Buying DVDs that come out today will help you save on films coming soon to theaters. I wrote about this on Sunday — rereleased DVDs that include “movie cash” good for $7.50 to $8.50 off a ticket to the new flick along with extras devoted to the new movie:

• The X-Files: Revelations, a two-disc set with Chris Carter’s handpicked episodes to familiarize casual fans with the franchise before they see The X Files: I Want to Believe.
• Batman Begins, which includes a sneak peek of the upcoming The Dark Knight. (Only the higher-priced versions, including the new Blu-ray release, have the movie cash.)
• A bevy of DVDs tied in to the upcoming The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor — The Mummy (the Boris Karloff original and the Brendan Fraser remake), The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King and Van Helsing.  Only the standard DVDs were available when I wrote my column, but since then I’ve received the Blu-ray versions of The Mummy, The Mummy Returns and The Scorpion King and can verify that they also have the movie cash. They also add a few extras to the previous high-def versions on HD DVD, such as picture-in-picture production footage.

One new DVD I didn’t mention is today’s release of Batman: Gotham Knight on DVD and Blu-ray, because it doesn’t have the movie cash. But it does have a tie-in to The Dark Knight. A collection of six animated shorts, it is intended to fill in the time frame between the live-action Batman Begins and the new sequel. It has been compared to the similarly pitched The Animatrix, which expanded on the Matrix films. I loved The Animatrix, but I was underwhelmed by Gotham Knight. Perhaps I expected too much, but I found the stories of at least half of the shorts wanting. The anime visuals were much better, except for the highly stylized first segment, which makes Batman look like the Tick. But check it out for yourself. Fan boys online sure seem to like it. Perhaps my views will change with repeated viewings. 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 10:31 am and is filed under DVDs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.