In October, Warner Home Entertainment will bring Little Shop of Horrors to Blu-ray. This 1986 adaptation of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's popular off-Broadway musical - which, in turn, took its inspiration from Roger Corman's 1960 cult classic - stars Rick Moranis (Ghostbusters) as Seymour Krelborn, a meek florist who forms an unusual bond with a man-eating plant called Audrey II (voiced by Four Tops member Levi Stubbs).
Audrey II senses Seymour's unhappiness, and the plant's ebullient personality both brings fame and fortune to the Skid Row flower shop where he works as well as gives Seymour the confidence to approach his beautiful co-worker (Ellen Greene, Léon: The Professional). There's just one catch: Seymour has to provide Audrey with the blood she needs to stay alive. As Seymour's actions grow more depraved - and as Audrey II grows ever larger - the young florist's life soon spirals out of control, putting the fate of the planet in jeopardy.
Update: While the Blu-ray's full technical specifications are still unknown, Warner will include two digitally remastered versions of the film on one disc - the theatrical edition and a director's cut, which features a restored twenty-minute alternate ending. The Blu-ray also contains the following supplements:
Commentary by director Frank Oz
Frank Oz and Little Shop of Horrors: The Director's Cut introduction
A Story of Little Shop of Horrors behind-the-scenes featurette
Outtakes
Deleted scenes
Theatrical trailers
The disc also comes packaged in a collectible forty-page digibook with "production photos, notes, and rare insights into the making of the film."
Little Shop of Horrors is expected to street on October 9th.
Hoping that the Directors cut has the Long awaited Deleted footage from the alternate ending released on the DVD release(then pulled from stores,fetching a fierce price on Ebay)! DAy one purchase for me
While it'll be good to see both versions, the ending of the 'director's cut' takes what a lot of people felt was wrong about the movie (that it turns into a special effects show) and makes it about 100 times worse. It basically turns into a Godzilla movie, totally going over the top (and showing what was suggested on stage didn't especially work when translated to film and literalized on-screen). Definitely interesting to see, but the theatrical version's reworked ending was streamlined and much more satisfying.
Interesting trivia: As stated above, the talking plant is voiced by Levi Stubbs of Four Tops fame. About 3 years later, he voiced the character Mother Brain on the Nintendo cartoon Captain N: The Game Master, using almost the exact same voice.
I have the original DVD (I had no idea it was going for so much on Ebay! Hmmm...) and I have to respectfully disagree with DMRI2006. I never cared for the smaltzy happy ending that ended up being released theatrically (even with the supposedly sinister last shot with the smiling plant - weak!) and I find the originally intended ending much more in line with the tone of the original movie and the Off-Broadway musical. And it's a lot more fun to watch
Hell yeah! My favorite musical in HD. Been waiting on this one!
Confused about the Director's Cut, though. The alternate ending (it's on youtube), was never officially completed. Missing audio, effects, it was too long, and heck, not even in color. It'd be curious to see what they do with that, if anything. (I personally prefer the movie's "happy" ending as it left things open-ended enough to not be *too* happy.)
The announcement on Home Theater Forum is saying that this will be a Blu-Ray Digibook. Can anyone confirm this? Otherwise, I'm so looking forward to this.
And by the way, David Geffen finished the film's original ending years ago. He had a color copy, and it was him who was the sole reason the original DVD was pulled because the ending was used without his permission. Geffen has been hoping to convince Warner Bros. to re-release the film in theatres with the orignal ending but they had always said no. When the original DVD came out, he freaked, thinking the chances of that happening would be slim to none period. I think the director's cut will be the version that Geffen always would've preferred to see himself, with Oz's final adjustments (He always said he would have shortened the original ending). There's a great article about this called Little Shop of Reshoots, which you can read at DVDTalk.com (http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s92shop.html).
If there is not an alternate ending I'll continue to not own this masterpiece, but I REALLY hope the "Director's Cut" will have the full, color, ending where the plants take over the city including the cut song!
Is the alternate ending the one where Audrey clearly ends up "somewhere that's green" as she did in the actual stage musical ? That was the great last punchline that the movie ignored.
Glad I was able to nab a hard-to-find copy of this on regular DVD (with alternate ending, etc...). Pretty valuable commodity. It'll be nice to have on bluray as well.
I love both the original Roger Corman version and the Frank Oz version as well. I have not seen the director's cut, which probably is the same ending of the original, which, if you remember, is not a happy ending...
Love it! One of my favorites and I haven't watched the DVD in a while because the PQ is kinda shitty. Can't wait to see how this looks and the directors cut is sure to be a treat!!
I love that WB keeps putting out a steady stream of solid tires throughout the year without having to "mark an anniversary.". Just enjoying giving the public what they want.
Woo hoo!! One of the first DVD's ever released (and the first ever recalled), with a crappy transfer and the workprint ending, finally gets a HD makeover! Do you hear that? That's that sound of Special Edition DVD's falling in value (mine included)! David Geffen finally relents!
Hopefully we'll see the full-length version of "The Meek Shall Inherit" (with the middle section by Moranis, if it was ever shot). DON'T FEED THE PLANTS!
Excellent news with regard to the blu containing both versions of this classic 80's film. I was pleased by the original theatrical ending due to how much I loved the characters, but there was also a part of me that was hoping to enjoy the alternate, decidedly darker, ending in high-def. Now we get to enjoy both versions and it's a digibook! This has always been one of my favorite musicals (along with "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", "The Phantom of the Paradise", "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", "Moulin Rouge", and Don't kill me for this one ... "Dr. Horrible's sing-along Blog"). Now if only they'd hurry up and release "Cabaret" and "Pink Floyd's The Wall" on blu!
I like everything about this announcement except the Digibook. Please Warner Bros., please make it available in a standard blu case as well. The "book" for me is just a waste of paper.
(Does anyone have an online source for empty bluray cases? I haven't been able to find one up here in Canada).
24-bit DTS-HD MA track? the DVD sounded great (the thumps whe Aundrey II's pot is hitting the floor were awesome), but lossless will be off the hook.
Frank Oz's DVD commentary was really great, as was the blooper/outtake reel. I hope they present both with a slightly higher audio bitrate here, though.
The CD soundtrack was a very different mix, with some totally different tracks. I hope they include that as lossless audio, as well!
Day one for me!!! This is one of my favorite musicals!!! This year is shaping up to be good a great one for musicals on blu-ray. It's long over due. "Suddenly, Seymor!!!!"
@reidw: http://blankmedia.ca/ Very cheap, quality cases. And if you live in the GTA you're probably within a short driving distance where you can pick them up and not pay for any shipping. (highly recommend this site to anyone looking for spare cases actually)
That being said, I'll take the Digibook for this one! Really fun film!
YES!!!!! The extended ending can be seen somewhere on YouTube. It's in B&W though. I'm not sure if the uploader, got it in B&W but I'm sure it will be released in color.
Can't wait to get this on BR! I've been holding off on the DVD because I knew something like this release would happen. FIRST DAY!
I wasn't fan of the movie when it played on TV back in the day, but I was a kid. I'm 32 now, and looking now to the trailer, it looks funny and great! I think I'll "Blind Buy" that one, such a classic even if it's a remake!
