Oscar winners slated for DVD
Many already in stores
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 2/25/2008
FEB. 25 | Best Picture standout No Country for Old Men leads a large batch of Oscar-winning films soon headed to DVD and/or are already available at retail.
Streeting on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on March 11, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment’s No Country boasts four Oscar trophies, representing the largest award haul of any of Sunday night’s contenders.
As well the top prize, No Country scored honors for best directing and adapted screenplay for Joel and Ethan Coen and supporting actor for Javier Bardem.
Movie fans also will be able to soon catch from the comfort of home the Oscar-winning lead acting performance of Daniel Day-Lewis in Paramount Home Entertainment’s April 8 release There Will Be Blood.
Atonement, singled out for best original score, streets on DVD and HD DVD on March 18 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment’s Juno, whose first-time screenwriter Diablo Cody won for best original screenplay, hits DVD and Blu-ray on April 15.
Juno especially cleaned up at Saturday’s Independent Spirit Awards, landing three wins for best picture, best actress for Ellen Page and first screenplay for Cody.
Other Spirt-winners streeting soon on DVD are Fox’s April 22 release The Savages, featuring best actor Philip Seymour Hoffman and a best screenplay by Tamara Jenkins; and Disney’s April 29 release The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, with best director Julian Schnabel.
The Weinstein Company’s I’m Not There, whose release through Genius Products hasn’t yet been specified, scored a best supporting actress prize for Cate Blanchett.
Plenty of victorious Oscar features can already be enjoyed on DVD. HBO Video’s La Vie En Rose and Fox’s Once streeted in November and December, respectively. La Vie En Rose headliner Marion Cotillard snagged the best actress statuette over the arguable heavy favorite Julie Christie in Away From Her. In another upset, Once stars Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova nabbed the Oscar for best original song. The duo’s “Falling Slowly” was up against three tracks from the massively more popular Disney theatrical Enchanted, which bows on DVD and Blu-ray on March 18. Once also unexpectedly won Spirit honors for best foreign film.
That surprise recognition seems to be reinvigorating these older DVDs, which are among Amazon.com’s largest sales jumpers in the last 24 hours. La Vie en Rose was considered the site’s top ‘Mover and Shaker’ on Monday, rising 1,850% in overall DVD sales rankings from No. 78 to No. 4. Once jumped 566% from No. 60 to No. 9.
HBO is rushing to take advantage of La Vie En Rose's Oscar surge, and is stickering packages touting Cotillard's win. Additionally, HBO is offering retailers temporary financial incentives to re-price the title competitively between March 2 and April 15.
Others enjoying lifts on the site were preorders of the standard-def version of There Will Be Blood, up to No. 107 from No. 312, and the Blu-ray version of No Country For Old Men, up to No. 10 from No. 27.
Any sales bumps gained from this year’s Oscars should be welcomed, as preliminary TV ratings look poor for the telecast. Likely due to the show highlighting more films with niche dark subjects than blockbuster popcorn themes, ratings estimates are 20% below what the Oscars earned last year.
Also already out on shelves are Universal’s Dec. 11 release The Bourne Ultimatum, which bagged three trophies for best film editing, sound editing and sound mixing, and Disney’s Ratatouille, which was named best animated feature and bowed on disc on Nov. 7.
Warner’s Feb. 19 DVD and Blu-ray release Michael Clayton won for best supporting actress Tilda Swinton.
Some Oscar winners have not yet been announced for DVD. A street date for ThinkFilm’s Taxi to the Dark Side, best documentary feature, hasn’t yet been specified. Foreign film winner The Counterfeiters, from Sony Pictures Classics, just launched theatrically on Feb 22.
