In a recent interview with “Replication News” Artisan Entertainment’s president of sales and marketing, Jeff Fink, touched upon some interesting subjects, which we wanted to share with you.

As mentioned previously, Artisan is working on a release of the Stephen King mini-series The Stand on a dual-layer, double-sided DVD-18. In the interview Fink mentions that the title is currently slated for a release in October and that the timely release of the title is mostly depending on the replication of the discs. “It’s a new process and it takes a longer time to replicate than a DVD-9 or any single-layer DVD”, he says in the interview. According to Fink, Artisan also has plans to use DVD-18 for upcoming releases of Lonesome Dove sometime next year, and a “Millenium Edition” of Terminator 2.

Artisan has also access to a number of family movies through Family Home Entertainment, and Fink revealed in the interview that Artisan will release Jingle Bells, We Wish You A Merry Christmas and O Christmas Tree in September on a single DVD called Christmas Classics.

At the end of the interview Fink also mentioned that Artisan is planning to source-tag their releases some time in the future, just as publishers like MGM and Warner have started already. If you open any of MGM’s latest releases for example, you will notice a small white sticker on the inside of the Amaray case. It is a source tag that helps preventing theft in stores, and a number of publishers are currently looking into this method to help retailers protect their assets.