A number of interesting UK titles have been added lately.

A couple of high profile releases have been given UK street dates. Hancock will come from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment UK on December 1st.

Iron Man is coming from Paramount Home Entertainment on October 27th, 2008.

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It looks like we will be getting a big dose of Hulk around the year’s end with the new Incredible Hulk movie Blu-ray Disc release as well as the earlier Ang Lee Hulk film.

In the UK, I see that Hulk has been listed by Universal Pictures UK for release on November 24th, 2008.

In France, I see that L’incroyable Hulk has been listed by Warner Home Video on January 23th, 2009.

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Equilibrium has been listed by Momentum Pictures for Blu-ray release on September 15th, 2008. This Sci-fi thriller from 2002 featuring Christian Bale and Sean Bean has somewhat of a cult following and was previously available as an HD DVD import from Japan. It is perhaps fitting that it will become an import from the UK for Blu-ray Disc, assuming region compatibility.

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Warner has some significant new listings for the UK today

The much anticipated Batman Begins sequel The Dark Knight has been listed for December 1st, 2008.

Also eagerly awaited is the Blu-ray release of the Matrix Trilogy - The Matrix/Matrix Reloaded/Matrix Revolutions is listed for November 17th, 2008, a week earlier than the French release. It will be interesting to see when Warner is planning to release this in the USA.

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We have a bit of a mixed bag of UK news today. Let’s start with new pre-order announcements.

We see Sex and the City: The Movie has been scheduled by Entertainment in Video on September 22nd, 2008.

Brits will also get Heroes Season 1 and Heroes Season 2 from Playback on August 25th, 2008.

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A number of new interesting titles have shown up at Amazon UK.

As per usual it seems, Sony has a whole bunch of releases listed, a number of which have not been announced for the US yet. These titles include Freedomland, Mona Lisa Smile, 21 and Maid In Manhattan from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on September 8th, 2008 and John Mayer - Where the Light Is from SonyBMG on June 30th, 2008.

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We have quite a number of import titles to report this weekend so we will start with the UK and save other titles for future posts.

2 Entertain Video has made my day with the announcement of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks - Fire Walk With Me on September 15th, 2008. While it is far from the best Lynch film, at least it is a start. I get the feeling that we will increasingly be looking to foreign releases to get ‘art house’ American films on Blu-ray Disc. From what I can see, 2 Entertain has always coded for all regions so far, so let’s hope they maintain that trend.

2 Entertains has a few more releases coming on September 15th, including Ganges, Wild China and Earth - The Power Of The Planet.

Sony is up to their old tricks again with announcements for the UK that have no US equivalent release. Due to territorial differences, Sony does not always own the distribution rights for a US release. Steven Soderbergh’s Erin Brockovich is scheduled for release on September 1st, 2008. This is a Universal Pictures title in the USA.

The Tom Cruise ‘chick flick’ Jerry Maguire will also be released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on September 1st, 2008 - again with no US release date. Other catalogue releases from Sony in the UK include Rollerball (remake), Half Past Dead, XXX 2 - The Next Level and Maximum Risk on August 25th, 2008.

Other releases of note in the UK: Stargate - Continuum from MGM Entertainment on August 18th, 2008 - a trio from Optimum Home Entertainment - Basic Instinct from on September 15th, 2008, Evil Dead 2 - Dead By Dawn on September 22nd, 2008, and Persepolis on August 18th, 2008 - and The Eye from Lions Gate Home Entertainment on September 8th, 2008.

In addition to the slew of titles from Optimum Home Entertainment from yesterday, there is a fresh listing today.

On August 11, 2008 Optimum will add a third John Carpenter title - They Live [1988].

August will be a great month for Carpenter fans.

Quite a number of new titles have shown up for July and August from Optimum Home Entertainment in the UK this week. For the most part there are a number of titles that are released by Lionsgate in the USA, but there are also a few gems in the list.

On July 14th 2008 they will release The Orphanage [2007] - this title has been released in the USA by New Line.

On July 28th we get Son Of Rambow [2007] (not related to the Stallone movies below!) which does not currently have a US release planned.

On August 4th 2008 the Stallone movies begin with Cliffhanger [1992] which if I recall correctly is Sony in the US, with no release planned.

Also on August 4th will be releases of the Sci-fi movies Total Recall [1990], Terminator 2 - Judgment Day [1991] and Stargate [1994] as well as the Rambo films First Blood [1982], Rambo - First Blood Part 2 [1985] and Rambo 3 [1988] - all of which have Lionsgate releases in the US, though many were early releases and could certainly be improved upon both in quality and extra features. It will be interesting to see if they go all out for the Terminator release like they did in Germany on HD DVD.

On August 11th a pair of John Carpenter movies - Escape From New York [1981] and The Fog [1979]. I am not aware of any US releases for these titles.

Lastly, Tartan also has a release - on August 25th, 2008 they will release the horror movie P2 [2007].

The region coding on Optimum releases is largely unknown, so importing these titles could be a bit risky if you only have a Region A player. Potential censorship of titles like Cliffhanger are also something to be mindful of.

Tartan titles have been coded for all regions so far.