This week’s home entertainment offerings include Luc Besson’s Lucy, the best argument yet for Marvel producing a Black Widow film with Scarlett Johansson, plus The Boxtrolls, yet another exquisite exercise in stop motion animation from the wizards at Laika Studios, and The Drop, a superior crime film starring Tom Hardy and written by Dennis Lehane.

Theatrical Movies

This week’s top release is Luc Besson’s Lucy (Universal, “R,” 180 min., $29.98, BD $34.98), a science fiction movie starring Scarlett Johansson as a drug mule who gains telekinetic powers when she is kicked--releasing a mega-load of the experimental street drug she was (unwillingly) transporting.  In spite of its convoluted plot, Lucy moves like an express train and is chock full of inventive action scenes, just don’t put any stock in all that “using 10% of your brain nonsense.”  Not surprisingly Lucy was a worldwide hit earning $458 million for Besson’s Europacorp, which produced the film for just $40 million.  The success of Lucy certainly indicates that Johansson could carry a Black Widow movie.

Equally interesting for many is The Boxtrolls (Universal, “PG,” 194 min., $29.98, BD $34.98, 3DBD $49.98), the latest stop-motion animated offering from Laika Studios (Coraline, ParaNorman).  Based on the novel Here Be Monsters, The Boxtrolls delivers loads of humorous grotesquerie with a steampunk-inflected character design and sensibility that will please fans of Tim Burton and the previous Laika efforts.

Horror movie fans will have to make due with Annabelle (Warner Bros., “R,” 98 min., $29.98, BD $35.98), a prequel of sorts to The Conjuring, and as is the case with The Conjuring, the haunted Annabelle doll is at the center of the action here.  Produced for just $6.5 million, the film has earned more than $255 million worldwide, a box office success that is seriously at odds with the film’s meager 29% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.  As per usual the negative reviews do not appear to have had any major influence on the box office success of Annabelle, which delivers its share of old-school horror shocks.

Compared with Annabelle, The Drop (Fox, “R,” 107 min., $29.98, BD $39.98) is a better film from an equally despised genre (the crime film).  Written by Dennis Lehane (Gone, Baby, Gone, Mystic River, Shutter Island), The Drop was James Gandolfini’s final feature film, and it earned a solid 89% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, thanks in part to strong performances from Tom Hardy and Gandolfini.

Anime

This week’s top new release is Naruto Shippuden Uncut: Set 21 (Viz Media, 300 min., $44.82), the latest collection of the popular anime series based on the manga by Masashi Kishimoto about an adolescent ninja’s struggles for recognition.  Set 21 includes episodes 258-270 of this ongoing anime series from Studio Pierrot, which airs on Disney XD here in the States, and has reached 393 episodes in Japan.

Also new this week is the Little Busters Refrain Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, 325 min., $59.98, BD $69.98), which collects the 13-episode second Little Busters anime series produced by J.C. Staff that aired in Japan in 2013 and is based on the romance visual novel by Key.  Those who enjoy the Kanon, Clannad, and Angel Beats anime series will probably find Little Busters to their liking.

Mecha anime fans will be interested in Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse, Collection 1 (Sentai Filmworks, 300 min., $59.98, BD $69.98), which includes the first 12 episodes of a 24-episode anime created by Satelight in 2012 and based on the Muv-Luv light novel franchise.  In this sci-fi saga a relentless alien horde known as the BETA has been attacking Earth, which is defending itself with the aid of newly-developed Tactical Surface Fighters (TSFs).  This series was originally simulcast on Crunchyroll, and has developed something of a following here.

This week’s re-priced reissue is a new edition of A Certain Scientific Railgun: Season 1 Collection (Funimation, 600 min., BD/DVD Combo $49.98).  The new edition not only represents a great savings over the two-part 2009 DVD release (Part 1 was $54.98, Part 2 was $59.98), it also presents all 24 episodes of the show in Blu-ray for the first time, making it one of this week’s most attractive offerings.

TV on DVD

No much doing on the TV front this week.  The top offering is Satisfaction: Season 1 (Universal, 450 min., $44.98), the USA cable drama centers around the marital difficulties of a middle class couple that ensue after the husband, a money manager played by Matt Passmore, returns home unexpectedly to find his wife in the arms of a male escort. 

The only other contemporary show out this week is the teen-targeting BAFTA-nominated BBC series Wolfblood: Season 3 (Cinedigm, 340 min., $14.93) about a couple of teenage “wolfbloods” who are attempting to keep their lycanthropic genetic secret from both friends and enemies.

Vintage series out this week include the Deluxe Remastered Little House on the Prairie: Season 4 (Lionsgate, 1078 min., $21.98, BD $24.98), and the sweathog-infused sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter: The Complete 2nd Season (Shout Factory, 552 min., $29.93).

--Tom Flinn

The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.