Home Video Releases
The opening and closing sponsor tags from the 1966 release are officially unavailable on video by Turner/Warner Bros., but otherwise the main body of the special as first seen in 1966 is available on DVD and Blu-ray. How the Grinch Stole Christmas! was released to VHS by MGM/UA Home Video in 1986, and was reissued several times through the end of the century. The special was first released to the DVD format in 2000 by Warner Home Video, which acquired the rights to the MGM library in the late 1990s. The DVD release featured another Seuss-based special, Horton Hears a Who!, and contained an audio commentary by Phil Roman and June Foray, interviews with Albert Hague and Thurl Ravenscroft, and the "Special Edition" documentary which aired alongside the special on TNT in 1994. The DVD was well-received for these bonus features, but also criticized for its subpar picture quality; many critics pointed out that the Grinch looked yellow, not green, in this release.
The special was released on DVD again in 2006, labelled as a "50th Birthday Deluxe Edition". The "50th Birthday" inaccurately refers to the date of the book's publication - it was published in 1957, not 1956 as the cover would have buyers believe - and not to the date of the 1966 TV special. This DVD release presented the special in a better-quality digital transfer and contained all of the bonus features from the previous release, except for the audio commentary and did not have a chapter selection. The Grinch was restored back to his original green color. This DVD also featured a new retrospective featurette. It is currently available on DVD (with some of the supplements carried over from previous DVD releases) as part of the 4-disc Classic Christmas Favorites box set, which also includes several of the Rankin/Bass holiday specials WB currently owns. After Horton Hears a Who received a separate DVD release in 2008 (around the time Blue Sky's adaptation was released), How the Grinch Stole Christmas! was re-released with Phil Roman's and June Foray's audio commentary replacing the bonus special.
On October 6, 2009, the special was released on high definition Blu-ray Disc but the title was changed to Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. It contained all the bonus features from the 2000 DVD except for Horton Hears a Who!, which was made available separately as Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!. Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! also included a DVD of the special and a Digital Copy.
On October 4, 2011, the special was released again on DVD by Warner Home Video under Santa's Magical Stories and again on Oct 18, 2011 under Dr. Seuss's Holidays on the Loose!.
Read more about this topic: How The Grinch Stole Christmas! (TV Special)
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