I bought a copy of the Slumdog Millionaire DVD (unleaded- I don’t have Blu-Ray). The back advertises the special features as including 12 deleted scenes, audio commentary, “making of” featurettes, and trailers for upcoming productions. I put it in the DVD player, went to Special Features, and only the Trailers are there. I tried to see if they were anywhere else on the disk, nope.
So… I looked it up online and apparently this is a universal problem with the DVD release (though not with the Blu Ray). FOX [spit] had planned to sell only DVDs without special features to rental stores so that only those who purchased the DVD would have access, but instead somehow they screwed up and shipped the special featureless ones to retailers including chain stores (I bought mine at Best Buy) and Amazon.
So, per this site and I’m sure others, they’ve set up a special number to deal with the issue.
Not exactly on par with violence and bailouts but still frustrating. I’m posting it here since I’m sure there are others on the board planning to buy it who may have the same problem.
Thanks for posting this; I just got around to watching it last night (great film!) and hadn’t yet tried to watch the Special Features (which are, of course, missing). FYI: They’ve now set up a web site (the 888 number directs you to it) where you fill in a few details regarding the DVD packaging and register for a replacement to be shipped, whereupon you receive this e-mail:
I want a replacement, but I also want a replacement for the cheesy case it came in! It is not solid plastic behind the paper, so my finger tore the paper on the front as I was opening the package (removing the sticky tape covering three of the four edges - argh!).
Some of the deleted scenes add a lot to the movie:
—The abandoned hotel they stay in is an actual abandoned hotel that’s used for movie shoots
—Several scenes of Anil Kapoor (the “Who wans to be a millinair” host who I thought stole every scene he was in)
—The resolution of the murder case (which I’d wondered about when seeing it- they’re just going to let him walk when he confessed to being an accessory to murder? You learn why the detective lets him- it’s not just because he grows to like him)
—A much longer slum-chase scene
—A little bit more about how Latika became the crime boss’s mistress (not a lot)
and others. Listening to the commentary, the Danny Boyle/Dev Patel answered the main question I had from the movie which was about the boy God Rama in the Mumbai Massacre: it was supposed to be a mystical moment. I had wondered if it was part of some ritual or if the kid was like a ‘mascot’ brought by the rioters- nope, it was an invocation of the god himself. A bit cheesy, but I like the movie.
Some trivia from the commentary: the Mumbai Massacre scenes had to be filmed outside of Mumbai as the situation is still far too volatile to allow them to film where it happened. Producers and officials were afraid that in re-enacting the events they may set off more violence.
Interesting bit from the producer’s commentary was that none of the outdoor street scenes other than the slum chase and the riots were filmed in places that allowed the streets to be sealed off, so pretty much all of the ‘extras’ you see in the background aren’t extras as they’d be in a Hollywood movie but real Mumbai residents going about their business.
We got a box of the SF ones at the service desk at work (W…-M…) for people who return the SF-less ones (that they bought there & have a receipt to prove it! L)
Oh- as an aside, if you’re inclined to buy the DVD of the remake of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, see if you’re getting the one that also includes the original.
Having worked for a film studio, I can tell you there are currently probably three or four jobs open in the FOX Home Video Marketing Department…due to the three or four people who got fired the minute this glitch was discovered.
I did. It’s postage paid and wasn’t any real use to me.
I agree completely on the “what a cheap cover” comment. I was at a flea market this weekend where a guy was hawking bootlegs of current movies including SLUMDOG and the box was actually better!
The only one that comes to mind off hand is Reefer Madness: the Musical, which includes the original Reefer Madness (the cult classic it’s a parody of).
The Von Trier / Jørgen Leth film The Five Obstructions includes Leth’s original The Perfect Human. Even though it’s a short I much prefer it to the “obstructed” remakes.
The Maltese Falcon 2-disc set contains the 1931 and 1936 (titled “Satan Met a Lady”) film versions, and 3 radio-show versions, in addition to the 1941 version everyone knows.
A few of the Seduction Cinema remakes of 1960s/1970s sexploitation films contain the originals as bonus features, as well.
Well, this would still happen in the US too, except that Americans got sue-happy, so no one can put anyone on film without getting a signed piece of paper. It’s just easier to pay 100 extras than to have someone attempt to chase down every random joe who walks through the shot.
Most people are cool about such things, but there’s always That One Guy who gets seriously offended if he so much as sees a film crew in the vicinity. (From personal experience – was recently working on an indie shoot, outdoors at a bus stop. Most people were fine, and smart enough to realize that if they didn’t want to be filmed, they could simply not walk in front of the camera. And in fact had they walked into the shot, they would have ruined what we were trying to do anyway, so would have ended up on the cutting room floor. Small crew, but we were making efforts to work around people who needed to get by us, and most people were accommodating and waited til we were between takes. But That One Guy threw an absolutely hysterical fit yelling at us that we weren’t allowed to film him without his permission. We were all just staring at him going “We don’t WANT to film you, dude. So get out of the way.”)