As with most every week, this week sees the release of more new movies and TV shows on Blu-ray and DVD. Of the titles dropping this week we’re most interested in Edge of Darkness, Legion, Daybreakers, the first time Blu-ray release of Karate Kid I and II, the release of the Kurosawa collection and the debut of Mel Brook’s History of the World Part One on Blu-ray (pictured above with Mel Brooks and Harvey Korman).

Check them out.

Movies

Daybreakers ~ Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe (Blu-ray and DVD)

Edge of Darkness ~ Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston (Blu-ray and DVD)

Essential Art House: Kurosawa Collection (Hidden Fortress/Ikiru/Throne of Blood) (Blu-ray and DVD)

Father of the Bride 1 & 2 ~ Steve Martin (Blu-ray and DVD)

Hang Em High (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) [Blu-ray] ~ Clint Eastwood, Ed Begley, Bruce Dern, and Dennis Hopper (Blu-ray – 2010)

History of the World Part 1 ~ Mel Brooks, Dom Deluise, Harvey Korman (Blu-ray)

Well, I have officially run out of clever ways to say that Avatar won the weekend box office, and I think I still have weeks, if not months, to go. For the fourth week in a row, Avatar ruled the domestic box office and it has now made a mind-blowing $429 Million in one month. The movie dropped almost 30% from last weekend, yet still managed a hefty $48 Million, which places it in the seven spot for highest grossing movie (domestically) ever. It has earned $1.2 Billion globally.

Trailing the top earner were Sherlock Holmes, and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, which each made around $16 Million. Holmes has now made $165 Million in three weeks, and Squeakquel has made $178 Million in as many weeks. Both look poised to surpass $200 Million during their theatrical runs.

New releases were almost shut out of the top five this weekend, but the vampire horror flick Daybreakers, starring Ethan Hawke, managed to squeeze into fourth place with a respectable gross of $15 Million. It’s Complicated took the number five spot, and made $11 Million, for a cumulative total of $76 Million. The critically maligned  romantic comedy Leap Year stirred enough interest to make about $9 Million for sixth place.

The subject of vampires seems to be all the rage these days. Between the overwhelming success of Twilight and even the sweeping of yesterday’s People’s Choice Awards in the favor of all things vampire, they are a pretty sure thing these days. Hoping to continue in that success would be the folks involved in Daybreakers, which hits theaters today.

We recently got a chance to sit down with veteran actor Sam Neill (Jurrasic Park, Merlin) about his role and the film in general. While most people would consider this film a horror, Neill’s take is a bit different.

According to Neill, the film is “best described as a futuristic sci-fi thriller about an upside down vampire world. A lot of the vampire stuff that we’ve seen lately, their always the moody, pale-faced outsiders. In this film, everyone is a vampire, and the humans are a diminishing species, and more of a resource.

Of course, in a vampire world, you need lots of blood to keep everybody alive [laughs]. And since there are fewer and fewer humans available for hunting and bloodfarming, it becomes a bit uncomfortable for them.”

The Flickcast: You were pretty excited when this project was first offered to you. What was the appeal here?

Sam Neill: Well, I’ve played a lot of different characters but to play someone who is so evil and demented is not something you get asked to do a lot. I’ve had a blast, and I haven’t really enjoyed myself on a film in quite some time.