My Two Cents
Thursday, 04 March 2021 13:30

Universal sets News of the World for 3/23, plus new Paramount catalog Blu-rays & Paramount downsizes its home entertainment marketing team

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All right, sorry for the lack of an update yesterday. We’re dealing with a plumbing leak here at the house so real life occasionally finds a way to intrude on regular work. Nothing major though and well on the way to being repaired. Just an inconvenience.

We have some announcement news today and a bit of industry news as well.

First up, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has made Paul Greengrass’ News of the World official for Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD release on 3/23, with the Digital release expected on 3/4. Looks like the 4K disc will include HDR10 high dynamic range and Dolby Atmos audio. Extras on will include deleted scenes, feature commentary with Greengrass, and 4 featurettes (Partners: Tom Hanks & Helena Zengel, Western Action, Paul Greengrass Makes News of the World, and The Kiowa). You can see the cover artwork at left and also below.

Meanwhile, Screen Media has set Skyfire for Blu-ray and DVD release on 4/6.

Screen Media is also expected to release The Outpost in Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 5/18. [Read on here...]

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RLJE Films and Shudder will release The Reckoning on Blu-ray and DVD on 4/6.

Time Life has just released a 5-disc The Best of Cher set on DVD (street date was 3/2). It includes “10 star-studded episodes of Cher, legendary TV appearances, new interviews with Cher, Lily Tomlin, and designer Bob Mackie, and more!”

And for UK readers, Eureka! has just announced the May 17th Blu-ray release of Martin Ritt’s The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. The film stars Richard Burton and is based on the novel by John le Carré. The release of part of the company’s Masters of Cinema series.

In other news, Paramount Home Entertainment has set more catalog titles for release on Blu-ray Disc in May, including Snake Eyes and The Snoopy 4-Movie Collection (includes Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown, Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Come Home, and A Boy Named Charlie Brown) on 5/18, followed by The Saint, The Last Castle, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Tuxedo, Rosemary’s Baby, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, Tupac: Resurrection, Don’t Look Now, and Days of Heaven on 5/25. At least a couple of these are being released on Blu-ray for the first time.

Unfortunately, we also have some bad news to report with regard to Paramount today as well. The company revealed on Monday that 23 members of its home entertainment marketing and distribution team are being pink-slipped as a result of the company’s plan to merge its theatrical and home entertainment teams. Paramount is not the first major Hollywood studio to do this; Warner Bros. did so a few months back, as did Sony and Lionsgate.

Paramount studio chairman and CEO Jim Gianopulos indicated in a memo to employees that the merger was being done for the goal of “achieving overhead savings, identifying opportunities to leverage centers of excellence, creating greater synergies between the divisions, streamlining processes in response to changing windows, and minimizing duplication of effort.”

Hint: Anytime a corporate CEO uses the words leverage, synergy, and streamlining, you know it isn’t good for rank-and-file employees. The upshot of all this is, a lot of good people are losing their jobs, including some that have served the company well for a decade or more, many of whom we know personally here at The Bits. And we feel for all of them today.

Anyway, you can read more here from our friend TK Arnold at Media Play News.

We’ll leave you today with a look at the cover artwork for a few of the titles mentioned above and more, with Amazon pre-order links if available...

News of the World (4K Ultra HD) Super 8 (4K Ultra HD) Super 8 (Steelbook 4K Ultra HD)

The Groove Tube (Blu-ray Disc) Isle of the Dead (Blu-ray Disc) Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice REMASTERED (4K Ultra HD)

Stay tuned...

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