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Is 'The Dark Knight' Saving Blu-ray?
Holiday related price cuts, and the cost suppression related to the declining economy, have helped put Blu-ray within the budget of consumers, but most of the thanks can probably be laid at the feet of 'The Dark Knight.' The latest installment in the Batman series, which features the final performance by Heath Ledger, hit store shelves this month and sold remarkably well. The high sales figures don't shock anyone, but what is surprising is that 12.6 percent of the copies sold world-wide were on Blu-ray. That's 1.7 million Blu-ray copies of 'The Dark Knight' sold in one month. Many that may find themselves under someone's Christmas tree.
It's still a little early to tell, but Batman may do for Blu-ray what 'The Matrix' did for DVD. [From: BetaNews]
Blu-ray Releases on November 11th 2008
Just when we thought there wasn't another comic book movie this holiday season until 'The Dark Knight,' along comes 'Hellboy,' which we somehow forgot about. It's available both in regular and extra geeky, the latter will set you back another $20, but while both include a digital copy, only the Collector's Edition includes a scary looking figurine and we're not sure what else. Also this week, Weinstein has the made for TV movie about the NASCAR legend, Dale Earnhardt, which is sure to be a popular stocking stuffer for Blu-ray NASCAR fans -- not sure how many of those there are. Star Wars fans can look forward to the animated feature 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars,' while WW2 junkies can can relive 'Band of Brothers for the first time on Blu-ray. That isn't the only TV show series this week though, as Warner has both the first season of 'Chuck' and the third season of 'Supernatural.' And finally, Fox offers up the first, and regrettably, the only season of 'Firefly.'- Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Universal)
- Hellboy II: The Golden Army Collector's Edition (Universal)
- 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story (Weinstein)
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Warner)
- Band of Brothers (HBO)
- Chuck: The Complete First Season (Warner)
- Supernatural: The Complete Third Season (Warner)
- JFK (Warner)
- Firefly: The complete series (Fox)
- Harry Potter Years 1-5 Giftset (Warner)
- This Christmas (Sony)
Economic Crisis Slows Gadget Spending, Blu-ray Adoption
The economic crisis may spell trouble for Blu-ray and the next generation of HD media. The uncertainty in the markets has consumers scaling back their purchase plans for the holiday season, and big ticket tech items are suffering the biggest hits.
Consumer Electronics Association (CEA, the organization behind CES) is predicting an increase of 3.5-percent in spending on gadgets in the fourth quarter of the year, only half of the increase seen in 2007. On the whole, the CEA found that consumers expect to shrink their holiday budgets by 14-percent from last year.
In particular, some industry analysts expect Blu-ray to suffer the brunt of this cutback, especially because players and media are still expensive enough to keep Blu-ray from reaching commodity status. Plus, many consumers still have yet to embrace HDTV -- although high-def displays are becoming more common, they're still far from ubiquitous.
