The press release is in for the biggest selling movie of all time – Titanic. If you’re a fan of the film and live within North America prepare for disapointment! It seem’s Paramount, James Cameron and everyone else associated with the DVD has given fans the big ole’ shaft.For the details (or lack there of), read ahead…**UPDATE – Cover Art and Rumor Details Added****UPDATE – NO BEST BUY DISC!!** As feared and mentioned in our forums, the R1 North American version of Titanic will come housed with only 3-discs of material, while most of the rest of the world get’s their choice pick of either a 2-disc or more importantly, 4-disc sets.Straight from the Press Release –3-DISC SPECIAL COLLECTOR’S EDITION Includes the 2-disc Special Edition plus more than three hours of never-before-seen material: — Over 45 Minutes of New Deleted Footage: Jack fighting for his life, the passionate kiss you never saw, and Jack and Rose in their final moments together, this is just a sampling of over 45 minutes of new deleted scenes made available for the first time. Each scene is state of the art, with the effects finished to match the special effects in the theatrical feature. — Production and Special Effects Featurettes: with this selection of featurettes, take an insiders look at James Cameron in action. Get a better understanding of what goes on behind-the-scenes of a major movie production. Experience the building of the “TITANIC” studio and film set from the ground up. Dissect scenes. Dive to the wreckage of the actual ship. View the film crew’s personal video footage and much more. — “Breaking New Ground”: this TV special shows that there is much more to “TITANIC” than you ever imagined. Watch the monumental efforts that went into creating this film, beginning with building a studio just for the production of “TITANIC” through to its changing of industry standards, and breaking industry records. Now, here is what everyone in R1 will be missing – Includes the 2 and 3-disc Special Edition content plus: — “The Heart of the Ocean”: HBO’s First Look TV special takes a look at “TITANIC” before it became the largest floating vessel of the worldwide box-office that we know today — Three “TITANIC” Parodies: watch as the biggest film of all-time is spoofed in these three pieces — Trailers: a selection of trailers, including some never-before-aired or shown “TITANIC” will be presented from a brand new high definition transfer, 16×9 anamorphic edition with 5.1 Surround EX Dolby and 6.1 DTS ES Audio offering the highest visual and sound quality on DVD. The press release actually calls the 4-disc set “For the ultimate cinema fan”. Indeed! The omission of the DTS track and the rest of the bonus materials is quite a slap in the face.I must say, Paramount has been on a roll lately. In the last year alone they’ve produced bomb after bomb at the box office, destroyed their number one television franchise, nearly folded their television network and devalued their stock enough to warrant selling off theme parks and movie theater properties. I suppose fouling up the DVD release of their biggest movie in the country that produced it would be icing on the cake.My biggest question is, where is James Cameron during this whole fiasco? In the past, when big name studios deliberately or accidentally mucked up a DVD release the director or producer of the film has usually been quick to call them out and offer alternative solutions. With Cameron’s silence, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that he’s ok with this ridiculous plan. Maybe he came up for oxygen too quickly from one of his latest dives under the sea?At any rate, the Titanic SE release looks to be decent enough, but far from the stellar box set fans were promised when the much ballyhoo’d press conference announcing the DVD occured.Finally, with the way this who affair has been handled, I have no idea when to expect final pricing. Hopefully, Paramount will get a taste of the fan outrage and cancel the title altogether in favour of a 4-disc version – although I wouldn’t hold my breath.
