HANCOCK, MEET DAVE and SPACE CHIMPS arrive on DVD/Blu-ray, plus THE KINGDOM and SUPERMAN: DOOMSDAY make their Blu-ray debut.
HANCOCK On DVD And Blu-ray
Academy Award nominee Will Smith (Best Actor, THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS, 2006) stars in this action-packed comedy as Hancock, a sarcastic, hard-living and misunderstood superhero who has fallen out of favor with the public.
When Hancock grudgingly agrees to an extreme makeover from idealistic publicist Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman, JUNO), his life and reputation rise from the ashes and all seems right again -- until he meets a woman (2003 Academy Award winner Charlize Theron, Best Actress, MONSTER) with similar powers to his and the key to his secret past.
Now on DVD/Blu-ray from Sony Pictures Home Ent. (vfx by Sony Pictures Imageworks), HANCOCK is available on Blu-ray Unrated Special Edition, 2-Disc Unrated Special Edition DVD, 1-Disc Unrated DVD, 1-Disc Theatrical Edition DVD and 1-Disc Unrated for PSP.
How do you make a larger-than-life superhero come across as less than super on the big screen? It sounds easy unless you have the ever charming, international phenom Will Smith starring as the troubled "hero." And how do you make the biggest box office draw in the world look like the kind of hero no one wants to be saved by? That was the challenge for Digital Effects Supervisor Ken Hahn and Visual Effects Supervisor Carey Villegas of Sony Pictures Imageworks on director Peter Berg's new action-comedy.
Working under the designs of the legendary John Dykstra, Imageworks took on the bulk of the vfx creation for this film which looks at what happens when the good guy has a lot of "issues" to work through.
Hahn recalls how they worked to bring Peter Berg's vision of an atypical hero story to life: "I remember from the very beginning you could tell it's not the typical, classic superhero film, where he's got a really nice outfit or he battles a true super-villain. Hancock has his own inner demons. It's funny because when I first read the script it wasn't a visual effects gore-fest. It wasn't a crazy amount of stuff but just a few choice sequences that had some cool moments visually. Of course, once we started shooting... there weren't any storyboards for this film and it was all done as animatics. Pete Berg thinks straight off the top of his head as different ideas would pop up. He would say let's do this and that, which is great. I love that sort of spontaneity of ideas but with visual effects we don't respond as quickly to those kinds of changes. They take time with R&D so that turned out to be fairly challenging... adapting to his style of working."
Single-Disc DVD Special Features Include:
-- "Superhumans": The Making of Hancock-- "Seeing The Future" -- An in-depth look at the scenes of Hancock using pre-visualization, film and behind-the-scenes footage-- "Building A Better Hero" -- Special effects featurette-- "Mere Mortals": Behind-the-Scenes with "Dirty Pete" -- The directing style of Peter Berg
Single Disc Unrated DVD also includes unrated version of the film with footage not seen in theaters.
Blu-ray and 2-Disc DVD Special Features Also Include:
-- Theatrical And Unrated Versions Of The Film-- Unrated Version Includes Footage Not Seen In Theaters-- "Bumps And Bruises" -- Stunts featurette-- "Home Life" -- The building of the Embrey house and Hancock's trailer-- "Suiting Up" -- Costume design featurette
Blu-Ray Exclusive Special Feature: "On-Set Visual Diary" Picture-in-Picture track with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with cast, filmmakers and crew.
Also included with the Blu-ray and 2-Disc DVD, a DVD with a digital copy of the theatrical version of the film.
SPACE CHIMPS On DVD And Blu-ray
While it's not quite as lengthy a journey as his film's simian heroes take, SPACE CHIMPS writer/director Kirk De Micco's odyssey in turning his 2002 concept into a finished work is an adventure in its own right. It began with a viewing of THE RIGHT STUFF, Philip Kaufman's classic 1983 movie, based on Tom Wolfe's book of the same name, that looked at the original Mercury space program. A line from the film stuck in De Micco's head: "Does a monkey know he's sitting on top of a rocket that might explode?"