This could provide an opportunity for other media to swoop in and steal Blu-ray's thunder. High definition video on demand is becoming a more common offering from cable TV providers, and services like iTunes, Amazon, and Hulu are drawing in more and more viewers everyday. If some of these video over Internet offerings can figure out an easier way to get video to consumer television sets, Blu-ray may see its chances for market domination start to fade into the ether. [From: NY Times and SF Chronicle]
Blu-ray Releases on October 14th 2008
Blu-ray's incredible fourth quarter of new releases continues this week as some of the biggest blockbusters of the summer debut. The biggest title this week is very easily 'Kingdom of the Crystal Skull', with almost no other day-and-date release coming in second. The other big news this week is all the HD DVD catchup titles from both Warner and Universal, the biggest of which is easily 'The Ultimate Matrix Collection'. But Neo's trio isn't the only title Blu fans have been waiting on for way to long, Warner also has 'Constantine', while Universal has 'American Gangster' and the classic 'Casino'. Six out of the twentytwo titles this week are IMAX movies which we're sure someone can't wait to enjoy -- sans nausea. Fox has a couple catalog classiscs from the 80's with 'The Jewel of the Nile' and 'Romancing the Stone'. Meanwhile, we'll all wait until next week when MGM will deliver more James Bond flicks in HD than any single human can possibly watch in a week.Blu-ray
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Paramount)
- The Ultimate Matrix Collection (Warner)
- Constantine (Warner)
- Poltergeist (Warner)
- American Gangster (Universal)
- Gangsters Giftset (Universal)
- Casino (Universal)
- Eastern Promises (Universal)
- The Jewel of the Nile (Fox)
- Romancing the Stone (Fox)
- Mongol (New Line)
- Standard Operating Procedure (Sony)
- Space Station / Mission to Mir (Warner)
- Cosmic Voyage / Destiny in Space (Warner)
- Coral Reef Adventure (Image)
- Dolphins (Image)
- Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag (Image)
- The Living Sea (Image)
- Great Expectations (ITV)
- Infernal Affairs 3 (101)
- The Universe: The Complete Season 1 (A&E)
- War, Inc. (First Look)
Blu-ray Releases on October 7th 2008
There are a few day and date releases this week, but we don't think any of them are the biggest title of the week. Sure 'Sleeping Beauty' doesn't fit in the Blu-ray demographic, it does mark a significant milestone in Blu-ray's path to replacing DVD. In fact it marks the very first Disney Classic to be released on Blu-ray, which we're sure will help more than one father convince his wife they need to go Blu. Next up is 'You Don't Mess with the Zohan', which although it looks down right silly, it is sure to be good for a few laughs. The rest of the lineup this week is all Halloween, all the time, as just about every studio goes into its catalog to release every horror classic we can think of. But if you think this is a big week, just wait until next week. For starters 'The Matrix Trilogy' finally drops on Blu, but there are also plenty of other catch up titles from Universal and one or two more from Warner. Those alone would make some week for Blu, but we haven't even mentioned the latest Indiana Jones movie which is sure to be a hot seller. While no one truly knows the future of Blu-ray, there's little doubt that we will have a much better look into the future after this holiday season thanks to every studio throwing everything they have to make Blu-ray successful.
Blu-ray
- Sleeping Beauty (Disney)
- You Don't Mess with the Zohan (Sony)
- The Visitor (Starz)
- The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (Sony)
- The Amityville Horror (MGM)
- Beetlejuice (Warner)
- Body Heat (Warner)
- Carrie (MGM)
- The Happening (Fox)
- Interview with the Vampire (Warner)
- The Omen (Fox)
- The Omen Collection (Fox)
- The Original Faces of Death (Dark Sky Films)
- Ray Harryhausen Box Set (Sony)
- Otis: Uncut (Warner)
- Rest Stop: Dead Ahead (Warner)
- Rest Stop: Don't Look Back (Warner)
- Stuck (Image)
- Young Frankenstein (Fox)
Audio/Video, Computers, Laptops
Sony Unveils World's Lightest Blu-ray Laptop
Arriving in a variety of configurations, the VAIO TT is available with an XBRITE-DuraView LCD, Intel's Centrino 2 technology, an HDMI output, dual channel 256GB (128GB x 2) SSD setup with RAID, Sprint WWAN (EV-DO Rev. A) and Windows Vista running the show. The Fall-bound TT -- which will arrive in premium carbon black, silk black, champagne gold and crimson red outfits -- will start at around two large, with the Blu-ray model going for $2,700 and the SSD edition demanding $2,750.
There's no direct mention of a battery life figure, which scares us just a tad, but you can dig into the full release just after the break.
Don't miss the gallery over at Engadget.
