Update: Official announcement made and extra features added.
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment has announced M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening starring Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel has been cleared for an October 7 release on Blu-ray Disc, day-and-date with DVD.
Fox has been pushing The Happening on DVD and Blu-ray hard this summer, including the trailer on just about every major home video title.
Shyamalan has already made public statements about some of what to expect from the Blu-ray version including BonusView and no director’s cut. He shared some thoughts on BonusView with Agent DVD magazine.
“It reminded me of how interesting and fun the process can be when you’re making a fun, scary movie. You laugh the whole time you watch the Blu-ray interview with me because you’re watching all these gruesome things going on behind me, and I’m saying, ‘Well, when we made this and that…’ It was fun watching it and reminded me of being a kid again.”
Now that an official has been made we can report The Happening will be presented in widescreen 1080p video transfer and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio.
Supplemental features include a number of value-added Blu-ray exclusives to further differentiate the Blu-ray and DVD releases. The full list is below with exclusives clearly marked.
- Digital copy (Blu-ray exclusive)
- Scene specific PIP (Blu-ray exclusive)
- The Hard ‘R’: (Blu-ray exclusive)
- Train Shooting: (4 min.) The specifics of shooting on a moving train (Blu-ray exclusive)
- Forces Unseen (4 min.) Wind special effects piece – the piece focuses on how the wind was created for the film and how they gave it that eerie look. (Blu-ray exclusive)
- The Hard Cut (9 min.) – Behind the scenes preparations and execution of graphic scenes with Robert Bailey, special effects crew, images of the squibs, make-up, and prosthetics giving this piece an “anatomy of a scene” feel.
- I Hear You Whispering” (9 min.)
- A Day for Night (7 min) – A day in the life of Night during production. Footage shot by a mini-DV cam contributes to the raw “in the moment” style of coverage for our one day with Night.
- Elements of a Scene (10 min.) – In cinema-verite style, dissect the staging of an elaborate scene, from planning, to adjustments, to nailing the last shot of the sequence. Stand-up interviews from cast and crew personalize the piece with a glimpse at all the contributions needed to capture the scene and move on.
- Visions of The Happening: A Making of (12 min.) – Making of documentary
- Deleted scenes with introductions from M. Night Shyamalan
- Gag reel
The Happening on Blu-ray will carry an SRP of $39.99. Check back regularly for high resolution cover art, extras and pre-order information.
Come discuss The Happening looking for second life on Blu-ray discussion in the HDR Forums.
