Paramount has announced that Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, which earned over $130 million in its U.S. theatrical release this summer, will be available on both VHS and DVD on November 13.  In contrast to what Warner Brothers and other studios are doing, Paramount will release the VHS version of Tomb Raider at a high 'rental' price, rather than the lower 'sell-through' price -- a move that has the effect of safeguarding the video stores, which will have Tomb Raider on VHS for several months before Paramount will lower the price to sell-through levels.  The Tomb Raider DVD will be priced for sell-through ($29.99) from the beginning, which simplifies matters for retailers, who won't have to worry about stocking the VHS version for several months (if at all).  In addition to Tomb Raider, the video debuts of Planet of the Apes, Rush Hour 2, Jurassic Park III, and A.I. are all slated for fourth quarter.  2001 will mark the first time in Hollywood history that all the major summer movies are available on video for the holiday season -- a fact that testifies to the immense importance of DVD and VHS revenue to the studios (see 'Video Helps Studios...').

The Collector's Edition Tomb Raider DVD will contain a variety of features including a 25-minute 'Digging into Tomb Raider' featurette, commentary from director Simon West, four deleted scenes, an alternative main title sequence, the U2 musical video, 'Elevation,' as well as interviews with game developers and footage from each version of the Tomb Raider videogame. Other DVD features include an anamorphic 2:35 to 1 transfer, Dolby 5.1 sound, features on the film's stunts and visual effects, a lingering look at the 'Lara Croft Phenomenon, and for those with DVD-Rom capability -- three levels of the Tomb Raider video game embedded on the disk.  In other words, there are lots of features for the tech-savvy crowd that is already familiar with the Tomb Raider videogame.

 Though Paramount, which is a sister-company to video-renting giant Blockbuster, doesn't want to release Tomb Raider as a sell-through VHS tape immediately, the studio is clearly planning to appeal to the millions of VHS-enabled fans by adding the 25-minute 'Digging into Tomb Raider' feature to the VHS as well as DVD versions.  While the DVD format is taking over the marketplace with exceptional speed (see 'DVD Sales Pass VHS in Record Stores'), there are still millions more consumers equipped (so far at least) with just VHS equipment.  By deferring to Blockbuster and holding back cheap VHS copies, Paramount is sacrificing some sales. It should be interesting to see how long the studio waits before lowering the price on the VHS tape.