Universal has placed its $17 million-grossing crime thriller Eastern Promises for a post-Christmas release. It will arrive on Dec. 26 along with New Line's Rush Hour 3. See our full list of Q4 releases.

As is usual for Uni, Eastern Promises will be released on DVD ($29.98) and HD DVD ($39.98) with featurettes. Prebook is Nov. 20.

The movie is another partnering of director David Cronenberg and star Viggo Mortensen, whose last joint outing was the fascinating A History of Violence. And Eastern Promises boasts Naomi Watts, so it has plenty of potential for DVD.

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Sony will start 2008 with the first Blu-ray title to feature picture-in-picture. Resident Evil: Extinction will bow on Jan. 1, an untraditional Monday release.

The third movie in the videogame-based franchise, starring Milla Jovovich, grossed $50 million in theaters and has a following waiting for the disc.

The PIP feature will be called "Under the Umbrella" and offer up interviews with the filmmakers and cast, storyboards, production photos and behind-the-scenes footage.

Another new Blu feature will be Blu-wizard 2.0, which will allow users to customize the way they watch the special features on the disc. Good for those of us who are tired of using that remote control.

The DVD and Blu-ray also will have deleted scenes; a sneak peek at the first Resident Evil CGI feature film, Resident Evil: Degeneration; filmmakers' commentary and four making-of featurettes.

The DVD will be priced at $28.95, Blu-ray at $38.96 and PSP at $24.94.

But wait, there's more. The first two Resident Evil movies will bow on Blu-ray the same day in a trilogy box set priced at $89.95 and featuring snazzy foil packaging.

Prebook is Nov. 29.

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Lionsgate's Dane Cook and Jessica Alba romantic comedy Good Luck Chuck bows Jan. 15 (prebook Dec. 19), just in time for people to start thinking about Valentine's Day.

The $34 million-grossing movie will be priced at $29.95 on DVD and $39.99 on Blu-ray.

Special features include featurettes, deleted scenes, commentary and a gag reel.

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Missed this in theaters, but it looked really cute. Catherine Zeta-Jones has a bubbly personality and is easy to watch.

Warner is baking up No Reservations on DVD and both HD DVD and Blu-ray (good for Warner) and will release all three on Feb. 12, you guessed it, right in time for Valentine's Day presents. Prebook is Jan. 8.

DVD is priced at $28.98, with both high-def formats at $35.99.

The movie grossed $43 million, and romantic comedies are a sure bet on DVD, especially with this street date timing.

The cast also includes the nice Aaron Eckhart and the fun Abigail Breslin, who garnered a lot of attention and fans in Little Miss Sunshine.

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That's right. Young girls in bikinis (or out of them as the case may be) don't care which high-def platform they're on as long as they're in 1080-sharp picture.

Girls Gone Wild Sexiest Moments Ever 2 will be released on HD DVD and Blu-ray on Dec. 12 (prebook Nov. 13) priced at $24.95 for either format. That's about the price of a standard-def DVD--albiet not for a Girls Gone Wild standard-def DVD.

Oh, and did I mention it's uncensored? Aren't they all?

SME2 features Florida freshman Krysta and Spring Break partier Jana. Where's the interactive special features?

The title is distributed by Mantra Films.

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Warner will deliver its $15 million-grossing horror The Invasion on DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray on Jan. 8 (prebook Dec. 4) priced at $28.98 on standard-def and $35.99 for either of the high-def formats.

Starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, the Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake has star power that should see it build more notice in homes than it did in theaters.

Among the special features is a documentary called "We've Been Snatched Before: Invasion in Media History."

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Lionsgate is keeping its Christian Bale/Russell Crowe-starring western out of the crowded fourth quarter. 3:10 to Yuma will ride out Jan. 8 (prebook Dec. 12) on DVD ($29.95) and Blu-ray ($39.99).

