The DVD for Serenity will probably be hitting shelves at the end of December – the 20th to be precise (same date as the first half of Battlestar Galactica’s second season). That’s most likely not a comment on the film’s success by Universal, but it is at the short side of the already quick window from theater to DVD.
And from the look of the specs that are being rumored (and knowing how fucking annoying Universal is with re-releasing stuff), I would say that if you’re not a huge fan of the show or the movie, hold out for a more packed edition some point next year. The disc hitting stores in December is positively weak. The Digital Bits says:
Early word indicates that the disc may include Whedon audio commentary, along with at least 4 behind-the-scenes featurettes (Future History, We’ll Have a Fruity Oaty Good Time, Re-Lighting the Firefly and What’s in a Firefly), a video introduction to the film by Whedon and 6 minutes worth of outtakes.
I don’t know what form the almost inevitable special edition (The Shiny Edition?) will take, but I do know that Universal is currently my least favorite studio when it comes to DVDs. These guys release new editions of films all the time without bothering to add much in way of features. From that first edition of Jaws with only half the documentary to the "26th Anniversary" edition of The Jerk with jack shit on it to the upcoming The Frighteners without most of the laserdisc doc, Universal has shown fans that added value is meaningless to them,
This is a film that’s going to need DVD to do well (and it will do well on DVD, I think, even if the rabid Browncoats don’t descend on stores like Reavers. Sci Fi just does well on DVD), and it’s a film whose base will buy every possible variant, so expect Universal to play to that. Whether they’ll break their current two-disc phobia will be one of the interesting questions about the inevitable Serenity double dip.
And by the way, we live in a day and age when double dips are being announced in advance more and more (Sin City being one recent example). Let’s hope this double dip doesn’t take people by surprise.
PS Whatever image they come up with for the DVD case HAS to be better than the truly shitty posters that have been attached to this film. I bet it’s a spaceship in the lower middle with Mal and River’s heads floating above, like the Rumblefish cover.