Hey Again!

I've just got hold of the details for Panic Room: Special Edition which will be arriving on the 30th March. Retail should be set at around $39.95. The big bummer is that no DTS track will be included - I guess because of the three commentaries and three Dolby Dolby 5.1 tracks. Really not a big fan of that artwork either, the font looks awfully cheap to me. I'm sure the features will make up for it though. Anyway, the specs and artwork are as follows:

2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen Transfer
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Track
French Dolby Digital 5.1 Track
Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Track
Audio Commentary by Director David Fincher
Audio Commentary with Jodie Foster, Forest Whitaker & Dwight Yoakam
Audio Commentary by Writer David Koepp & Special Guest
Six Featurettes on the Prep Phase from Previsualisation through Testing
Compare Storyboards, Dailies, Final Film etc with Multiple Angles & Audio with Optional Commentary
Shooting Panic Room Documentary (One Hour)
Make-Up Effects Featurette with Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr.
Sequence Breakdowns on Four Seperate Scenes
Twenty One Documentaries & Featurettes on Visual Effects
On Sound Design with Ren Klyce Feature
Digital Intermediate & Other Featurettes on Post Production
Multi-Angle Look at the Scoring Session by Howard Shore
Plus a Few Surprises!
English, Spanish, French Subtitles

Wow- no DTS? And a $40 MSRP? That's the same price point of the LOTR Extended Editions. How many discs?

I'll wait and read the reviews before I decide to "upgrade". The lack of DTS is a real shame. Is it ever possible for Sony to release a DVD without making the consumer have to choose between either extras or DTS audio or improved picture quality?

I wonder if that's referring to the inclusion of the Nicole Kidman footage.

Sorry, should have mentioned - three discs

This one baffles me.

A THREE disc set for Panic Room?

I saw the film and liked it, but didn't thik it was this big of a deal.

It frightens me to think that Panic Room gets a three disc set and Wizard of Oz can't even get a keep case.

--LVM

PS I will probably end up getting this, as I love extra features, but I would have liked the powers that be put this much effort into some other, more notable films instead.

Thanks, for all the info.

Yes, in my small rant I forgot to say, thank you very much for posting.

--LVM

Thanks for the info Tom.

I haven't been disappointed by any of Fincher's Special Editions so I am looking forward to this one.

Man that cover art is lame. I could eat ink and paper and crap a better cover than that.

Twenty One Documentaries & Featurettes on Visual Effects

You're kidding me?

thanks for the info, i think i'll stick with the current release

They sure didn't pull any puches on the cover art

I guess Fincher SE DVDs have to be kinda plain looking on the cover art.

Also, I bet that the 21 FX featurettes are only 2 minutes in length, they're more like vignettes.

how many times are you going to watch those commentaries, i think the picture is probably still better on superbit, keeping my old edition, i mean its not like black hawk down 3 disk edition which had so much information, this one is not worth it

I'll be buying it, but why include the French and Spanish 5.1 and not ditch it for the DTS?

I'm a sucker for commentaries, etc. - so I'll probably end up grabbing this one in spie of the inflated MSRP. Maybe MySony will have it on special (a la the $16 for the 3-disc Blackhawk Down).

Here's the press release:

“A classy, intelligent thriller for grown-ups!”
Paul Clinton, CNN

PANIC ROOM SPECIAL EDITION

Special Three-disc Set Takes a Detailed Look at the Filmmaking Process
Premiere’s March 30, 2004

Culver City, CA (January 19, 2004) - Director David Fincher’s edge-of-your-seat thriller has received critical acclaim as much for its cold-sweat moments as for its revolutionary, mind-bending camera shots. And now through a special 3-disc DVD set available March 30 from Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, audiences can explore Fincher’s groundbreaking approach to filmmaking and gain insight into the director that Roger Ebert called “a visual virtuoso.”

