With the sequel to National Treasure coming our way this Christmas, it is only natural that we would get a new special edition of the original Nic Cage flick. Cage stars as a treasure hunter seeking a mystical treasure that has been passed down through generations. The film turned out to be a very fun romp, with Nic Cage on top of his game and Sean Bean a great adversary. I would call it Indiana Jones light, and it turned out to be one of 2004’s better money makers. On Dec. 18, just three days before the new movie hits theaters, we will get the National Treasure: Collector’s Edition. It will include two discs with the following extras: Multilevel Treasure Hunt, Alternate Ending with Optional Director’s Audio Commentary, Deleted Scenes with Optional Director’s Commentary, Opening Scene Animatic with Optional Director’s Commentary, National Treasure on Location, The Knights Templar, Treasure Hunts Revealed, Riley’s Decode This! Plus Three Puzzling Challenges, National Treasure: Book of Secrets Sneak Peak, Additional Deleted Scenes with introductions by Director Jon Turteltaub, Ciphers, Codes and Codebreakers, On the Set of American History, To Steal a National Treasure, and Exploding Charlotte. I find it strange that much of the extras have optional commentary, but there is no commentary track for the movie itself. Although not mentioned, I would almost guarantee the DVD will also come with Movie Cash for the sequel.
Superbad will be out just in time for Christmas. The release date for the comedy will be December 04 and while the cover art has not been released, it has been announced that there will be both a single disc basic edition and a 2-Disc Collector’s Edition. Extras on the two-disc edition will include commentaries by Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen, Greg Mottola, Evan Goldberg, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, a making of featurette, deleted and extended scenes, Cop Car Confessions – A Ride Along with Clark County’s Finest, a gag reel, cast audition footage, read throughs, a Snakes on Jonah featurette, and on-set diaries. Completing the package will be Michael’s Voicemails from Jonah, a featurette on the music, a Dancing Title Sequence, and a Vag-tastic Voyage feature. A Blu-ray release will also be available and will include all of the above, along with an extra ‘Super-meter’ function.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was a television show broadcast from 1964 to 1968. It was the inspiration for Get Smart, a show created to parody the original that will be remade as a movie with Steve Carell to be released next year. If you want to see the original show though, it has been quite frustrating since Anchor Bay and Warner Brothers have been battling for the rights and any release of the show had been put on hold. Well, that has come to an end, as Warner Brothers has won the rights and they are releasing the show as a complete series box set. The set will present all four seasons over 41 discs and extra features will include an interview called: “Double Agents – The David McCallum & Robert Vaughn Reunion”, the pilot episode – "Solo", a feature film based on Man From U.N.C.L.E. entitled "One Spy Too Many", 9 featurettes ("The Cloak and Swagger Affair: The Untold History of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”, "The Spy-Fi Tour: Archives, Art & Artifacts”, “Cold War, Hot Spies: U.N.C.L.E. and the Cold War”, “MGM’s Secret Operations”, “Guns, Gizmos, Gadgets and Garb”, “Behind the Wheel: U.N.C.L.E.’s Piranha”, “Fandemonium”, “The Music from U.N.C.L.E.” and “The Girls of U.N.C.L.E.”), 17 on-camera interviews (with David McCallum, Robert Vaughn, director Richard Donner, writer Peter Allan Fields, writer Dean Hargrove, director of photography Fred Koenekamp, assistant producer George Lehr and director Joseph Sargent and others), 4 clip collections (featuring Eddie Albert, Joan Collins, Joan Crawford, Janet Leigh, Leonard Nimoy, Carol O’Connor, Jack Palance, Slim Pickens, Vincent Price, Kurt Russell, William Shatner, Sonny & Cher and more), “The Secret Tapes of Illya Kuryakin: Home Movies from the Set of U.N.C.L.E.”, clips from Robert Vaughn and David McCallum’s appearances at the 1965 Emmy and Golden Globe broadcasts, a clip from McCallum’s appearance on The Andy Williams Show, a Tom & Jerry Cartoon – “The Mouse From H.U.N.G.E.R.”, U.N.C.L.E. memorabilia, Ian Fleming’s personal notes, NBC Broadcast and Standards memos, research files, set designs, blueprints, promos, trailers, television commercials and a photo gallery. It will be held in a special attache case with four eight-page booklets written by journalist Jon Burlingame, author Cindy Walker, journalist Craig Henderson and critic David Bianculli. It will be available on November 27 directly from Time Life’s website.