30 Years of Close Encounters [UPDATED]

Ba-ba-bah-ba-baaaaaa. Yep, the five-tone alien encounter flick that swiped two Academy Awards back in the day is finally making it to DVD (including newfangled Blu-ray format with posh extras). Close Encounters of the Third Kind: 30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition is hitting the shelves next Monday, 3 December, marking director Steven Spielberg’s high definition debut. Nice.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind stars Richard Dreyfuss whose UFO sighting on a lonely road leads to an obsession with an oddly-shaped mountain... Extras will include a new interview with Spielberg, a production scrapbook and a 90-minute making-of documentary. But more interestingly for film fans, this will also be the first time that all three versions of Close Encounters of the Third Kind are available in one package. The Blu-ray edition will contain the 1977 Original theatrical edition, the 1980 theatrical special edition and the 1998 Director’s Cut. Through a process called "seamless branching" your Blu-ray player’s software spots the differences between each version of the film and segments the footage accordingly.

Both the Blu-ray (two-disc set) and DVD (three-disc set) will hit the shelves for a princely £23. Watch a promotional video (Quicktime) for this release here . We've mentioned the Blu-ray version in SFX 164 and you can read our review of the DVD version in SFX 165 - and win the Blu-ray package in our big competition! SFX 165 buzzes the news-stand on Wednesday 19 December 2007. If you love this film, come and tell us on our forum .

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