Sony to release "Ray Harryhausen Collection" in October [Text View]

JBlacklow

07-29-08, 09:16 AM

DVD Empire is now showing an October 7 date, which puts the collection the same day as "7th Voyage".

ETA: The official press release confirms all of them are coming October 7 and that the collection actually includes all 4 titles:

Check it out:Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release some of the most popular film classics from stop-motion animation genius Ray Harryhausen in a Ray Harryhausen Collectible DVD Gift Set and a The 7th Voyage of Sinbad: 50th Anniversary Edition DVD on October 7, just in time for holiday gift-giving. The six-disc DVD boxed gift set features two-disc special editions of It Came From Beneath the Sea, Earth vs. The Flying Saucers, and 20 Million Miles to Earth: 50th Anniversary Edition. Each film is available in a brilliant colorized version, in addition to the pristine, digitally-restored black & white original version, and viewers are able to toggle between the two as they please. Also included in the gift set is a collectible Ymir figurine based on Ray Harryhausen’s original 1957 hand-crafted design and signed by Ray Harryhausen himself. The Ray Harryhausen Collectible DVD Gift Set will sell for $80.95 SRP.

The collection is also being released day and date, in a Blu-ray™ High-Definition Disc four-pack including It Came From Beneath the Sea, Earth vs. The Flying Saucers, 20 Million Miles to Earth: 50th Anniversary Edition, and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad: 50th Anniversary Edition in bold bright color for $107.95 SRP.

With the cutting-edge high-definition colorization technology developed and patented by industry leader Legend Films, Harryhausen has been able to visually recreate his black and white films. Harryhausen said, “I am thrilled these films are finally being seen in color. I had wanted to do them in color in the 1950s, but the budgets were not large enough to accommodate that luxury. Now, thanks to the marvelous advances made in the colorization process by San Diego’s Legend Films and others, audiences will be able to see the movies as I originally intended.”

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad: 50th Anniversary Edition, also available on October 7, arrives on a single-disc DVD and Blu-ray™ High-Def disc, both loaded with special features including audio commentary by Ray Harryhausen, visual effects experts Phil Tippett and Randall William Cook, author Steven Smith and producer Arnold Kunert; a documentary; six featurettes, and more. The 7th Voyage of Sinbad: 50th Anniversary Edition will sell for $19.94 SRP, while the Blu-ray™ High-Def release will sell for $28.95 SRP.

Though special effects techniques today have been dramatically transformed by CGI, Ray Harryhausen’s highly imaginative and incredibly detailed work continues to hold audiences spellbound. A disciple of stop-motion pioneer Willis O’Brien (King Kong), Harryhausen adapted O’Brien’s techniques. Harryhausen developed and created his own genre of film from the 1950s to the 1980s utilizing this stop-motion process (eventually identified as “Dynamation”). His memorable films include The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955), The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), One Million Years, B.C. (1966), The Valley of Gwangi (1969), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974), and Clash of the Titans (1981). Harryhausen’s amazing body of work continues to inspire many of today’s special effects wizards.

20 Million Miles to Earth: 50th Anniversary Edition
The 20 Million Miles to Earth: 50th Anniversary Edition contains extensive new bonus features including an audio commentary by Ray Harryhausen, visual effects artists Dennis Muren and Phil Tippett, and producer Arnold Kunert; featurettes such as Remembering 20 Million Miles to Earth, with Harryhausen and others discussing the film’s production and influence; The Colorization Process, a look at Legend Films’ work; Interview with Joan Taylor; Tim Burton Sits Down with Ray Harryhausen; David Schecter on Film Music’s Unsung Hero; plus a video montage of the film’s marketing and advertising materials by Arnold Kunert; and video photo galleries.

SYNOPSIS
Upon its return from a mission to Venus, an American spaceship crash lands in the sea near Sicily. The rescue party discovers that the astronauts have brought back a curious gelatinous mass that soon hatches and evolves into a strange bi-ped creature which rapidly increases in size. While being subjected to laboratory experimentation, the creature, now 20 feet tall, escapes its confines, goes on a destructive rampage through Rome, battles a zoo elephant and swims in the Tiber. It eventually takes refuge in the Colosseum, where the film’s pyrotechnic finale occurs during a climactic showdown with the military.

DVD Special Features Include:
· Audio Commentary by Ray Harryhausen, visual effects artists Dennis Muren and Phil Tippett, and producer Arnold Kunert
· Featurette: Remembering 20 Million Miles to Earth
· Featurette: The Colorization Process
· Featurette: Tim Burton Sits Down with Ray Harryhausen
· Original Ad Artwork: A video montage and discussion of the original marketing and advertising campaigns by Arnold Kunert
· Featurette: Interview with Joan Taylor
· Featurette: David Schecter on Film Music’s Unsung Hero
· Video Photo Galleries
· Sneak Peek of Digital Comic Book 20 Million Miles More
· Audio: English
· Subtitles: English, French

It Came From Beneath The Sea
Directed by Robert Gordon (Tarzan and The Jungle Boy), the film, depicting a giant octopus attacking San Francisco, stars Kenneth Tobey (The Thing From Another World), Faith Domergue (This Island Earth), Donald Curtis (Earth vs. The Flying Saucers) and Ian Keith (The Ten Commandments). It Came From Beneath The Sea was the first of several collaborations between producer Charles H. Schneer and special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen. The DVD contains an audio commentary by Ray Harryhausen, visual effects artists Randall William Cook and John Bruno, and Arnold Kunert; video photo galleries; original artwork video montage by Arnold Kunert; a digital sneak peek at “It Came From The Sea…Again!” comic book, plus the film music (Film Music’s Unsung Hero) and Tim Burton featurettes (Tim Burton Sits Down with Ray Harryhausen) also included on the two other titles in the collection.

