Audiences will get their chance next month to bring Brokeback Mountain home to the range. But they'll still have the opportunity to turn around and appreciate the film's sweeping vistas from a stadium-style seat.
In a rare plot twist, the triple Academy Award winner will be riding onto DVD Apr. 4, overlapping with the film's theatrical run, Universal Studios Home Entertainment announced Monday. Brokeback Mountain was released Nov. 30 and has grossed about $82 million. The film still has some life at the box office, finishing in the top 20 last weekend with $546,000. The dual availability is unusual, says a rep from Universal, but Oscar hype surrounding the film has led to an extended stay in theaters. The DVD release has been rushed to capitalize on award season buzz as well. "As one of the most talked-about movies of the year, Brokeback Mountain has not only established a new benchmark in filmmaking but it has also permeated the public consciousness to an unprecedented level," Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment, said in a statement. The epic about the tragic affair between two male ranch hands was the critics' darling, snagging Independent Spirit and Golden Globe awards right and left, as well as three Oscars. But it may have been the prize Brokeback Mountain didn't win that set the buzz-meter a notch higher. When the film failed to win the Oscar for Best Picture, a debate erupted about whether the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was too conservative to award the top prize to a gay-themed film. On the flip side, in a bid to capitalize on Crash's Best Picture win, Lions Gate Entertainment rereleased the film Mar. 10 for an open-ended engagement on 150 or so screens. Crash has failed to bring in much traffic so far during its second run, earning barely $1 million (including just $317,000 last weekend). The ensemble drama raked in about $53.4 million during its initial run. Presumably, the conflict was that Crash had been available on DVD since September, with a Special Edition version due out next month. However, the week after Crash upset Brokeback Mountain for Best Picture honors, DVD sales of the film spiked six-fold to 207,000 copies (totaling about 4.2 million sold since September), Variety reported. The time period between the announcement of an upcoming DVD release and the actual release is usually longer, totaling about six weeks, according to the Hollywood Reporter, which says that the shrinking window could be attributed to the growing clout of big-box retailers that stock massive quantities of popular new releases. As one unnamed insider told Hollywood Reporter, "You don't need six weeks to sell to Wal-Mart."