Less Than Zero

Today's news is dominated by the latest spate of announcements from Fox Home Entertainment, which included a couple of new releases, a wealth of catalog faves, an Easter promotion and yet more TV on DVD.

New to DVD is the return of that cute little Macaulay Culkin, now all grown up and one big Party Monster. This indie look at the life and times of murderous club kid Michael Alig will debut on February 10th, and features an anamorphic widescreen transfer, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track, audio commentary by the filmmaking team of Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, a featurette, behind-the-scenes footage, interviews with actors Culkin, Seth Green and Chloe Sevigny and the real Alig, and the trailer. Retail is $19.95. More teen pathos arrives on January 27th with the acclaimed drama Thirteen, which will also get the anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1 treatment, plus a wealth of extras including aduio commentary by director Catherine Hardwicke and stars Nikki Reed, Brady Corbet and Evan Rachel Wood, deleted scenes with commentary, a featurette and the trailer. Retail will list for $27.95.

To get an early jump on the Easter market, Fox will release a number of kid-friendly classics on March 16th. A special edition of Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines includes an anamorphic widescreen transfer, an audio commentary by director Ken Annakin, a featurette, behidn the scenes and effects footage, storyboards, still galleries and theatrical and teaser trailers. Retail will set you back a mere $14.95. Other titles that are a part of the promotion include Easter Storykeepers, the 1950 version of Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes, and repriced editions of the animated hits Anastasia, Happily Ever After, Ice Age, A Troll in Central Park, Ferngully: The Last Rainforest and Thumblina. All are now a super-cheap $14.95, except Ice Age, which will run you $24.95.

What else has Fox got in store for you this winter? Get ready for another batch of quickie direct-to-video titles, all cheesy action extravaganzas that give new meaning to the phrase "direct to video." On February 3rd comes such classics as It's the Rage, Road Rage, Agent Red, Zebra Lounge, Proximity and Brian Bosworth in Mach 2. All are presented in their original aspect ratios (all but the Rage flicks are in anamorphic widescreen), extras include trailers, and the price is right at only $9.95 retail. Fox will also reduce a number of more well-known theatrical features to that price point on the 3rd, including Airheads, Python, Strange Days, The Scout and Danny Boyle's A Life Less Ordinary. Specs remain the same as the versions currently on the market.

And finally, from the Fox TV vaults comes Futurama Volume 3, which includes 4:3 full screen transfers, English, French and Spanish Dolby 2.0 surround tracks, new introductions, audiio commentary on every episode, the 24-minute "Anthology of interest Part II" featurette, 17 deleted scenes and 3 "Easter" scenes, international clips, multiple still galleries with over 500 images, and 9 "3D models from rough draft" sequences. Street date is March 9th and retail will be $49.95.

Home for the Holidays - 10:58pm

Rounding out today's news are the latest announcements from MGM Home Entertainment, for two recent indie hits, the Todd Graff-directed comedy Camp and the Katie Holmes Thanksgiving drama Pieces of April. Both feature 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and full screen transfers, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround tracks, English and Spanish subtitles and trailers. There are no other announced extras. Retail is $24.95 a pop, and street date is February 17th and 24th, respectively.