Warner Home Video has announced that Dominic Sena’s film based on Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber’s Whiteout graphic novel will be available on DVD (MSRP $28.98) and Blu-ray (MSRP $35.99) on January 19th, 2010.  Sena’s film of the graphic novel published by Oni Press had a disappointing run at the box office, where it has earned just over $12 million versus a cost of $35 million.  Whiteout stars Kate Beckinsale as U.S. Marshall Carrie Stetko, who is forced to solve a string of murders at an isolated research station near the South Pole.

The DVD release represents Dark Castle Entertainment’s major opportunity to recover some of the money expended on the project.  Given the current popularity of comic book-based properties, the producers are highlighting the film’s origins with the phrase “Based on the Acclaimed Graphic Novel,” which is prominently displayed in advertisements for the Whiteout DVD.

Note that there is no double-disc DVD release of Whiteout.  The role of the "collector's edition" has been taken over by the hi-def Blu-ray edition in all but the biggest releases.  The Blu-ray Edition of Whiteout contains a number of exclusive features including a documentary about the shooting of the film (“The Coldest Thriller Ever”), another featurette about adapting the graphic novel that should be of interest to comics fans (“Freeze Frame: From Page to Screen”), plus deleted scenes presented in hi-def.