We've been seeing a lot of double dips of releases that had plenty of features to begin with, especially commentary tracks. Movies like Hellboy, Dodgeball and Gladiator come to mind as films that had a commentary track on the initial DVD, but are then re-released with an "all new commentary track."

What I want to know is this - is the original commentary track usually included on these releases as well, or do we DVD extra feature junkies have to own both versions if we want to be completists?

It's been my experience, as a commentary track junkie, that the original is almost always included, as to shed it would be a waste of an extra specifically (and sometimes expensively) produced for the DVD incarnation of a film. In fact, the only one that comes to mind as having been dumped was Ridley Scott's original commentary from the stand alone edition of Alien, though he did do another solo one for the new quadrilogy version that was geared to talking some about the new cut of the film which had a limited theatrical run.

According to reviews, the new 2-DVD version of Toy Story and the Pretty Woman 15th Anniversary DVD do not include the original commentary tracks.

Isn't the HELLBOY director's commentary different on the 3-disc set?

the bourne idenity dropped a commentary

so did meet the parents

toy story has an all new commentary track

the same thing happened on the re-release of The Devil's Backbone.

Anchorman rated and unrated had different commentary tracks

Thanks for the info so far, folks. Looks like a double dip and keeping both is almost mandatory if you like the special features.

Anyone know if the 3-disc Gladiator dropped the commentary or any other special features in transition from the 2-disc?

I believe the X-Files themed releases have different commentaries.

Yes, the Abduction and Black Oil collections contain new commentaries and other new special features.

A definite double dip for an X-Files completist like me.

The Underworld Extended Cut has a commentary with director Len Wiseman, actress Kate Beckinsale and actor Scott Speedman.

The theatrical cut (SE) has two commentaries (first commentary is from the film's writers and director; the second commentary is a technical track with the film's creature designer, producer/visual effects supervisor and sound designer).

The new 'Martin' release has a new commentary track from what I remember.

yes the original commentary found on the 2 disc set has been dropped and replaced by a new one in the 3 disc set.

i don't know the details but they are discussed extensively in the thread dedicated to the new 3 disc set.

Yeah. According to the trivia track on the new Gladiator 3-Disc, the new extended edition DVD's extras were produced as more of a compliment of the original release so that those who bought the first one didn't have to feel like they were being cheated by buying the same cut of the movie and same extras again.

Also, according to the HTF review and Ultimate Disney (who I would think knows their stuff), the new Toy Story 10th Anniversary release features the same commentary from the Ultimate Toy Box release (no other commentary has been released).