Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - DVD Details

[azul017]

and that the extras will have optional English SDH subtitles!

YAAAAAAYYYY!!!

It's pretty much a given that the extras will have both English SDH and French subtitles, since Warners switched to using SDH streams in addition to the usual set of subtitles starting with The Astronaut Farmer.

[Escapay]

YAAAAAAYYYY!!!

It's pretty much a given that the extras will have both English SDH and French subtitles

Well, I'm excited and it's about bloody time they started subtitling the extras. Paramount and Fox do it all the time, and now I'm glad that WB is making it a standard as well. I don't have any hearing problems, but sometimes if it's late and I don't want to wake anyone, I watch the extras at a really low volume, so subtitles help greatly.

Anyway, I didn't get a chance to actually comment on the other features, but like Dottie, I'm excited for "Trailing Tonks". It sounds really good and seems to be similar to GoF's "Meet the Champions" (which I really enjoyed, despite a couple DVD reviews calling it mindless fluff.)

The annoyingly-vague "making of featurettes" makes me hope that we'll see another "Conversations with the Cast"-type feature, and for this movie, I hope there's some "Anatomy of a Scene"-type featurettes (especially for the Voldy/Dumbledore battle).

Scaps

[azul017]

Well, I'm excited and it's about bloody time they started subtitling the extras. Paramount and Fox do it all the time, and now I'm glad that WB is making it a standard as well. I don't have any hearing problems, but sometimes if it's late and I don't want to wake anyone, I watch the extras at a really low volume, so subtitles help greatly.

Scaps

Universal also subtitles their extras (and so has Disney), but aside from The Family Stone and the Star Wars: 2-Disc Limited Editions, none of the other recent Fox titles don't have subtitles for their extras.

[Disneykid]

The cover art's decent (and the same as the Brazilian one I linked to earlier), but it doesn't come across as a DVD cover to me. It seems more like something used as a coloring or sticker book cover. Still, at least the characters aren't airbrushed to death.

The meager selection of extras doesn't surprise. I'll say it again: we will get full-blown extended editions of all seven films by 2010; you mark my words. If not, I'll personally eat each disc of my regular Harry Potter film collection (although, if we do get mega extended editions and they just happen to be released instead in 2011 or so, I'll merely lick my current Potter discs).

The inclusion of the A&E documentary is bizarre, though. Although it was a really good documentary, it had only two areas of focus: a) bracing fans for the Deathly Hallows book by recapping important clues in the books/films, and b) promoting Order of the Phoenix with EPK interviews and some behind the scenes footage (this part took up very little of the special, actually). WB was probably so reluctant to put new content on this release that they included this special just to pad things out.

I'm not going to flip out over the two-hour bonus disc being included in the set because one of the following if bound to happen:

1. The bonus DVD is merely a selection of EPK interviews spanning the entire series.

2. The bonus DVD is made up of new content that doesn't reveal anything we haven't already heard in the current supplements or in interviews.

3. The bonus DVD has new, meaty content that will either be ported over in the inevitable supah genius set of all seven films, or will be replaced with future content that repeats much of the same info found here.

Of course, that bonus DVD could also be meaty stuff that we'll never ever see anywhere else, but I honestly don't think that's the case.

[magicalwands]

I seriously don't get why WB is releasing this now. Maybe Half-Blood Prince won't be available on DVD?

[ichabod]

Widescreen,DVD additional material,HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

TRAILING TONKS Video Feature
Classified 10 September, 2007 . Run Time 19m 18s

[Disneykid]

Thanks, ichabod! That featurette's actually longer than I expected. Harry Potter featurettes tend to run about 10 to 15 minutes, so it's nice seeing something a bit longer that's actually focusing on one subject instead of being all-encompassing. Hopefully we'll see what those other vague "in focus" featurettes are all about.

[azul017]

I seriously don't get why WB is releasing this now. Maybe Half-Blood Prince won't be available on DVD?

They're just reprinting the OOP widescreen discs of the first four movies and make it seem as though they're completely new.

I'm confident DVDs will still be around for another decade -- heck, Warners still printed VHS tapes up until late 2005 (and by then most of the companies reverted to DVD only). So rest assured, Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows will get a DVD release.

