Yesterday Universal Studios Home Entertainment formally
announced the details and specs for their
June 3rd release of A&E's 2008 mini-series
The Andromeda Strain, based on Michael Crichton's first novel to become a best-seller. We didn' t have cover art at the time for that DVD, but this morning Universal has provided it to us in a couple of different ways.
One is by giving us the box art outright. However, the version they provided is the "e-commerce" version, showing less of the small detail that is usually seen on the factory-produced box, and replaced with bigger title text than the normal package art will actually have. This picture is meant for retailers to use in their weekly sales flyers and similar ads, where the picture is scaled down very small and the details will get lost in any case. But it's not pretty to look at for a website like ours, that shows the box at normal size!
So we have an alternate look for you, too. Universal has also distributed a sell sheet/trade ad to retailers, which shows off the full detail of the package art in all of its glory...except that it's partly blocked by an image of a plague victim at the bottom, and by a "2 Discs" bubble on the upper left side. Still, we've cut around those things and we show that image to you underneath the first. It will give you the best idea of how the package will truly look in your hands.
Finally, just because we're cool folks, we even show you the sell sheet/trade ad itself, so you can see how it presents that box art. In the bargain, it also gives us our very first indication of when this mini-series will broadcast on A&E. As you can see, at the top it says that the DVD will street on the Tuesday after the A&E finale is broadcast. At the bottom it says that the finale broadcast is on May 27, and re-confirms the known street date for the DVD (June 3rd). It doesn't say when the first part will air, but it can't be
too long before 5/27, right?
We also have a studio-provided text description of the DVD, so let's begin with bringing you that before we get to all of the artwork:
Based on the best-selling novel by Michael Crichton, the A&E mini-series event The Andromeda Strain arrives on DVD in this special 2-disc collection! Two-time Academy Award nominee Mikael Salomon (Band of Brothers) directs a powerhouse cast, including Benjamin Bratt (Law & Order), Christa Miller (Scrubs), Eric McCormack (Will & Grace), Ricky Schroder (NYPD Blue), Andre Braugher (City of Angels), Viola Davis (Disturbia), and Daniel Dae Kim (Lost) in this thrilling sci-fi adventure.
When a mysterious virus is brought to earth by a returning satellite, an elite and dedicated squad of scientists assembles to search for the truth and stop the mutating killer before it ends life on earth. Presented by three-time Academy Award nominee Ridley Scott (American Gangster) and Primetime Emmy Award winner Tony Scott (Numb3rs), The Andromeda Strain includes all 4 televised hours, contains exclusive bonus materials and features Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. Own the action-packed epic today!
