VSDA 2000 Page 2


	VSDA Report - Page 2


	by Guido Henkel

20^th Century Fox Home Entertainment

And while we are talking of Special Editions, I think the impressive emergence of 20^th Century Fox Home Entertainment in the market over the past 6 months is nothing short of impressive, and the studio has plans to continue the trend. Completely committed to DVD, this major Hollywood force has some very exciting projects in the making, although many of them are not yet destined for official announcement.

However, 20^th Century Fox Home Entertainment used the show to finally announce the upcoming Special Edition of Anna And The King. After having announced the release previously as a standard release, director Andy Tennant was so impressed with Fox’s 2-disc Special Editions, that he opted to withhold the release and instead help to create a full-fledged SE for his film. Scheduled for release on October 31, this Special Edition will feature an anamorphic widescreen transfer of the sweeping movie

with a 5.1 Dolby Digital audio track, as well as a running commentary by director Andy Tennant. Six bonus scenes, previously deleted from the theatrical cut of the movie can be seen on this DVD, as well as a 14-minute “HBO First Look” Documentary. Special featurettes covering the Production Design, the costumes, the elephants and a general featurette on the production of the movie will also be part of the release, as well as another 6-minute featurette. You will also be able to see Joy Enriquez music video “How Can I Not Love You” on the DVD, as well as the movie’s theatrical trailer.

As we had pointed out on these pages before, 20^th Century Fox Home Entertainment also has plans to release the first season of The Simpsons on DVD either towards the end of this year or early next year, depending on how schedules work out. For those of you who were not so happy with Fox’s initial release of the Die Hard trilogy, you will be pleased to hear that Fox has plans to revisit the series and re-release the films with new anamorphic widescreen transfers. The first film in the series will also receive a Special Edition treatment, while the other two will be standard releases. Plans for these films also include the addition of DTS audio tracks on the DVDs aside from 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks, so let’s see. Early next year we will be able to see how things turn out, but given Fox’s track record I think there is little to be afraid of.

Tai Seng Video Marketing

With the frenzy of major Hollywood studios to suddenly pick up Hong Kong movies for release in the US, Tai Seng is aggressively trying to bring more Hong Kong movies to US audiences. Unlike their competitors in Hollywood, Tai Seng is determined to maintain the movies’ integrity without localizing the products, without dubbing them and just as importantly without editing these films. While the publisher is facing an increasingly difficult position in the market with the muscle Hollywood studios are suddenly flexing with the rise of stars like Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-Fat and Jet Li here in the US, there is still a lot of great material out there for this specialized publisher to work with. As such, fans will be pleased to hear that Tai Seng is currently working on a domestic Special Edition release of Ronny Yu’s romantic and fantastic masterpiece Phantom Lover.

MGM Home Entertainment

Also retreated in private suites, MGM Home Entertainment was working with its retailers on the upcoming releases. We had a chance to get a glimpse of MGM’s plans for the coming months which includes some very interesting titles. On October 3, MGM will release La Femme Nikita on DVD as a standard release, while on October 17 we will see the next wave of James Bond titles in the form of the James Bond Collection #3, featuring another six hot Bond titles, The Living Daylights, Diamonds Are Forever, A View To A Kill, From Russia With Love, Octopussy and You Only Live Twice. By the end of October the studio will then release Return To Me, followed by Attention Shoppers on November 14. On November 21 we will then see the release of Dirty Pictures, The Bounty, Class and Malice, as well as the eagerly awaited Escape From New York, featuring a new 16x9 transfer. In December and January, MGM Home Entertainment has then planned to release films such as Pop & Me, At Close Range, Sid & Nancy, Tentacles, Bat 21, The Alamo, a Special Edition of When Harry Met Sally, and In The Heat Of The Night, as well as films such as Benny & Joon, Moll Flanders, Untamed Heart, Black Caesar, Coffy, Cotton Comes To Harlem, Sheba Baby, Alice’s restaurant, I Shot Andy Warhol, Bride Wore Black, Jean de Florette and countless others. The list is almost endless and especially in January MGM will start a number of branded series on DVD, such as “Contemporary Classics”, “Vintage Classics”, “Soul cinema”, “Avant Garde Cinema” and “World Films” to better categorize their releases. To give you an idea of the scope of MGM’s ambition, the month of January alone contains a line-up of 44 DVD releases! Probably the biggest whopper of releases in one month from a single studio we have ever seen.



