Middle-earth mania: Warner Home Video has released on Blu-ray The Lord of the Rings the Motion Picture Trilogy: Extended Edition, a 15-disc set. Along with longer versions of the individual films comprising the trilogy, the new version includes more than 26 hours of bonus content, for example, behind-the-scenes documentaries covering more than four and a half hours of footage and a new transfer of The Fellowship of the Ring, remastered from the original 2K digital files. A new video game entitled The Lord of the Rings: War in the North also will be released later this year.
Well, shake it up, baby: Paramount Home Entertainment is celebrating the 25th anniversary of John Hughes’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) with a Blu-ray/DVD featuring commemorative packaging that sports a new graphic outline of Ferris’s adventures through Chicago, including visits to Wrigley Field, the Art Institute of Chicago, and a fabulous parade through downtown. The discs additionally offer previously unreleased, in-depth bonus material that takes viewers behind the scenes to learn about the making of the popular film. Both packages include the behind-the-scenes featurettes “Getting the Class Together—The Cast of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “The Making of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Who Is Ferris Bueller?” “The World According to Ben Stein,” and “Vintage Ferris Bueller: The Lost Tapes,” as well as a class album.
Video to go: Findaway World is now marketing Playaway View, a portable all-in-one video player that comes preloaded with programs from such outlets as PBS Kids, National Geographic, Sesame Street, and TumbleBooks. The product launched with 100 available programs, with more being added monthly. Prior to release, Playaway View was circulated and tested by 12 library trial locations across the country. The company said that after almost 2500 circulations, “the results exceeded expectations. Librarians loved the patron excitement and high circulation, while families loved the user-friendly experience, free check-out capability, and wildly popular content available.” “Our patrons loved Playaway Views,” said Linda Maola, manager of library materials services, Arapahoe Library District, CO. “Once we got them, we could not keep them on the shelves; they were constantly checked out, with several holds on each title.”—Mike Rogers
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