German studio Spirit Media has announced the Blu-ray release of two remarkable historical epic films: '
El Cid' and '
The Fall of the Roman Empire', with a release date of August 21. Both films will feature 1080p VC-1 video and DTS-HD Master Audio tracks for both English and German. Each will contain nearly two hours of bonus features.
There is no information yet as to whether the releases will be locked to region B or not. They are distributed by Koch Media, which usually hasn't applied region locking to its titles so far.
In the USA, The Weinstein Company holds the rights to both films.
Extras for '
El Cid' include:
- Three original trailers
- Picture gallery
- Hollywood Conquers Spain: 'El Cid'
- A Visionary Producer in Hollywood: Samuel Bronston
- Miklós Rózsa, Master of Film Music
- The Preservation of a Legend: Gerry Burne on the Restoration of a Classic
- 11 filmographies
Extras for '
The Fall of the Roman Empire' include:
- Original trailer
- German trailer
- Picture gallery
- The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire: a Historical Analysis
- Dimitri Tiomkin: the Score for the Roman Empire
- 12 filmographies
- Encyclopędia Britannica documentaries
Both titles will come in three-disc sets, where only the first one will be a BD. The second disc will be a DVD with the bonus features, and the third will contain a digital copy of the film, with separate files optimized for PSP, Blackberry, and iPod/iPhone.
'
El Cid' and '
The Fall of the Roman Empire' were the two movies Western veteran Anthony Mann directed for Samuel Bronston, the producer who built a huge studio in Spain where he made historical epics, avoiding the escalating costs of moviemaking in Hollywood. '
The Fall of the Roman Empire' was shot in Ultra Panavision 70 and used "the largest set ever built", but its failure at the box office brought down Bronston's own production empire.