Battlefield Earth 20th Anniversary Blu-Ray Release To Include 70 Minutes Of New Bonus Features

Known as one of the great box office debacles of all time, Battlefield Earth is turning 20 soon — and the John Travolta space opera is getting a 20th anniversary Blu-ray reissue from Mill Creek Entertainment, who announced today that the disc would include more than an hour of new content in the form of making-of documentaries. The film, which is based on a novel written by Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, takes place in the year 3000, where Earth is ruled by evil aliens who have turned the few surviving humans into slaves. The film, which cost $73 million, earned back only $29 million at theaters.

Still, the fact that it’s a so-bad-it’s-good movie has become something of a cult classic in the intervening years — and of course, there are some people who genuinely think it’s pretty great. Mostly, John Travolta’s over-the-top performance as an alien slavemaster keeps people pretty entertained.

You can see the official description of the Blu-ray, as well as a list of the new features, below from Mill Creek:

Celebrating the 20-year anniversary of its theatrical launch, this high-definition debut includes over 70 minutes of interviews with the crew associated with the film. Fans can get behind-the-scenes insights, never-before-seen photographs and fascinating stories about the development of the script, visual effects, musical score and more! This special edition Blu-ray will release will be available on September 15 for $19.99 MSRP. Pre-orders are live on Amazon now.

Based on L. Ron Hubbard’s bestselling science fiction book, the story takes place in the year 3000 where Earth is ruled by a vicious alien race known as the Psychlos that have stripped the planet of its resources and eradicated most the human population. One of the few surviving humans, Jonnie Goodboy Tyler (Barry Pepper) is in pursuit of a better place to live, but is soon captured by a Psychlo slavemaster to join fellow “man-animals” in mining efforts. Jonnie eventually gains the attention of the evil Psychlo security officer Terl (John Travolta) and his assistant Ker (Forest Whitaker) who have discovered a vein of gold which they are unable to recover without the assistance of humans. While Terl attempts to makes Jonnie his personal slave, Jonnie uses his position to rally the other humans and unite in a plot to destroy the aliens and restore the human race to its former glory.

Featuring over 70 minutes of new bonus interviews and featurettes including:

• “LEVERAGE: WRITING THE FIRST DRAFT” – A new interview with screenwriter J.D. Shapiro (see a preview here)
• “SAGA IN THE YEAR 2000: DIRECTING BATTLEFIELD EARTH” – A new interview with director Roger Christian
• “ENDANGERED SPECIES: SCORING BATTLEFIELD EARTH” – A new interview with composer Elia Cmiral
• “DOMES AND DRONES: CREATING THE MINIATURES” – A new interview with model maker E. James Small
• “PSYCHLO CIRCUS: DESIGNING BATTLEFIELD EARTH” – New select scene commentary with production designer Patrick Tatopoulos

Daniel Griffith of Ballyhoo Motion Pictures serves as producer of these new Blu-ray bonus features. He has produced, directed, and edited over 100 documentary shorts and features, specializing in creative content for home media releases.

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