Summer Starts to Sizzle With Warner Home Video's DVD Line-Up.

Entertainment Writers

BURBANK, Calif.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--May 11, 2000

June Features Academy Award(R) Nominated The Green Mile

"Unquestionably the Best Picture of the Year(1)";

All-Star Release Schedule Also Includes Newly Enhanced Versions of "Interview with the Vampire," "Twister" and the "Lethal Weapon" Series

Warner Home Video (WHV) turns up the heat with an exciting selection of top-rated films in its June DVD roster. Featuring The Green Mile, which received four Academy Award(R) nominations including Best Picture, June's line-up delivers everything from miracles to murder plots ... vampires to twisters trackers. From the classic hit movies and their sequels, Lethal Weapon and Shaft, to an up-close look at American teens in Liberty Heights, and the suspense of Interview with the Vampire and Twister, WHV presents an action-packed month of entertainment.

The Green Mile (available June 13, catalogue No. C2579, $24.98)

Nominated for four Academy Awards(R) including Best Picture, The Green Mile is the critically-acclaimed big-screen adaptation of Stephen King's 1996 best-selling novel. Two-time Academy Award(R) winner Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump) stars as a death row guard who deals with a moral and professional dilemma when he discovers that miracles are being performed by one of the prisoners, a convicted murderer. The stellar cast includes Michael Clarke Duncan (Whole Nine Yards, Armageddon) who received an Academy Award(R) nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role, David Morse (The Negotiator), Gary Sinise (Forrest Gump), Bonnie Hunt (Return to Me) and James Cromwell (L.A. Confidential). DVD features include:

- Special behind-the-scenes documentary, "Walking the Mile"

- Original theatrical trailer

- Widescreen format

- English and French subtitles

- Dolby surround 5.1 audio

Interview with the Vampire (available June 6, catalogue No. 18313, $24.98)

Tom Cruise (Mission: Impossible 2, Eyes Wide Shut), Brad Pitt (Fight Club), Antonio Banderas (Play It to the Bone), Christian Slater (Hard Rain, Murder in the First) and Kirsten Dunst (The Virgin Suicides) star in this hypnotic adaptation of Anne Rice's bestseller. Directed by Neil Jordan (The Crying Game, The End of the Affair), it's the story about the attractively tormented undead and their evil deeds across two continents and two centuries. DVD features include:

- Behind-the-scenes documentary In the Shadow of the Vampire,

featuring never before released interviews with Tom Cruise,

Brad Pitt, Stephen Rea, Antonio Banderas, Kirsten Dunst,

screenwriter/novelist Anne Rice and director Neil Jordan

- Original theatrical trailer

- All-new introduction by Anne Rice, Neil Jordan and Antonio

Banderas

- Feature-length audio commentary by Neil Jordan

- Production notes and filmographies

- Dual-layer format

Twister (available June 6, catalogue No. 18321, $24.98)

Directed by Jan DeBont (Speed) and co-written by Michael Crichton (ER, Jurassic Park) this is the story of storm chasers Helen Hunt (As Good as It Gets) and Bill Paxton (Titanic) as they go into the heart of a 300-mph tornado, risking all to gather scientific data that may provide life-saving advances in storm forecasting. DVD features include:

- Behind-the-scenes documentaries The Making of Twister and

Anatomy of the Twister

- Feature-length audio commentary by director Jan DeBont and

visual effects supervisor Stefen Fangmeier

- Van Halen's music video - `Humans Being'

- 2 original theatrical trailers

- Expanded motion menu

- Dual-layer format to improve picture/audio quality over

previous version

- Production notes and filmographies

- Dolby surround 5.1 audio

Lethal Weapon Director's Cut (available June 6, catalogue No. 16289, $24.98)

With more than 7 minutes of previously unavailable scenes, this director's cut includes added suicidal heroics by Riggs (Mel Gibson) taking on a schoolyard sniper and Murtaugh (Danny Glover) working out his 50th birthday blues on the firing range. DVD features include the original theatrical trailer, expanded motion menu and Dolby surround 5.1 audio.

Lethal Weapon 2 Director's Cut (available June 6, catalogue No. 16290, $24.98)

Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are at it again (with more than 4 added minutes) in this blockbuster sequel. Riggs (Gibson) wows the pretties at a hotel spa and Murtaugh (Glover) receives bad bodywork news from a repairman after his beleaguered station wagon sees street action. Plus, feisty Leon (Joe Pesci) recalls a suspect's address with a dizzy spin of numbers. DVD features include the original theatrical trailer, a behind-the-scenes stunt featurette, expanded motion menu and Dolby surround 5.1 audio.

Lethal Weapon 3 Director's Cut (available June 6, catalogue No. 16291, $24.98)

Mel Gibson and Danny Glover re-team for a third adventure with more than 3 added minutes including new scenes with Murtaugh's daughter Rianne (Traci Wolfe) adding subtext to this dad's fighting-mad protectiveness. Also included in the new footage: domestic bliss at Riggs' trailer with a new rottweiler buddy joining Riggs' canine pal Sam and Lorna Cole (Rene Russo) takes the wheel of a high-horsepowered interrogation. DVD features include the original theatrical trailer, expanded motion menu and Dolby surround 5.1 audio.

Shaft (available June 6, catalogue No. 65051, $24.98)

Richard Roundtree (Steel, Roots) makes his debut as John Shaft, a tough private investigator whose hunt for a kidnapped woman puts him in the middle of feuding syndicates. The release includes Isaac Hayes' Academy Award(R) winning Best Original Song and an Oscar(R) nominated score. DVD features on this first-ever widescreen video release include:

- Behind-the-scenes documentary Soul in Cinema: Filming Shaft on

Location

- 3 original theatrical trailers

Shaft's Big Score! (available June 6, catalogue No. 65302, $24.98)

In Richard Roundtree's second portrayal of the cool private investigator, the explosive murder of a client plunges Shaft into a case that bounces him between the 133rd Precinct and competing mobs. But the players are about to be played in this "rousing and entertaining thriller" (Newsweek). DVD features in this first-ever widescreen video release include three theatrical trailers.

Shaft In Africa (available June 6, catalogue No. 65198, $24.98)

Richard Roundtree returns as the indomitable Shaft, this time drafted for an overseas assignment to pose as a slave, unmask the leads of an Africa-to-Europe slavery cartel and mix his business with the amorous pleasure of a princess (Vonetta McGee). DVD features in this first-ever widescreen video release include three theatrical trailers.

Liberty Heights (available June 20, catalogue No. 18019, $24.98)

Set in the mid-1950s and seen through the eyes of a middle class Jewish family, this film explores life during a pivotal time in American social history amid the issues of race, class and religious distinction. This powerful film stars Joe Mantegna (The Rat Pack), two-time Emmy winner Bebe Neuwirth (Summer of Sam) and Adrien Brody (The Thin Red Line, Summer of Sam). DVD features include:

- A deleted scene with a special introduction by director Barry

Levinson

- On the Set behind-the-scenes footage on location

- Interviews with the director and the cast

- Music-only track featuring classic 1950's songs

- Theatrical trailers (including Diner)

- Dolby surround 5.1 audio

More than 5,000 DVD titles are currently available from all the major studios at traditional retail outlets and through on-line services and it is estimated that nearly 100 million DVD discs were shipped in 1999.

(1) David Sheehan, KCBS-TV