IRON GIANT comes to home video

Some fans, who are still shaking their heads over the poor boxoffice performance of the critically acclaimed THE IRON GIANT, director Brad Bird's adaptation of the children's book by British Poet Laureate Ted Hughes, have suggested that Warner Bros. should re-vamp their publicity campaign for the film by targeting a larger audience than the young kids that were originally targeted, and re-release THE IRON GIANT theatrically. Such a scenario appears unlikely now that Warner Home Video has announced THE IRON GIANT for home video and DVD. In fact, Warner appears to disagree that the film would have benefited from a different marketing strategy since the video retailer's announcement for the video release says that "part of the campaign for the release of THE IRON GIANT [video] will be a major advertising schedule targeting kids ages 4-11 and parents of kids 4-11." The same video announcement does not mention any "advertising schedule" targeting a broader group. In any case, fans of the widescreen film will be happy to know that the film will be released in letterboxed format on both VHS and DVD. The DVD will also include "The Making of THE IRON GIANT," the CHA HUA HUA music video by Eddie Platt, one of the soundtrack's featured performers, the theatrical trailer, and a filmography section. The video retails for US$22.95, and the DVD retails for US$24.98. Both will be released on November 23, 1999.