. “Is 2008 ‘the’ year [for online video]? It’s been a nice year, but we have a road ahead of us.” Sony Pictures. 2008. Stephen Chow, Xu Jiao. A hardworking father returns home with a mysterious pet for his son, which reveals itself to have extraordinary powers. Includes a behind-the-scenes featurette and cast and crew commentary. In Cantonese with English subtitles. Wide Awake 8/12 7/1 DTV Thriller DVD $24.95 Genius. 2007. Kim Myeong-min, Kim Tae-woo, Kim Yu-mi, Yu Jun-Sang. A young boy undergoes heart surgery while improperly anesthetized and feels the procedure, unable to say anything. Includes deleted scenes and cast interviews. In Korean with English subtitles. Love and A .45 8/19 7/23 Re-release Action DVD $9.98 Lionsgate. 1994. Renee Zellweger, Gil Bellows, Rory Cochrane, Peter Fonda. Two lovers are on the run for freedom after a young girl is murdered in a robbery. Includes commentary, deleted scenes and a “Crime Channel” featurette. Never Love a Stranger 8/19 7/23 NTV Thriller DVD $14.98 Lionsgate. 1958. John Drew Barrymore, Steve McQueen, Lita Milan. A young orphan runs away and grows up into a life of petty thievery and crime until he runs into an old friend and decides to change his ways. Little Fugitive 9/16 8/5 DTV Drama DVD $24.95 Cinema Libre. 2006. Peter Dinklage, Justina Machado, Nicolas Martí Salgado, David Castro. A young boy must look after his little brother, and instead comes up with a cruel joke, which leads the younger brother to run away to Coney Island. Bright Lights, Big City: 20th Anniversary 9/2 8/6 Re-Release Drama DVD $14.98 Fox/MGM. 1988. Michael J. Fox, Kiefer Sutherland, Phoebe Cates, Swoosie Kurtz, Dianne Wiest. A writer from Kansas moves to the big city of Manhattan and discovers the alluring nightclub culture of New York. Includes commentary, two featurettes and a photo gallery. L.A. Confidential: Two-Disc Special Edition 9/23 8/19 Re-Release Mystery DVD $20.97, BD $28.99 Warner. 1997. Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito. Three L.A. cops in the 1950s use different methods to uncover a conspiracy theory. The two-disc special edition includes commentary and several featurettes. * In order of box office, then prebook date 30 Home Media Magazine June 15–21, 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.