More Details Of The Dark Crystal And Labyrinth Special Edition DVDs

Special edition DVDs of both Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal are due in the US on August 14th and around that time in the UK too. Here's a little of what will be on each:

- The Dark Crystal 25th Anniversary Edition - new transfer from a hi-def remaster
- Audio commentary from Brian Froud
- The featurettes Paper, Cloth and Creatures and Coming of Age (these featurettes include a wide array of new interview clips)
- 2 disc set

- Labyrinth Anniversay Edition - which anniversay exactly? - with a new transfer from a hi-def remaster
- Audio commentary from Brian Froud
- The featurettes Singular Vision and the Kingdom United, Creatures and Creations and Lifelike Illusion
- 2 disc set

More is expected to be leaked soon - the Dark Crystal set has 'hours' of special features, whereas Labyrinth has 'over an hour' - including cover art. Stay tuned.

Movie Minesweeper - The Colder Than July Edition

- You can download and enjoy the My Blueberry Nights press kit in pdf form. The Hollywood Reporter Hollywood report that at the first press screening "a few fans tried to generate some applause, but the screening room quickly fell silent."

- Sean Hughes is to appear on Coronation Street.

- Thomas Jane won't be The Punisher again, and he's told Aint it Cool why. I don't really know a great deal about the comic books, but I can see how a good Punisher film would work. Chan Wook Park would be very at home with the material, for example.

- There's a rumour going round that 50 Cent might be the next Terminator.

- Lionsgate will pimp The Spirit in the UK and the US. Shooting is likely to start this summer, unless Sin City 2 isn't pushed back again. Though, apparently, it will be.

- Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont are to direct Red-Tails in Love, but they won't script it - at least, not the formal last draft. The writers are to be Peter Speakman and Michael Gavin.

- What Happens in Vegas is to star Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher. Chances are, we'll wish it stayed in Vegas.

- Richard Curtis' The Girl in the Cafe has been remade in German with Julia Jentsch in the Kelly McDonald role.

- Apparently, the zombies in Steve Miner's Day of the Dead rapemake - sorry, remake -
are 'sexier' than in the original. Like, literally. But are they sexier than in Return of the Living Dead Part 3?

- Screendaily are reporting remakes of The Long Good Friday and Mona Lisa. The directors attached? Paul W. S. Anderson and Larry Clark, respectively. Both stories are being relocated to the US. No director is yet attached to the Time Bandits remake from the same producers - which, hopefully, will mean it never happens. Ever.

- Jim Brown's Pete Seeger documentary is to open Silverdocs 2007. Springsteen has boosted Seeger's profile somewhat, this may be something of a minor hit - if only on TV.

- Has David Goyer cast Justin Chatwin as Magneto? Possibly. I heard Ben Whishaw was up for it, but I don't really know about that for sure either.

- Roger Moore, Ioan Gruffud, Alice Evans, Ruby Wax and Brian Blessed are to provide voices for Agent Crush, a CG spy spoof toon.

- Eliza Dushku has signed on for Rob Schmidt's The Alphabet Killer. Bet it isn't as pedestrian as Zodiac - but I doubt it will be as ambitious either.

- William Macy is to star in, produce and co-write Family Man for TNT. The show will be directed by Stephen Schachter, Macy's co-writer and frequent collaborator.

- Ye Olde Times is a film about Medieval fairs and re-enactments, set to star Jack Black and Tim Robbins, and it's up for sale at Cannes this year.

- MoviesOnline have a piece about the casino set for Ocean's 13.

- Hank Azaria is to direct Outsourced. If he can hold it together, he'll probably have a smash - the film stars Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, will likely be marketed as a Wedding Crashers reteam.

- Glenn Close, Larry Fishburne and Djimon Honsou are apparently up for the Death Race do-over. Joan Allen is reportedly a back up plan for - yeah, that's right, Larry Fishburne. No - Close, obviously.

- Jennifer Garner is cooking up a TV show 'by moms, and for moms' - The View with nappies?

- Development of The Princess and the Frog and Rapunzel is progressing nicely. Each of them is about to be done as a story reel, which brings them close to the actual animation process, providing all is in order. The reels for American Dog have been completed and screened, and the signs are good.

- Today is the anniversary of Jim Henson's death, in 1990. I've missed him ever since.

More Muppetry

The second season of The Muppet Show on DVD still doesn't have a release date, but I'm told that they've now stopped chasing clearances and the final edits - the odd song missing - are to be locked.

It's a shame that so many TV shows on DVD suffer from copyright issues surrounding their musical content, but it's less forgivable when musical content is ditched simply to save costs - some shows, for example, only feature the theme music on a handful of epsiodes of their DVD sets to cut down on expense. Best move? Go for a buyout deal when negotiating theme tunes in the firstplace.

The below cover art was chosen after a vote on the official Muppets website.


Earlier in the week, Jim Hill Media published a great piece that gives details of many future Muppet endeavours. I'd recommend popping over to read the whole thing.

Baron Munchausen Gets Deluxe In September

There's a 'Deluxe Edition' of Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen coming to DVD this September. Appopriately enough, the site that scooped Sony's plan is in Brazil.

Apparently, September is also the month that the long-discussed Hostel special edition will make it to DVD - hopefully with the extended cut and alternative endings - as well as another pressing of Jim Henson's Labyrinth.