This Saturday, as many of you may know, Dave’s Video - The Laser Place, a specialist store in DVD and Laserdiscs held an interesting event called the “Studio Day”. Once every year, the owners of the store invite studio representatives to give their customers an impression on current titles, as well as upcoming releases. Of course we made sure to stop by at Dave’s in Studio City to bring you that latest news from the front line.

Many of the titles that were touched upon during our conversation with various studio representatives we had heard about before, and some of them we had covered some time ago as well. Ever so often however, we were able to get a glimpse at some titles in the works that had been flying under our radars so far.

First and foremost, I’d like to let you all know that the highly anticipated “Shawshank Redemption” from Warner Home Video is finally coming. Really! Warner was showing the DVD at the store during the 3-hour event, much to the pleasure of the visitors. The disc is scheduled for a release on December 21 and it is right on schedule, as we could see with our own eyes. Warner was also showing the DVD of “Wild Wild West”, and even gave early copies away in a contest.

Let’s take a look at the studios’ release schedules, as we were talking to most representatives in the relaxed atmosphere of Dave’s Studio Day.

Paramount Home Entertainment

Although Paramount has been steadily putting out good product over the past months, the studio takes a rather low key approach to DVD still, without giving it much publicity and marketing, and making it hard for the press to access and review their products. Nonetheless during Saturday’s event, Paramount was happy to share their plans with us.

Some of the studio’s most anticipated films seem to linger in their film vaults almost untouched. Despite rumors Braveheart, The Godfather and Forrest Gump are not making it to DVD anytime soon. Although some of them - including the Indiana Jones trilogy - are planned for release on DVD at some point - which film isn’t? - no release dates have been set, as the DVD development for said films will take a long time. Production for Braveheart seems under way but given Mel Gibson’s involvement and his busy schedule, it is impossible for Paramount to determine when a DVD will be finalized. On many others, production has not even started yet.

Horror fans will be pleased to hear that the third part of the Friday The 13^th series is currently in production and Rosemary’s Baby is also scheduled for release on DVD next year.

If you are a fan of Westerns, films like El Dorado, Shane and Cheyenne will have your heart beat faster when they will see releases on DVD in 2000. On the more comedic side, Eddie Murphy fans will be excited to hear that Trading Places and all three Beverly Hills Cop movies are also scheduled for next year.

As expected, Paramount is also preparing the remaining Star Trek movies for a release on DVD in 2000 to complete the series. Expect Star Trek III: The Search For Spock some time in the summer, followed by The Wrath Of Khan and The Motion Picture in the subsequent quarters.

MGM Home Entertainment

After a few months of drought, MGM is once again increasing their DVD output in 2000. Combined with a steady flow of day and date releases, the studio also goes through its extensive library to bring us some incredible releases. As we had mentioned earlier already, John Carpenters chilling masterpiece The Fog is scheduled for a release in early 2000. We had not heard about the title for a while, but we have been told that the disc is still on schedule for a release, hopefully in February. Another highly anticipated John Carpenter film is also on the horizon form MGM. Escape From New York will see the light of day during the 4th quarter of 2000 as a special edition with a good number of supplements. We were also able to confirm that Princess Bride is still in production as we had announced some long time ago, and on schedule for a release in the summer.

MGM is also planning a full 5-disc box set with all the Rocky films later in 2000, as well as a release of Showgirls - in the version we all wanted to see. More James Bond will also find its way to DVD next year, with two more box sets being released in Spring and Fall.

After the transferal of the Polygram library to MGM earlier this year, the studio also plans releases and re-releases of a number of Orion titles that are part of the library. This Is Spinal Tap, Silence Of The Lambs and the RoboCop series are part of these plans, as well as a release of Sid & Nancy in the fall.

Warner Home Video

As I mentioned earlier, Shawshank Redemption and Wild Wild West are on their way, and we had a chance to take a look at them during the day, and as expected the discs looked great.

Waiting for the Looney Toons? Well, wait a little longer and the hyperactive cartoon characters will invade your home on DVD, too. No release dates are known, but Bugs Bunny and Co are definitely on their way.

If you’re more into action movies, you’ll be pleased to hear that Director’s Cut version of the Lethal Weapon films are also on their way to DVD in June of 2000. While we’re at the action films, although reported on various ends, the Superman films are not likely to make their appearance on DVD next year due to the fact that they needs some serious restoration and a number of legal and technical issues.

Instead of focussing what is not coming to DVD, let’s take a look at what is. In February, Warner will release Humphrey Bogart in John Huston’s classic The Maltese Falcon on DVD. Expect the disc’s exact details in Warner’s announcement next week. We also touched upon Ben Hur, the epic that was in production for a DVD release at MGM before the film was acquired by Warner earlier this year. Warner is taking a slightly different approach to the release than the one MGM had planned, and is currently waiting for DVD-14 (dual-layer on one side, single-layer on the other) and DVD-18 (both sides dual-layered) to become a reliable, viable and affordable option for them so they can put the film and all the extras on one disc.

Films from the R.K.O library, which Warner also owns, are currently also under evaluation for release on DVD, including none other than King Kong. It seems as if these films are in dire need for restoration, and spearheaded by Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, Warner will slowly, but steadily go through the library and restore these movies to their full glory, and bring them to DVD in the course of it.

