Drop Zone

Details

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This special limited edition J-card MediaBook slipcase (designed by Tony Stella) is limited to 5,000 units and is only available on our website and at select indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them.

Note: this release is available to be purchased on its own, or in two different bundles:

• Limited Edition Slipcase ONLY (4,000 units)
• Limited Edition Slipcase + John Badham On Directing - Paperback Book + Cinématographe Parachuters Toy (50 units)
• Limited Edition Slipcase + Cinématographe Parachuters Toy (950 units)

Taking its name from the Lumière Brothers invention of the same name, Cinématographe is a new sub-label from Vinegar Syndrome that seeks to fill gaps in the canon of American cinema. Offering a mix of auteur driven studio films produced during the New Hollywood era of the late 1960s and 70s all the way through the indie boom of the 1980s and 90s, Cinématographe will explore the wide breadth of American moviemaking, spanning numerous genres and scales of production. Curated and produced by Vinegar Syndrome's Justin LaLiberty, each limited edition release will be housed in a specially designed, cloth-bound, media book with embossed foil titles and custom molded disc trays accompanied by a slipcase featuring newly commissioned art and an individually numbered J-card.

Pete and Terry Nessip (Wesley Snipes, Passenger 57; Malcolm-Jamal Warner, TV’s Malcolm & Eddie) are two U.S. Marshals escorting Earl Leedy (Michael Jeter, Miller’s Crossing), a computer criminal being transferred to a maximum security prison, when the plane they’re traveling on is hijacked by terrorists, resulting in the death of Terry and Earl’s daring escape from the law at 30,000 feet. The hijacking turns out to be the plot of ex-DEA agent turned skydiver Ty Moncrief (Gary Busey, Point Break) who plans to break into the DEA mainframe in Washington DC, with the help of Leedy, to get back at the government that failed him. Pete Nessip, looking to avenge his brother’s death and get back his prisoner, teams up with skydiving instructor Jessie Crossmann (Yancy Butler, Hard Target) to chase down Ty’s crew from the Florida Keys to Washington DC, before the fireworks go off on the 4th of July.  

An inspired late-career entry in the unpredictable oeuvre of British born, but American based, New Hollywood iconoclast John Badham (Saturday Night Fever, Blue Thunder), DROP ZONE meshes Badham’s penchant for strong character work with impressive practical stunts and hand-to-hand combat, resulting in one of the better, and oft-overlooked, studio action films of the 1990s. Executive produced by Badham himself and featuring production design by Joe Alves (Escape from New York, Jaws), a thunderous score by Academy Award winner Hans Zimmer (Interstellar) and kinetic photography by Badham collaborator Roy H. Wagner (Nick of Time). Cinématographe is proud to present the world 4K UHD debut of the most action packed film in John Badham’s career, newly restored from its original camera negative.

directed by: John Badham
starring: Wesley Snipes, Gary Busey, Yancy Butler, Michael Lester, Malcolm-Jamal Warner
1994 / 101 min / 2.39:1 / English DTS-HD MA 5.1

Additional info:

• 2-Disc Set: 4K Ultra HD + Region A Blu-ray
• 4K UHD presented in Dolby Vision High-Dynamic-Range
• New audio commentary with director and executive producer John Badham and cinematographer Roy H. Wagner, moderated by Cinématographe's Justin LaLiberty
• New audio commentary with film journalist Max Evry
• Surfers In the Sky - a new video interview with producer Wallis Nicita
• A Symphony of Skydiving: Scoring Drop Zone - A new interview with film music historian Daniel Schweiger about Hans Zimmer's score
• Whose Films Are These Anyway? John Badham, from Filmmaker to Moviemaker - a new video essay by Daniel Kremer
• New text essays by film critics Simon Abrams and Bilge Ebiri, culture historian Mark Edward Heuck and Cinématographe's Justin LaLiberty
• English SDH subtitles