	Pioneer allowed VSDA visitors to test their singing skills with their Karaoke discs. Is it a good way to attract people to your booth? Interesting question...

Pioneer Entertainment

Pioneer is continuing to create a diverse catalog for its DVD releases, adding a constant flow of Karaoke titles to the roster, while also paying attention to the Anime market. Especially the highly profitable Pokemon series will see a number of new additions, such as The PO-KE Corral! And Hang Ten, Pikachu on September 19. But Pioneer is also preparing to release Card Captors on DVD. Pioneer has just licensed 70 episodes of the series which is one of the most expensive animated series ever produced in Japan. No release date has been set for episodes of this series however. Pioneer is also entering the ring with its DVD releases. Extreme Championship Wrestling: Extreme Evolution is one of many releases scheduled for the coming months. With the claim to “real pain, real blood and real wrestling” Pioneer will bring the third-biggest national federation to DVD on August 29. The uncensored version on DVD will contain five matches with footage never before released on video.

A&E Home Video

To continue their series, A&E Home Video is preparing to bring you more Flying Circus. On August 29, the studio will release the fourth season of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Set 7 will include many more sketches of the beloved comedy troupe, including “The Man Who Finishes Other People’s Sentences” and “Mr. Neutron.”

But there’s more from this great publisher. A&E is also releasing a 2-disc box set of the sweeping adaptation of Dav Sobel’s novels Longitude. Starring Jeremy Irons, this 200-minute high seas adventure will also contain a “Making Of” featurette when it will also be released on August 29. A&E Home Video also has the rights to a selection of Poirot movies starring David Suchet, and on August 15, the studio will begin rolling out a fist 2-disc set, featuring the episodes The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd and Lord Edgware Dies. Both episodes of the TV series are of course based on Agatha Christie’s novels and will not be sold separately. From their History Channel programming A&E will also release Civil War Combat and WWII - The Lost Color Archives on August 15.



	In Anchor Bay’s suite George A. Romero (right) and Mike Smith, who was authoring many of George’s films on DVD celebrate the success of their collaboration.

Anchor Bay Entertainment

DVD’s premier supplier of top quality horror films is at it once again. With an incredible roster of releases, ranging from horror comedies like Evil Dead II all the way to softcore erotic releases like the Ilsa films, Anchor Bay is always creating great looking versions of rather small movies.

Work on Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond has finally begun. A new transfer has been made for the film and although the DVD production is in progress, exact features of the final disc have not yet been determined due to a very intricate approval process that is required for this film.

I am also very happy that I can finally officially report that Anchor Bay has acquired the rights to the Highlander films. They have been in negotiation for the rights to these movies for the longest time and I am glad that they have been able to secure these movies for their library. Expect special

edition releases - and you know what that means in Anchor Bay-land - of these films early next year with new anamorphic transfers and other cool features. Anchor Bay is now also in the early planning stages of a new release of George A. Romero’s Dawn Of The Dead, which will supposedly make all previous releases of the film entirely redundant. We also had the chance to catch up with the famed director at Anchor Bay’s suite where we had the chance for a nice talk with him about his past work, as well as his latest film, the thriller “Bruiser,” which will hopefully hit movie theaters in the US soon. George is absolutely thrilled about DVD and while watching the DVD version of “Knightriders” with him it was evident how excited he and his wife were to see how beautiful the film has been brought back to life on this DVD.


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