Another made-for-a-streaming service title is coming to physical media. In this instance it is Roku’s Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. Shout Factory will be bringing the comedy biopic spoof to DVD, Blu-Ray and 4K disc on December 12.
A very knowing and cutting spoof of rock biopics, Weird stars Daniel Craig as the titular music satirist Weird Al Yankovic in a Fractured Fairy Tales telling of his early rise to fame in the 1980s. It recasts novelty music show disc jockey Barret Hansen, aka Dr. Demento, as a music industry Svengali who orchestrates Al’s quick rise and totally invents a romance between him and pop icon Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood in an absolutely cutting performance), who sees Al as her way to stay on the top of the charts. All in all, it is as ridiculously funny a movie as you would expect given its subject. (Yankovic, the real one, co-wrote the screenplay with director Eric Appel)
Although made with the intention of being a Roku Channel exclusive, the film screened at a handful of film festivals last fall to generate word of mouth. You can read our review of the film from our coverage of the Philadelphia Film Festival here.
As of now, no special features have been announced. However, Shout Factory’s website, where you can preorder the disc, does indicate that there will be extras on the release but they have not yet been finalized.
