June 11th marks twenty-five years since the release of one of John Hughes' most revered comedies, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. This has left many Hughes fans anticipating a 25th Anniversary Edition of the film. Paramount has revealed that they will in fact release a new Blu-ray and DVD on August 2nd, but details indicate that this will simply be a refresh of the Bueller... Bueller... Edition with updated packaging.
The new cover art slip case will feature a foldout map highlighting many of the Chicago locations seen in the movie. Special features have been confirmed to be the same featured on the film's previous 2009 Blu-ray release, which can be can seen in our review. No digital copy or pack-in DVD has been announced for this re-release. A SRP of $19.99 has been set.
Pictured below is the fold out map for the re-packaging.
Good grief. How could they re-release an anniversary edition with new packaging and NOT return the missing Hughes commentary from the DVD?? Absolutely worthless.
How come no Hughes commentary or brand new features? I might buy it just because it uses the original poster art, sorta, and not a photoshopped mess which was the original release. For those who've kept the original DVD with Hughes commentary and buy this, might as well make it a custom 2-Disc.
I can't begin to imagine how bored someone would have to be before the thought of walking around Chicago looking at locations from Ferris Bueller's Day Out would sound interesting.
I'd only buy this if the transfer is better than the other edition but I actually thought the last edition looked very nice so I doubt it's a new transfer
How pathetic... Ferris Bueller deserves better than this. How about the deleted scenes that featured them at the radio station, or Jeanie's additional scenes in the school locker room, or scenes with his brother and sister (who were cut out of the film). I imagine they're still around?
@Rhylliam: The original DVD release only had the commentary track. The original trailers for the film have never been issued on any home video release of the film. Although they can be seen on YouTube if you're really interested.
Agreed that this is horseshit. I'm completely baffled as to why they didn't add the commentary on the initial blu-ray release in the first place...to let the 25 year anniversary go buy without a re-release featuring the commentary is an insult. Up yours, Paramount.
The sad thing is there are thousands of films in Paramount's vaults, and this as well goes to the other studios, stop re-issuing films so soon and put out movies that have not yet been made available. Warner's announcement of 3 double features the other day included only one double feature (Elm Street 2-3) that was new, the other movies have already been released. Sad to see this when there are so many catalog titles we are waiting for.
I would REALLY LOVE to know the reason why they aren't using the Audio Commentary. It is the ONLY audio commentary John Hughes has EVER done! I personally think it was Mr. Hughes himself who didn't want the commentary to be used anymore for whatever reason. Because otherwise it just makes NO sense for Paramount not to use it.....Still holding on to my original DVD =(
While this release could definitely have been more substantial, including the restoration of the audio commentary and the addition of the trailers (plus, dare I say, a few new featurettes), I do like the idea of the map. I never got around to buying the existing blu-ray version of this film so I'll probably buy this one down the line.
But I do agree with Robert Siegel. Studios need to focus less on re-releasing existing blu-ray titles (except, perhaps, to improve picture and/or audio quality and/or add substantial new special features) and focus much more on releasing the intriguing films from their libraries. Paramount in particular, frankly, has been glacially slow to release its magnificent catalog on blu, especially films before the 1980s. The studio has made some stellar releases of its classics, so it can definitely excel at doing so, but, in actuality, such releases, so far, are few and far between.
For this teen comedy classic film's landmark 25th anniversary, Paramount should do more than repackage. Missed opportunity for Paramount. Would have gladly double dipped!
