This is an exciting week for releases on Blu-ray Disc, with the first Universal Studios titles arriving at retailers and etailers alike.
Universal Pictures is releasing titles from their Mummy franchise - The Mummy, The Mummy Returns and The Scorpion King - all of which are $19.95 at Amazon.
There were quite a number of interesting releases on Blu-ray Disc today.
The miniseries Broken Trail was released by Sony at the catalog title pricing, complete with Dolby TrueHD on a BD50 disc. Sony also released The Other Boleyn Girl, again on a BD50 with True HD audio. Lastly from Sony - The Professionals was released with a PCM soundtrack, this time on a BD25 disc.
Image Entertainment released Heart: Alive in Seattle with DTS-HD Master Audio.
Fox released Jumper with DTS Master Audio and a Bonus View Picture in Picture feature.
Warner released Natural Born Killers in the special book packaging on a BD50 Disc with Dolby TrueHD audio - sadly this one carries the premium price tag.
Warner also released The Bucket List - this one didn’t fare so well with only a BD25 disc and Dolby Digital audio - of course the premium pricing for a new release remains. This movie made almost $100M at the box office and stars Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman - you would think it deserves better than Dolby Digital audio. Warner needs to know that this level of support is not acceptable!
Magnolia released The Signal - not much info on this one other than it is coded for all regions.
Lions Gate released Witless Protection with 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio on a BD50 disc - sounds like a winning presentation (Warner, pay attention) though perhaps this disc has limited appeal to anyone other than Larry the Cable Guy fans - with a 1.7 at IMDb and 0% at Rotten Tomatoes, it sounds a little dire.
Mantra has released Girls Gone Wild: Hottest Moments Ever, adding to their seemingly never ending supply for this series.
Lastly, Amazon has added a special Blu-ray 12-pack , perhaps to make it easier for that instant collection if you are just starting out. It seems like a pretty decent selection of titles, though it wouldn’t take many that you don’t want to make it a false economy…
I am currently in Japan so I apologize for the summary posts this week. Assuming I get a chance to look around I hope to post some first hand impressions of the Blu-ray retail scene here later in the week.
It appears that Dirty Harry will be one of the ‘book-like’ Blu-ray releases from Warner, based on the artwork presented on the Amazon page. Personally I am very excited about the Dirty Harry releases, though I will most likely go for the Box Set.
In new release news we see Sony announcing Anger Management (already up for pre-order at Amazon) and Image Entertainment announced the Discovery Channel series Fearless Planet and Mariah Carey’s The Adventures of Mimi which has been available for pre-order for a while now.
Sony has announced the release of Francis Ford Coppola’s most recent film, Youth Without Youth, for Blu-ray release Day and Date with DVD May 13th, priced at $38.96.
Francis Ford Coppola returns with a new film about growing young. A bolt of lightning strikes Dominic Matei (Tim Roth) so close to death that he begins to age backwards. When he grows from 70 to 40 in a week, he draws the attention of the Nazis and the world. Now he’s running for his life with a new love and no hope of knowing his phenomenal fate.
Extras include:
We see new information on a few releases at High Def Digest today.
Sony announced that Steep will feature 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 video and English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround audio (48kHz/24-bit). Extras include an audio commentary and Q&A with director Mark Obenhaus and skiers Ingrid Backstrom and Andrew McLean, two photo montages, and an interview with the late Doug Coombs. The street date for the Blu-ray edition is now March 25th.
From New Line we get a Day and Date with DVD release of The Orphanage. The disc features original Spanish language audio in DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 7.1 Surround, along with English and Spanish subtitles. Extras include a suite of four featurettes (”When Laura Grew Up: Constructing The Orphanage,” “Horror in the Unknown: Make-Up,” “Rehearsal Studio,” “About the Filmmakers”), a still gallery and theatrical trailers.
Tai Seng canceled the HD DVD release of Dragon Tiger Gate, and announced that it will instead issue the title on Blu-ray May 27th with a retail of $29.95. The BD-50 dual-layer release will feature a Cantonese 7.1 Surround track, additional English and Mandarin 5.1 mixes, and 1080p video. Supplements include an audio commentary with the filmmakers, a “making of” documentary, eight additional featurettes, deleted scenes, a still gallery, and domestic and international theatrical trailers.
Sony has announced new details for the Dogma release on Blu-ray Disc. Kevin Smith’s (Clerks, Chasing Amy) edgy comic fantasy about two fallen angels seeking re-entry to Heaven is brought back to life in this high-definition Blu-ray Disc™ edition with bonus features including 100 minutes of deleted scenes, cast and crew commentaries, and much more. Dogma is scheduled for March 11, 2008 with an SRP of $28.95.
Blu-ray Disc™ Special Features:
Warner will be releasing One Missed Call on April 22 2008. Retail will be $35.99. This is a remake of the Japanese horror film “Chakushin Ari” (2003), in which people start receiving voice-mails from their future selves — messages which include the date, time, and some of the details of their deaths. No feature details yet though they are expected to be sparse.
Sony has set a May 6 2008 Blu-ray release date for the Ice Cube/Tracy Morgan comedy First Sunday. Again few details are available at this time.
Has Paramount been outed by advertising?
We see at Hollywood in Hidef, they are running a trailer for the movie There Will be Blood, along with a tag saying ‘on DVD and Blu-ray’ at the end of the trailer.
Another thing to note is that this film appears to be a joint venture between Miramax and Vantage Paramount, so maybe it is being released on video through Buena Vista, rather than Paramount?
In any case, if this trailer is to be believed, it looks like this title has flipped from HD DVD to Blu-ray for it’s Hi Def release.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced the release of The Devil’s Own on Blu-ray Disc, scheduled for May 6 2008. The release will feature a 1080p AVC transfer and 5.1 Dolby TrueHD audio. We previously noted that this title is already available for pre-order at Amazon UK.
Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt star in this harrowing thriller about an IRA gunman who draws an American family into the crossfire of terrorism. Frankie McGuire (Pitt) is one of the IRA’s deadliest assassins. But when he is sent to the U.S. to buy weapons, Frankie is housed with the family of Tom O’Meara (Ford), a New York cop who knows nothing about Frankie’s real identity. Their surprising friendship, and Tom’s growing suspicions, forces Frankie to choose between the promise of peace or a lifetime of murder.
National Geographic has announced the documentary Sea Monsters for Blu-ray scheduled for June 10 2008.
For nearly 200 million years while dinosaurs roamed the Earth, the seas teemed with some of the most awe-inspiring ocean creatures of all time. Sea Monsters, a National Geographic Giant Screen film, is an entertaining journey into prehistoric oceans. Inter-cutting between the animated story and the reenactments of fossil discoveries combine the appeal of “Indiana Jones” with the CGI that brings these prehistoric monsters to life. Perfect for the whole family.
