The Godfather - Oct. 9
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JUNE 1 | In a throwback to the days of lavish video promotions, Paramount Home Entertainment and Francis Ford Coppola are taking to the streets of Brooklyn, N.Y., for a June 11 media event to announce the DVD release of the three Godfather films this fall.

Following a 4 p.m. news conference, Paramount and the Oscar-winning director will host an Italian street festival on 8th Street between 3rd and 4th avenues in the Park Slope neighborhood. The street will be decorated to take on the look and feel of '50s New York, the setting for the majority of the first two Godfather epics. Nearly 1,000 guests are expected to attend.

Not coincidentally, the gala is being staged on the block where the Morisi-Coppola Pasta Factory is located. The event is also being used to promote Coppola's new line of pasta, Festa Macaroni.

Paramount's top video executives are scheduled to attend, led by Eric Doctorow, president of Paramount Home Entertainment Worldwide; Meagan Burrows, executive VP of sales and marketing; Michael Arkin, senior VP of marketing; Phil Jackson, president of Paramount Home Entertainment International; and Martin Blythe, VP of publicity.

Coppola's American Zoetrope Studios will also be represented by Kim Aubry, technical director and VP for engineering and technology.

According to the invitation, printed in the same font used in the Godfather films' theatrical and video ad campaigns, "other specially invited guests and members of the family" will be on hand.

Sources said the Godfather films will be part of a special edition boxed collection that includes Coppola commentary tracks, documentaries, featurettes and deleted scenes.

The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974) each won the Academy Award for best picture and, combined, took home nine Oscars. The Godfather Part III (1990) was nominated for seven Oscars. The films are among DVD fans' most requested titles