Jump to: DVD News, DVD Reviews

Saw II Buzzes to the Top
Lionsgate's horror sequel Saw II buzzed through the competition to take the top spot on both the preliminary national DVD sales chart and the video rental chart for the week ending February 19.

Lady and the Tramp Turns 50
It's hard to believe, but it's true. Disney's Lady and the Tramp turns the big 50. To help celebrate the festive occasion, Disney is releasing a 2-Disc special edition of the classic tale that will be available in stores on Tuesday, February 28.

King Kong DVD Specs Announced
Universal Studios Home Entertainment has announced that Peter Jackson's King Kong will arrive in stores March 28, 2006.

Lionsgate Announces First Blu-ray Disc Titles
Lionsgate, the leading independent filmed entertainment company, today announced plans to release 10 titles on the next-generation high-definition Blu-ray Disc (BD) to coincide with the arrival of the first commercially offered BD players in stores.

Bambi II Dominates with 2.6 Million Units Sold
In its first week of availability, Walt Disney Pictures' Bambi II sold over 2.6 million units on DVD in North America, it was announced today by Bob Chapek, President of Buena Vista Home Entertainment. The sequel to Bambi , the 1942 Academy Award® nominated family film, Bambi II is on track to become another Disney animated treasure.

First Look Teams with Anderson for Baywatch
First Look Studios, the growing independent entertainment company, has teamed with Pamela Anderson for the official DVD release of the popular series Baywatch . As part of the alliance, First Look Studios will market and sell the DVDs domestically and in select international territories; and Anderson will provide marketing consulting, promotional experiences and appearances. First Look secured the DVD rights to the Baywatch series through an agreement with Freemantle Entertainment. The Baywatch DVDs will go on sale in 2006 through retail and direct sales channels.

Richard Donner Talks Superman
On returning to New York City to talk about his new action-thriller 16 Blocks , director Richard Donner spoke to ComingSoon.net/SuperheroHype.com about the involvement he's been having in Bryan Singer's upcoming revamp of the franchise for b>Superman Returns.

Bambi II Outpacing Wallace & Gromit
The Hollywood Reporter says that the direct-to-video sequel Bambi II is racking up impressive sales and handily beating Wallace & Gromit - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

Corpse Bride Not Dead on Arrival
Warner Home Video's Tim Burton's Corpse Bride topped the preliminary national DVD sales chart for the week ending Feb. 5.

Disney announces April 2006 Release for "Narnia"
Disney has announced the upcoming April release of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Both asingle disc and special 2-disc versions of the upcoming DVD will be available. The single disc version will offer two audio commentaries; the first with director Andrew Adamson and the production crew and one with Adamson and the child actors. A pop-up trivia track will also be included. The two disc version will additionally include a booklet, art galleries filmmaker diaries, featurettes and an interactive map (presumably of Narnia). Both will arrive on April 4th.

Lord of War Debuts at Number One -- Lord of War , the theatrical film released on DVD and video by Lionsgate last Tuesday, reigned supreme among this week's new DVD releases.

The Chronicles of Narnia DVD Cover Artwork -- Buena Vista Home Entertainment has revealed the DVD cover artwork for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe , the adaptation of the C.S. Lewis novel. The fantasy movie, which has earned over $536.5 million worldwide, will be available in both a Special Two-Disc Collector's Edition and a single disc version on spring.

Two for the Money: Winning Against the Odds -- Two for the Money is a movie based on the life of sports betting consultant Brandon Lang. Lang was born in Midland, Michigan in 1963. He was a star athlete during his school years and seemed to be destined for a professional sports career until he sustained a knee injury. The mishap would throw a curve in Lang's aspirations and take his life in a unique direction.

Crashers Strong in Second Week -- DreamWorks Home Entertainment's Red Eye and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's Transporter 2 , debuted at the Nos. 1 and 2 positions on the home video rental chart their first week in stores.

Goblet of Fire on DVD March 7 -- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire will be available on a Single-Disc DVD for $28.98 SRP in full frame and widescreen formats. The 2-Disc Special Edition DVD will be available at $30.97 SRP and the "Harry Potter Special Edition 4-pack" at $73.92 SRP; both in widescreen format only. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire will also be available in UMD format for PSP.

Wedding Crashers Tops the Charts -- Box office hit Wedding Crashers rose to the top of both the DVD sales and rental charts its first week out, says The Hollywood Reporter .

