Hogwarts comes home for the holidays as the third installment in the hugely successful Harry Potter film franchise arrives on DVD and VHS today. The film hit theaters in June and went on to make $790 million worldwide. Now it’s sure to work some powerful magic at retailers.
Directed by Alfonso Cuaron (Y Tu Mama Tambien, A Little Princess) this adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s third book in the series takes place during young Harry’s third year at wizard school. Harry fears it may be his last year on Earth when he learns that convicted murderer Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) has escaped from Azkaban Prison and may be coming after him. Daniel Radcliff returns in the title role, joining returning cast members Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Robbie Coletrane, Alan Rickman and Maggie Smith. Irish actor Michael Gambon (Sleepy Hollow, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow) takes over the role of Albus Dumbledore, previously played by the late Richard Harris.
Also taking a starring role are visual effects by Industrial Light & Magic, Cinesite Europe, FrameStore CFC, Doule Negative, The Moving Picture Co., Baseblack, Machine and Northern Lights Post. Insiders are saying that the film’s vfx fireworks will surely get noticed during the upcoming awards season.
DVD features include deleted scenes, interviews with Rowling and the filmmakers, cast interviews hosted by Johnny Vaughan and the Shrunken Head, three games, a making-of featurette, an animal trainer featurette, self-guided iPIX tours of Honeydukes and Professor Lupin’s classroom, a sing-along with the Hogwarts choir, a Hogwarts portrait gallery, a Hogwarts timeline, DVD-ROM wizard trading cards, theatrical trailers and a preview of the video game from Electronic Arts.
The Warner Home Video release is rated "PG" and lists for $29.95 on DVD and $22.99 on VHS.
Also arriving in time for the holidays is the animated direct-to-video Miramax pic, In Search of Santa. The CG film stars popstar siblings Hilary Duff and Haylie Duff as the voices of penguin princesses Crystal and Lucinda, who set out on the adventure of a lifetime when a sleigh bell mysteriously falls from the sky and Crystal is determined to prove it came from one of Santa’s reindeer. As they journey to the North Pole, they must work together to outrun hungry, wild beasts, outwit greedy pirates and try to keep three sneaky court penguins from stealing their parents’ throne. The Buena Vista Home Entertainment release goes in the stocking for $19.99 on DVD and $14.99 on VHS.
Four episodes of one of Cartoon Network’s hit anime series come to disc with Ghost in the Shell–Stand Alone Complex Volume Three. The Manga Ent./Bandai Ent. release comes as both a standard edition in Dolby Digital for $24.98 and a limited edition with two discs, one in Dolby Digital and one in DTS Digital.
From Paramount Home Video comes As Told by Ginger: The Wedding Frame, featuring three animated episodes from the hit Klasky Csupo Nickelodeon series. Lois Foutley marries Dr. Dave in this three-part story that sees Ginger start to have doubts about love and commitment. Meanwhile, a wicked triumvirate hatches a plan to sabotage the wedding and it’s up to Ginger’s brother, Carl, to foil the plot with a little cloak and dagger. It carries a suggested retail price of $16.99 on DVD and $9.95 on VHS.
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