All of us know Brad Bird as the director of Pixar's The Incredibles and Ratatouille (both Oscar Winners for Best Animated Feature), and of the upcoming "Tomorrowland", but we always remember him as the director of Warner Bros's 1999's animated masterpiece, "The Iron Giant". It continues to be a classic in animation today, but most people find it hard to believe that it was initially a box-office dud. This happened because of Warner's poor marketing and promotion and competition with "The Sixth Sense". I feel sorry for "Giant" not faring well on its initial release because I have to agree that it should have been a huge box-office hit. It would have established Warner Bros. as a competitor to Disney like "Anastasia" had done for 20th Century Fox in 1997. However, at least it opened to good critical praise and performed much better when released on home video. But while we got an excellent Special Edition DVD released in 2004, we've been anticipating "The Iron Giant"s debut on High-Definition Blu-Ray.
According to a recent interview with Den of Geek, Bird and Warner Bros have been in discussions about releasing "The Iron Giant" on Blu-Ray. Bird said on his Twitter account that they wanted a bare-bones disc (that would NEVER do), but Bird wants something better than that, and so do the fans who have often called it their fave animated flick. I agree with that too, because I think Warner Bros. should give "Giant" the ultimate high-quality Blu-Ray edition it deserves, fully-loaded with cool extras and special features. Now that there is a renewed interest in traditional animation, Warners shouldn't treat this classic like dirt. Real animated classics like "The Iron Giant" should get royal treatment like Disney does with the likes of "The Little Mermaid", "Beauty and the Beast", and "The Lion King". @TheTrekNerd on Twitter says that "Us consumers want better too. It's a classic, not fodder for the $1.99 bin at the grocery store."
There is still a chance that this can happen. Apparently, Brad Bird has stated that the only way to help give The Iron Giant the Collector's Edition Blu-Ray release it deserves is to tweet at @WBHomeEnt. I have been taking part in this action since the announcement. If you like this film, you can take part too by going on Twitter and tweet at @WBHomeEnt. saying that you want a fully-loaded Collector's Blu-Ray of "Giant". If you're dying to see this film get the kind of treatment it deserves, take action by going on Twitter! Remember, there are many animated classics waiting to get the kind of home entertainment release they deserve. "The Iron Giant" is one of those films.
