I swear this movie was just being advertised in theaters. Either that or time is flying by. Probably both.

Surprisingly enough, until this rendition on the material, Disney had never done its version of Rapunzel. And like most other times that the Mouse does its business to an old fairy tale, it made plenty of business of its own at the box office. This one to the tune of some 400 million dollars worldwide, most likely benefiting from the inflated ticket prices of having been projected in 3D.

And now it’s time for them to cash some more checks as Tangled hits Blu-ray and DVD. In fact, it’s debuting with a 4-disc Combo Pack – 3D Blu-Ray, Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Copy – all in one nice package. It comes stacked with extras:

• Untangled: The Making of a Fairy Tale – Exactly how long is Rapunzel’s hair? How many lanterns were used? Where did Pascal’s name come from? Which Disney animated feature first utilized CG animation? These and more will be answered when Mandy Moore and Zach Levi take viewers on a kooky behind-the-scenes tour to learn how the filmmakers styled this film’s ―Golden Tresses.
• Deleted Scenes – Co-directors Byron Howard and Nathan Greno introduce three scenes and illuminate why they were ultimately cut: The Jaunty Moose, Chemistry Develops, Vigor The Visionary
• Extended Songs – The complete versions of two great songs are shared in a unique feature that explains the co-directors decision to scale them down: When Will My Life Begin, Mother Knows Best
• Two Original Storybook Openings – Two alternate versions of the film’s opening sequence described by co-directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard.
• 50th Animated Feature Countdown – A video montage celebrating Tangled as the 50th film to join The Walt Disney Studios’ prestigious lineup of classic animated features.
• 9 Tangled Teasers – A collection of the most unique and quirky commercials made for the theatrical release of ―Tangled. Some are spoofs based off of infomercials and/or breaking news, some are teasers and others are simply just funny filmstrips.

If you managed to miss out on this one and have no idea what I’m talking about, Disney has been kind enough to throw the trailer up on YouTube for all to see.

Tangled hits stores on March 29th, with the 4-disc Combo Pack retailing for $49.99 US, a 2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray + DVD) for $39.99 US and a 1-Disc DVD for $29.99 US.

Los Angeles felt shafted by recent disaster flicks taking place on the East Coast so, to make sure it didn’t feel left out, a couple new alien invasion flicks take place in the City of Angels. The first to hit the theaters was the Eric Balfour/Donald Faison extra(terrestrial)vaganza Skyline, with Battle: Los Angeles coming out in March.

Which is when you’ll be able to watch people getting sucked into the sky in the comfort of your own home, as Skyline hits Blu-ray and DVD on March 22nd. Other than being in hi-def, doesn’t look like the BR offers anything extra compared to the DVD version, since both come with:

• FEATURE COMMENTARY: With Directors Greg and Colin Strause
• FEATURE COMMENTARY: With Co-writer/Producer Liam O’Donnell and Co-Writer Joshua Cordes
• DELETED AND EXTENDED SCENES
• ALTERNATE SCENES
• ANIMATION PRE-VISUALIZATION
• THEATRICAL TRAILERS AND MORE

It’s also hitting On Demand and Digital Download all on the same day. Take your pick of medium for this one. If you opt for the Blu-ray, it’ll retail $39.98 while the DVD will cost $29.98.

With The Dark Tower on everyone’s mind, it’s only natural studios would begin looking to adapting some of Stephen King’s other epic stories.

Today, Heat Vision announced that Warner Bros and CBS Films are teaming up to produce a new, big screen adaptation of The Stand.

Hell yes!

I love The Stand.  It was probably my first real exposure to King, and certainly my first experience with post-apocalyptic horror. It scared the hell out of me far more than The Shining ever did. It’s been a lot of fun (and just as shivery) to reread the Marvel retelling.  I know I’m not alone in having enjoyed Mike Perkins’ lush art, and wishing it could be redone on the screen somehow.  The mini-series was ok — Gary Sinise as Stu just about saves it single-handedly — but there was so much missing. It was so tame.

Now we might get the real version. (If only they could tie it into The Dark Tower — but rival studio means no crossover without a miracle.) Fingers crossed. There’s currently no writers and no director attached, but that will quickly change in the next couple of weeks.

