Back in late 1999, before the terms 'TPS reports' and 'pieces of flair' entered into pop culture, before corporate jockeys began describing experiences with their own 'Lumburghs,' 'Office Space' existed as little more than a box office bomb.
While it certainly had its fans, its poor reception caused 20th Century Fox to put out a rather bland DVD which had little in the way of unique features. That changes today with the release of 'Office Space: Special Edition with Flair.' This DVD release represents the continuation of a long line of double dipping where a studio releases a standard edition of a movie only to come out later with the enhanced, better 'special edition.'
This special edition may come out several years later as it did in 'Office Space's' case, or the window between editions may only take a few months. Sometimes these new editions offer loads more content, such as 'Office Space's' featurettes and deleted scenes, while other special editions are only 'special' in the derogatory sense of the word. These special editions may only add promotional materials which nobody really cares about.
The films from the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy are some of the most notable re-releases in DVD history. While the original releases featured the movie legions of people grew to love, the re-released 'Extended Editions' packed several DVDs with new expanded scenes as well as numerous commentaries from director Peter Jackson. With the knowledge gained from these DVD sets (and several hundred million dollars...) any fan could recreate the films on their own.
Aside from 'Office Space,' there are several other high-profile DVD re-releases hitting the street which promise to offer new content in a true 'Lord of the Rings'-esque fashion. After its initial DVD release in August, 'Sin City' will see a new, better version released on Dec. 13 when 'Sin City: Recut and Extended Edition' hits shelves.
When directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller created 'Sin City,' they shot all the material from Miller's 'Sin City' graphic novels, but the running time of the film would have topped out at more than two and a half hours. Rodriguez trimmed it down to its current theatrical form, but for the extended edition he added all the scenes back. Furthermore, Rodriguez will cram in several commentaries, documentaries and the complete 'Hard Goodbye' graphic novel.
To ring in the new year, New Line Cinema offers up an unrated cut of the classic comedy 'Dumb and Dumber' on Jan. 3. This new edition adds another six minutes to the film's running time and also has more than 20 minutes of additional deleted scenes.
When a hit TV show releases all of its seasons to DVD, it seems like the revenue stream for the studio might have dried up. However, enterprising studios have realized they can repackage the season sets into large box sets'attracting new fans and possibly squeezing more money from the old fans.
Before the year is done, the complete series of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer,' 'Sex and the City' and 'Friends' will hit store shelves. While the series will carry high prices in the neighborhood of $200 to $300, these prices are actually cheap compared to the $600 or so it would cost to purchase each season individually.
Earlier this year, Sony purchased MGM studios. Speculation runs rampant that a driving factor behind this purchase was to lock down the rights to the James Bond films for future re-release on DVD. While Sony has confirmed nothing about this rumor, new DVDs will probably hit next year when 'Casino Royale,' the latest Bond film, hits. Expect to see numerous retrospective documentaries spanning the series' 42 years.
