Spider-Man
04-12-2002, 11:58 AM
I got this from www.silverbulletarticles.com
Today's Hollywood Reporter reveals that "Stan Lee's Mutants, Monsters & Marvels," a DVD/VHS package produced by Creative Light Entertainment, has been acquired by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment just in time for release as a companion piece to the studio's upcoming "Spider-Man" theatrical release.
"Mutants" presents an intimate conversation between comic book great and Spider-Man creator Stan Lee and comic fan/cult fave director Kevin Smith ("Clerks"). During the course of a nearly two-hour interview, Lee answers Smith's questions about the creation of Spider-Man, the history of Marvel Comics and the experiences that helped Lee create his legion of iconic comic book characters, ranging from the Incredible Hulk to the X-Men.
The video will be released May 14, just 11 days after Columbia Pictures' "Spider-Man" hits theaters. The price of the DVD will be $24.95 and the VHS will be $19.95.
"There were a couple of obvious reasons for us to get involved in distributing this video," Columbia vp DVD programming and content Michael Stratford said. "This project is primarily about Spider-Man and Marvel Comics, which presents natural promotional opportunities with our 'Spider-Man' movie, especially since Stan and Kevin are excited to do press and publicity for this. But we also feel that this is a good opportunity to try something different -- it is a very different kind of program than anything we have released before. There is a lot of content there not just for die-hard fans but even for people who may be more interested in the movie than the comics."
The company behind the idea for "Mutants" is Creative Light Entertainment, an independent production and distribution company best known for such DVD/video productions as "The Sid Caesar Collection" and "Mind Meld: Secrets Behind the Voyage of a Lifetime."
"Stan and I are very excited to close this deal with Columbia TriStar and be able to use their distribution machine to get this unique product out to the public," Creative Light CEO Scott Zakarin said. "From the project's inception, we've always felt as if that is where it belonged."
A large portion of the "Mutants" DVD centers on Spider-Man, but it is not the only aspect of Lee's career covered. In the segment "Here Come the Heroes," Lee traces his personal history and the stories behind some of his most noteworthy creations, including the Incredible Hulk, Daredevil and Silver Surfer -- characters also heading to the big screen. The DVD features cast and crew bios, a behind-the-scenes featurette, an exclusive interview with Lee's wife, rare home movies from Lee's personal archive and a poem written and read by Lee.
"Comics are definitely getting more respect now and that is mostly because of the movies," Lee said. "Hollywood has started to realize that what you have to do is make all of the characters relevant and believable. The characters in these superhero movies, when you strip away the superpowers, they have to be characters you feel could really exist. I think people have started to realize that they may be comic characters, but you can't treat them in a silly way."
For Smith, the opportunity to discuss comics and movies with a living legend like Lee proved too good to pass up.
"I had done an interview with Stan a couple of years ago for Rolling Stone, and it was fantastic, but most of it did not make it into the story because of limited space," Smith said. "It was great to be able to do it again, learn new things and have it all be made available for people to see."
I think I will be getting this. Anyone else?
Today's Hollywood Reporter reveals that "Stan Lee's Mutants, Monsters & Marvels," a DVD/VHS package produced by Creative Light Entertainment, has been acquired by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment just in time for release as a companion piece to the studio's upcoming "Spider-Man" theatrical release.
"Mutants" presents an intimate conversation between comic book great and Spider-Man creator Stan Lee and comic fan/cult fave director Kevin Smith ("Clerks"). During the course of a nearly two-hour interview, Lee answers Smith's questions about the creation of Spider-Man, the history of Marvel Comics and the experiences that helped Lee create his legion of iconic comic book characters, ranging from the Incredible Hulk to the X-Men.
The video will be released May 14, just 11 days after Columbia Pictures' "Spider-Man" hits theaters. The price of the DVD will be $24.95 and the VHS will be $19.95.
"There were a couple of obvious reasons for us to get involved in distributing this video," Columbia vp DVD programming and content Michael Stratford said. "This project is primarily about Spider-Man and Marvel Comics, which presents natural promotional opportunities with our 'Spider-Man' movie, especially since Stan and Kevin are excited to do press and publicity for this. But we also feel that this is a good opportunity to try something different -- it is a very different kind of program than anything we have released before. There is a lot of content there not just for die-hard fans but even for people who may be more interested in the movie than the comics."
The company behind the idea for "Mutants" is Creative Light Entertainment, an independent production and distribution company best known for such DVD/video productions as "The Sid Caesar Collection" and "Mind Meld: Secrets Behind the Voyage of a Lifetime."
"Stan and I are very excited to close this deal with Columbia TriStar and be able to use their distribution machine to get this unique product out to the public," Creative Light CEO Scott Zakarin said. "From the project's inception, we've always felt as if that is where it belonged."
A large portion of the "Mutants" DVD centers on Spider-Man, but it is not the only aspect of Lee's career covered. In the segment "Here Come the Heroes," Lee traces his personal history and the stories behind some of his most noteworthy creations, including the Incredible Hulk, Daredevil and Silver Surfer -- characters also heading to the big screen. The DVD features cast and crew bios, a behind-the-scenes featurette, an exclusive interview with Lee's wife, rare home movies from Lee's personal archive and a poem written and read by Lee.
"Comics are definitely getting more respect now and that is mostly because of the movies," Lee said. "Hollywood has started to realize that what you have to do is make all of the characters relevant and believable. The characters in these superhero movies, when you strip away the superpowers, they have to be characters you feel could really exist. I think people have started to realize that they may be comic characters, but you can't treat them in a silly way."
For Smith, the opportunity to discuss comics and movies with a living legend like Lee proved too good to pass up.
"I had done an interview with Stan a couple of years ago for Rolling Stone, and it was fantastic, but most of it did not make it into the story because of limited space," Smith said. "It was great to be able to do it again, learn new things and have it all be made available for people to see."
I think I will be getting this. Anyone else?