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Look ahead to 2007

At the start of a New Year, it’s traditional for me to look ahead to what’s coming up in the next 12 months. This is impossible when it comes to DVD releases, as labels are never sure of their production schedule more than a few months in advance, let alone for the entire year. Disney/Buena Vista seems to be able to plot when their library of classics will reach shelves up to nine months ahead of time, but for everything else it’s a matter of adjusting to market trends and conforming to promotion strategies. In general, it’s safe to say that a theatrical hit like Night in the Museum will get to DVD in about four months time, but often the length of time until street date is predicated on how well a feature is doing at the box office. Studios sometimes want to speed up the DVD launch in order to gain from the initial publicity, while some titles will be delayed so that either excitement can build for a hit or memories can fade for a bomb. Seasoning of hit TV series can come very soon these days, while older TV shows will be seasoned to coincide with a related theatrical release, which is why Warner Bros. decided to bunch up a lot of their Superman TV titles during the period they were promoting Superman Returns last year.  
 
And so, I won’t be attempting to preview major DVD releases for 2007 here. Instead, I’ve opted to list some major theatrical and direct-to-DVD (live-action) genre features on the horizon, assured that if the theatrical features don’t make it to DVD by year’s end, we’ll see them not long after. (Animated features were listed in this week’s Anime Avalanche column.) 

Albert Fish (Facets) Director John Borowski’s true crime dramatization of the infamous cannibal killer. 
Alice (Universal) Horror queen Sarah Michelle Gellar as Lewis Carroll’s heroine all grown up and returning to Wonderland.  
Alien vs. Predator 2 (Fox) Directed by the Strause Brothers f/x team.  
Amazon – Scarlet Johansson as a gladiator warrior?!? 
Bat Boy – Musical horror comedy directed by John Landis. 
Be Kind Rewind (New Line) Comedy about slackers trying to refill an erased video store by remaking all the movies. 
Beowulf (Paramount) Robert Zemeckis takes a crack at the legend, from a script by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avery. 
Big Bosoms and Square Jaws – Rob Cohen’s biopic of Russ Meyer.  
Blood and Chocolate (MGM) Werewolf romance.  
Day of the Dead (Warner Bros.) Steve Miner’s zombie remake.  
Diary of the Dead – George Romero’s latest zombie flick.  
Dead or Alive (Weinstein) Corey Yuen’s adaptation of the action babe team game, delayed from December.  
Evan Almighty (Universal) Steve Carell stars in the sequel to Bruce Almighty. 
Evil Live – Vampire K-horror from Park Chan-wook (Oldboy). 
Epic Movie (Fox) Spoof from the Date Movie crew. 
Exodus 20:13 – The concept recalls thrillers like Death Race 2000: “To counteract massive overpopulation, the U.S. government passes a law stating every citizen can apply to kill one person a year on a predetermined day.” 
The Eye (Lionsgate) US remake of the HK hit with Jessica Alba seeing ghosts. 
Fahrenheit 451 (Castle Rock) Frank Darabont (The Green Mile) adapts Ray Bradbury.

