Looks like Warner has been busy in Germany, adding a number of new titles including a couple of steel book releases.

First up though I wanted to mention the release of Anamorph - Die Kunst zu töten from Koch Media on July 11th, 2008. This title features Willem Dafoe, Scott Speedman and Peter Stormare and is a psychological thriller based on the concept of anamorphosis, a painting technique that manipulates the laws of perspective to create two competing images on a single canvas. Sounds kind of interesting.

Back to Warner - coming up in steel book editions, we see 10.000 BC from Warner Home Video on July 7th, 2008 and Keinohrhasen on August 22nd, 2008. There will also be a version of Keinohrhasen with 2 Blu-ray Discs and a DVD on August 22nd.

Other Warner releases coming to Germany include Zodiac on August 22nd, 2008 (a Paramount title in the USA), The Perfect Storm and The Wild Bunch are also on August 22nd, Fool’s Gold on August 29th, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest on August 20th, 2008.

Germans have quite a wait for Juno, which will be released by Twentieth Century Fox Home on December 31st, 2008.

I know what you are thinking. You just can’t get enough of those Uwe Boll movies.

BloodRayne was so awesome that you would give your left testicle to get that and the sequel on Blu-ray Disc, that 2.5/10 at IMDb be damned!

Well, you are in serious luck. For only a fraction of the value of you left testicle, Spendid Entertainment is bringing both BloodRayne and BloodRayne II: Deliverance to Blu-ray Disc on July 25th.

You know you want it!

A couple of interesting releases have showed up at Amazon Germany.

Rambo fans will be interested to see Warner releasing not one but two versions of the recent Rambo movie. While you could opt for the standard John Rambo, it seems that Amazon has an exclusive limited Steel Book Uncut edition for the same price - John Rambo (Uncut, exklusiv bei Amazon im limitierten Steel Book inklusive Tattoo). This title has only just been announced and it is already ranked 33 in DVD! Being a Warner release, very high chance it is coded for all regions. This title is due June 27th, the standard edition will follow June 29th.

It is also interesting to see an Amazon exclusive I am Legend Steel Book release - I Am Legend (exklusiv bei Amazon im hochwertigen Steelbook inkl. Sticker und alternativem Ende).

Also, Uwe Boll fans unite! (assuming there is more than one of you) - Bloodrayne will be released by Splendid Entertainment July 25th. That is probably enough said about that…

Some interesting international sightings today.

In the Paramount corner, we see that Shooter showed up in limited stock at Amazon UK. While this appears to be similar to US Amazon sightings of various titles, with few available, it is interesting to see stock of this particular title due to its popularity and general lack of availability.

In Germany we see that Iron Man has been listed for pre-order. In Germany it will be released by Concorde Video on October 1st. We might assume that by the time Paramount releases this title on home video in the USA, we will see a Blu-ray release, but if not, it seems that there will be another option.

Also in Germany we see the French film The Fox and the Child being released by Kinowelt Home Entertainment on July 11th. Sounds like a nice title with beautiful imagery, will hopefully translate well onto HD media.

Speaking of the French, there are a few interesting releases showing up in France also. We see Les Bronzes get a release in a standard edition on July 2nd. The Rolling Stones concert The Biggest Bang will be released on Blu-ray May 26th. Due to Warner owning the rights in Europe, we will also see a French release of Sweeney Todd.

Some more interesting international releases today, with a couple that I am sure will get US release dates eventually.

In the UK, on July 7th, 2008 Sony will be releasing Vantage Point. This action/thriller featuring Dennis Quaid and Forest Whitaker had a respectable US domestic box office of $71,383,357. No doubt it will get day and date release on Blu-ray in the US also.

Other titles recently listed include Underdog on June 16th, Meet The Spartans on July 21, and 27 Dresses on July 28, 2008.

In Germany we see one of the Warner ‘catch up’ titles announced - Constantine will be released on June 13th, 2008. Again I expect a US release of this title in the same time frame. A week later they will also release V for Vendetta [Blu-ray].

We see that Splendid Entertainment will be releasing Traffic on Blu-ray in Germany on May 30th 2008. Steven Soderbergh won an Oscar for Best Director and Benicio Del Toro won Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in this film.

This release is interesting on a number of levels. Firstly Traffic is a Universal Studios title in the USA, which means no Blu-ray - in the near future at least. Secondly the HD DVD release of Traffic was widely criticized and was demonstrated to be clearly less sharp than even a 720p broadcast version, with many claiming that it was not true high definition but rather an upconverted standard definition master.

It will be interesting to how the German version on Blu-ray will compare to the HD DVD and whether it will be coded for all regions or Region B only.

May is also a busy month for distributor EMS, who have a slate of 10 titles coming out on May 5th 2008. The titles cover a range of titles, notably the Academy Award winning performance ofCharlize Theron in Monster, the Christian Bale film The Machinist and Jean-Claude van Damme in Until Death. The other titles are The Contract, Revenge of the Warrior, Running Scared, Born to Fight, Lady Vengeance, Highlander - The Source and Sky Fighters.

Due to an unfortunate software issue my updates for German releases have been non-existent for a while. Now that the issue is resolved I am pleased to note some interesting releases that will be coming out soon.

While the rest of the world is left without, it seems that Germany is sure to get a Blu-ray release of the Oscar Nominated There Will Be Blood, since the rights there fall to Touchstone. The title will be released June 12th 2008 and will sell at Amazon for 22 Euros which is roughly $34. On the down side for those outside of Europe, knowing Disney’s tendencies this is likely to be Region B coded.

Another interesting release is CSI: Miami - Season 5 Box 1 Ep. 01-12. This TV box set will be released by Ufa on May 12th 2008 and will be 58 Euros at Amazon.

For Uwe Boll fans (are there any Uwe Boll fans?) there is always Schwerter des Königs - Dungeon Siege which will be released April 25th 2008 by Splendid Entertainment for 23 Euros at Amazon.

Sony is releasing The Bone Collector on June 5th 2008, at a rather pricey 27 Euro at Amazon - hopefully the price will come down a bit since region coding is not likely for this title. Sony also has Peter Pan - Extended Version on May 8th at the same price. This is the 2003 version of the movie.

Cine Plus Home Entertainment has a number of releases coming, the first from the label. Hostage - Entführt will be released March 31, 19 Euro at Amazon. John Carpenter’s Vampires and Copland and Jeepers Creepers will be released May 13th for 35 Euro each at Amazon. Again I hope that we see a price drop - that is almost $55!