ICM (International Creative Management) has already gifted the world with three upcoming Atari film adaptations: Asteroids at Universal, Rollercoaster Tycoon with Sony Pictures Animation, and Missile Command at Fox. So satisfied were they apparently with their management of video game properties that don’t lend themselves naturally to a feature-length film narrative that they’re kicking it up a notch for round two. The Hollywood Reporter is Hollywood reporting that ICM has signed famous toy manufacturer Wham-O for representation.

Wham-O (which was owned for a while by Mattel) was put on the map back in the late 1950’s when they introduced the Hula Hoop. Within a year they also introduced the Frisbee (or Flying Saucer), and were later responsible for the Slip N Slide, Super Ball, and the Hacky Sack. ICM is now looking to package Wham-O’s iconic products for film, television, music and “online content in the same vein as it did with Atari.”

The Coen Bros already made a perfectly excellent Hula Hoop movie, but in case ICM is reading this, I have some ideas for the other products:

Slip ‘N Slide: A horror movie about a giant monster that moves into a quiet all-American suburb looking for children to eat, which it accomplishes with its long tongue that resembles a Slip ‘N Slide, enticing unsuspecting children to slide right into its horrible maw.

Frisbee: The true story about mega producer Joel Silver inventing Ultimate Frisbee in the late ’60’s. That’s actually true by the way. He really did.

Super Ball: In the spirit of Up, a boy who wants to fly into space collects all the super balls he can find and creates a giant super, super ball upon which he can bounce into space. He succeeds, then dies in space. Cautionary sad ending.

Hacky Sack: Set during the mid-1990’s, we follow a naive high school stoner who rises through the ranks of his school’s burnout crowd to become champion hacky sacker. The ending is a flash-forward to him still working at his town’s video store 20 years later. Another cautionary sad ending.

Alright ICM. I shall await my check patiently.

Platinum Dunes gets a lot of shit. Most of it is resoundingly deserved. To many horror fans, the House That Bay Built represents everything that is currently wrong with the mainstream form of the genre:

1) Remakes
2) Slick appearance taking precedent over screenplay and direction.

What is maybe unfair is that Platinum Dunes seems to erroneously get blamed for every horror remake, whether or not they actually made it. They’ve achieved brand saturation, and now “Platinum Dunes” has become a genericized trademark like Kleenex or Band-Aid. For clarity, this is Dunes’ actual output…

• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
• The Amityville Horror (2005)
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)
• The Hitcher (2007)
• The Unborn (2009)
• Friday the 13th (2009)
• Horsemen (2009)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

I’ll give Dunes this: none of their remakes have been PG-13. I can’t really respect much else about them, but I think that is admirable. It at least shows they get something. In fact, it seems like their dedication to gore/titties is hurting the company’s productivity. First Showing drew my attention to some comments Dunes’ producer Brad Fuller made via Twitter regarding the current state of things over at House Dunes:

“Lots of rumors out there. I want to set the record straight on Freddy and Jason. First, let’s talk Jason. [Damian Shannon and Mark Swift] wrote a great script. We are ready to go, when [New Line] is ready. But as of yet, they are not ready. As for Freddy, as far as I know, there isn’t even talk of writing another script.

Rated R horror movies, right now, don’t seem to generate interest from the studios. Everyday we want to hear from any studio that they want a horror movie, but it hasn’t happened. So right now we are working on a handful of films, including ‘TMNT’ and ‘Ouija.’ There is still hope for [rated R]  horror, because it is profitable, but there is a larger interest in tentpole film.”

The idea of doing a sequel to the Elm St. remake is pure madness. Cause there is horse shit and then there is horse shit. And then there is that film. But it seems like there should be another Dunes Jason movie. I personally did not care for the Friday remake – many felt that the film took Jason back to his roots, but I actually thought they botched the character – but it made money and it has fans. The failure to launch on the sequel is a bit perplexing, though Fuller’s comments on the state of R-rated horror shed a bit of light.

Fuller also reports that things are still moving forward on the Monster Squad remake. This is a film that seems perfectly suited for a remake. Though Dunes involvement doesn’t inspire much confidence.

