DATELINE -- Tuesday, 12 October 1999

boxcoverA "Shawshank" conspiracy?: DVD Journal reader and digital die-hard Gary Annett dropped us this note last night (clearly he'd had a few beforehand for the sake of perspicacity):

  • After much consideration (and a couple of libations), I think I have the reason as to why Warner has pulled The Shawshank Redemption again. This may not apply to their previous decisions to reschedule, but the lack of a new street date brought this to mind:

    The anticipation about the upcoming Warner release of The Green Mile is shifting into high gear, and the buzzwords "Stephen King," "Frank Darabont," and "Oscar" are already in the air. It would stand to reason that Shawshank might street just before or in conjunction with the DVD edition of The Green Mile. I even see a boxed set.

    Well, back to the mixed drinks.... Anybody want anything?

    -- Gary

    Yeah, Gary, we'd like a drink or two. In fact, after the latest Shawshank lock-up, you might as well mix us up a cocktail of grain alcohol and Gatorade. We'd even drink it from an old canning jar on your front porch -- we're that fed up (and to make it once and for all, we note that our sponsor Reel.com has now pulled Shawshank from their release calendar). But we're going to go out on a limb with you -- we think you hit this nail on the head. The Green Mile, like Shawshank, is a prison film written by Stephen King and directed by Frank Darabont, and it's a Castle Rock/Warner production, due to reach theaters on Dec. 17. In the world of home video, timing is everything, and what better way to get consumers to buy both DVDs than to release them at the same time? We're all just a bunch of suckers!

    Man, there's nothing like a juicy conspiracy theory to get the week going....

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