In announcement news today, Universal Studios Home Entertainment has set the Straight Outta Compton: Unrated Director’s Cut for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 1/19/15, with the digital release set for 1/5. Extras on both disc versions will include audio commentary with director/producer F. Gary Gray and 5 featurettes (N.W.A. The Origins, Impact, Director’s Journey, The Streets: Filming in Compton, and N.W.A. Performs in Detroit). To this, the Blu-ray will add deleted scenes, a never-before-seen performance, and the Becoming N.W.A. featurette.
Also this afternoon, Criterion has just revealed their February 2016 slate of titles, which is set to include Jan Troell’s The Emigrants (Cat #796) and The New Land (Cat #797) in the same Blu-ray and DVD package on 2/9, followed by Nagisa Oshima’s Death by Hanging (Cat #798 – Blu-ray and DVD) and Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid (Cat #799 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 2/16, and finally Antonio Pietrangeli’s I Knew Her Well (Cat #801 – Blu-ray and DVD) and Mike Nichols’ The Graduate (Cat #800 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 2/23.
And finally today, I had the pleasure yesterday of attending the opening day for Disney’s Season of the Force at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. It’s essentially a makeover of Tomorrowland in honor of the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It features a new Star Wars Launch Bay exhibit of props and models, an updated Star Tours adventure (featuring a world from the new film), an upgraded and Star Wars-themed “Hyperspace” Mountain, and a Path of the Jedi short film (replacing Captain EO). Several of our friends from Team Axanar were on hand for the day, as was Blu-ray producer Charles de Lauzirika who, along with the great creative team at Lucasfilm and Disney, produced a terrific short video (on the past, present, and future of the Star Wars franchise) that you can watch when you visit the Launch Bay. The updates are pretty great and no small amount of fun, so I highly recommend that you all visit and check them out if you can. Meanwhile, I thought you might enjoy seeing some pictures from the day. Here you go...
Back tomorrow with more. Stay tuned...
- Bill Hunt