'Blade Runner' Named Top DVD of '07

CENTURY CITY, Calif. — Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi classic Blade Runner was the big winner at the fourth annual DVD Critics Awards, with a Warner Home Video re-release of the film earning honors for best director’s cut and best overall home video of 2007

The DVD Critics Awards dinner was part of the first day of TransFORMATions: The 7th Annual Home Entertainment Summit, held June 16-17 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Century City, Calif. TransFORMATions was presented by Home Media Magazine in cooperation with DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group and the Entertainment Merchants Association.

A judges panel of home entertainment critics and journalists sorted through nearly 140 entries to determine the best titles in a variety of categories. All titles released during 2007 were eligible for submission.

Best director’s cut winner Blade Runner: The Final Cut was released by Warner in December of last year, representing Scott’s definitive new version of the film. The Final Cut was also part of best of show winner Blade Runner: Ultimate Collector’s Edition, a five-disc set that collects several different versions of the film, plus a three-hour retrospective documentary and other extras packed in a briefcase replica of a prop used in the film, and stuffed with art cards and other memorabilia.

Blade Runner represented two of four total wins for Warner, which also won for best multidisc set for Harry Potter: Years 1-5 and for best nonfiction DVD for BBC Video’s Planet Earth: The Complete Series.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment also won four awards: Surf’s Up for best kidvid, The King of Queens: The Complete Series for best packaging, Close Encounters of the Third Kind for best Blu-ray catalog title, and Seinfeld: The Complete Series for best TV DVD.

The Close Encounters Blu-ray collection uses seamless branching to store three different versions of Steven Spielberg’s classic sci-fi film on a single disc, allowing viewers to compare them.

Best theatrical DVD went to the two-disc version of Transformers, from DreamWorks and Paramount Home Entertainment.

Judges bestowed a special award to Shout! Factory’s re-release of “My So-Called Life,” calling the DVD set an extras-laden fan-friendly edition that corrects the oversight of the earlier DVD set being released with no bonus features.