We’ve got another full week of home video release announcements to share with you Coming Soon to Blu-ray and DVD. While we help provide you with a list of releases every Tuesday that are Now Available to Own, Coming Soon looks at all of the pre-order announcements. For the week of January 17, 2015, The Theory of Everything, Life Itself, The Babadook, and more have been given release dates. Find out when they’ll be out and what special features they’ll have after the break.

Synopsis: Based on Jane Hawking’s memoir “Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen,” the acclaimed film is an unforgettable portrait of a singular marriage and the two exceptional souls who built it. Once a healthy, active young man, Hawking receives an earth-shattering diagnosis at 21 years of age. With Jane fighting tirelessly by his side, Stephen embarks on his most ambitious scientific work, studying the very thing he now has precious little of—time. Together, they defy impossible odds, breaking new ground in medicine and science, and achieving more than they could ever have dreamed.

Special Features:

• Feature Commentary with Director James Marsh
• Becoming the Hawkings
• Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary by Director James Marsh
  • Church
  • Riverbank
  • Jane Types For Stephen
  • God’s Work
  • Stephen Drops Robert
  • Helping Stephen Into The Car
  • Jonathan Lends a Hand
  • Stephen Meets The Queen

Directed by James Marsh, The Theory of Everything stars Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, and Tom Prior. The release will be available to own on February 17, 2015.

Synopsis: ABC’s OF DEATH 2 is the follow-up to the most ambitious anthology film ever conceived with productions spanning from Nigeria to UK to Brazil and everywhere in between. It features segments directed by over two dozen of the world’s leading talents in contemporary genre film. The film is comprised of twenty-six individual chapters, each helmed by a different director assigned a letter of the alphabet. The directors were then given free rein in choosing a word to create a story involving death.

Special Features:

• A-Z: An Offering of Behind The Scenes, “Making Of”s and Galleries
• AXS TV: A look at ‘ABCs OF DEATH 2’
• Filmmakers Commentary (29 Commentary Segments)

Directed by many different directors, The ABCs of Death 2 stars many different actors and will be available to own on February 3, 2015.

Synopsis: A police chase after a deranged ice cream truck has captivated the attention of the greater Los Angeles area. Dozens of fame—obsessed teens flock to the streets with their video cameras and camera phones, hell—bent on capturing the next viral video. But there is something far more sinister occurring in the streets of L.A. than a simple police chase. A resounding effect is created onto all those obsessed with capturing salacious footage for no other purpose than to amuse or titillate. Soon the discovery becomes that they themselves are the stars of the next video, one where they face their own death.

Synopsis:

• Gorgeous Vortex – A Short Film by Todd Lincoln
• Audio Commentary with Directors
• Bonestorm: Behind the Scenes Featurette
• FX Storyboards
• Galleries
• Dante the Great: Behind The Magic of Dante The Great
• Photo Gallery
• Director Interviews
• AXS TV: A Look at V/H/S: Viral

Directed by various directors, V/H/S: Viral stars many different people and will be available to own on February 17, 2105.

Synopsis: Mike Epps, Richard Pryor Jr. and others recount the culture-defining influence of Richard Pryor – one of America’s most brilliant comic minds – in this new documentary. Pryor remains an inspiration to many: a man who broke taboos, provoked change and propelled himself through life as a result of sheer force of personality.

There are no current special features listed at this moment.

Directed by Marina Zenovich, Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic will be available to own on February 3, 2015.

Synopsis: Life Itself, the first ever feature-length documentary on the life of Roger Ebert, covers the prolific critic’s life journey from his days at the University of Illinois, to his move to Chicago where he became the first film critic ever to win the Pulitzer Prize, then to television where he and Gene Siskel became iconic stars, and finally to what Roger referred to as “his third act”; how he overcame disabilities wrought by cancer to became a major voice on the internet and through social media.

Special Features:

• Interview with Director Steve James
• AXS TV: A look at Life Itself
• Deleted Scenes

Directed by Steve James, Life Itself features interviews with Roger Ebert, Chaz Ebert, Gene Siskel’s wife, and filmmakers Errol Morris, Werner Herzog, Ramin Bahrani, Gregory Nava, Ava DuVernay, and Martin Scorsese. The release will be available to own on February 17, 2015.

Synopsis: Six years after the violent death of her husband, Amelia is at a loss. She struggles to discipline her ‘out of control’ 6 year-old, Samuel, a son she finds impossible to love. Samuel’s dreams are plagued by a monster he believes is coming to kill them both. When a disturbing storybook called ‘The Babadook’ turns up at their house, Samuel is convinced that the Babadook is the creature he’s been dreaming about. His hallucinations spiral out of control, he becomes more unpredictable and violent. Amelia, genuinely frightened by her son’s behaviour, is forced to medicate him.

There are currently no special features listed for this release.

Directed by Jennifer Kent, The Babadook stars Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, and Daniel Henshall. The release will be available to own on April 14, 2015.

Synopsis: The fascinating chronicle of the meteoric rise of video games from nerd niche to multi-billion dollar industry. Executive produced by Zach Braff (Garden State, “Scrubs”) and narrated by Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy), the documentary features in-depth interviews with some of the industry’s biggest gamer and geek icons. A celebration of gaming from Atari to Xbox, as well as an eye-opening look at what lies ahead.

Directed by Jeremy Snead, Video Games: The Movie features interviews with Nolan Bushnell (Atari, Inc.), Chris Hardwick (The Nerdist Podcast), Donald Faison (Kick-Ass 2, “Scrubs”), Cliff Bleszinski (“Gears of War,” “Unreal”), Warren Spector (“Deus Ex,” “System Shock”), Hiroyuki Kobayashi (“Resident Evil”), Clare Grant (Danger Maiden Productions, Team Unicorn), Doug Tennapel (“Earthworm Jim”), Palmer Luckey (Oculus Rift), Wil Wheaton (Stand By Me, “Star Trek: The Next Generation”), and Alison Haislip (“Attack of the Show”). This release will be available to own DVD on February 3, 2015.

And that’s it for this week. What are you looking forward to owning?

Stay tuned for more Blu-Ray and DVD announcements every Saturday.

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