"I was like, 'Well, what if he did?'" De Micco recalls of his lightbulb-switching-on moment. He found a copy of the 1961 LIFE magazine that featured Ham, the original space chimp, on its cover, looking quite serene -- if not downright smug -- and brought both the magazine and the idea to producer John H. Williams' Vanguard Animation. "I immediately thought it was a good pitch," says Williams. "A chimp with the wrong stuff being sent on a dangerous deep space mission. It seemed like a totally winning idea, and we started developing it from there."
Like any high-concept premise, what would eventually be released as SPACE CHIMPS, now out on DVD/Blu-ray from Twentieth Century Fox Home Home Ent., evolved as it moved forward. "I originally pitched the project to John as a TOMMY BOY conceit," De Micco explains, "the ne'er-do-well grandson of someone great who has to live up to his grandfather's legacy. We were playing a bit on THE RIGHT STUFF, but knowing it would be a send-up of the whole sci-fi genre, not unlike what SHREK did with fairy tales."
DVD Special Features Include:
-- Disc 1 Side A: Full Screen Feature Film-- Vignette/Documentary/Featurette: Fox Movie Channel Presents Casting Session, TV Spot Adventure, TV Spot Countdown, TV Spot Meet, TV Spot Rightstuff, TV Spot Spacier-- Still Gallery-- Trailers: Soundtrack Promo, HORTON HEARS A WHO, DR. DOLITTLE A TINSEL TOWN TAIL, GARFIELD'S PET FORCE, ANGEL WARS: THE MESSENGERS, NIM'S ISLAND, MEET DAVE, ELEPHANT TALES, LEGALLY BLONDES
-- Disc 1 Side B: Widescreen Feature Film-- Vignette/Documentary/Featurette: Fox Movie Channel Presents Casting Session, TV Spot Adventure, TV Spot Countdown, TV Spot Meet, TV Spot Rightstuff, TV Spot Spacier-- Still Gallery-- Trailers: Soundtrack Promo, HORTON HEARS A WHO, DR. DOLITTLE A TINSEL TOWN TAIL, GARFIELD'S PET FORCE, ANGEL WARS: THE MESSENGERS, NIM'S ISLAND, MEET DAVE, ELEPHANT TALES, LEGALLY BLONDE
Blu-ray Special Features Include:
-- Vignette/Documentary/Featurette: Fox Movie Channel Presents Casting Session, TV Spot Adventure, TV Spot Countdown, TV Spot Meet, TV Spot Rightstuff, TV Spot Spacier-- Still Gallery-- Trailers: HORTON HEARS A WHO, DR. DOLITTLE 5, GARFIELD PET FORCE, ANGEL WARS: MESSENGER, NIM'S ISLAND, MEET DAVE, ELEPHANT TALES, LEGALLY BLONDES-- Trivia Blast Off: Facts About Outer Space, Space Travel and the Space Program
THE KINGDOM On Blu-ray
Oscar winners Jamie Foxx (COLLATERAL) and Chris Cooper (BREACH) and Golden Globe winners Jennifer Garner (DAREDEVIL) and Jason Bateman (SMOKIN' ACES) ignite the screen with this high-intensity thriller about a team of elite FBI agents sent to Saudi Arabia to solve a brutal mass murder and find a killer before he strikes again. Out of their element and under heavy fire, the team must join forces with their Saudi counterparts. As these unlikely allies begin to unlock the secrets of the crime scene, the team is led into a heart-stopping, do-or-die confronation.
THE KINGDOM, a 2007 theatrical release, is now out on Blu-ray from Universal Studios Home Ent.
Standard-Definition Special Features Include:
-- Audio Commentary by director Peter Berg-- Constructing the Freeway Sequence-- Creating the Kingdom-- Character by Character: The Apartment Shoot Out
High-Definition Special Features Include:
-- U-Control (Tutorial, The Mission Dossier, BonusView)-- Deleted Scenes-- The Mission Dossier-- The History of the Kingdom interactive timeline
MEET DAVE On DVD And Blu-ray
A massive fireball from space hits New York's Central Park and an ordinary man emerges unscathed. The man turns out to be a spaceship operated by 100 human-looking aliens who are one-quarter inch tall and seeking a way to save their planet; complications ensue when their captain falls in love with an Earth woman who's always picked losers for previous romances.