Blu-ray Releases on September 9th, 2008
As we push closer and closer to the one thousand title mark for Blu-ray, during this season of TV shows, catalogs, and B+ movies, we get more and more excited for what's to come. But for now we'll have to appreciate what we have, and we only wish we though 'Baby Mama' looked funny. That's not to say there isn't at least one good title in this week's slate of eighteen, just nothing new. For example, who doesn't like 'Kill Bill,' 'Cool Hand Luke,' or 'Jerry Maguire?' And that's not to mention one of the most inspirational sports movies of all time, 'Rudy'. If none of these interest you, just wait until next week, which has a pretty impressive lineup to offer. Personally we're looking forward to a few of 'em like 'Leatherheads,' 'The Love Guru' and the very first two Weinstein Blu-ray movies ever.Blu-ray
- Baby Mama (Universal)
- Blu-ray Zombie Bundle (Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn0 (Anchor Bay)
- Cool Hand Luke (Warner)
- Day Watch (Fox)
- The Fall (2006) (Sony)
- The Forbidden Kingdom (Lionsgate)
- Grey's Anatomy: The Complete Fourth Season - Expanded (Walt Disney)
- How the West Was Won (Warner)
- Jerry Maguire (Sony)
- Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (Buena Vista)
- Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 (Walt Disney)
- Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (Buena Vista)
- Masters of Horror Bundle: Season One (Anchor Bay)
- Night Watch (Fox)
- Rudy (Sony)
- Smallville: The Complete Seventh Season (Warner)
- Superman Returns (Remastered Audio) (Warner)
- Then She Found Me (Image)
Blu-ray Releases on August 26th, 2008
Here we are at the last week of August, and although there hasn't been that many titles to get excited about, there have been more titles released then ever before. Starting with September, the rest of the year looks like the trend of more than ten titles a week will continue, but more interestingly, there are quite a few to look forward to. But before we get ahead of ourselves, we can enjoy a few day-and-date releases like Sony's 'Redbelt' and Fox's 'What Happens in Vegas.' At the same time Warner has a few classics to share, including a personal favorite, 'Pale Rider.' Universal continues to play catchup by releasing previous HD DVD titles on Blu-ray with 'Heroes' (season 1 and 2) 'U-571' and 'End of Days.' Overall it's not as bad as it's been, but looking forward to September, there are over eighty titles on the calendar and with Weistein finally getting in the mix in a couple of weeks, the time is finally arriving for Blu-ray to put up or shut up.Blu-ray
- Action Starter Pack (Universal)
- The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) (Warner)
- Afro Samurai: Season One (FUNimation)
- Blue Man Group: How to Be a Megastar Live! (Rhino)
- Dude, Where's My Car? (MGM)
- End of Days (Universal)
- Heroes: Season One (Universal)
- Heroes: Season Two (Universal)
- Miami Vice (2006) (Universal)
- The Nightmare Before Christmas (Walt Disney)
- Pale Rider (Warner)
- Postal (UMVD)
- Redbelt (Sony)
- U-571 (Universal)
- What Happens in Vegas (Fox)
Blu-ray Releases on August 19th, 2008
Another slow August Tuesday for Blu-ray releases this week, as there are only a few day-and-date titles. Of those, the best we can think of is 'Street Kings', but it isn't a hard decision when a title like 'Prom Knight' has a IMDB score of 3.1. We have another TV series on Blu-ray this week though, with Fox's Terminator show which oddly enough is distributed by Warner -- those TV rights are always much more complicated then they should be. Next week looks to be better though, as Universal has a whole slew of catch up titles, including Season 1 and 2 of 'Heroes', and Fox's new fun comedy 'What Happens in Vegas'.Blu-ray
- Camp Rock (Walt Disney)
- Hannah Montana And Miley Cyrus: Best Of Both Worlds Concert Tour (Walt Disney)
- Justice League: Season One (Warner)
- The Life Before Her Eyes (Magnolia)
- Nixon: Director's Cut (Walt Disney)
- Prom Night (2008) (Sony)
- The Proposition (First Look)
- The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior (Universal)
- Street Kings (Fox)
- Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - The Complete First Season (Warner)
Pioneer To Launch Blu-ray Recorders By Year's End
Blu-ray recorders have been on the scene for a while now, but now that the format war's over, it looks like more companies are starting to commit to BD-R devices -- like Pioneer, which announced today that it'll have a Blu-ray recorder out in Japan by the end of the year. The company didn't say what model it would be or what price point it was aiming for, but the tech is being jointly developed with Sharp, so hopefully it's have a family resemblance to units like the 1TB AQUOS BD-HDW20 in everything but the $2,611 pricetag.