SYNOPSIS
A giant stop-motion-animated octopus attacks San Francisco. A pair of scientists and a nuclear sub captain try to stop the monster before it tears down the Golden Gate Bridge.

DVD Special Features Include:
· Audio Commentary by Ray Harryhausen, visual effects artists Randall William Cook and John Bruno, and producer Arnold Kunert
· Featurette: Remembering It Came From Beneath The Sea
· Video Photo Galleries
· Featurette: Tim Burton Sits Down with Ray Harryhausen
· Original Ad Artwork: A video montage and discussion of the original marketing and advertising campaigns by Arnold Kunert
· Featurette: David Schecter on Film Music’s Unsung Hero
· Featurette: A Present-Day Look at Stop-Motion
· Sneak Peek of Digital Comic Book It Came from Beneath the Sea…Again!
· Audio: English, Thai, Spanish, French, Portuguese
· Subtitles: English, Thai, Spanish, Chinese, French Portuguese

Earth vs. The Flying Saucers
With its groundbreaking visual effects techniques, Earth vs. The Flying Saucers was masterfully directed by Fred F. Sears (Crash Landing), and stars Joan Taylor (20 Million Miles to Earth), Hugh Marlowe (The Day the Earth Stood Still), Donald Curtis (The Ten Commandments) and Morris Ankrum (Invaders from Mars). The film about the invasion of Earth and destruction of Washington D.C. comes as a two-disc DVD and features an audio commentary by Ray Harryhausen, visual effects artists Jeffrey Okun and Ken Ralston and producer Arnold Kunert; the featurette The Hollywood Blacklist and Bernard Gordon; the featurette A Present-Day Look at Stop-Motion, video photo galleries, original artwork video montage, a digital sneak peak at “Flying Saucers vs. the Earth” comic book; plus the Interview with Joan Taylor, Music and Tim Burton featurettes included on the other films in the collection.

SYNOPSIS
Dr. Russell Marvin heads up Operation Skyhook, which is tasked with sending rockets into the upper atmosphere to probe for future space flights. Unfortunately, all the rockets are somehow disappearing. While investigating this strange occurrence, Russell and his new wife Carol are abducted in a flying saucer. The aliens claim to be from a distant solar system and demand to meet with certain people in order to negotiate. But it was a trick; the aliens only wanted to kill them. The invasion has begun and if Russell and Carol can't find a way to get past their defenses and stop these creatures, it may be the end of the human race.

DVD Special Features Include:
· Audio Commentary by Ray Harryhausen, visual effects artists Jeffrey Okun and Ken Ralston and producer Arnold Kunert
· Featurette: Remembering Earth vs. The Flying Saucers
· Featurette: A Present-Day Look at Stop-Motion
· Video Photo Galleries
· Featurette: Tim Burton Sits Down with Ray Harryhausen
· Original Ad Artwork: A video montage and discussion of the original marketing and advertising campaigns by Arnold Kunert
· Featurette: Interview with Joan Taylor
· Featurette: David Schecter on Film Music’s Unsung Hero
· Featurette: The Hollywood Blacklist and Bernard Gordon
· Still and Production Art Gallery
· Digital Sneak Peek at Flying Saucers vs. the Earth Comic Book
· Audio: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French
· Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese
· Original Screenplay Credits
· Featurette: The Colorization Process

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad: 50th Anniversary Edition
Directed by Nathan Juran (20 Million Miles to Earth, First Men ‘In’ the Moon), the newly remastered film stars Kerwin Mathews (The 3 Worlds of Gulliver), Kathryn Grant (Anatomy of a Murder), Richard Eyer (The Invisible Boy), and Torin Thatcher (Witness for the Prosecution). The DVD contains an audio commentary by Ray Harryhausen, visual effects experts Phil Tippett and Randall William Cook, author Steven Smith and producer Arnold Kunert; six featurettes: Remembering The 7th Voyage of Sinbad in which Ray Harryhausen reflects back on the 50th anniversary with a look at the film, drawings, artwork, models, etc., The Harryhausen Legacy; The Music of Bernard Herrmann with Herrmann biographer Steven Smith; A Look Behind the Voyage with interview footage; This is Dynamation; and Ray Harryhausen Interview by Director John Landis, plus the music video Sinbad May Have Been Bad, But He’s Been Good To Me.

SYNOPSIS
This colorful adventure is the screen version of one of the classic tales from “1001 Arabian Nights.” It tells the story of Sinbad (Kerwin Mathews) and Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant). When they unexpectedly stop on the island of Colossa on their way to Baghdad, they find themselves battling all types of dangers, such as evil magicians, man-eating Cyclopes, fire-breathing dragons, and sword-wielding skeletons.

DVD and Blu-ray Disc Special Features Include:
· Audio Commentary with Ray Harryhausen, visual effects experts Phil Tippett and Randall William Cook, author Steven Smith and producer Arnold Kunert
· Featurette: Remembering The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
· Featurette: The Harryhausen Legacy
· Featurette: The Music of Bernard Herrmann
· Music Video: Sinbad May Have Been Bad, But He’s Been Good To Me
· Photo Gallery
· Featurette: A Look Behind the Voyage (includes interview footage)
· Featurette: This is Dynamation (Special Effects)
· Featurette: Ray Harryhausen Interview by Director John Landis
· Audio: English, French
· Subtitles: English

20 Million Miles to Earth: 50th Anniversary Edition has a run time of 82 minutes and is not rated.
It Came From Beneath the Sea has a run time of 79 minutes and is not rated.
Earth vs. The Flying Saucers has a run time of 83 minutes and is not rated.
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad: 50th Anniversary Edition has a run time of 87 minutes and is not rated.
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