Online hit "Broken Saints" joins DVD canon (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The cult hit "BrokenSaints," a graphic novel-style fantasy epic serialized over theInternet, will soon be available in retail stores on DVD.

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has acquireddistribution rights to a four-disc collector's set containingall 24 episodes of the groundbreaking Flash-animated program.

The DVD set, previously available only online directly fromthe creators, has been remastered by Fox and will arrive instores August 1 at a suggested list price of $49.98.

The original Web premiere of "Saints" in 2001 drew morethan 5 million visitors and is credited with helping establishthe Internet as a creative and pop cultural force. A series ofbyte-size mini-episodes totaling 12 hours in length wasgradually unrolled over a three-year period on the dedicatedWeb site http://www.brokensaints.com.

"Saints" tells the story of four strangers -- a cynicalAmerican programmer, an aging Japanese priest, a troubled Arabmercenary and a mysterious girl from Fiji -- who receive aseries of chilling apocalyptic visions of the future. The fourare simultaneously drawn to a dark city in the West where theyfind out what is behind the visions -- and what they must do tosave the world.

The DVD collection includes optional commentary tracks fromthe series' creators, fan films, several featurettes, a "makingof" documentary and other extras, including a lecture sessionwith writer-director Brooke Burgess filmed at the WalkerNational Art Center in Minneapolis.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

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