Picture This: Warner Brings Lifetime Movies To Dvd

Warner Home Video (WHV) and Lifetime Entertainment Services have signed an exclusive home entertainment distribution deal.

The multi-year agreement covers home video distribution for Lifetime's catalog of original movies, as well as future original movies and select specials and series Lifetime develops or acquires.

Christine Martinez, WHV VP of nontheatrical franchise marketing, says Lifetime's female-oriented programming will fill a void in WHV's lineup of brands, which include male-geared programs from the NBA and NHL as well as the children's brand Leapfrog.

"It makes sense to leverage properties from the industry leader in women's programming," she notes. "Over the last couple of years, there has been a transition where the female is now becoming more in charge of the DVD purchases."

The first titles distributed under the agreement will include Lifetime original movies "Homeless to Harvard" and "Obsessed." Release dates have yet to be announced, though Lifetime senior VP of brand extensions Todd Unger says they are expected by year's end.

Unger believes consumer demand for TV product on DVD will translate into interest for TV movies.

"Lifetime viewers are requesting that [these movies] be available on DVD," he says. "We are optimistic that these titles can do very well."



PACKED 'STAR WARS': Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's four-disc "Star Wars Trilogy" DVD set ($69.98, Sept. 21)—expected to be a fourth-quarter best-seller (Billboard, May 8)—will include four hours of extra features.

The set's fourth disc will contain the documentary "Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy." Clocking in at 21/2 hours, it features new interviews with "Star Wars" creator George Lucas and more than 40 members of the cast and crew from episodes IV through VI, as well as behind-the-scenes footage.

Other documentary features include "The Birth of the Lightsaber," "The Characters of Star Wars" and "The Force Is With Them: The Legacy of Star Wars."

The set will also contain a preview of "Episode III—The Return of Darth Vader," with more interviews from Lucas and a close look at the new Vader costume.

Additionally, the set will preview the "Star Wars: Episode III" videogame, available in spring 2005 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles.



DEF FILMMAKERS ON DVD: The last frontier for urban media is film, says Will Griffin, president/COO of Simmons Lathan Media Group (SLMG).

"Our company is now on a mission to bring urban film to the level of urban music and fashion," he says.

SLMG's first foray into urban film is Kwame Amoake's "F.E.D.S.," available May 4 on DVD ($19.99). The nonfiction project, distributed by Image Entertainment, documents "street" stories from F.E.D.S. magazine.

Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and TV producer Stan Lathan co-founded SLMG with Griffin. The company will support the title with screenings in 10 cities May 3-19.

SLMG has also purchased sponsorships of hip-hop morning shows in 13 markets and will work with allhiphop.com for online promotions.

SLMG plans to release at least a dozen DVD projects per year, primarily feature films and documentaries.



ANIMATED McCARTNEY: Three original Paul McCartney songs make their U.S. debut on his new DVD project, "Paul McCartney: The Music and Animation Collection" (April 13, $29.99), from Buena Vista.

The DVD includes three animated tales McCartney wrote and produced with director Geoff Dunbar during the past 20 years. Extras include an interview with McCartney and making-of segments.

"Rupert and the Frog Song," inspired by U.K. comic strip character Rupert the Bear, received the British Academy Award for best animated short film in 1984. It features the song "We All Stand Together," which has never been commercially released in the United States.

The title song from "Tropic Island Hum," about a squirrel that a one-legged frog rescues from hunters, and the orchestral suite from "Tuesday," based on the book by David Wiesner, also debut with this DVD.

Each film uses hand-drawn animation, a process that Dunbar calls "more expressive" than modern computer animation.

"When you look at this collection, it shows the work of many people working for many months to create a look that is not readily available today," he says.