Universal Studios Home Entertainment has announced Scarface for Blu-ray release on September 6. Considered one of the most influential gangster films ever made, Brian De Palma's film has been "newly-restored" and will be presented with 7.1 audio for the first time. It will come in a limited-edition BD with SteelBook packaging, ten exclusive art cards, a digital copy of the film and a DVD of the original 1932 Scarface. The studio is also holding a national Scarface fan art contest.
Additionally, for the ultimate collector and cigar enthusiast, a hand-crafted Scarface-themed humidor will be made available in an exclusive, never-before-available, limited gift set edition. Created by the renowned Daniel Marshall, the humidor's exterior is hand painted and polished with the Marshall's trademark "1000 coat brilliant finish." The interior – made with untreated Spanish cedar – will properly condition and age approximately 100 cigars at optimal humidity levels. Limited to 1,000 worldwide and priced at $999.99, each individually numbered humidor comes embellished with custom medallions inspired by the iconic film and includes a certificate of authenticity.
Update: both the regular SteelBook and the gift set have come up for preorder. The SteelBook carries an MSRP of $34.99, and can currently be preordered at $24.99. As previously reported, the gift set with humidor has a list price of $999.99 (nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars with ninety-nine cents). However, it can be preordered for only $699.99.
"Nearly 30 years after it first exploded onto the screen, Scarface stands as a cultural icon with a passionate and growing fan base that continues to exert an enduring influence on not just moviemakers but artists across the entire pop-culture landscape," said Craig Kornblau, President of Universal Studios Home Entertainment. "Now, for the first time ever, fans of this jewel in the Universal crown can enjoy Scarface with the spectacular picture and sound quality that only Blu-ray provides."
National fan art contest
To celebrate the film's Blu-rayTM debut, fans will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to design Scarface-inspired artwork using classic Tony Montana images from the film. Universal will select the Top 25 submissions based on creativity, originality, quality of composition/design and utilization of the Scarface theme. Fans will vote on their favorite 10 submissions which will then be featured as exclusive art cards in the Scarface Limited Edition Blu-ray. The designer who garners the highest number of fan votes will become the Grand Prize winner, and will have their art featured on both the art card and on a high-profile billboard in a major US city to promote the release. For more information on how to enter the fan art contest and to be among the first to hear future exclusive announcements about Scarface on Blu-ray visit the Scarface page on Facebook.
Special features
U-Control:
Scarface Scoreboard—Watch Scarface like never before. Keep track of the number of times the "F" word is used and monitor the bullets fired!
Picture in Picture—Access interview footage of Brian De Palma, Al Pacino, Screenwriter Oliver Stone, and others without interruption to the movie experience. Also featured is a scene comparison between the 1983 version of Scarface and Howard Hawks' original film.
The Scarface Phenomenon— This all-new documentary presents Scarface as a unique phenomenon in cinema history. It explores how a film plagued by controversy leading up to its release has become a Hollywood classic, influencing a whole new generation of filmmakers and leaving a lasting imprint on popular culture.
Deleted Scenes
The World of Tony Montana —Experience the world of the ultimate gangster and hear from experts on the real world violence, fear and paranoia that surrounds a drug lord.
The Rebirth —Director Brian De Palma, producer Martin Bregman, actor Al Pacino, and screenwriter Oliver Stone revisit the history of Scarface, from the inspiration of the original Howard Hawks classic to the evolution of the script.
The Acting — Join the filmmakers, Al Pacino and Steven Bauer to discover how each of the roles was cast and how Brian De Palma worked with his actors to get unforgettable performances.
The Creating — A fascinating, controversial and definitive journey through the making of the film, which began with the production being forced to leave its initial location in Florida. Discover how the chainsaw scene was filmed, learn about the production design, the photography, and the struggle to get the film an "R" rating.
Scarface: The TV Version—A revealing and hilarious montage of film clips comparing the theatrical version to the network television version of Scarface.
The Making of Scarface: The Video Game: Immerse yourself in the world of Scarface in this behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the video game.
BD-Live
Pocket Blu
Advanced Remote Control
Video Timeline
Mobile-To-Go
Keyboard: Enter data into a Blu-ray™ player with your device's easy and intuitive keyboard to facilitate such Blu-ray™ features as chatting with friends and sending messages.
Nice! Finally an upgrade of a catalogue film which has some new features added to it. This is a must have for me as I only bought the very first release on DVD. Well, I bought a later one for a girlfriend but both the girlfriend and the film are no longer in my collection.