That box set is seriously nice, but I wouldn't get one until all seven movies are already out on DVD and each movie has a definitive set of extras.

[azul017]

DVD Active has updated the announcement for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with the front and back art for the single-disc edition (which, like GOF, will be barebones). But the art for the single-disc edition is different, it's a slightly different version of the art for the German release.

See it here.

[Disneykid]

I like the color scheme of the single disc, but not the layout (I wasn't too crazy about the UK poster that cover's based off, either). The two-disc is a bit classier, even if it still doesn't come across like a DVD cover to me. The single disc back cover doesn't really make sense. Either have Harry and the Order riding brooms or Harry and the DA riding thestrals. I'm assuming the two-disc set's back cover will be the same as the single disc's, but with the synopsis and photo replaced with a box naming the supplements.

[lord-of-sith]

Yeah, the single-disc's back cover doesn't make a ton of sense, seeing as how it never happens in the film. It also bothers me that the back's blue-ish color scheme doesn't match the front's green-ish. But, I think the covers for both editions are very good, the best covers in the series thus far. I'll be very excited to pick this up on December 11th! Though I do think that is a long time to wait.

[magicalwands]

Well, I'll just see how much more expensive the 2-disc is before choosing to buy that. After buying the Goblet of Fire 2-disc, I started wanting the 1-disc more.

Interesting, since the cover arts are different, I guess now Harry's head on the spine are different from each one as well. (By the way, I like the single disc art a lot more than the double disc art.)

[PeterPanfan]

I seriously don't get why WB is releasing this now. Maybe Half-Blood Prince won't be available on DVD?

Uhm...what the hell is that? And I want it.

[jrboy]

Uhm...what the hell is that? And I want it.

from dvdactive.com

Also available from the 11th will be a Harry Potter 1-5 Limited Edition Giftset which includes Harry Potters Years 1-5, a Harry Potter DVD game Hogwarts Challenge, along with a bonus disc containing over 2 hours of enhanced content, an exclusive "Harry Potter's Bookmark Collection", and collectible trading cards. This will retail at $119.97. HD DVD and Blu-ray giftsets will also be available for $149.99.

[azul017]

As much as it pains me to say it (and say this as a HP completist whore), I think I'll just get the single-disc edition of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for Christmas. The cover art is cooler and much simpler, but the extras for the 2-disc edition seem really paltry in comparison to the extras (even with the "Trailing Tonks", the A&E documentary and the editing extras included) and to add insult to injury no commentary or the original trailer used to promote the movie aren't in this release. (Unless the extras has the theatrical trailer on the second disc but doesn't mention it.)

And I foresee myself double-dipping on all of the Harry Potter movies once Deathly Hallows is out and done with -- either multi-disc deluxe editions or full-blown extended editions for each movie. And besides, I mostly watch the movie anyway -- I watch most of the extras one time and that's it.

[azul017]

DVD Town has a back-art shot of the 2-disc edition... seems like I was right after all about the lack of trailers and that the extras on the 2-disc edition will have Englihs SDH and French subtitles.

[Disneykid]

I'm taking that bonus material listing on the back with a grain of salt. The Harry Potter DVDs never list all of the bonus materials on the back. Notice how the Focus featurettes (which each deal with a specific subject) aren't listed at all. The back covers for Chamber of Secrets and Goblet of Fire didn't mention trailers either, and both came with one (though GoF for some reason had the teaser instead of the full theatrical trailer).

Oh, and while that back cover breaks the pattern of having Harry flying on the back of each cover, I have to say this cover is way cooler than back of the single disc.

[Disneykid]

Okay, I now stand corrected. WB has released an official press release, and it seems the Focus Points featurettes have been dropped from the standard 2-disc and are now a Blu-Ray exclusive. Yes, you read right. The HD-DVD doesn't list it probably because they've been implemented into the In-Movie Experience. Oh, and there's no trailer whatsoever, apparently. Boo.

One thing I find interesting, though, is that while the BBFC have classified 10 minutes' worth of deleted scenes, the specs list say 17 for R1 and 15 for R2 (the latter is shorter because of PAL speedup). That means we may still get stuff like the complete Snape's Worst Memory, the Sirius and Bella duel, and/or the trio musing about Sirius' death. Here are the complete specs for all the non-single disc releases:

2-DISC SPECIAL EDITION

* Additional Scenes: 17 minutes of never-before-seen footage.

