Lionsgate scored by far the biggest theatrical hit in its history with The Hunger Games, as the film has now grossed $391.9 million domestically and continues to attract repeat viewers.  For the last few months, we've been focused on Catching Fire, the adaptation of Suzanne Collins' second novel in the series set for theatrical release in November of next year. 

While fans have been justifiably upset by the absence of director Gary Ross on the sequel, today brings happy news: The Hunger Games will be available on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download this August 18th.

Right now, any discussion of Batman movies is obviously centered on The Dark Knight Rises, the final chapter of Christopher Nolan's much heralded cinmatic Bat-trilogy.  This year, though, Warner Premiere is hard at work adapting one of the most influential comics ever created.  As has long been rumored, Frank Miller's epochal 1986 masterpiece The Dark Knight Returns is getting a DC Universe animated adaptation, and today we have new details.

The most fun moments in the found footage superhero origin story Chronicle feature the young leads gleefully experimenting with their newfound telekinetic powers.  The trio of high school students played by Dane DeHaan, Michael B. Jordan, and Alex Russell, telekinetically hurl baseballs at each other, build Legos, and, eventually, move automobiles and learn to fly, all while enthusiastically guffawing at the camera and high-fiving.

Gods and Goddesses alike gathered at the world famous Playboy Mansion on Tuesday evening, March 6th to celebrate the Blu-ray and DVD release of Immortals, which went on sale earlier that day. In attendance from the movie was Immortals producer Craig J. Flores, as well as actor Corey Sevire who played Apollo in the film. Also making an appearance at the mansion Tuesday night was actors Bruce Boxleitner (Tron: Legacy), Johnny Whitworth (Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance), Stephen Bishop (Safe House), Chris Bauer (HBO’s True Blood), Theo Rossi and Dayton Callie (Sons of Anarchy), and Jonathan Lipnicki (Jerry Maguire), as well as comedians Orlando Jones (Mad TV) and Tommy Davidson (In Living Color). Unfortunately our host, the great Hugh Hefner, did not make an appearance at the party or on the red carpet that evening.

IAR attended the red carpet gala and I had a chance to speak with Flores about producing the film. I began by asking him about his experience collaborating with visionary director Tarsem Singh. “I think Tarsem established within our first meeting that he had the movie inside his head and that he wanted to make it look Caravaggio paintings. He had it all down in his head and that is what you look for in a director to really just execute that vision seamlessly and he did.”

In the months leading up to the theatrical release of last year's The Muppets, we saw a procession of trailers parodying the styles of other familiar movie promotions.  These included Muppetized parody trailers happily spoofing The Hangover 2, Green Lantern, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Paranormal Activity 3, Happy Feet 2, Puss in Boots, and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1.  You probably thought that they were done, but with The Muppets arriving on Blu-ray and DVD later this month, Disney has taken the opportunity to parody the trailer for The Hunger Games.

So you've got a forty-seven inch flatscreen television, complete with Blu-ray player and a surround sound system that truly does surround you with sound.  With all that, you're not looking for a staid costume drama, quietly observant character piece, or quirk-filled comedy.  You're looking for a movie with visuals that will scorch your retinas and a sound mix that will break windows while scaring every pet in your neighborhood.  Next week, that movie arrives, as the blockbuster action epic Immortals is set to bring the thunder on Tuesday, March 6th.

This April will involve a lot of people crowding around giant televisions to watch Tom Cruise crawling around on the Burj Khalifa.  After Mission: Impossible III proved to be the franchise's least commercially successful installment back in 2006, there seemed to be assumption that both the series and Cruise were running on fumes. 

Then Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol closed out 2011 to a whole lot of acclaim.  The fourth film proved, amongst other things, that Cruise is still a movie star, Brad Bird can direct live-action with blockbuster aplomb and nimble wit, Paula Patton is a force to be reckoned with, and Simon Pegg can steal damn near any show.  You'll be able to experience the Kremlin exploding all over again, as Paramount has announced that Ghost Protocol is set to debut on Blu-ray, DVD, VOD, and digital download this April 17th.

Puss in Boots is up for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film next week but this Friday, February 24th, it arrives on Blu-Ray and DVD. Puss in Boots director Chris Miller is a man of many talents. He worked his way up the ladder at DreamWorks, cutting his teeth as a story artist on Shrek (2001) while also writing additional dialogue and providing the voices for such characters as the Magic Mirror and Gepetto. For Shrek 2 (2004) Chris served as head of story production, which allowed him to work amongst different departments interfacing with the directors, writers, and the story department. He co-directed Shrek the Third before helming the franchise’s spin-off, Puss in Boots.

Puss in Boots is a prequel to the Shrek series that focuses on the character Puss in Boots (voiced by Antonio Banderas) and his adventures prior to his appearance in Shrek 2. Accompanied by his sidekicks, Humpty Dumpty (voiced by Zach Galifianakis) and Kitty Softpaws (voiced by Salma Hayek), Puss attempts to steal magic beans from the murderous outlaws Jack (voiced by Billy Bob Thorton) and Jill (voiced by Amy Sedaris).

The movie will be accompanied on the BluRay/DVD release by a 13-minute short film, entitled Puss in Boots: The Three Diablos. The short is directed by Raman Hui, Chris Miller’s co-director from Shrek the Third and will pick up where the film left off. The Three Diablos focuses on Puss’s quest to recover a Princess’s stolen ruby from the notorious French thief, The Whisperer. In order to help the Princess, he teams up with three little kittens, Adorable, Fuzzy, and Deadly, who prove they might be more of a hindrance than an asset.

I recently had a chance to speak with Chris Miller about Puss in Boots. The director discusses his new film, getting a creative boost from executive producer Guillermo del Toro, collaborating with his crew, the importance of his past jobs at DreamWorks, working with his wife, his philosophy on narrative-driven comedy, and a Puss in Boots sequel.

One of the common complaints about Bryan Singer's Superman Returns was that, over the course of a 2-hour and 34-minute runtime, the heaviest hitter in the pantheon of comic book heroes didn't throw a single punch.  While that cinematic Superman's feats of strength were all about lifting heavy objects, a new clip from the animated feature Justice League: Doom showcases a Kryptonian who punches the hell out of bad guys without breaking a super-sweat.

You may have thought that, with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 having dominated the box office and gone on its merry way, you'd not be seeing any Twilight-related items until later this year when the hype for Breaking Dawn - Part 2 will inevitably begin in earnest.  Well, you thought wrong.  Part 1 arrives on Blu-ray and DVD in ten days, and in order to build some awareness for this consumer event, Summit Entertainment has released an online tease of a special feature from the Breaking Dawn Blu-ray.