AgentDVD magazine, a trade publication from the folks behind
Home Media Magazine (it's published much less frequently), has
a new article discussing the success of
Futurama since it returned on the basis of "release it first on DVD, then break the feature into four episodes and air it on Comedy Central". The concept is working quite well, and the story there says co-creator David X. Cohen is grateful to the success of the concept, whose path was paved when
Family Guy returned to broadcast after its own DVD successes.
The
AgentDVD story, written by editor-in-chief Stephanie Prange, goes on to explain that "
Another benefit is that the movies are produced in widescreen and high-definition in anticipation of a Blu-ray release, and Cohen says the final two movies may be released on Blu-ray the same day as the DVD." Those final two movies are tentatively titled
Bender's Game and
Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder. Those two releases, along with the first two direct-to-video titles
Bender's Big Score and
The Beast with a Billion Backs, make up the show's "5th Season".
When will we see those last two? Cohen gave
AgentDVD some info about that as well:
The next "Futurama" DVD movie is Bender's Game, a takeoff on Dungeons & Dragons, tentatively scheduled for Nov. 4, Cohen says.
"It's our first foray into fantasy," he says. "It's visually spectacular."
The fourth feature will be done sometime this fall and released in the spring, he says.
Remember, he says that release date is "tentative", so it could be subject to change. Stay tuned for updates and more info! In the meantime, if you haven't seen the preview trailer for
Bender's Game that was among the extras on the
Beast With a Billion Backs disc, then check out these screen captures:
