Wiki News/DVD/Blu-ray Announcements: A 'Kick-Ass' 'Date' with 'The Goonies'



Ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances from the mob and thieves could certainly be the theme for this week's announcements. If they didn't also have to face diplomats, vengeful animals, a dimension of sight and sound and Tyler Perry.

The fanboys will be excited this week as Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass comes to DVD & Blu-ray on Aug. 3 from Lionsgate. Special features on the DVD will include commentary and a featurette on the comic's origin while the Blu-ray will add feature-length making-ofs and an "Ass-Kicking Bonus View Mode." That same day Summit will debut Roman Polanski's acclaimed The Ghost Writer, presumably with no ass-kicking or bonus views of any kind.

A week later on Aug. 10, Fox will debut the $95+ million-grossing Date Night with Steve Carell and Tina Fey. The film marked a change of pace for director Shawn Levy in that it was actually pretty good. You can listen to him talk all about it on a commentary featured on both formats along with a gag reel, extended car chase and more. If you want deleted scenes and camera tests as well, though, you might want to opt for the Blu-ray over the DVD. That same day, Fox will also release the little seen David Duchovny/Demi Moore satire, The Joneses. Meanwhile, on Aug. 17, Walt Disney Pictures' Best Friends Forever: The Movie, based on hit TV series, Best Friends Forever will release the film on DVD including Blu-ray, plus an extended edition of the film, including 10 minutes, totalling the film's runtime of 115 minutes.

Two weeks after Summit releases one of the best reviewed films of 2010, they will deliver (numbers-wise) the worst of the year not named The Bounty Hunter or Sex and the City 2. Nope it's Brendan Fraser and Furry Vengeance, the film Greg Russell called "the furriest, funniest film of the spring" will be available for family viewing on Aug. 17. That same day Sony will bow Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's Cemetery Junction, forgoing any type of American theatrical release. Having loved Gervais' first co-directing gig (2009's underappreciated The Invention of Lying) this is certainly one I will be looking forward to. Much moreso than Tyler Perry's latest follow-up, Why Did I Get Married Too? which Lionsgate will release on Aug. 31.

Over to the Blu-ray side of the equation, Disney will be releasing their latest Nature doc, Oceans, on Oct. 19. It will be available on DVD as well but when dealing with the popping deep blues and multi-colored creatures below the surface I think it's best to start with the Blu-ray and go from there. Of course, colors never look as rich or pop as much as they do in Las Vegas, even back in the glory days prompting Warner Bros. to release a 50th Anniversary Edition of the Rat Pack's Ocean's 11 on Blu-ray Oct. 5. But for a different generation, it wasn't so much about Frank, Dean and Sammy. More like Chunk, Mouth and Data. And it is time for a 25th Anniversary celebration of Richard Donner's The Goonies. The Digital Bits are reporting that there isn't much in the way of new features (which will also be available on DVD), but the package will include a new board game, storyboard prints and a 1985 souvenir magazine about the making of the film. All that will be available on Nov. 2.

For further planning, just click on the following links for a full schedule of DVD and Blu-ray releases.