Columbia/Tristar brings the heat to today’s list of new home video releases with Hellboy, the CG-laden box-office hit adaptation of Mike Mignola’s popular comic book series from Dark Horse Ent. The two-disc set comes packed with extra features that should satisfy fans of the film and disciples of the graphic novels.
Featuring effects work by Tippett Studio, The Orphanage, CafeFX, Hatch FX, Spectral Motion, Eden FX, Fantasy II, DDT Efectos Especiales, HimAnI Prods. and The Pit Crew, Hellboy stars Ron Perlman (Alien: Resurrection, T.V.’s Beauty and the Beast) as a demon conjured up by Nazis and adopted by a special agency dedicated to fighting evil. The film was directed by genre favorite Guillermo del Toro (Blade II, Mimic, Cronos).
In a DVD first, disc one features eight branching DVD comics by Mignola. At key moments during the movie, viewers will also have the option to branch out to a short featurette with behind-the scenes footage of life on the set. The first disc also contains a picture-in-picture storyboard track, four short films featuring cartoons recommended by Hellboy himself and commentary by del Toro, Mignola, and cast members Perlman, Selma Blair, Rupert Evans and Jeffrey Tambor. DVD-Rom features include a director’s notebook, a printable script and a script supervisor’s book.
Disc two includes three deleted scenes with optional commentary, four computer-generated animatics, four storyboard-to-film comparisons, five animatic-to-film comparisons, scene deconstruction provided by del Toro, nine theatrical and TV spots, poster explorations for the theatrical campaign and character biographies. The second disc also contains Hellboy: The Seeds of Creation, a two-hour documentary focusing on bringing Hellboy from script to screen. The release lists for $28.96.
Revolution Studios has announced plans to make a Hellboy sequel with del Toro back at the helm with a story he’s developing with Mignola. In addition, del Toro said in April that he and fellow producers are in talks with Gonzo Anime for a Hellboy anime series and are shopping for the best possible video game publishers to take the franchise interactive.
Fans of Guillermo del Toro can also pick up the special edition of The Devil’s Backbone, a supernatural chiller he made in Mexico in 2001. Also released today by Columbia TriStar, the DVD includes commentary by Del Toro and cinematographer Guillermo Navarro, deleted scenes, thumbnail sketches, featurettes, photo galleries and storyboard comparisons.
Another noteworthy home video newcomer is Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, featuring the first four half-hour episodes of the new anime series based on the popular animated feature and manga. Bandai, Manga and Anchor Bay have released two versions. The one-disc standard edition contains the four episodes in Dolby 5.1 surround and retails for $24.95, while the three-disc special edition set gives viewers the option of watching with Dolby 5.1 surround or DTS 5.1 surround. The original series soundtrack CD is contained on the third disc. That version lists for $59.95.
Rounding out today’s releases is Garfield and Friends, a three-disc set with 24 episodes from the first two years (1988-90) of the children’s series animated by Film Roman. The Fox Home Ent. release carries a suggested retail price of $39.98.
