New Release: The Blues Brothers Blu-ray

The Blues Brothers movie scene

Belushi and Aykroyd are Joliet Jake and Elwood in The Blues Brothers.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment tapped into its vault to bring The Blues Brothers, the soul-and-blues-filled 1980 comedy classic starring Dan Aykroyd (Yogi Bear) and John Belushi (Animal House), out on Blu-ray on July 26, 2011.

In the movie, Belushi’s Joliet Jake and Aykroyd’s Elwood set out on a mission from God to reform their band, with a little help from music legends Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker, Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin and James Brown.

We love the part in this film extravaganza, directed by John Landis, in which a zillion police cars get wrecked in downtown Chicago.

The new Blu-ray disc includes all the bonus features that have been previously seen on earlier DVD editions of the film, most recently the 25th Anniversary DVD released in 2009.

Here are all the highlights of the Blu-ray:

  • Two versions of the film: Original theatrical version plus extended version with 15 minutes of additional footage.
  • “Stories Behind the Making of The Blues Brothers,” which goes behind the scenes with Landis, Aykroyd and the Blues Brothers band.
  • “Transposing the Music, ” which highlights the many spin-offs, tributes and merchandising developments, as well as stage shows, impersonators and pop culture inspired by the film.
  • “Remember John,” in which friends, family and co-stars share their personal stories about the late great comedian.
  • Theatrical trailer

Plus, the Blu-ray contains Universal’s usual apps:

  • U-Control feature that lets the viewer access bonus materials without leaving the movie
  • Pocket Blu which allows smartphones and computers to work seamlessly with a network-connected Blu-ray player
  • UHear feature that allows viewers to skip back a few seconds if they missed dialog

The Blues Brothers Blu-ray carries a list price of $26.98.

Belushi’s National Lampoon’s Animal House debuted on Blu-ray the same day.

 

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About Laurence

Founder and editor Laurence Lerman saw Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest when he was 13 years old and that’s all it took. He has been writing about film and video for more than a quarter of a century for magazines, anthologies, websites and most recently, Video Business magazine, where he served as the Reviews Editor for 15 years.