Paramount Home Entertainment has announced the May 13th release of all three Indiana Jones films on individual Special Edition DVDs as well as in a box set.  This will mark the first time that the restored and re-mastered Indiana Jones films will be available for purchase as separate DVDs, and each Special Edition DVD will have new bonus features that will provide more in-depth information on the making of the trilogy of films from the 1980s that earned more than $1.2 billion (in 1980s' dollars) at the worldwide box office.   The new Indiana Jones Special Edition DVDs will be released just nine days before the worldwide debut of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the long-awaited fourth film in the series.

Retailers will have an array of Indiana Jones merchandise available.  In addition to the DVDs from Paramount and Lucasfilm, Topps is producing Indiana Jones Heritage Trading Cards, which will include a limited number of autographs from George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford (see "Big Three Added as Signers"), Hasbro is prepping a full line of Indiana Jones Action Figures, while Dark Horse is publishing a graphic novel adaptation of the movie followed by a new Indiana Jones comic book series (see "Dark Horse Gets Indy"), and Del Rey is releasing both a novelization and a "Making-Of" the movie book -- to name just a few of the many Indy-based products that will be available by May.

Here are just a few of the many brand new extras on the new DVDs. The Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark Special Edition DVD will include a special introduction by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, a tribute to the original Indy film from the cast of the fourth film, and a feature on how the special effect of the melting of Nazi villain's face was achieved.  The Temple of Doom disk will contain a feature in which Spielberg, Lucas and Frank Marshall reminisce about their experiences with snakes, bugs and rats, plus a look at the various locations used in the film and how the mine chase went from storyboards to film.  The Last Crusade Special Edition will include a new Lucas and Spielberg introduction, a discussion featuring the three Indiana Jones heroines, and a special look at the Indy's "Friends and Enemies."