Looks like USHE will be porting over all the extras from my two-disc anniversary DVD edition. They only thing that might entice me to upgrade, given Oppo's stellar upconversion, is the 7.1 audio track. Wow. A chain saw whizzing around the room or bullets from . . . (take your pick of scenes) now that's a reason to upgrade! Oh, what's with that $1,000 humidor? A thousand coats of paint or not. I think Tony's advise to Manny has gotten to the heads of the execs over at Universal. "In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the woman."
I wish they could include the horrifically dubbed audio track from the original ABC broadcast. My friend and I were in tears laughing as hard as we did at some of the stuff they came up with. "Where did you get the beauty scar, tough guy? Eating Pineapple!?"
I wasn't expecting all of this to be on the scarface BD. It's going to sound insane with 7.1 audio!! every Blu Ray owner should buy this classic movie.
Universal would be wise to include a lossless track (whether mono/5.1/7.1) containing the original audio elements, rather than the new foley effects included in the most recent dvd release. Frankly I'm surprised this hasn't been brought up already.
This just made my heart happy. Don't care much that original audio is not included, this has been at the top of my most-wanted list since I started buying all Blu.
@Jumpman
I suspect your assumption is correct. More than likely the 7.1 mix contains the new effects ala the Platinum dvd and the 2.0 is the original. Fingers crossed.
I doubt it would be any different. I mean considering that they said 7.1 Audio, which, correct me if I am wrong, cannot be done on a normal DTS or Dolby Digital track (6.1 Matrix is the best it can do). I really think that Psycho was an accident as every other Universal Release is 100% identical.
Sorry man Pacinos top 3 are already on blu-ray....
1. Godfather 2. Dog Day Afternoon 3. Godfather II ...and im tempted to say Carlitos Way is better than Scarface
Im not a huge Scarface fan, the movie is EXTREMELY overrated in todays "I want to be a gangster" society, but I must admit im kind of excited about the release. We do need more De Palma on blu-ray though. He easily has 3 or 4 movies that are better than Scarface. Im far more excited for Blow Out than Scarface.
I know this film has a legion of fans..so I'm happy for them that this is coming out..but I have no interest whatsover in this film..not even close to Pacino's best film or Depalma's best gangster flick..MAJOR PASS!
This should round out the Gangster part of my Blu collection nicely. Day 1 for sure... Umm now if HBO can only finish releasing the rest of the Sopranos seasons on Blu then I would truly be in Gangster Heaven!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nice looking steelbook, a must buy for sure. However, I think I'll be pre-ordering my copy from Europe. I know it's kinda picky, but that "blu-ray + digital copy" banner plastered across the top annoys the hell out of me!
Good news. Kind of hard for me to get excited when it's Universal putting out an old movie though. Hopefully they include the original audio in lossless. This movie is very much a document of the 80s and I hope any revisionism is optional.
"..all I have in this world is my word and my balls, and I don't break them for no one! Ju understan?"
And now I have will have this movie in bluray!! Ju understand? Comprende "day one"?
I think it's safe to say that 2011 is the biggest "catalog" release year to date! Talk about a bank breaker!
Now this is how catalog BD's should be done: Beefed up A/V quality and some added extras to sweeten the pot.
I love me some Alpha Chino!!!!
I'm in agreement with most when they say that Carlito's Way is a better film over all. I'm a sucker for steelbooks lol there for I will be purchasing this on day one!
I don't think so, if you look up Daniel Marshall Humidor's they are sold by Brookstone and the cheapest ones are about $500. The ones that carry up to 100 cigars like this one are in the $1000 range. I though it was a misprint as well but I guess cigar humidors are expensive. I don't smoke so I have no need for a humidor. That is one pricey piece of blu-ray swag.
Well, I, of course, expected Scarface to be released on blu at some point, but I didn't expect the level of enthusiasm Universal is showing. They're really making this a very special release, with the new extras, including Howard Hawks' the original version (which is a huge plus for me), BD steelbook packaging (another big plus) and the art contest (which I'm seriously thinking of participating in). I hope the a.v. transfer is top notch as well. I like the graphic on the steelbook cover too. I'll definitely preorder this as soon as possible. Looks as if this will be a top-flight release. Big kudos to Universal.
I won't be getting Scarface, never been into Mob movies. However, this release does lend credence to the rumor that Jurassic Park will also be released this year, as the rumor of their release was divulged at the same time. Woohoo!!!
I guess the release date of the Jurassic park trilogy BD will be revealed soon too! Scarface and JP are a Day 1 buy for me! Simply saying that 2011 is the year of blu-ray is an understatement, this year ROCKS!
