‘Battle Royale’ Comes To Blu-ray & DVD In Glorious Region-Free Editions From Arrow Video

By  · Published on October 20th, 2010

Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale is one hell of a beautiful movie. Forty two high school students dropped onto an otherwise deserted island and forced to fight each other to the death for the right to go home. Action, horror, dark comedy, and deep social commentary all rolled into one absolutely brilliant film anchored with a strong performance by the legendary Takeshi Kitano. The movie is ten years old but has yet to see an official US release, and until now has only been available on import DVD.

Well there’s still no US release, but that’s okay… Arrow Video in the UK has just announced the specs for their upcoming Blu-ray and DVD editions of the film, and in addition to being jammed to the gills with all sorts of incredible extras both formats are going to be REGION FREE. (Be sure to check out the Cult-Labs forum for more info on the release.) And in addition to that? It will include both the theatrical and the director’s cuts. Arrow produces absolutely amazing discs from the packaging on down to the extras, and this release looks to be one of their best yet. Check below for the Blu-ray specs (the DVD is identical minus any HD formatting) and then hurry up and head over to AmazonUK to reserve your copy of the Blu-ray or DVD now. Features listed as “LE EXCLUSIVE” are only available in the first 5000 pressings. Arrow Video’s Battle Royale will be released in the UK on November 29th.

3 DISC LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SET FEATURES:

– BRAND NEW RESTORED TRANSFER IN GLORIOUS HIGH DEFINITION 1080P OF BOTH FILMS
‐ BRAND NEW SUBTITLE TRANSLATION ON BOTH FEATURES
‐ LIMITED EDITION PACKAGING NUMBERED #/5000 WITH CERTIFICATE
‐ LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE SPECIAL FEATURES

DISC 1 ‐ THEATRICAL CUT: SPECIAL FEATURES

‐ ORIGINAL THEATRICAL TRAILER
‐ THE MAKING OF BATTLE ROYALE: THE EXPERIENCE OF 42 HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
‐ CONDUCTING BATTLE ROYALE WITH THE WARSAW NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

DISC 2 ‐ SPECIAL EDITION [DIRECTOR’S CUT]: SPECIAL FEATURES

– SPECIAL EDITION TRAILER
‐ TV SPOT: TARANTINO VERSION
‐ SHOOTING THE SPECIAL EDITION
‐ TAKESHI KITANO INTERVIEW
‐ THE CORRECT WAY TO MAKE BATTLE ROYALE [BIRTHDAY VERION]
‐ TOKYO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTATION

DISC 3 ‐ SPECIAL FEATURES

‐ OPENING DAY AT MARU NO UCHI TOEI MOVIE THEATRE
‐ THE SLAUGHTER OF 42 HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
‐ PREMIERE PRESS CONFERENCE
‐ THE CORRECT WAY TO FIGHT IN BATTLE ROYALE
‐ ROYALE REHEARSALS
‐ MASAMICHI AMANO CONDUCTS BATTLE ROYALE
‐ BEHIND THE SCENES FEATURETTE
‐ FILMING ON SET
‐ TV SPOTS, PROMOS AND COMMERCIALS
‐ KINJI FUKASAKU TRAILER REEL

36 PAGE BOOKLET INCLUDING:

– ‘A BATTLE WITHOUT AN END’ BY TOM MES, AUTHOR OF ‘THE MIDNIGHT EYE GUIDE TO NEW JAPANESE FILM’
‐ PRINTED INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR KINJI FUKASAKU
‐ ‘TODAY’S LESSON IS… YOU KILL EACH OTHER’ BY JAY MCROY, AUTHOR OF ‘JAPANESE HORROR CINEMA’ [LE EXCLUSIVE]
‐ EXTRACT FROM KOUSHUN TAKAMI’S ORIGINAL NOVEL [LE EXCLUSIVE]
‐ ORIGINAL PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL INCLUDING DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT, CAST AND CREW BIOGS [LE EXCLUSIVE]

16 PAGE BOOKLET INCLUDING:

– CONCEPT ARTWORK AND DRAWINGS FOR THE LIMITED EDITION SET [LE EXCLUSIVE]
5X7” POSTCARDS OF STILLS FROM THE FILM [LE EXCLUSIVE]
FOLD-OUT REVERSIBLE POSTER OF ORIGINAL ARTWORK

Rob Hunter has been writing for Film School Rejects since before you were born, which is weird seeing as he's so damn young. He's our Chief Film Critic and Associate Editor and lists 'Broadcast News' as his favorite film of all time. Feel free to say hi if you see him on Twitter @FakeRobHunter.