New Line Home Video

Currently putting the final touches to Detroit Rock City, New Line is focussing on a number of select titles in 2000. New Line is mostly focusing on two films in 2000, apart from their regular day and date releases. Se7en, as we had reported earlier, will come as a Platinum Edition with completely new supplements. Production one the release has not yet started, but within the next weeks, New Line will start making a new transfer of the movie for this DVD. As we had reported earlier, the release will NOT contain any of the Criterion Laserdisc supplements.

Another film New Line is focusing on is Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, which will se a release in the summer of 2000. For February, New Line has scheduled the release of two great horror flicks, The Hidden and John Carpenter’s In The Mouth Of Madness, so look out for exact details on those titles to show up in a few weeks.

Columbia TriStar Home Video

One of the most exciting announcements came from Columbia. Although no release date has been set, Columbia’s representative has been able to tell us that Men In Black is finally on its way to DVD. Don’t expect the alien-busters to show up before mid to late-2000 however, as all the details and schedules are still undisclosed, which is usually an indication that work on a release has not yet begun.

For fans of monster movies and the Ray Harryhausen Collection comes great news that Columbia will release more of these classic films next year. The next in the series will be The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad in early 2000, followed by Sinbad And The Eye Of The Tiger, Mysterious Island and 20 Million Miles To Earth some time later. Also on the moster front we were able to find out that Columbia plans to have some more Godzilla films ready for release next year.

Columbia is also preparing Lawrence Of Arabia for release on DVD, however the studio is committed to do whatever it takes to get David Lean’s masterpiece absolutely right. As a result Columbia has not set a release date for this particular film and will take things one step at a time. Whenever the development of the DVD is finished, Columbia will announce a release date. The Bridge On The River Kwai is another big classic David Lean film that is in production for a release in 2000.

Tootsie is making it to DVD next year, hopefully with a commentary track by Dustin Hoffman, and while we’re speaking of commentaries, expect a special edition of Kevin Smith’s Dogma day and date with the movie’s VHS release. Speaking of day and date, Jackie Chan’s latest film Gorgeous will also see a day and date release in 2000 with a commentary track by the man himself!

Columbia is also revisiting a number of titles that had been released very early in DVD’s life and intents to give them some special edition treatment. Next year we will see such improved releases of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Legend Of The Falls, The Fifth Element and In The Line Of Fire.

Dreamworks Home Entertainment

Dreamwork is currently preparing DVDs for El Dorado and Chicken Run, which have been featured on their release of The Prince Of Egypt, as well as another film called Galaxy Quest, starring Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman. Since none of these films had their theatrical run yet, don’t expect them to ship anytime soon however. To make the wait a bit shorter, in the mean while Dreamwork will be send American Beauty your way with a commentary track by director Sam Mendes.

Buena Vista Home Entertainment

After the announcement of their new home video strategy, everyone is asking him/herself, when will they start putting out all these incredible animated features as stated in the announcement. While no exact starting date is known yet, Toy Story will be the first in the row. The studio is currently remastering the film for its renewed home video release in another digital-to-digital transfer, and it seems, it will even come in a 16x9 enhanced version, as will supposedly many more. With that in mind, expect Disney to start rolling out these DVDs sometime - probably early - next year, one after another, and expect Toy Story 2 to come to DVD day and date with its VHS version in April/May.

Artisan Entertainment

As pointed out in our production diary for the Abyss, work on Terminator 2: Judgement Day has begun, but the project is practically on hiatus until the Abyss is finished due to producer Van Ling’s commitment to the DVD from Fox. In the meanwhile however, we have been informed that Gary Rydstrom, the film's sound designer, is currently involved in producing a fully re-mastered and re-mixed soundtrack for the DVD.

Image Entertainment

Continuously Image Entertainment is putting out a large number of releases every month and the company also keeps continually expanding its access to various libraries. I was particularly pleased to hear that Image is well under way with the Ed Wood films they licensed some time ago and in February we will see their releases of Plan 9 From Outer Space and Glen Or Glenda.
 

That pretty much rounds up our visit at the Studio Day. Although we have received a large number of information, at the same time we are always hesitant to announce titles that are too far in the future since many details and timelines will inevitably change over the course of those months. As you know, we are committed to bringing you the facts only and sometimes it is impossible to give an accurate picture for movies that are scheduled a year from now. For that reason we have dropped many titles that came up during our discussions with the studio representatives because they haven’t really been scheduled yet, or because it is oftentimes unclear whether legal or technical issues will hold up the project.

It was an interesting day and it was exciting to meet all the familiar faces again and chatting with them in the relaxed atmosphere of Dave’s Video. While hardly any ground-breaking news came up, it is good to se how the studios increase their title line-up and that by the end of 2000 the DVD catalog will contain practically every film you can think of from the top of your head. Of course there will be others that will still take until a year later, but the signs are clear. Every film will make it to DVD at one point or another. It is only a matter of time and more importantly of production capacities.

If you ever make it to Hollywood, be it during a vacation, business trip, or because you live in the area, make sure to stop by Dave’s Video - The Laser Place. You can easily find it on 12144 Ventura Boulevard in Studio City.

 November 21, 1999