I try not to let the hordes of potheads, meatheads, wannabe gangstas and hipsters who lavish WAY too much praise on this movie, impact how I feel.
I mean how many college dorms have a Scarface and Bob Marley poster?
It's a great and highly overrated flick. But an undeniable classic and must own still the same.
the 7.1 is a little silly. But I', sure that will tickle the shit out of some here, hope they have a lossless version of the original source that gets equal treatment.
It is very good to hear this finally get the blu ray release. It is disappointing to hear the original Scarface film is only given a DVD release instead of an HD copy, which is just silly to do that for this release. Some people actually liked the depression era classic.
Yes, the movie has many "over the top" moments and it is not the best film in the careers of Al Pacino, Michelle Pfieffer, F. Murray Abraham, Robert Loggia and others... But this movie is part soap opera, gangster, western, fantasy, adult drama and crime saga, all delivered in a visceral, violent and escapist tableau. It hit the "spot" in the early '80s and captured that era, so as Post Prod acknowledges, it quickly became a classic.
Looking forward to seeing the scenes that have been immortalized by the fans - Tony behind his office door with his little friend, the Apartment 3C bathroom and chainsaw scene, Tony's first kill in the "Freedomtown" INS camp under the I-95 freeway...
Can't wait for the release. However, I hope people lower their expectations about picture quality. This movie didn't look that good in the theatres, and it never looked good on video. I am keeping my fingers crossed that Universal pulls a rabbit of their hat . . .
There seems to be an inordinate number of people coming onto this post with the intent of saying negative things about the film, far moreso than I see on other posts I might add. To them I say SHUT THE FUCK UP! If you don't like the movie, ah, we DON'T CARE! Trust me, when "Black Swan" is announced and a post opens and all the people who thought that was greatest ever I'm NOT going to jump in and say, "That Film Sucked" because you know what, it's just not cool!
vanscottie: I'm pre-ordering the f@#K out of this, but chillax. Everyone has different tastes. and Although this is a classic, it is also an easy film to make fun of, and more to the point, it's even more easy to make fun of the people that worship this movie. The comments section isn't just the "praise only" section. Every release I've ever looked at had people bashing or loving it.
Unless of course you're bashing Robocop. Then you deserve nothing less than to drink Andy Dick's vomit.
I think I may be the only guy in the world who hates this movie. But anything that gets people buying into the Blu ray format is a good thing in my books. I know from being on these forums for about four year that Scarface was one of the most requested movies out there. First Taxi Driver, Lord of the Rings EE Star Wars and now Scarface being announced this could be one of the best years for catalog films.
Tony Montana: In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women.
Day One for me.
Also I love Godfather and Dog Day Afternoon. SCARFACE is Pacino's best movie of all time.
Al Pacino admits SCARFACE is his favorite movie role.
I agree it's not among Pacino's best movies, though it's still one of my favorites that I can watch every time I stumble across it flipping the channels and never get sick of it. But it is one of hist best performances. At times you forget it's Pacino. If you compare him in this movie to his character in The Godfather or Dog Day, or Serpico, they're almost like different people. The sign of a great actor.
Very cool to hear. Only disappointment is the non Blu debut of the 30s version. It's so stupid to not include a Blu for it. Other than that, sounds like a great release. Not getting the cigar box version only because of the cost. Does sound cool.
Finally its about time. Love the movie, even if it is a tad bit overrated. Not to mention the character isn't even as hardcore as people make him out to be. I mean people forget, he was Sosa's employee. Either way it just shows how highly I think of Pachino in this movie that I can overlook that and love it. Day one for me.
Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited !!!!!!!! I have been waiting for this movie forever!!!!!! Limited edition steelbook! 7.1 dtshd master audio!!!!! Remastered in hd!!!!!! The world is mine!!!!!!
In my opinion Godfather II is Patch's best. I always felt Scarface was over rated but I'm still excited for this release. Never seen it in HD. Pre-ordered
Rock! I used to have this on a VHS, recorded at slow speed, and followed by "Strange Brew" (it was a bit of an experience watching the tape all the way through!). I'm expecting an improvement in audio and video quality.
"When the hell are we getting The Big Lebowski? Huh, Universal?"
I've had my Lebowski cravings satisfied on HD DVD since April, last year, so I'm not panting for the Blu on this one.
I just wish ALL the Coen Bros. were on BD. Where's The Hudsucker Proxy, Barton Fink, Miller's Crossing, Raising Arizona, Intolerable Cruelty, The Man Who Wasn't There, etc. ?
I hate smoking but there is no way in hell I won't be getting the fucking humidor. Hands down one of my top five favourite movies ever. Damn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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