Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Release: Cloud Atlas

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: May 14, 2013
Price: DVD $28.99, Blu-ray/DVD Combo $35.99
Studio: Warner


Cloud Atlas movie scene

Tom Hanks and Susan Sarandon in Cloud Atlas.

The time-tripping science fiction mystery-drama film Cloud Atlas explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another through the past, present and future. Yeah, it’s heady stuff…

Action, mystery and romance weave through a half-dozen stories as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution in the distant future. The six different-but-connected stories are set at the following places and times: the South Pacific Ocean, 1849;  Cambridge and Edinburgh, 1936; San Francisco, 1973; United Kingdom, 2012; Neo-Seoul, Korea, 2144; a tropical island “106 winters after ‘The Fall’”, 2321.

Based on the best-selling novel by David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas is directed by acclaimed filmmakers Lana Wachowski and Andy Wachowski (the Matrix trilogy) and Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run, 3) and co-produced by Grant Hill (The Thin Red Line, The Tree of Life). Featured in the cast are Tom Hanks (Larry Crowne) and Halle Berry (New Year’s Eve), who are supported by Jim Broadbent (The Iron Lady), Hugo Weaving (Last Ride), Jim Sturgess (The Way Back), Ben Whishaw (Skyfall), James D’Arcy (W.E.), Keith David (Platoon), Susan Sarandon (The Greatest) and Hugh Grant (Bridget Jones’s Diary). Each member of the ensemble appears in multiple roles as the story moves through time.

Reviews were definitely mixed for Cloud Atlas, though most critics generally agreed that the film contained striking visuals and very cool effects (which isn’t unheard in the Wachowskis’ films!). The movie ultimately grossed a disappointing $27 million in the U.S. theaters following its opening in October, 2012. It also managed to make ripples in theaters across the world, though not quite what the filmmakers had hoped for.

The Blu-ray/DVD Combo pack contains the following special features:

  • A Film Like No Other
  • Everything is Connected
  • The Impossible Adaptation
  • The Essence of Acting
  • Spaceships, Slaves and Sextets
  • The Bold Science Fiction of Cloud Atlas
  • Eternal Recurrence: Love, Life, and Longing in Cloud Atlas

The standard definition DVD contains only the “Film Like No Other” featurette.

On May 14, Cloud Atlas will be available for download from online retailers including iTunes, Xbox, PlayStation, Amazon, Vudu and CinemaNow. The film will also be available digitally in High Definition (HD) VOD and Standard Definition (SD) VOD from cable and satellite providers, and on select gaming consoles.
 

Buy or Rent Cloud Atlas
Amazon graphic
DVD | Blu-ray/DVD Combo
DVD Empire graphicDVD | Blu-ray/DVD Combo Movies Unlimited graphicDVD | Blu-ray/DVD Combo Netflix graphic

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.