* Trailing Tonks (19 minutes) - Spend a day with Actress Nat Tena and receive a very personal and often wacky tour of the Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix stages.

* Harry Potter: The Magic of Editing (32 minutes)- Director David Yates and Editor Mark Day show what a difference a good edit makes to allow the viewers to edit a scene.

* A&E Documentary: The Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter (44 minutes) - Viewers take a thrilling look back at the past Harry Potter films in search of clues to the mysteries of the upcoming Harry Potter saga.

* DVD-ROM - This will include a timeline, a link to sneaks of HP6, along with other materials.

HD-DVD COMBO

* Additional Scenes: 17 minutes of never-before-seen footage.

* Trailing Tonks (19 minutes) - Spend a day with Actress Nat Tena and receive a very personal and often wacky tour of the Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix stages.

* In Movie Experience - Join the cast from Dumbledore's Army as they come together to share memorable moments.

* Harry Potter: The Magic of Editing (32 minutes) - Director David Yates and Editor Mark Day show what a difference a good edit makes to allow the viewers to edit a scene.

* Pick Your Favorite Scene - Assemble favorite clips from the movie to create a montage.

* Live Community Screening - Viewers can create, organize, and invite their buddies to their very own screening.

* Mobile Downloads - Viewers can scan and select cool images and ringtones to send to their mobile phones.

BLU-RAY

* Additional Scenes: 17 minutes of never-before-seen footage.

* A&E documentary: The Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter (44 minutes) - Viewers take a thrilling look back at the past Harry Potter films in search of clues to the mysteries of the upcoming Harry Potter saga.

* Trailing Tonks (19 minutes) - Spend a day with Actress Nat Tena and receive a very personal and often wacky tour of the Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix stages.

* Focus Points - Enjoy these fun and fascinating "making of" featurettes to discover just what is involved to create those amazing scenes and characters.

* Harry Potter: The Magic of Editing (32 minutes) - Director David Yates and Editor Mark Day show what a difference a good edit makes to allow the viewers to edit a scene.

LIMITED EDITION GIFT-SET

* Hogwarts Challenge - A bonus disc containing a unique interactive DVD gaming experience with 14 adventure games based on the first three Harry Potter films, and containing clips from the fourth and fifth films.

* Bonus materials - A bonus disc containing more than three hours of all-new content from the past Harry Potter films.

* The Harry Potter Bookmark Collection - Five unique souvenir metal bookmarks made especially for this gift set

* Harry Potter Trading Cards - Collect them all with these four packages containing cards from the first four films

It seems the special giftset bonus DVD now contains three hours of footage rather than than the two hours that were previously announced. I'm really hoping it's a disc of fluff, but then, they're saying all-new content. Hmm...

All I know is that Order of the Phoenix has gotten the weakest treatment of a Potter film since Chamber of Secrets. What we have here is still better than the atrocity Sorcerer's Stone got, but this is certainly lower than what Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire got. Sigh. I'm hoping that when WB has their next Q&A with HomeTheaterForum.com in the Spring, someone will grill them about Potter re-releases. Every year someone asks them, and every year they deny it, but nobody asked about it this year. With all this deliberate withholding of deleted scenes and making-ofs, we MUST be getting full-blown extended editions. I better not have to wait three years from now to get them, though.

[PeterPanfan]

I'm very dissapointed in this.

ALl of that could EASILY have fitted on a 1 disc version...

[Escapay]

I'm very dissapointed in this.

ALl of that could EASILY have fitted on a 1 disc version...

145 minutes of movie + 112 minutes of bonus features = 257 minutes of content = More than a dual-layered disc can handle (at most, they can take 240 minutes, but for best quality, most try and keep it at or under 180)

Anyways, thanks, Kelvin, for the official press release specs. I hate to go update my first post now, simply because it'll be more disappointing to look at now.

I want my trailers, dammit!

I'm *thisclose* to joining azul and simply getting the single-disc and waiting (impatiently) for the eventual megaboxset, but at the same time, I don't want to miss out on "Trailing Tonks" and that editing featurette. And the giftset bonus disc is tempting too, fluffy or serious it may be. *sigh* what's a fan to do?

Scaps