So the film wasn’t
a box office hit, and I wrote about the reasons why I thought it did worse
than expected last year (HERE), but writer/director Kasi Lemmons, in a recent
interview, said that she expected her updated film version of Langston Hughes’ "Black
Nativity" to do better on DVD, where it would find an audience.
That may be
true, and we’ll shall see, when a special Blu-ray and standard DVD extended
musical version of the film comes out on Oct. 7, from 20th Century
Fox Home Entertainment.
The set will
also include a host of special features and extras including: "The Music
Behind the Film: He Loves Me Still," "The Music Behind the Film: Raphael Saadiq," "An
Inspiring Playwright: Langston Hughes," "Inside Production in Harlem" and two
other extras entitled "Be Grateful" and "Feel Good," although what those may be wasn’t
explained.
In addition, both
the blu-ray and standard DVDs of the film, according to the press announcement,
will offer longer extended versions of the theatrical release of "Nativity," which
ran 93 minutes.
However, there seem to be 2 completely different running times. According to press
materials, the extended version of "Nativity" on the standard DVD runs 118 minutes. Yet the blu-ray DVD has an extended
version that runs a whopping 143 minutes.
My first
thought was the that blu-ray running time includes the total running time of
the special features and extras, but that would add only 25 minutes total, and I didn’t
even list all the other extras that are included. So that additional 25 minutes is definitely
not enough time for all the features and extras that are included.
Therefore, the DVD set could possibly include 2 different versions of the film – a longer extended version and an ultimate, director’s cut, epic length, extended version.
I suppose
that means even more footage of Mary J. Blige in that white afro wig.
