Universal's Blu-ray release plans uncovered, details later today

[admin]

We won't have to wait long to find out Universal's plans for Blu-ray, Reuters just noted that later today the studio will announce plans to release about 40 movies on the format in the second half of the year, including Doomsday.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/17/universals-blu-ray-release-plans-uncovered-details-later-today/

First titles to be released July 22. More information here:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKN1740482320080417

New titles listed include The Incredible Hulk, Wanted, Hellboy II, Mamma Mia, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

Catalogue titles listed include The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King, Miami Vice, Knocked Up, American Gangster, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, End of Days, U-571, Land of the Dead

No Heroes: S2 or Battlestar Galactica: S2/S3

[BR7]

It's about time I will be looking forward to The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King, American Gangster, End of Days, U-571, Land of the Dead

[BR7]

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has announced they will release 'Heroes: Season One' and 'Heroes: Season Two' for Blu-ray on August 26th. The first season was released on DVD and HD DVD last August, and the second season will be released on Blu-ray day-and-date with the DVD release. No specs or extras have been announced at this time.

Link to story

[admin]

Cool. Of course, I doubt that it will be as cheap as the HD DVD S1 I picked up ($US 25)

Battlestar Galactica next ...

One thing you'll learn to hate about Universal HD discs is that unskippable studio trailer, the language selection, which then brings on the copyright and commentary disclaimer screens ... by the time you get to the menu proper, 3 minutes would have gone by - and that's not including the time it takes to load web content ...

[admin]

Also looks like my prediction that the Bourne trilogy would be the first released was wrong.

And another thing worth noting would be whether there will be BD-Live content on these discs, since Universal loved the web enabled function on HD DVDs. I hope they do include the same set of features, and that would be great news for PS3 "BD-Live updated" users.

[admin]

More info about Universal's international Blu-ray slate:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/home_entertainment/video/e3icb0afd62b39381d18e81adcbe4f57eb4

Universal's international Blu-ray slate will consist of 29 titles this year, including the five big theatricals as well as such catalog titles as "Gladiator," "Casino" and "The Thing."

[BR7]

"Gladiator," "Casino" and "The Thing."

Those are also must haves in my book They sure did get things a going didn't they.That is a lot of titles for this year

[admin]

Already have Casino and The Thing on HD DVD ... haven't watched The Thing yet, but Casino looks and sounds great. It was a lot more violent than I had remembered, maybe that's due to TV censorship or perhaps HD does give everything a new dimension. I felt a bit disturbed after watching it, which was not what I was expecting at all.

Gladiator is something that I know a lot of people have been waiting for, although I might skip it since I have it on DVD and my policy is not to "double dip" unless it's a very special movie (and Gladiator, while good, is not "special" for me).