Fahrenheit 9/11½ (Miramax) Michael Moore charts Bush’s second term. 
Fanboys (MGM) Comedy in which four Midwestern guys drive to Skywalker Ranch for a preview of The Phantom Menace.  
Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Fox) Who woulda thought that a big screen adaptation of the legendary “Galactus Trilogy” would be released the same year as the “Spider-man Black Suit” story? 
Farce of the Penguins (THINKfilm) Bob Saget is fed up with penguin movies, too. 
Fleming (Warner Bros.) Biopic of 007 creator. 
The Forest – Horror in a cabin directed by Tom Savini. 
Fred Claus (Warner Bros.) Paul Giamatti as Santa, who is disturbed when his older brother Vince Vaughn moves in. 
Gallowwalker – Horror western in which gunfighter Wesley Snipes’ enemies rise from the dead. 
Ghost Rider (Sony) Nic Cage as cursed biker Johnny Blaze. 
The Ghost Who Walks – A new adaptation of the Phantom comic-strip is in the works. 
Goners (Universal) Joss Whedon’s new movie. 
Grindhouse (Weinstein) Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino action horror double feature, plus intermission. 
HACK/slash – The Devil’s Due hit comic (and play) written by Tim Seeley about a pair of serial killer hunters comes to the movies. 
Halloween (Dimension) Rob Zombie’s remake. 
The Hands of Shang-Chi (DreamWorks) Yuen Woo-ping adapts Marvel Comics’ Master of Kung Fu, minus Fu Manchu due to rights complications. 
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Warner Bros.) TV director David Yates gets a big chance by getting hired for Potter Number 5.  
Hawaii Five-O (Warner Bros.) Another TV adaptation. 
Highlander: The Source (Lionsgate) McCleod and pals try to find out why they’re immortal.  
The Hills Have Eyes 2 (Fox) Sequel pits National Guard trainees against cannibal mutants. 
The Hitcher (Rogue) Another horror remake.  
Hitman (Fox) Video game adaptation. 
Hostel Part 2 (Lionsgate) More Europhobia from Eli Roth. 
House (Fox) No, it’s not a TV show adaptation, but a masked killer horror. 
I Am Legend (Warner Bros.) Will Smith is the last man on Earth not infected with a vampire plague. 
The Invasion (Warner Bros.) Nicole Kidman vs. alien infection. Casino Royale reunion for Daniel Craog and Jeffrey Wright. 
The Invisible (Buena Vista) David Goyer ghost chiller.  
The Iron Triangle – Hong Kong directors Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam and Johnny To team up for an actionfest.  
Kaidan (Shochiku) Hideo Nakata takes a crack at some classic J-horror. 
Kung Fu High School (Weinstein) Action comedy that sounds like a manga series adaptation. 
The Last Mimzy (New Line) Brother and sister geniuses have supernatural powers.  
Live Free or Die Hard (Fox) Bruce Willis is back again, fighting to save the internet. Directed by Len Wiseman (Underworld). 
Logan’s Run (Warner Bros.) No director or cast announced yet for this remake. 
 
Whao! Even cut down, that’s a long list already, so I’ll have to continue with the other half next week. 
 

SPOTLIGHT OF THE WEEK 

For some unknown reason there happens to be an inordinate amount of kung fu DVD released today. This one stands out as the best bargain package of the bunch:  

(O)  MARTIAL ARTS SHOWDOWN Volume 1 (Tai Seng) 6-disc set of old school kung fu action includes Leg Fighters, Death Ring, Killer of Snake Fox of Shaolin, Killer From Above, Eagle’s Claw and Butterfly Palm and Challenge of Death. 

NEW RELEASES

 
(O)  BEER LEAGUE (Echo Bridge) Slacker sports comedy in which loser Artie Lange finds redemption in his local softball team. With commentrak, bonus short, interviews, ringtones and more. 
(O)  BOOK AND SWORD: THE FINAL BATTLE (Tai Seng) More of Vincent Zhao’s Hong Kong TV adaptation of the perennial Chinese adventure story in a 2-disc set.  
(O)  BRAINIAC (Brain Damage) An experimental mood elevating drug causes genetic changes in users, making them brain-eating ghouls. 
(O)  CONTACT / SPHERE (Warner Bros.) Very good / very bad sci-fi double feature. 

THE COVENANT

© Sony

BLU-RAY DISC CORNER 

(O)  THE COVENANT (Sony) 

UMD CORNER 

(O)  THE DARK CRYSTAL (Sony) DVD/UMD 2-pack. 
(O)  ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (Sony) DVD/UMD 2-pack. 
(O)  LABYRINTH (Sony) DVD/UMD 2-pack. 
(O)  SPECIES (Sony) DVD/UMD 2-pack. 
 

And be sure to check back next week—and every week—for Mania’s DVD Shopping List! And don’t forget Anime Avalanche every Monday!

DVD Shopping List (© 2007 Brian Thomas) is our weekly DVD column. Brian Thomas is the author of the massive book VideoHound’s Dragon: Asian Action & Cult Flicks, available now! 

Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at DVD Shopping List.