When you just can’t get enough of the ‘Code’

Despite all the hype -- and controversy -- “The Da Vinci Code” (Sony, $30), Ron Howard’s lavish adaptation of Dan Brown’s religious thriller, landed in theaters with a critical thud.

Still, “Da Vinci,” which stars Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno and Paul Bettany, managed to earn more than $200 million domestically at the box office.

Though it’s not the eighth wonder of the world, the three-disc extended edition of Peter Jackson’s “King Kong” (Universal, $35) is everything a DVD should be -- an informative, fast-paced and often funny look into the filmmaking process.

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Also new

“Forbidden Planet-Ultimate Collector’s Edition” (Warner, $60): Fun two-disc set of the seminal 1956 sci-fi adventure that was one of Gene Roddenberry’s inspirations for “Star Trek.” Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis and Robby the Robot are among the stars of this fanciful tale that is loosely based on Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.”

Extras include numerous additional scenes and a miniature collectible Robby.

“The Paul Newman Collection” (Warner, $60): Seven films from one of Hollywood’s most enduring screen stars -- he made his film debut in 1954 and is still going strong at 81.

Newman gives one of his most compelling early performances in “Somebody Up There Likes Me,” Robert Wise’s gritty 1956 biopic about championship boxer Rocky Graziano. Included is fascinating commentary from the late Wise, Newman, Martin Scorsese and critic Richard Schickel; director Arthur Penn supplies the captivating commentary on 1958’s “The Left Handed Gun,” which finds Newman excelling as Billy the Kid; Newman plays an ambitious Philadelphia lawyer in the juicy 1959 soap opera, “The Young Philadelphians.” The late director Vincent Sherman and USC film professor Drew Casper provide historical commentary; screenwriter William Goldman is disarmingly charming in his commentary on the spiffy, sexy 1966 detective thriller “Harper,” in which Newman is perfectly cast as a laid-back Los Angeles private eye. Rounding out the collection is 1975’s tepid “The Drowning Pool,” 1972’s comedy “Pocket Money” and the 1973 John Huston thriller “The Mackintosh Man.”

“Cary Grant: Screen Legend” (Universal, $30): These five films that Grant made between 1934 and 1936 offer a glimpse into the actor’s salad days in Hollywood. In the 1934 romantic comedy “Thirty Day Princess,” Grant plays a newspaper publisher who falls for an actress (Sylvia Sidney) masquerading as a princess; 1934’s “Kiss and Make Up” finds Grant as a plastic surgeon who marries a patient; “Wings in the Dark,” from 1935, marks the first screen pairing of Grant and Myrna Loy. Rounding out the disc are 1936’s “Big Brown Eyes” and “Wedding Present.”

“Accepted” (Universal, $30): Justin Long of the Mac commercials headlines this sophomoric teen comedy about a high school misfit who creates his own faux university after he is rejected by every college to which he applied.

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susan.king@latimes.com