Update: The Blu-ray is now available to pre-order here.
Not many directors these days get a six-month window between theatrical release and home video release, but Paul Thomas Anderson is a rare breed. At long last, MGM and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment have announced a May 17, 2022 Blu-ray and DVD release for the 1970s-set coming-of-age story, complete with a handful of special features. Unfortunately, there’s no 4K announcement yet, but hopefully that is down the line a la Phantom Thread, which was released a month later on 4K.
See the deleted scenes and cover art below, and read our interviews with the crew about the camera tests and unused takes.
- Camera Tests – Pre-production camera tests and unused takes
- The Handman Scene – A deleted scene from the film
- Fat Bernie’s Commercial – An in-universe commercial for Fat Bernie’s as shot by Gary Valentine
- Behind the Scenes – A glimpse behind the scenes of Licorice Pizza through a collection on-set photos and videos
Ryan Swen said in his review, “Paul Thomas Anderson has always been fascinated with pretenders, with people who use their assumed gigs and personas as a shield for their own deep insecurities. From Tom Cruise’s alpha guru in Magnolia to Philip Seymour Hoffman’s blustering mystic in The Master, Josh Brolin’s cop in Inherent Vice to Paul Dano’s preacher in There Will Be Blood, these characters that circle and attempt to entrap Anderson’s putative protagonists often end up the most fascinating elements, teasing out a canniness and resourcefulness that resonates with his view of American self-actualization. That recurring use of hucksters ascends to the level of text with Licorice Pizza, which returns to the sunny San Fernando Valley setting from the first half of his career.”
For more, listen to PTA and cast’s final Q&A on the Licorice Pizza tour below, as well as our discussion on The Film Stage Show.