Well, well, well…what have we got for you today? Not a lot but what there is is good! It seems 20th Century Fox is pulling out the stops to flood the Blu-Ray hi-fef disc market with some stronger titles early next year, with one title especially of interest being Ice Age, due for release on March 13. On standard DVD, Starz has announced the Hellboy: Sword Of Storms video feature for January 6 (retailing at $19.98 with featurettes, comic book, commentary and DVD-ROM extras), while Sony has a Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children: Limited Collector’s Set of the DVD premiere based on the videogame, comprising a two-disc set (with bonus Venice Film Festival footage, story digest, deleted scenes, making-of featurette and a sneak peek at the upcoming game) packaged with postcards, a movie script and a character booklet, going for $49.95, also on January 6th.

Meanwhile, yesterday’s sad news of Joe Barbera’s death overshadowed the fact that the new wave of Walt Disney Treasures had hit store shelves. In his as-usual delightful read, Treasures host Leonard Maltin speaks briefly about the new tins at his Movie Crazy page. He’s in sales mode, but his comments are no less welcome.

At the always enjoyable Michael Barrier site, the animation historian compares notes between Neal Gabler’s new Walt Disney bio and his own book, The Animated Man: A Life Of Walt Disney. His notes make for very interesting reading and reveal a little of the processes that an author has to go through in putting together such a volume.

– Ben.