The Criterion Collection and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment have confirmed the titles to be released on Blu-ray in the UK in November 2019.
25 November brings the highly anticipated Godzilla – The Showa Era Films, 1954-1975. Collected here for the first time are all fifteen Godzilla films of Japan’s Showa era, in a landmark set showcasing the technical wizardry, fantastical storytelling, and indomitable international appeal that established the most iconic giant monster the cinema has ever seen.
On 11 November comes The Palm Beach Story, featuring sparkling performances and a mix of the witty and the utterly absurd. The film is a high watermark of Director Preston Sturges’s brand of physical comedy and verbal repartee.
On 18 November Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom is released. Featuring a stellar cast, this charming, bittersweet tale follows two twelve-year-olds, Sam and Suzy, as they fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness.
Godzilla – The Showa Era Films, 1954-1975 | Blu-ray | 25 November 2019
In 1954, an enormous beast clawed its way out of the sea, destroying everything in its path – and changing movies forever. The arresting original Godzilla soon gave rise to an entire monstermovie genre (kaiju eiga), but the King of the Monsters continued to reign supreme: in fourteen fiercely entertaining sequels over the next two decades, Godzilla defended its throne against a host of other formidable creatures, transforming from a terrifying symbol of nuclear annihilation into a benevolent (if still belligerent) Earth protector. Collected here for the first time are all fifteen Godzilla films of Japan’s Showa era, in a landmark set showcasing the technical wizardry, fantastical storytelling, and indomitable international appeal that established the most iconic giant monster the cinema has ever seen.
Includes 15 films:
- Godzilla (dir. Ishiro Honda 1954)
- Godzilla Raids Again (dir. Motoyoshi Oda 1955)
- King Kong vs. Godzilla (dirs. Ishiro Honda, Thomas Montgomery 1963)
- Mothra vs. Godzilla (dir. Ishiro Honda 1964)
- Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster (dir. Ishiro Honda 1964)
- Invasion Of Astro-Monster (dir. Ishiro Honda 1965)
- Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (dir. Jun Fukuda 1966)
- Son of Godzilla (rir. Jun Fukuda 1967)
- Destroy All Monsters (dir. Ishiro Honda 1968)
- All Monsters Attack (dir. Ishiro Honda 1969)
- Godzilla vs. Hedorah (dir. Yoshimitsu Banno 1971)
- Godzilla vs. Gigan (dir. Jun Fukuda 1972)
- Godzilla vs. Megalon (dir. Jun Fukuda 1973)
- Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (dir. Jun Fukuda 1974)
- Terror of Mechagodz (dir. Ishiro Honda 1975)
8-disc Blu-ray Special Edition Collector's Set contents:
- High-definition digital transfers of all fifteen Godzilla films made between 1954 and 1975, released together for the first time, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
- High-definition digital transfers of Godzilla, King of the Monsters, the 1956 U.S.-release version of Godzilla; and the 1962 Japanese-release version of King Kong vs. Godzilla
- Audio commentaries from 2011 on Godzilla and Godzilla, King of the Monsters featuring film historian David Kalat
- International English-language dub tracks for Invasion of Astro-Monster, Son of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla vs. Megalon, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, and Terror of Mechagodzilla
- Directors Guild of Japan interview with director Ishiro Honda, conducted by director Yoshimitsu Banno in 1990
- Programs detailing the creation of Godzilla’s special effects and unused effects sequences from Toho releases including Destroy All Monsters
- New interview with filmmaker Alex Cox about his admiration for the Showa-era Godzilla films
- New and archival interviews with cast and crew members, including actors Bin Furuya, Tsugutoshi Komada, Haruo Nakajima, and Akira Takarada; composer Akira Ifukube; and effects technicians Yoshio Irie and Eizo Kaimai
- Interview with critic Tadao Sato from 2011
- Illustrated audio essay from 2011 about the real-life tragedy that inspired Godzilla
- New English subtitle translations
- Trailers
- PLUS: A lavishly illustrated deluxe hardcover book featuring an essay by cinema historian Steve Ryfle, notes on the films by cinema historian Ed Godziszewski, and new illustrations by Arthur Adams, Sophie Campbell, Becky Cloonan, Jorge Coelho, Geof Darrow, Simon Gane, Robert Goodin, Benjamin Marra, Monarobot, Takashi Okazaki, Angela Rizza, Yuko Shimizu, Bill Sienkiewicz, Katsuya Terada, Ronald Wimberly and Chris Wisnia
The Palm Beach Story (USA 1942) | Blu-ray | 11 November 2019
This wild tale of wacky wedlock from Preston Sturges (The Lady Eve) takes off like a rocket and never lets up. Joel McCrea (Sullivan’s Travels) and Claudette Colbert (It Happened One Night) play Tom and Gerry, a married New York couple on the skids, financially and romantically. With Tom hot on her trail, Gerry takes off for Florida on a mission to solve the pair’s money troubles, which she accomplishes in a highly unorthodox manner. A mix of the witty and the utterly absurd, The Palm Beach Story is a high watermark of Sturges’s brand of physical comedy and verbal repartee, featuring sparkling performances from its leads as well as hilarious supporting turns from Rudy Vallee and Mary Astor as a brother and a sister ensnared in Tom and Gerry’s high jinks.
Blu-ray Special Edition contents:
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New interview with writer and film historian James Harvey about director Preston Sturges
- New interview with actor and comedian Bill Hader about Sturges
- Safeguarding Military Information, a 1942 World War II propaganda short written by Sturges
- Screen Guild Theater radio adaptation of the film from March 1943
- PLUS: An essay by critic Stephanie Zacharek
Moonrise Kingdom (US 2012) | Blu-ray | 18 November 2019
An island off the New England coast, summer of 1965. Two twelve-year-olds, Sam and Suzy, fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As local authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing offshore... Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom stars Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as the young couple on the run, Bruce Willis as Island Police Captain Sharp, Edward Norton as Khaki Scout troop leader Scout Master Ward, and Bill Murray and Frances McDormand as Suzy’s attorney parents, Walt and Laura Bishop. The cast also includes Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, and Bon Balaban. The magical soundtrack features the music of Benjamin Britten.
Director-approved Blu-ray Special Edition contents:
- Restored 2K digital transfer, supervised by director Wes Anderson, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Audio commentary featuring Anderson, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Jason Schwartzman, and Roman Coppola
- Selected-scene storyboard animatics
- Interviews with cast and crew
- Exploring the Set of “Moonrise Kingdom,” an original documentary about the film
- Norton’s home movies from the set
- Behind-the-scenes, special effects, and test footage
- Auditions
- Trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien, plus a map of New Penzance Island and other ephemera
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