Director Barry Sonnenfeld was on hand last week to help Columbia Tri Star usher in the “Men in Black II Special Edition” two-disc DVD set, which is set to hit retail shelves on Nov. 26. There will be two versions of the film, a wide screen and a full screen release, for a suggested retail price of $28.95.
“I just love the format and I think people often get a better experience at home than they do in the theater,” Sonnenfeld said.
The “Men In Black II” disc is mastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 and sports a number of interactive extras on both discs. Speaking to the ascendancy of the DVD-extra, Mike Stradford, VP of DVD programming and content, Columbia TriStar, indicated the DVD’s extras were in the works before the filming for the movie even began.
Sonnenfeld added that he has increasingly had DVD-extras in the back of his mind as filming begins, being careful to save archival material for future use.
“Apparently there are a lot of people who are really interested in this material,” he said. “It’s informative and entertaining.”
The Special Edition M.I.B. II discs are loaded with said extras. The first disc of the set features the film, a director’s commentary track with an optional telestrator feature (in which Sonnenfeld graphically amplifies his comments a la John Madden), theatrical trailers, and an “Alien Broadcast” feature which lets users select certain scenes for the behind-the-scenes treatment.
The second disc contains a never before seen alternate ending to the movie as well as a blooper reel. The second disc also includes Will Smith’s obligatory music video for the film, multi-angle scene deconstructions, which lets users view multiple angles of selected scenes to see how special effects were integrated into a shot, as well as DVD-ROM features that include interactive games, a screen saver, the shooting script and Web-links.
Columbia will also ship a two-pack DVD set that includes the original “Men In Black” and the “Men in Black II” wide screen edition, for a suggested retail price of $49.95.
Preceding the retail release and continuing through to January, Columbia TriStar will launch an advertising campaign aimed at creating more than 5.5 billion consumer impressions. According to a statement from the company, the movie will “invade over 96 percent of all households over 11 times” over the course of the ad blitz.