Media: An old baseball game.

Music: The Menahen Street Band, Make the Road by Walking. Great.

Comedy: Nada.

Food/Drink: A little pasta that I made (with locatelli), and then a hanger steak with onions.

Family: Rocco and I went out on the town. It was great and he has become a true little partner of the world. Catherine and I went out for dinner and a drive around the city. I wanted to show her Prohibition, which was closed.

Friends: Nope.

Work: Some good work made on a few future articles.

Art: Nope.

Screenwriting: Nope.

Projects: Nope.

Minutia: Today was as brain dead a day I could fathom.

Activity: Nein.

Shrink’s Chair: A group of motorcyclists went whipping past us on Peachtree and I believe one of them was in a nasty wreck. I only saw a bit of twisted SOMETHING by the fire truck but that stuff always stays in my head way too long. Last night before I could fall asleep I was having the darkest and monstrous thoughts in my head of really bad things happening to my family. One of the horrible side effects of an active imagination. All the cool shit I like to channel in my writing is doubly effective when applied to reality. I wish I could just turn it off.

Asshole of the Day: The person who hit the motorcycle, or the dude on the cycle going too fast on too narrow a street.

Looking ahead to tomorrow: Work. Not fun work either.

There’s not a lot to this, but we’ve already gotten a bunch of mail about it and you wish is my command- have another look at Captain America (he has a habit of dueling with Spidey for costume stories!). While he’s sans helmet on this Empire cover so Chris Evans can show off that handsome mug of his, the interior lead shot is a nice dramatic pose with helmet and all. They were sent over to ComicBookMovie.com but make sure to grab the magazine or visit Empire’s website when it hits stands on Thursday.

(Thanks specifically to Brian H. for always being on top of it!)

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Well here we are with our first official CHUD Show Video Podcast. We tried the idea out and loved it, so after the test of Episode #0 we decided to go all-in and give you a video podcast crammed to capacity with magnificence.

Hopefully you’ll find this to be an overall more polished affair- prettier, more dynamic, and filled with the kind of bizarre shit you’ve come to expect from The CHUD Show. At the core of it all though, the podcast is still three assholes talking about movies (and whatever else) with the video podcast simply adding an extra asshole with a camera. There are still some tech improvements to be made, creative balance to be found, and other stuff we have to figure out about delivering CHUD content in this format, but we think we’ve set a high standard with Episode #1 that we’re going to enjoy living up to in the coming months.

This episode comes in at just a touch over an hour, and from the opening credits (which emulate a movie you may have heard of) to the close (which features a brand new recording of the CHUD Show theme) there is more wonderful business here than your dick can handle. Make sure to load it up in HD for maximum great.

A lot of man-hours goes into a project like this, so please give us your feedback and enthusiasm if you enjoy it. A responsive comment or message board post means worlds, and a quick Facebook Share is worth its bytes in gold- so spread the word and let us know what you want more of!

Enjoy.

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I’ve written before about my enthusiasm for Angry Birds, and just this last weekend I got the “True Angry Birds Fan” Achievement that apparently signals 15 hours of play. That’s standard enough for a console game, but for an iPhone title? Especially one I play almost exclusively in the loo? It was bitter-sweet to say the least.

In any event, my enthusiasm is shared by millions which is probably why Fox reached out to app publisher Rovio to put together a tie-in version of Angry Birds that will likely feature characters, environments, and/or plot tie-ins to their upcoming animated feature Rio. Frankly, I have to hand it to Fox- this was a brilliant call. The kid’s flick hasn’t been on my radar at all, but this got it in front of my eyeballs. I do wish the trailer I subsequently watched (embedded at the bottom) was better, but at least I know the film’s coming- that’s a win for the marketing department.

Along with their frequent (free!) updates with new levels to the original game, Rovio has released several Angry Birds special edition games for holidays in the past, all to great success and fanfare. I have no doubt this new expansion with be equally fun, and hopefully tying in the characters and places will spark them to come up with some clever gameplay features. The app will drop in March, the film in April.

Angry Birds Rio trailer:

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Rio Feature Film Trailer: