In announcement news today, Warner Home Video has set a new John Wayne DVD box set for release on 5/20, set to include 40 classic films starting Wayne from the Warner and Paramount catalogs. The 38-disc John Wayne: The Epic Collection box set ($149.98) includes: Big Stampede (1932), Ride Him Cowboy (1932), Haunted Gold (1932), Telegraph Trail (1933), Somewhere in Sonora (1933), Man from Monterey (1933), Allegheny Uprising (1939), Reunion in France (1942), Tall in the Saddle (1944), Back to Bataan (1945), They Were Expendable (1945), Without Reservations (1946), Tycoon (1947), Fort Apache (1948), The Three Godfathers (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Flying Leathernecks (1951), Operation Pacific (1951), Big Jim McLain (1952), Trouble Along the Way (1953), Blood Alley (1966), The Sea Chase (1955), The Searchers (1956), The Wings of Eagles (1957), Rio Bravo (1959), Hatari (1962), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), How the West Was Won (1962), Donovan’s Reef (1963), In Harm’s Way (1965), The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), El Dorado (1966), The Green Berets (1968), True Grit (1969), Chisum (1970), The Cowboys (1972), Cahill: U.S. Marshall (1973), The Train Robbers (1973), McQ (1974), and The Shootist (1976). You’ll also get “hours of special features include commentaries, documentaries, featurettes, vintage shorts and classic cartoons” plus a coffee table book and “special John Wayne collectibles include personal correspondence, script pages/covers, pages with Wayne’s notations and behind-the-scenes artifacts.” Here’s what it looks like (note that Amazon has an exclusive version with a Duke belt buckle)...
By the way, Warner Home Video is also releasing the Clint Eastwood film Tightrope on Blu-ray on 6/10 (SRP $14.97).
Also newly announced today is the Blu-ray Disc Combo and DVD release of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues on 4/1 (with digital available on 3/11). The 3-disc Blu-ray Combo set includes 2 BDs and a DVD with a huge amount of content. You get the theatrical cut, a Super-Sized R-rated version and the Unrated version of the film, audio commentary on the Unrated version by Adam McKay, Judd Apatow, Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd & David Koechner, 9 featurettes (Behind-the-Scenes: Newsroom, Welcome to the Dolphin Show, Catfight, the Cast Table Read, Anchorman 2: The Musical, RV, Baxter & Doby, News Fight, and Benefit for 826LA: “Spoiler Alert”), deleted scenes, extended and alternate scenes, previz videos, audition videos, gag reels, Line-O-Rama, News-O-Rama, Kench-O-Rama, and trailers. You can see the cover art below.
Speaking of Paramount and John Wayne, the studio has also set McClintock! for Blu-ray release on 5/13. This film has already been released on Blu-ray by Olive Films, so this appears to be a new acquisition for Paramount.
Meanwhile, Fox has set Seal Team 8: Behind Enemy Lines for Blu-ray and DVD release on 4/1.
Lionsgate has set Date and Switch for Blu-ray and DVD release on 4/15.
And Shout! Factory and EuroCorp have announced a deal that allows Shout! to distribute the CG-animated Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart theatrically, as well as on Blu-ray and DVD, here in the States. Watch for it later this year.
Finally today, a bit of very sad and surprising news: The great film comedy writer/director Harold Ramis has died in Chicago at the age of 69. If Ramis had done nothing else in his life other than co-write Ghostbusters and Stripes, and appear in both films as Egon Spengler and Russell Ziskey respectively, that would be a legacy to admire. But of course he was also a Second City player, he wrote (or helped to write) Animal House and Meatballs, he directed Groundhog Day, Caddyshack, Analyze This, National Lampoon’s Vacation, and so much more. I’ll never forget my first experience of Ghostbusters: It’s the first time I ever went to a movie theater and laughed so hard I had tears running down my face. Ramis had a huge impact on my life. I’m sure many of you feel the same today. So if you’ve got an unlicensed particle collider sitting around the house, strap it on and fire it up in his honor today. Just remember not to cross the streams. That would be bad. Thanks for everything, Harold!
Here’s a look at the cover art for Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, Universal’s Ride Along (due 4/15) and Warner’s Tightrope...
Stay tuned...
- Bill Hunt