We have just received information that Columbia TriStar Home Video will be releasing Academy-Award winning director Barry Levinson’s The Natural on April 3. Featuring an Academy-Award winning cast that includes Robert Redford, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall, Kim Basinger, Barbara Hershey and others, the film was also nominated for four Academy Awards itself.

Nothing was going to stop Roy Hobbs from fulfilling his boyhood dream of baseball superstardom. Robert Redford stars in this inspiring fable that begins when 14-year-old Hobbs (Robert Redford) fashions a powerful bat from a fallen oak tree. He soon impresses major league scouts with his ability, fixing his extraordinary talent in the mind of sportswriter Max Mercy (Robert Duvall), who eventually becomes instrumental in Hobbs’ career. But a meeting with a mysterious woman shatters his dream. Years pass and an older Hobbs reappears as a rookie for the New York Knights. Overcoming physical pain and defying those who have a stake in seeing the Knights lose, Hobbs, with his boyhood bat, has his chance to lead the Knights to the pennant and to finally fulfill his dream.

Columbia TriStar Home Video will present the film in an anamorphic widescreen version with a 4.0 channel Dolby Digital audio track, as well as a selection of Dolby Surround tracks. The DVD will also contains an exclusive documentary, entitled “The Heart of the Natural”, as well as a book insert containing reproductions of archival newspapers with actual shots of Real Major League Baseball Players from the 1940s. It will be rounded out by talent files and trailers.

The Natural will be released on April 3 and will carry a suggested retail price of $24.95.