The movie grossed $53 million in theaters and got some great reviews. Rotten Tomatoes scores it at 87% on the Critics Tomatometer, and Variety called the film a "tense, rugged redo of a film that was pretty good the first time around" (read the review).

It comes to disc with a pretty standard special features menu, but it's what you'd expect for a film like this that's not a kids title or filled with special effects. Offered are a making-of documentary, two other featurettes (which by their name could explore the history rather than the film, which would be nice), deleted scenes and director's commentary.

Blu-ray offers that, plus a picture-in-picture look at the creation of the film (yeah, PIP should be standard in the new Blu-ray players by then), a featurette on the score, and another on how the railroad changed America. Also, there's a feature-length historical timeline of the West, which could be interesting.

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Warner sent me its limited edition Blade Runner Ultimate Collector's Edition DVD in a briefcase the other day, and it's pretty amazing what these guys come up with.

The briefcase is plastic and might have been nicer if it was metal, but for $78.92 what do you want? The set contains the five-disc Ultimate Collector's Edition (which includes all the various cuts of this excellent cult classic), a plastic version of the origami unicorn (a paper one wouldn't last very long), a plastic model of the cool spinner car, a set of beautiful illustrations from the film (looks like concept art, but I think each set is different), and a very cool motion lenticular of Harrison Ford raising his gun. The set is a really nice way of honoring this movie, and I think hardcore fans will get a kick out of it.

Here's my original post on the upcoming Blade Runner sets and an interview with Ridley Scott about the possibility of more.

Also in the mailbox this week was the screener for Fox's Waitress, complete with a very cute pie knife and a recipe for Falling In Love Pie (more commonly known as chocolate pudding pie). Very fun.

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I was always a sucker for these blue guys. When I was a kid in England, there was a promotion with one of the gas stations where you'd get a mini rubber smurf statue with every gas buy. I was begging my parents to get gas (petrol over there, of course) all the time.

(When I was in college, a roommate said the smurfs were originally used in Germany as propaganda, but we'll just see the good side of them.)

But now, Warner is bringing out a season set of The Smurfs. The Smurfs: Season 1, Vol. 1 arrives Feb. 26 (prebook Jan. 22) priced at $26.99 on DVD.

The two-disc set will include 19 remastered cartoons plus "The Smurfs Springtime Special" and a music video of the title soundtrack.

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Genius is keeping dog lovers happy with the Animal Planet release of Puppy Bowl III on Jan. 15 (prebook Dec. 4; DVD $14.95). The program, showing a lineup of nine-week-olds against three-month-olds calling the plays in a doggy stadium, will air opposite the Super Bowl on Feb. 3. Awwww

Also coming from Animal Planet are Growing Up Arctic on Jan. 8 (prebook Nov. 27; DVD $14.95), with episodes following a walrus, a polar bear and a seal (with a bonus penguin show), and The Jeff Corwin Experience: Season Once on Jan. 22 (prebook Dec. 11; DVD $24.95), featuring everything from a deadly cobra to orphaned orangutans. Ooooohhhhhh

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Disney has set the restored 101 Dalmations as its next Platinum DVD release, streeting March 4 (prebook Jan. 9) priced at $29.99.

The discs, equipped with the studio's kid-friendly Fastplay feature that starts the content without the need of menu selections, will be packed with games, a pop-up trivia track, a new "Cruella De Vil" music video, deleted songs and behind-the-scenes featurettes.

This is one of the classic animated Disney titles, so no need to say how well it'll do. I'll be first in line.

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Now there's a name for a cult hit if I've ever seen one. Add Christopher Walken, and you've got a built-in audience.

Universal is releasing Balls of Fury on Dec. 18 on DVD (prebook Nov. 13; $29.98) and HD DVD (prebook Nov. 6; $39.98).

The martial arts spoof grossed $32.6 million in theaters. Variety didn't give it a great review, but said it would work better on disc than at the box office.

Bonus features include deleted scenes, an alternate ending and featurettes.

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