Michael Mann May Have Just Revealed The Future Of Movie Special Features

Michael Mann, the iconoclastic director of "Heat," "The Last of the Mohicans," and "Miami Vice," may have just changed the game when it comes to home video special features.

Today, Mann launched the Michael Mann Archives, which is described as "a state-of-the-art, interactive website offering unique access into the all-encompassing directing process of one of cinema's most influential filmmakers." The first film to be featured is Mann's passion project, "Ferrari," which he spent decades developing before it was finally released in 2023.

For $65 (plus something called a "gas fee" that's present with each transaction since it involves the use of blockchain technology), which must be paid only to the website at michaelmannarchives.com, fans will receive a unique access pass that will let them "enter and explore the Archive's extensive collection at their own pace and in perpetuity." Presumably, there will eventually be sections of the Archives devoted to Mann's other movies, but for now, "Ferrari" is the only film featured.

Not only will paid users be able to stream around 20 documentary videos in 4K (which range from things like Mann working with actors like Adam Driver to the design and engineering of the film's replica race cars to the movie's climactic crash sequence), but they'll also be able to see annotated script pages containing notes from Mann about his plans and intent, as well as photo storyboards and some audio as well. It's unclear if that $65 price will eventually grant pass holders access to each film, or if diehard fans would need to pay multiple times to access a new pass for each individual movie. For more specifics, you can check out the site's detailed FAQ page.

We used to be a proper country. By that I mean practically every home video release used to come with a slew of special features, often including full-length commentaries, detailed documentaries, and various behind the scenes insights into the way a movie was made. If an aspiring filmmaker only had access to the exhaustive bonus features on Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, they would still learn more about filmmaking than many schools could teach. But since that type of bonus content costs money to produce, studios are now frequently content with providing largely barebones versions of their home media, perhaps throwing a perfunctory video or two into the mix, but certainly not heaping the lavish bounty of yesteryear upon customers. Today's streaming movies almost never have any special features at all.

Along comes Michael Mann to shake things up. He appears to be bypassing Neon, the distributor of "Ferrari," and going direct to consumer with his own version of special features, which leads me to wonder if his contemporaries might take notice. Could filmmakers start working it into their contracts that they'll have the ability to use aspects of their movies in similar fashion for their own individual websites? (Note that the Mann Archive pass does not grant users access to watch "Ferrari" in its entirety.) How much would you pay for an equivalent archive from your favorite director(s)? In an era in which physical media is not nearly as omnipresent in our culture as it used to be, has Mann tapped into a new revenue stream — one that could even help fund future movies?

This could end up being a one-off experiment that dies on the vine. But if Hollywood is paying attention, it might be the first step in a larger movement that redefines bonus content for your favorite films and helps enrich the creators of those projects instead of the studios that distributed them.