The fourth quarter of 2007 will see the release of DVDs representing the greatest aggregation of box office dollars in a single three-month period in the history of the lucrative DVD format.  In addition to the near unanimous selections of hits from Hollywood's recent record-breaking summer of sequels (and threequels), the studios are utilizing all sorts of elaborate packaging in an attempt to reverse a trend that saw DVD sales down nearly 10% at mid-year.  A Blu-Ray set of Spider-Man disks will come in an attractive O-ring package, while the 5-disc Bladerunner Ultimate Collector's Edition will come in a replica of Deckard's briefcase, the 12-disc Harry Potter Limited Edition Giftset is packed in a mini-trunk along with trading cards and more, and the Complete King of Queens Set includes the entire series packaged as a delivery truck.

In addition to all the elaborate packaging the fourth quarter will see blockbuster DVDs released in such profusion that heavy discounting on any individual title shouldn't last for long and there are some releases from every category (blockbusters, kids' movies, TV shows, documentaries, and 'little movies') that have potential to sell to various audiences well into 2008.  Here's a look at some DVDs with potential legs.

Blockbusters

There are a lot of blockbusters coming out in Q4, but Transformers, which was the best-performing non-sequel of the summer of 2007, is the freshest.  It emphatically established a new franchise and demonstrated the ability to move lots of toys as well (see 'Toys Boost Hasbro to Strong Quarter').  The Transformers DVD got off to record breaking start, which given the performance of the film, which was second only to Spider-Man 3 at the box office, is no real surprise.  The Transformers screenplay by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who are also writing the new Star Trek movie, sets the robot conflicts in the real world with a likeable, but somewhat nerdy hero (akin to Spider-Man's Peter Parker) played to great effect by Shia LeBeouf, and Michael Bay keeps the action flowing at a breakneck pace, but also includes plenty of humor. 

The Two-Disc Special Edition ($36.99) features a spectacular transfer of the movie and also contains an entire disk of fascinating extras that include 'Our World,' a great behind-the-scenes look at the cast and crew, 'Their War,' an engrossing examination of the creation of the robots and the use of digital effects, and 'More Than Meets the Eye,' an in-depth look at the making of the attack on the desert army base in Qatar.

TV Shows

TV on DVD remains an extremely potent category and certainly the HD DVD edition of the Original Star Trek TV series (with redone special effects see 'Star Trek TOS Makeover') will find a ready audience among hardcore fans, but there are a couple of other series that should present solid opportunities in 2008, Jericho: The First Season and The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Vol.1.

Jericho developed a cult following last year and when the show was cancelled, fans filled the CBS offices with tons of 'nuts' (see 'CBS Surrenders to Nuts').  CBS plans to air seven additional episodes of this compelling post-apocalyptic series starting in mid-season and once the show gets on the air again, Jericho: The First Season DVD set ($49.99) should get a new life.  This six-disc set makes for great viewing on DVD as the small town Kansas characters come to life, especially when you don't have to wait a week between episodes.  The high concept post A-bomb storyline is compelling, but it's the lifelike characters (and the fine performances by Skeet Ulrich, Ashley Scott, Erik Knudson, Candace Bailey, etc.) that really make this series something special.

The May 2008 release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull should provide a second wind for The Adventures of the Young Indiana Jones Vol.1 ($129.99), which is due out today.  This deluxe 12-disc set features seven feature length episodes (90 minutes each) chronicling the life of Indiana Jones as a boy and as a young man.  The episodes were shot on location all over the world and remain some of the best family entertainment available anywhere since they typically include fascinating historical elements as well key life lessons.  'Passion for Life' in which Indy goes hunting with Teddy Roosevelt and 'Spring Break Adventure' in which he meets Thomas Edison and battles German spies are just two of the seven excellent adventures in this set.  The set also includes a DVD-ROM with lots of interactive features (though it requires a Pentium 4 or better chip and a gig of ram to operate).   A second set in this series is due out in December.

Documentaries

Ken Burns' The War ($129.99) was a ratings winner for the PBS network averaging about 5.5 million viewers per episode and has a potentially huge audience in World War II vets and their descendants.  Burns humanized World War II by concentrating on soldiers from four disparate American cities and following their adventures (along with those of folks on the home front in the same cities and towns) through the entire conflict.  The result is the exact opposite of those documentaries that show animated black arrows moving across maps in flanking movements -- this is WWII from a personal, American point of view and it is amazing how plain spoken and yet eloquent most of the participants in the documentary manage to be.  Burns manages to humanize the great conflict, cut it down to size and provide the viewers with a feeling of what it must have been like to have history intervene so completely in their lives.  Burn's documentary would make a great companion piece to Fantagraphics' definitive collection Bill Mauldin's classic war cartoons, Willie & Joe: The WWII Years ($65), which is due out in February and which also provides a poignant, gritty, realistic look at the war from the point of view of the ordinary soldier.

Kids Movies

Disney's Meet the Robinsons is an underrated film that is chock full of humor and great animation.  The story of an orphan inventor, who travels to the future and uses his skills to great effect along the way, is filled with delightful eccentric characters, superb designs, and a comical T-Rex that is bound to please kids of all ages.  The first major animated film to be released by Disney since John Lasseter and the Pixar crew have taken over -- Meet the Robinsons displays something of the Pixar touch, which is especially evident in the emotional core of the film -- a friendship between two boys that happens to have a great time-traveling twist.  The Meet the Robinsons DVD contains some great extras including deleted scenes and a featurette on the young Edison's works--'Inventions That Shaped the World.'  The growing number of CGI-animated films has had the unfortunate result that some films such as Meet the Robinsons have been overlooked in favor of big name cartoon sequels, but this movie is as bright and entertaining as any computer animated film of 2007 (though it doesn't quite reach the artistic level of Pixar's Ratatouille).

A Second Chance At Life on DVD

David Goyer is well known as the writer of the Blade movies (director of Blade: Trinity) and contributor to Batman Begins and a number of other comic book based movies, but his The Invisible, a Ghost-like supernatural saga of a man who solves his own murder (with the help of a beautiful girl) didn't get much play in theaters where it earned just $20 million.  Still this is the sort of film that has the potential to do much better on DVD thanks to an attractive young cast and a romantic, if macabre storyline.  Bonus features include 13 minutes of deleted scenes and an audio commentary by director David Goyer.