‘Hugo’ Disc Well-Timed to Capitalize on Oscar Wins

27 Feb, 2012 By: John Latchem

---

After taking home five Oscars during the 84th Academy Awards ceremony Feb. 26, Hugo finds itself in a fortuitous spot in the home entertainment market, with Paramount Home Entertainment releasing the film on DVD and Blu-ray Feb. 28.

Not surprisingly, the Martin Scorsese-directed 3D family film won mostly for technical categories: Best Cinematography, Visual Effects, Art Direction, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing.

Hugo tied with The Weinstein Co.’s The Artist with five awards, though The Artist took home the more coveted prizes of Best Picture, Best Actor for French superstar Jean Dujardin, and Best Director for Michel Hazanavicius, in addition to Best Costume Design and Best Original Score. The Artist will be released on disc by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, though a final street date has not been finalized.

The only other film with multiple wins, with two, was The Iron Lady, which makes its way to DVD and Blu-ray April 10 from Anchor Bay Entertainment. The Margaret Thatcher biopic won Best Actress for Meryl Streep (her third trophy) and Best Makeup.

In the other acting categories, DreamWorks’ Civil Rights drama The Help, on disc from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, won Best Supporting Actress for Octavia Spencer, while Christopher Plummer, at 82 the oldest person to win an acting Oscar, won Best Supporting Actor for Beginners, on disc from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

In the writing categories, Best Original Screenplay went to Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris, on disc from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Best Adapted Screenplay went to The Descendants, which 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment releases on DVD and Blu-ray March 13.

March 20 sees the release of two Oscar winners on DVD and Blu-ray: Disney’s The Muppets, which won in the Best Original Song category for “Man or Muppet,” and Sony Pictures’ The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which won for Best Film Editing.

The only other winner already on disc is Paramount Home Entertainment’s Rango, which won Best Animated Feature Film. Best Animated Short Film went to The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, which is available for download on iTunes with the other nominees in the category.

Best Foreign Film winner A Separation, from Iran, and Best Documentary winner Undefeated have yet to be announced for home video release.

Bookmark it: