Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Coming to Blu-ray and DVD in December

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, filmmaker Eric Appel’s award-nominated movie based (ever so loosely) on the life of the king of parody songs, is finally getting a physical release in the US. While some regions got a Blu-ray release earlier this year, it seems Shout! Studios was waiting for awards season to roll out Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra copies of the movie. The film, which stars Harry Potter veteran Daniel Radcliffe, is coming to home video on December 12 from the label, formerly known as Shout! Factory and best known for its feature-rich (but often limited-edition) releases of cult classics, horror movies, and all things geek.

Weird will be available as a two-disc 4K UHD + Blu-ray, a two-disc Blu-ray + DVD edition, and as a standalone DVD. All physical editions will include a variety of new bonus features, with details to be announced at a future date. Fans can pre-order their copies now by visiting ShoutStudios.com. The film will also be available for digital rental or purchase as a digital download on November 10.

Eric Appel, who directed Weird, had originally made a joke trailer for the project in 2009. Published to comedy website Funny or Die, the video went viral — which is exactly what it was designed to do. Appel admits that all his joke trailers hid a desire to catch some attention and maybe make a real movie, but he didn’t imagine this would or could be the one that took off.

“For the longest time, I thought, ‘It is what it is: It’s a Funny or Die viral video,’” Yankovic told TheWrap. “I showed it in my live concerts for about a decade, ’cause I do a lot of costume changes on stage, and it always got a huge reaction. And after shows, people would be like, ‘When’s the movie coming out? This sounds amazing.’ And I’d have to explain how it’s just a bit. It wasn’t until about three years ago that out of the blue I emailed Eric and said, ‘I think it might be time.’ ‘Cause Bohemian Rhapsody had come out – famously not accurate in a lot of ways, but it won a lot of awards and is very, very popular. And I thought, it’s time to puncture the biopic genre once again.”

Yankovic’s previous attempt at a feature film, 1989’s UHF, has become a cult classic in the years since its release, but at the time, it didn’t play at the box office. A deluxe edition of that Blu-ray was released by Shout! in 2014.

Here’s the official synopsis for the film:

In Weird, Daniel Radcliffe is “Weird Al” Yankovic in the unexaggerated true story about the greatest musician and sex symbol of our time. With Evan Rachel Wood and Rainn Wilson.

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story was originally released by Roku on The Roku Channel on November 4, 2022. It was embraced by critics and audiences alike and has since received numerous accolades including eight Primetime Emmy nominations. Winners will be announced at the 75th Primetime Emmy™ Awards in January 2024.

Nominated for eight Primetime Emmy Awards and beloved by fans worldwide, the acclaimed biopic/parody mash-up stars Radcliffe, Evan Rachel Wood, Rainn Wilson, and an A-list cast of thousands.