Warner Home Video yesterday (Jan. 30) unveiled a huge theatrical catalog release slate for the year, which will include more than 200 separate titles.
The slate is even larger than last year, which saw WHV garnering the No. 1 market share in the theatrical catalog category with 22%. Though most studios experienced a decrease in sales for the category in 2005—WHV reports that overall sales were down 3.5%—WHV’s theatrical catalog sales increased 11.4% last year, compared to 2004.
This year’s highlights will include two-disc special editions of “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?,” the 1962 version of “Mutiny on the Bounty,” “Forbidden Planet,” “The Maltese Falcon,” a series of Stanley Kubrick titles including “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “A Clockwork Orange” and “The Searchers,” which will be the company’s first day-and-date release with the new HD DVD format on June 13. “The Searchers” will also be part of a John Wayne/John Ford Ultimate Collector’s set.
WHV previously announced its first group of 24 HD DVD titles, which are expected to be available staring in late March. The studio reported yesterday that all of the titles it releases on HD DVD will also be released on Blu-ray when the competing next-generation format is ready for its U.S. debut.
Other release slate highlights include a 14-disc “Superman” set, which will include a special edition of “Superman II” featuring never-before-seen footage created by its original director, Richard Donner, new-to-DVD titles from the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers and Busby Berkeley libraries, and gift sets featuring the films of Clark Gable, James Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, Paul Newman, Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, and Gary Cooper.