The PANIC ROOM SPECIAL EDITION examines the entire movie-making process from start to finish. Organized into Pre-production, Production and Post-production segments, this 3-disc DVD set includes feature commentary by director David Fincher, commentary by the film’s stars, Jodie Foster, Forest Whitaker and Dwight Yoakam and commentary by screenwriter David Koepp and special guest legendary screenwriter William Goldman. The pre-production phase is examined through eight featurettes while a special interactive pre-visualization component allows the viewer a comprehensive hands-on experience. The production phase is explored through an hour-long documentary, interactive sequence breakdowns and a featurette hosted by the film’s SFX makeup wizards, Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr. And finally, the post-production phase is scrutinized with over twenty-one separate featurettes, a special segment hosted by the film’s sound designer Ren Klyce and a multi-angle look at the scoring session with composer Howard Shore. And of course, there’s a lot of other surprises!

Trapped in their New York brownstone’s panic room, a hidden chamber built as a sanctuary in the event of break-ins, newly divorced Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) and her daughter, Sarah (Kristen Stewart), play a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with three intruders-Burnham (Forest Whitaker), Raoul (Dwight Yoakam) and Junior (Jared Leto) - during a brutal home invasion. But the room itself is the focal point because what the intruders really want is inside it.

PANIC ROOM: A Columbia Pictures Presentation of a Hofflund/Polone Production. Produced by Gavin Polone, Judy Hofflund, David Koepp, Cean Chafin. Written by David Koepp. Directed by David Fincher.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE:

Disc One
Feature Film Presentation in Anamorphic 2.40:1 aspect ratio
Feature Commentary by David Fincher
Feature Commentary by Jodie Foster, Forest Whitaker and Dwight Yoakam
Feature Commentary by David Koepp and William Goldman
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Disc Two

PRE-PRODUCTION
8 Featurettes on the prep phase, from previsualization through testing
Interactive previsualization compare - storyboards, dailies and final film in a multi-angle, multi-audio feature with optional commentary by VFX Supervisor Kevin Huag, VFX Coordinator Leslie McMinn, Storyboard Artist Peter Ramsey and Pre-visualization Animator Colin Green

PRODUCTION
“Shooting Panic Room” - An hour long documentary on the principal photography phase
Sequence Breakdowns - An interactive look at the creation of 4 separate scenes in the film
Makeup Effects Featurette - with SFX Makeup Artists Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr.


Disc Three

POST-PRODUCTION
21 documentaries and featurettes on the visual effects
“On Sound Design” with Sound Designer Ren Klyce
“Digital Intermediate” and other features dealing with the post-production phase
Multi-angle look at the scoring session conducted by Howard Shore
Plus a few surprises!


Rated R
Color
Closed Captioned
Running Time: 112 Minutes
DVD Catalog # 02609
UPC Code: 0-43396-02609-4
Order Date: 2/26/04
SLP: $39.95 DVD

30 featurettes isn't near enough for me!

I'll hold out for the 7-disc set, featuring "Live, Interactive Chat With Jodie Foster".

My sentiments exactly. Commentaries are a definite selling point for me.

I am looking forward to seeing what price DDD gets these for.

--LVM

My Gawd

I'm beyond impressed. David Fincher hasn't let me down yet with a special edition. This one is bound to deliver.

And much like the BHD set, i'm betting you that in another region, they're going to get DTS. I'm waiting to hear what they're getting before putting down money on this baby.

at least its not a big cast shot, with something else lame in there (look at the 3 disc bhd set.)

Personally, I always prefer the original one sheets as the cover art, but that is just me.

For Panic Room, the frightened JF with the shadow in the background was obviously much superior the basic text they have planned. Maybe jazz up the original one sheet with a holographic thing. For $39.99 MSRP, they could have done something.

--LVM

Sweet...now bring on The Game: SE!

For real dude. You hit the nail right on the head. As usual with these type of releases (examples: Back To The Future, Black Hawk Down, Dances With Wolves...), there will most likely be a definitive editon in another region. I'm sorry for being negative here folks, but this is definately another slap in the face from a major studio not respecting what the fans want. For Christ's sake, make it a damn 4-disc set, with the full bitrate dts soundtrack and high quality transfer on one disc alone. With a $40 price tag, I think we deserve it. Offer a $10 rebate for having to double-dip too. DONE.