Captain America: The Winter Soldier continues to stay on track as potentially one of the best movies of 2014 overall, in terms of both reception and box office intake, let alone the best comic book movie. It’s Eggplante’s own highest-scoring movie of the year at this point as well. In a few months, you can finally own and view it at your leisure too!
Disney and Marvel Studios have just confirmed that Captain America: The Winter Soldier will be available for early digital purchase on August 19th, available in Digital 3D, Digital HD, and Disney Movies Anywhere, and via all services that support them. It will see a physical release on Blu-Ray and DVD, as well as On Demand, on September 9th.
The 3D Blu-Ray Combo Pack, which comes with both a 3D and 2D Blu-Ray copy, as well as a free Digital HD download copy, will also include your usual batch of extras: Making-of featurettes, audio commentary, deleted scenes, bloopers, and other unannounced bonuses…
… What it will not include however, is a traditional One-Shot short film, which has become a Marvel Studios tradition since 2011’s home viewing release of Thor.
This is a shocking and disappointing breaking of said tradition, particularly for avid Marvel fans, but given that Marvel Studios has to keep a lot of balls in the air at present, it would seem that their resources are just too strained at the moment. Marvel Studios themselves seems to echo this state of affairs with their confirmation of the news, claiming that they’ve put a temporary hold on One-Shots until they sort out the affairs of their main Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Seeing as Marvel Studios is putting the finishing touches on this August’s Guardians of the Galaxy, has begun production on next year’s crossover sequel, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, and has to officially hire and brief a new director on next year’s Phase Three kick-off movie, Ant-Man, which planned director and co-writer, Edgar Wright recently abruptly bowed out of, it’s small wonder that the studio is busy. This is all on top of gearing up for next year’s debut of Netflix Original series, Daredevil, which recently cast Boardwalk Empire’s Charlie Cox in the lead title role, and prepping the second season of television series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., on top of starting the recently greenlit companion prequel television series, Agent Carter.
Both Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter are in turn inspired by Marvel One-Shots, making the lack of a One-Shot short on the home release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier all the more disappointing. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was built from Item 47, which was included in the Blu-Ray release of The Avengers, and chronicled S.H.I.E.L.D. having to recover a lost alien artifact from the Battle of New York that two opportunistic criminals use to cause havoc. Agent Carter is being adapted from the One-Shot short of the same name from the Iron Man 3 Blu-Ray. It is a follow-up to the events of Captain America: The First Avenger, and stars its title character as she first forms S.H.I.E.L.D., and must try and move on from the loss of the man she loves, Captain America.
The most recent One-Shot, All Hail the King, was included on the Blu-Ray release of Thor: The Dark World. It details disgraced actor, Trevor Slattery being visited in jail by a threat from the very early days of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Are you deterred from a purchase of Captain America: The Winter Soldier for home viewing due to the lack of a One-Shot? Are you unaffected by the decision? Did you plan to add Captain America: The Winter Soldier to your home viewing collection in the first place? Feel free to leave your comments below.
Eggplante will continue to spy news on the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Captain America movies.