I see a number of interesting European releases listed recently.

Look out for Time Bandits in Germany from Koch Media GmbH on May 29th, 2009.

In France there are a number of new alternate offerings.

Expect Luc Besson movies Nikita, The Fifth Element and Leon from Paramount Home Entertainment on June 11th, 2009.

Not sure about English language support on Nikita, though Leon (known in the US as The Professional) is likely to be a all region alternative to the Region B German release.

Expect Guy Ritchie’s Rocknrolla from Universal Studio Canal Video on May 26th, 2009.

This could be an improvement over the local Warner release which was squeezed onto a BD25, though it is hard to say for sure…

Also,  Traffaut’s Les 400 coups is being released by TF1 Video on May 7th, 2009.

This title is getting a Criterion release in the USA, which is likely to be the best choice for locals.

In the UK watch for North Face from Metrodome Video on April 27th, 2009.

Many people had never heard of the Wachowski brothers before The Matrix was released, but some may remember the movie they did prior to that called Bound.

Excellent news to see that Bound is now coming to Blu-ray from Warner Home Video, scheduled for May 27th, 2009 in France.

No idea about a US release yet, but since Warner never uses region coding, this seems like a no brainer import if there is no US release.

Also watch for the French movie Vilaine from Warner Home Video on May 27th, 2009.

Another interesting title that has recently shown up for pre-order -  watch for Van Helsing from Universal Studio Canal Video on April 15th, 2009.

It would surprise me if this announcement doesn’t foretell of a US release for this action title.

French movie fans should also watch for the 1996 Patrice Leconte movie Ridicule from Universal Studio Canal Video on April 15th.

I see more evidence of potential upcoming Star Trek releases in the USA with another European announcement - this time in France.

Look for Star Trek - the Original Series, Season 1 on Blu-ray Disc from Paramount Home Entertainment on April 20th, 2009.

It is a tad pricey at over 80 Euro for the set, so hopefully things will be somewhat cheaper here in the USA if they ever formally annouce these things!

Also of interest there appears to be a new distributor in France, with some smaller release titles.

Look for Opération Varsovie (though the listing describes The Poet) and the 2008 version of The Boston Strangler from Emylia on March 17th, 2009.

The latter features David Faustino from Married with Children! How bad could it possibly be!

I see that Warner is up to its old tricks again, listing a number of popular key titles in France way ahead of time.

Watch for the Academy Award nominated The Curious Case of Benjamin Button from Warner on August 4th, 2009.

Naturally I fully expect a US release of this well before that time.

Other Warner titles listed already in France include Twilight : Chapter 1 - Fascination July 7th and Yes Man on July 21st, 2009.

I see that France has a couple of new Gaumont titles coming that are not available or announced in the USA yet.

Expect the Jennifer Garner movie  13 Going on 30 (30 ans sinon rien) as well as Center Stage (Danse ta vie) from Gaumont Columbia Tristar on January 21st, 2009.

Often street dates get announced earlier in Europe than the US, so there is a good chance that we will see US releases of these titles early next year also.

The yet to be released in the cinema Quantum of Solace Bond movie has already been given a release date in France by Fox.

According to Amazon France, you should expect James Bond: Quantum of Solace from Fox on May 2nd, 2009.

I would tend to assume that the US release will be on or before this date, though of course it will be a Sony release in the USA.

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I saw some exciting new Blu-ray releases listed on the Amazon UK and Amazon France sites this week.

The William Friedkin movie the French Connection will be released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on December 1st, 2008.

Fox also has a French Connection/French Connection 2 pack listed for the same day.

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I know I haven’t done import watch reports for a while, so I figured I should just cover the interesting releases from France, Germany and the UK today.

Starting with the UK, I see that Revolver Entertainment is planning to release Tyson on November 17th, and The Wackness for December 29th, 2008

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I see some great titles added at Amazon France today.

Quite a number of new titles have been listed to be released by Aventi and BAC - including a number of US ‘art house’ films. I am certainly hoping for good quality releases that are coded for all regions!

Dead Man is scheduled for release by BAC on November 5th, 2008.

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I see that Warner has listed a number of new titles for France today, including some of the Matrix movies as individual releases as well as a number of releases already announced in the USA.

Warner have scheduled Matrix, Matrix révolutions and Animatrix for release on November 12th as single disc editions. No doubt some will be happy to buy only the first movie and Animatrix, avoiding the other two less popular movies.

Also listed for release are L.a. confidential, Entretien avec un vampire (Interview with the Vampire), Beetlejuice and Generation perdue (Lost Boys) on October 15th, Resident evil and Resident evil extinction on November 12th, and Amour de l’or (Fool’s Gold) on November 19th, 2008.