I'm thinking that a few smaller theaters released the movie to the public first, and then it went to video. But I dunno for sure. =]
shareIt first appeared on the STARZ! TV network on July 14, 2000. It didn't come to theatres (or at least not enough to worth mentioning). The DVD came out October 17, 2000.
shareIm pretty sure it did because I remember seeing the poster for it at my movie theatre before the film came out.
shareHEAVY METAL 2000 was to have been released in theatres on 31 October 2000. I remember seeing the posters to. Cannot remember any reason given why the movie was not released. It was better than some things shown.
shareThere were a lot of high hopes for this movie when it was in production, and was supposed to get a wide theatre release. It was supposed to be a big deal. However, due to production problems, the movie turned out much worse then expected, and so it didn't get much push when it was released.
shareThe film was originally to be released in Theaters under the name of Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2. There was a magazine that was an adaptation of the then would be film on news stands roughly a year or two before the actual film was release. It was set for a late summer early fall 1999 release. There was also early character concept art. (it was probably going to be fully hand drawn animation instead of CGI/hand drawn mix).
The concept art had a greater likeness to the 1981 release than the final product.
The graphic novel also has slight differences in the story. One example is that Julie gets stabbed at the end instead of merely hit.
Delays and production problems resulted in this movie premiering on Starz and only playing in a couple of theaters. One print showed in L.A. and the other showed in New York if I remember correctly.