Welcome to another shiny new edition of The Digital Wire! Despite that exuberant fanfare, I am sad to announce that this week has been mighty slim in the realm of Blu-ray and DVD release news and the titles we have to report on won’t get much interest as they are all part of tired franchises, but one of the purposes of this feature is to give such titles the space they deserve. Besides, you may be interested in one or more of them.

Below you’ll find info on several future home video releases complete with technical specs, release dates, and links to pre-order at Amazon. We would greatly appreciate it if you use those links to order because a small percentage of each order helps keep this website running at max power. The cover art for certain titles has yet to be finalized.

It’s usually a bad sign when the first sequel to a surprisingly successful film takes nearly a decade after the release of the original to arrive in theaters. Reviews and audience reaction to Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller‘s Sin City: A Dame to Kill For have been mostly negative thus far but if you missed it on the big screen during it’s initial you’ll have a chance to judge for yourself when it hits Blu-ray 3D combo pack and DVD from Anchor Bay Entertainment and The Weinstein Company on November 18, 2014. Based on Miller’s over-the-top, noir-inspired Dark Horse Comics franchise, the live-action feature will come to home video armed to the teeth with the following supplements:

Still no “10-Minute F**king School’, Mr. Rodriguez?

Maybe you think the show should have been cancelled years ago. But the longest-running scripted series in the history of television doesn’t appear to be ending its run any time soon and the most devoted fans will be counting the days until the December 2, 2014 release of The Simpsons: The Seventeenth Season on Blu-ray from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. The show’s most popular villain Sideshow Bob (voiced by Kelsey Grammer) will be gracing the cover of this release and there will be three classic episodes featuring the character from past seasons included among the supplements, which will also include audio commentaries, deleted scenes, still galleries, and Easter eggs. The set isn’t available for pre-order at this time but when it is this post will be updated.

Just in time for Thanksgiving, Lionsgate Home Entertainment will be unleashing a movie on home video that goes great with a fattening holiday meal, a ton of squabbling relatives, and a carbohydrate-induced nap. The fun summer action sequel The Expendables 3 comes to Blu-ray on November 25, 2014 in a set that will not include the 126-minute theatrical release cut but also an unrated cut containing an additional five minutes of unreleased footage as well as the following bonus features:

A DVD edition will also be available but will only contain the theatrical cut. I’m a big fan of this franchise and thought the third one was a little better than the second. Despite The Expendables 3 failing to find an audience over the summer it should do nicely on home viewing formats. I’m interested to see if that additional footage in the unrated cut was the extra action and violence that was cut so the movie could obtain a PG-13 rating. We’ll see. In the meantime here’s a short behind-the-scenes clip from the upcoming Blu-ray courtesy of IGN:

Out This Week

X-Men – Days of Future Past: Blu-ray|
Blu-ray 3D|DVD|Amazon Exclusive Blu-ray (with replica Magneto helmet)

Penny Dreadful – The Complete First Season: Blu-ray|DVD

Fargo – Season One: Blu-ray|DVD

Steven Spielberg Director’s Collection: Blu-ray|DVD

Dracula – Season One: Blu-ray|DVD

Zoolander: Blu-ray

Desperately Seeking Susan: Blu-ray|DVD

Kingpin: Blu-ray|DVD

Those are the highlights of this week. Come back same time next week for more of the coolest home video news tidbits on the web.