Home Media
The film was first released on DVD in 1997 as the "25th anniversary edition" as a double sided disc containing a widescreen and "standard" version. The "standard" version is an open matte print, where the mattes used to make the image widescreen are removed, revealing information originally intended to be hidden from viewers. VHS copies were also available, but only containing the "standard" version.
A special edition DVD was released in 2001, celebrating the film's 30th anniversary, although only full-screen, on August 28, 2001. Due to the lack of a letterboxed release, fan petitioning eventually led Warner Home Video to issue a widescreen version on November 13, 2001. It was also released on VHS, with only one of the special features (a making of feature). Several original cast members reunited to film documentary footage for this special edition DVD release. The two editions featured restored sound, and better picture quality. In addition to the documentary, the DVD included a trailer, a gallery, and audio commentary by the cast.
In 2006, Warner Bros. released the film on HD DVD with all the bonus features from the 2001 DVD. The film was released on Blu-ray on October 20, 2009. It includes all the bonus features from the 2001 DVD and 2006 HD-DVD as well as a 38-page book.
In 2011, a new 40th Year Anniversary special edition Blu-ray + DVD box set was released on November 1. It featured the film on Blu-ray Disc, DVD, along with a Special Features DVD disc. The box set also included a variety of rarities and "goodies", such as a Wonka Bar-designed tin, four scented Pencils, a scented Eraser, a book that describes the making of the film, original production papers and a Golden Ticket to win a trip to Los Angeles.
Read more about this topic: Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory
Famous quotes containing the words home and/or media:
“O Lord! I don’t know which is the worst of the country, the walking or the sitting at home with nothing to do.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“One can describe a landscape in many different words and sentences, but one would not normally cut up a picture of a landscape and rearrange it in different patterns in order to describe it in different ways. Because a photograph is not composed of discrete units strung out in a linear row of meaningful pieces, we do not understand it by looking at one element after another in a set sequence. The photograph is understood in one act of seeing; it is perceived in a gestalt.”
—Joshua Meyrowitz, U.S. educator, media critic. “The Blurring of Public and Private Behaviors,” No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior, Oxford University Press (1985)