Studios Announce First Blu-ray Disc Titles -- With the 2006 International CES technology show getting underway in Las Vegas, studios have announced their first titles for the next-generation home video format, Blu-ray Disc (BD), which provides five times larger capacity than today's DVDs. Blu-ray Disc players will be fully backward compatible with current CD/DVD formats, delivering entertainment content in full high-definition (HD) quality, under a secure environment made possible through the most advanced copyright protection technology. Featuring 1920x1080p HD quality, the Blu-ray Disc ROM technology will also be included in Sony's Playstation 3.

Band Camp Scores a Million Units Week One -- American Pie Presents Band Camp , the latest DVD Original from Universal Studios Home Entertainment (USHE) and Rogue Pictures, lit up retail cash registers during the post-holiday frame. The fourth installment of Universal's outrageously raunchy blockbuster comedy franchise has sold more than one million combined DVD and VHS units since its December 26, 2005 street date.

Four Brothers Atop the DVD Charts -- Paramount Home Entertainment's Four Brothers stormed to the top of the DVD sales and rental charts for the week ending December 25. The John Singleton-directed thriller narrowly beat last week's sales topper, Universal's The 40-Year-Old Virgin , which slipped to No. 2 on VideoScan's First Alert sales chart.

Zoran Integrates PVR and Set Top Box Functions Into DVD Recorder Chip Set
Zoran Corporation announced its Activa 220 and 230 processors, additional members of the recently announced family of breakthrough DVD recorder solutions, are now sampling to major DVD recorder manufacturers worldwide and their capabilities are being demonstrated at the International Consumer Electronics Show 2006 in Las Vegas.

LSI Logic and YesVideo Introduce Integrated DVD Recorder Software for Indexing Video Content -- LSI Logic Corporation , the pioneer in innovative media processing for the Digital Home, and YesVideo, Inc. , the leader in automated digital authoring, today announced the extension of their partnership through the integration of the new YesDVD Recorder 1.5 software into the LSI next- generation DVD recorder chips based on the DoMiNo® architecture.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin Tops with 3.7M Units -- The 40-Year-Old Virgin took an uninhibited romp through stores this holiday shopping season, scoring approximately 3.7 million combined DVD and VHS units in the first week since its December 13, 2005 street date.

Fantastic Four Tops DVD Sales -- 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment's Fantastic Four , Warner Home Video's The Dukes of Hazzard and Universal Studios Home Entertainment's Cinderella Man snagged the top slots on the preliminary national DVD sales chart for the week ending Dec. 11.

40-Year-Old Virgin Scores Two Million Units -- The 40-Year-Old Virgin , now available in a new Unrated Edition featuring 17 additional hilarious minutes and an orgy of bonus features, ignited the holiday shopping season, selling approximately two million in combined DVD and VHS units on its first day of release. The Universal Studios Home Entertainment comedy blockbuster, which was released on December 13, 2005, has also attracted critical accolades, having received a nomination by the American Film Institute for 2005's "Outstanding Motion Picture of the Year."

Sin City Gets Recut and Extended -- Artist Frank Miller was the last person to believe his graphic novel series, "Sin City," could successfully be re-created as a feature-length film. That was before he began working with director Robert Rodriguez and the two teamed up as co-directors on Sin City . The success of the movie and its faithful recreation of Miller's stark black-and-white style was a triumph for Rodriguez.

King Kong Diaries Producer Michael Pellerin -- ComingSoon.net spoke with producer Michael Pellerin, who was responsible for putting together the new two-disc DVD set of King Kong: Peter Jackson's Production Diaries, which takes you onto the set and behind the scenes of the new action-effects epic.

Smith Kills in First -- 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment's Mr. & Mrs. Smith , starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, topped the DVD sales and rental charts for the week ending Dec. 4.

24 Prequel in the Season 4 DVD -- With the clock ticking closer toward the season five premiere of 24 , information linking the series' fourth and fifth seasons is available exclusively on a DVD prequel featuring series stars Kiefer Sutherland and Mary Lynn Rajskub. 24 's season four DVD hits stores Tuesday. Dec. 6, and the fifth season premieres with a four-hour, two-night event Sunday, Jan. 15 and Monday, Jan. 16 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. The second night on Monday, Jan. 16 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) includes the series' 100th episode.

DVD Reviews