Fresh off a whopping 13 Oscar nominations, The Shape of Water now has a Blu-ray release date. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has announced that Guillermo del Toro’s masterful fairy tale will be released on Digital HD on February 27th, then hits Blu-ray and DVD on March 13th. As usual, this disc is packed with bonus features, but unlike usual, you won’t be getting an audio commentary from Guillermo del Toro this time around.

Indeed, the filmmaker told us in December that The Shape of Water marks the first time he’s ever refused to record a commentary track—and he explained why:

“It’s one of the Blu-rays that has a lot of behind-the-scenes making-of featurettes and stuff like that. It’s the first Blu-ray that I’ve made that I refused to do a commentary track on. And it’s because I feel, for the first time, I think whatever the movie does it does on its own. You can buy The Art Of book or come to an evening with the movie and I’ll talk—I’m not refusing to talk—but I don’t need to put it on a commentary track.”

the-shape-of-water-guillermo-del-toro-jenkins-hawkins
Image via Fox Searchlight

While this is a bummer for fans of del Toro’s incredibly detailed and insightful commentary tracks of the past, it’s clear that The Shape of Water is a very, very different kind of movie for the filmmaker, and thus necessitates a different approach. In many ways it’s the most grown-up film del Toro has ever made, and I’m of the opinion it’s also his best work to date.

But I’m heartened by the fact that we’ll get the following bonus features on the Shape of Water Blu-ray:

  • A Fairy Tale for Troubled Times
  • Anatomy of a Scene: Prologue
  • Anatomy of a Scene: The Dance
  • Shaping the Waves: A Conversation with James Jean
  • Guillermo del Toro’s Master Class
  • Theatrical Trailers

While del Toro said in our interview with him in December that there would be deleted scenes, it appears those didn’t make the final cut for the home video release. Although perhaps those will show up on an eventual Criterion Collection edition of the film—because you know that’s coming at some point down the road. For now, I’ll be picking up this disc ASAP when it drops on March 13th and poring over the featurettes.

 

the-shape-of-water-blu-ray-cover