Like a latter-day "Trojan horse," Eddie Murphy plays host to a group of miniature aliens inhabiting his body in the sci-fi comedy MEET DAVE, now on DVD/Blu-ray from Twentieth Century Fox Home Ent (vfx by CIS Hollywood, Hydraulx and Rhythm & Hues).
Executing this broad comedic premise required a range of visual effects techniques, and Director Brian Robbins (who also directed Murphy in NORBIT) chose a consummate pro to supervise those effects: Mark Stetson. An Oscar winner for the vfx in THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, Stetson has worked on more than 50 films in several capacities -- from model shop/prop shop/creature shop supervisor to designer/illustrator and art director. His credits include the BAFTA-winning effects for THE FIFTH ELEMENT, the Oscar-nominated effects in SUPERMAN RETURNS and 2010, and outstanding miniatures for the legendary BLADE RUNNER.
Stetson recalls how they determined which house would work on what: "We grouped the sequences so that the work was roughly split between Hydraulx (in Santa Monica) and CIS [Hollywood]. Part of the decision was pragmatic, driven by our budget constraints -- we couldn't bring too many people with us for the month-long location shoot in New York City. Hydraulx did the Times Square Sidewalk sequence and the end sequence with the giant whirlpool and Dave's distended mouth. The Sidewalk sequence and whirlpool shots at the end were their high points. They had some really tough shots with the windshield wiper shots and our tiny CG heroes flying on the CG plastic bag. CIS did the beginning sequences, which were shot on stage or on L. A. locations: the alley leg repair and the expository flight through the ship's interior, the interior mouth flooding shots and the mutiny. I really liked CIS' trip-through-the-starship-interior shot and the mutiny sequence. The finger blaster is great over-the-top comedy [and Special Effects Supervisor] Garry Elmendorf gave us great stuff to work with. He launched his exploding police car 20 feet into the air. Both teams had to solve problems which they hadn't faced before, so their lives and ours stayed interesting until the end!"
DVD Special Features Include:
-- Disc 1 Side A: Full Screen Feature Film -- Forced Trailers: DR. DOLITTLE: A TINSEL TOWN TAIL, HORTON HEARS A WHO-- Gag Reel-- Disc 1 Side B: Widescreen Feature Film-- Crew Confessions-- Trailer Farm: SPACE CHIMPS, WHAT HAPPENS IN, NIMS ISLAND, THE ROCKER, GARFIELD FUNFEST, ANGEL WARS: MESSENGER
Blu-ray Special Features Include:
-- Forced Trailers: Digital Copy Trailer, THE ROCKER, HORTON HEARS A WHO, WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS, ICE AGE 3 DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS-- Crew Profiles-- Mission: Reboot game-- Gag Reel-- Deleted Scenes: Did You See That?, Art on the Floor and Making Out in the Elevator, Arrest this Traitor, And Another Thing Number 4-- Alternate Ending-- The Making of MEET DAVE-- Fox Movie Channel Presents... Life after Film School with director Brian Robbins-- Fox Movie Channel Presents... In Character With-- Fox Movie Channel Presents... Making a Scene-- Fox Movie Channel Presents... World Premiere
SUPERMAN: DOOMSDAY Special Edition On Blu-ray And DVD
When Lexcorp accidentally unearths the intergalactic serial killer Doomsday, Superman battles the creature head on in the fight of his life...literally in animated feature SUPERMAN: DOOMSDAY, now on Blu-ray from Warner Home Video. The world collectively mourns their fallen hero; humanity realizes it will never feel truly safe again. Superman's enemies rejoice -- all but Lex Luthor, who grieves the loss in his own demented manner, setting off a chilling chain of events that even he couldn't have foreseen. Inspired by the bestselling graphic novel of all time, DC Comics' THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN, this feature-length animated adventure boasts exciting action sequences that rivals anything you've ever seen starring the Man of Steel!
New Special Features Include:
-- New Featurette "When Heroes Die: The Making of SUPERMAN DOOMSDAY"-- Audio Commentary-- Four Bonus Episodes of SUPERMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES hand-picked by Bruce Timm-- Requiem and Rebirth: Superman Lives!-- SUPERMAN DOOMSDAY "Behind the Voices" Featurette-- JUSTICE LEAGUE NEW FRONTIER Featurette--- WONDER WOMAN Sneak Peek Featurette