Blu-ray Releases on July 8th, 2008
After nine months of waiting, Blu-ray fans will finally get to watch 'Batman Begins' in HD on their preferred format. And just in time too as the new Batman movie hits theaters in a few weeks. Sure it's hard to call 'Batman Begins' the hottest new release when it is barely a new release, but when you look at the rest of the titles this week, it isn't hard to understand. In fact, the only other title we considered was 'The Ruins'. 'Sleepwalking' also looked like a decent flick, but we just don't think it has that much appeal for the average HD junkie. Next week's lineup isn't much better though, but the week after, Universal jumps in with three new titles including two installments from the successfully 'Mummy' franchise.Blu-ray
- Batman Begins (Warner)
- Batman Begins (Limited Edition Gift Set) (Warner)
- Batman: Gotham Knight (Warner Premiere)
- Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire: Live at the Greek Theatre (Image)
- The Moody Blues: Lovely to See You - Live at the Greek (Image)
- Roy Orbison: A Black & White Night (Image)
- The Ruins (Paramount)
- Sleepwalking (Starz)
'The Godfather Collection' Hits Blu-ray on September 23rd
The package will be available in both DVD ($72.99) and Blu-ray ($119.99) formats, and videophiles will be elated to know that director Francis Ford Coppola oversaw the restoration process himself. The four-disc BD set will be presented in 1080p with Dolby TrueHD, and extras junkies should find plenty to love as well. For a rundown of what to expect on each disc, check out the read link below. [Source: The TMR Zoo via Electronic House]
Blu-ray Releases on July 1st, 2008
We have fourteen new titles for Blu-ray this week and believe it or not it is a slow start to the biggest Blu month to date. The biggest week is at the end of the month, when twenty four new releases hit the streets thanks to some help from Universal's first Blu-ray titles. Although there are plenty of new titles this week, there really isn't much to talk about. The biggest title is easily 'Vantage Point', but that isn't saying much as one of the only other day-and-date releases up against it was 'Meet the Browns', which with its IMDB rating of 2.2 puts it at number seventy on the list of all time worst movies.
There are a few good catalogs this week though, like 'In the Line of Fire', there are also a few concerts. Next week doesn't have as many new releases with only eight, but it is Batman week as the nine month wait for a Blu-ray version of 'Batman Begins' is finally over. Now Warner, about 'The Matrix'...
Blu-ray
- Batman: The Movie (Fox)
- Batman: The Movie (Limited Edition) (Fox)
- Ganges (BBC)
- Gangs of New York (Walt Disney)
- Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd Out of Control, (Warner)
- In the Line of Fire (Sony)
- Korn: Live at Montreux (Eagle Rock)
- Mad Men: Season One (Lionsgate)
- Meet the Browns (Lionsgate)
- Point Break (Fox)
- Sex and Death 101 (Starz)
- Vantage Point (Sony)
- War, Inc. (First Look)
- Where the Light Is: John Mayer Live in Concert (Sony BMG)
Blu-ray Releases on June 24th, 2008
After last week's abysmal lineup, it is good to see a few good titles this week as we count down the last month before every major studio is releasing Blu-ray movies. But while we wait for Universal to get on board, we still have a good selection coming our way.This also happens to be the very last week with an HD DVD new release, but the last title from a major studio were about a month ago. '10,000 B.C.' is probably the biggest title on this week's slate, but 'The Spiderwich Chronicles' and 'Persepolis' aren't slouches either. These titles help round out a pretty good month, but July should be the best yet -- but it does get off to a slow start.
Blu-ray
- 10,000 B.C. (Warner)
- House of Fury (Tai Seng)
- National Geographic: Sea Monsters (National Geographic)
- Persepolis (Sony)
- The Spiderwick Chronicles (Paramount)
- Step Into Liquid (Lionsgate)
- ZZ Top: Live in Texas (Eagle Rock)
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