KillerFilm » Ben Hur

Ben-Hur. Blu-ray. Epic.

Jon Peters — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 20:40:46 +0000

While Ben-Hur isn’t a genre film in most sense of the term, the genre films it inspired qualifies it as a ground-breaking film in its influence, even though the film is legendary just on its own. Any of that great podrace in The Phantom Menace wouldn’t exist with Ben-Hur, nor would Gladiator in most regards.

TheDigitalBits has the latest on its first ever Blu-ray release from WHV, coming TBD (Fall 2011). “Included will be a reproduction of the personal diary that Charlton Heston kept during the production, complete with personal photos and his own sketches. There will also be a new HD documentary on Heston’s experiences during the making of the film, entitled Charlton Heston & Ben-Hur: A Personal Journey, which includes home movie footage shot by his wife Lydia inside the Colosseum set. That’s in addition to all of the previous DVD special features, which include audio commentary, Ben-Hur: The 1925 Silent Version, the 2005 Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema documentary, the 1994 Ben-Hur: The Making of an Epic documentary, the Ben-Hur: A Journey Through Pictures A/V presentation (featuring photos, storyboards, sketches, music and dialogue from the film), screen tests, vintage newsreels, highlights from the 1960 Academy Awards ceremony, trailers and more. You’ll also get an exclusive book filled with production photos, production art and a reproduction of the original theatrical press book. The Blu-ray version will feature 2 BD-50s, while the DVD version will be a 5-disc set.”

I own the mammoth four-disc DVD set and it’s still stellar, but just look at this:

The set seen above will be limited and numbered, although exact count is yet undetermined. Like other WVH BDs, expect a two-disc set to be released as well, for those who don’t wish to own the set.

WHV announces Citizen Kane and Ben-Hur for Blu-ray

Jon Peters — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 04:28:58 +0000

Warner Home Video announced today that the current 2-disc Special Edition of Citizen Kane on DVD will be going on moratorium on May 10th. Ben-Hur, which has a four-disc set, as well as, a single disc DVD will be on moratorium July 12th. This means if you don’t own those current releases, you won’t be able to past those dates.

But the real news is that WHV said in 2011 Citizen Kane and Ben-Hur will be receiving Blu-ray releases for “a confluence of events: anniversaries, stunning remasterings, and spectacular new Blu-ray debuts“. The epic Ben-Hur will be getting Warners’ Ultimate Collector’s Edition treatment, much like their stellar releases for Gone with the Wind and the Wizard of Oz. Also, look for DVD releases of these.

Blu-ray and cinema fans, is your mouth watering yet? More on these soon!

Source: The Digital Bits

Will the Catholic Church boycott Angels and Demons and make it a hit?

Daniel Herrera — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:59:41 +0000

Ron Howards upcoming sequel and adaptation to his huge global hit The Da Vinci Code, is already stirring controversy as reports are trickling in from the Vatican newspaper that they may boycott Angels and Demons, as they simply stated that they “cannot approve” of the film. The last time this happened it resulted in the film being boycotted in the end, and most recently happened with The Golden Compass. While this may seem like a horrible thing for a film to be labeled as “banned” by the Catholic Church, in the end all the negative press for the film ends up bringing the film more into the spotlight than ever and causing the film to earn more money in the end than it normally would.

While the Catholic Church many times tries to stay outside of popular media, many times they have also tried to recoup a bit of the spotlight as was done back in 1995, when during the 100th anniversary of motion pictures, the Catholic Church decided to announce their list of the 45 ’great films’ which they conveniently broke up into three categories: Religion,Values and Art. Some of the films put on the list include: The Seventh Seal, Ben Hur, Nosferatu, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Ghandi.

You can also access the full list of the 45 films HERE

Some of the films in the past that have been boycotted by the Catholic Church include: The DaVinci Code (for ‘slanderous’ offenses against Catholicism), The Golden Compass ( due to its ‘atheist agenda’ ) and The Last Temptation of Christ Christ (for being “historically false”). Now aside from the actual boycotts from the Vatican itself there are even those in The Catholic League who try to boycott everything under the sun from such films as Priest and Dogma to that of Rosie O’Donnell herself ( we can only assume the distaste for O’Donnel resulted from the film Last Exit to Eden.)

With the films mentioned do you think an actual boycotting of the film will do more good than harm? Check out the box office count for the boycotted films.

The Last Temptation of Christ-8.3 Million (only released in 123 theatres at its highest theatre count)

The Da Vinci Code- 758 Million

The Golden Compass- 372 Million. This film is rather interesting in that there was a huge onslaught of controversy and ‘boycotting’ of the film by the catholic league discussing how unsuccessful the film was HERE,yet of course with a budget of 180 million and a worldwide gross of 372 million, you have to wonder who is really to blame for the films success. The boycott or the actual popularity of the film.

Now I certainly am not against the practices the church and its subsidiaries attempt to do with the films. I just wonder if all the negative word on the films will in the end come back and make the film even more money in the end regardless on the films actual merits. As they say in the end, all press is in fact good press.

Don’t forget The Catholic League once tried to boycott Miller Beer, so a little perspective must be taken when film boycotts such as these have take place.