Lucasfilm and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment have confirmed that the release of the Star Wars Episode III:  Revenge of the Sith DVD, all digital from production to DVD, is set for November 1st (see ''Star Wars Episode III:  Revenge of the Sith' DVD').  Retailers and distributors will be allocated, according to Video Business, to prevent excessive returns. 

 

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is allocating retailers and distributors on Star Wars Episode III:  Revenge of the Sith based on sales of past top Fox releases, according to Video Business.  The article by Susanne Ault concludes that Fox is taking this step because of the heavy returns that have hit some DVD blockbusters, including The Incredibles and Shrek 2, this year.  

 

The DVD will be released in a two-disc set with lots of extras, including 'making of' featurettes, deleted scenes (including Yoda landing on Dagobah), and audio commentary by Lucas and other members of the film's crew. 

 

Lucasfilm describes a new feature, 'Within a Minute,' as the 'centerpiece of the bonus materials.'  Hosted by Revenge of the Sith producer Rick McCallum, the feature follows the creation of 49 seconds of material for the movie and condenses the story of that creation down from 600 hours of material collected during filming. 
 
Despite any allocation (which is intended to reduce the number distributed without affecting the number sold), the primary benefit of the DVD release for pop culture retailers is the wave of advertising, publicity and promotion surrounding its release, which can stimulate sales on the whole range of Star Wars merchandise.