BIG Home Entertainment has announced they’ve signed an exclusive deal with Warner Home Video to distribute titles from Warner Brothers’ film catalog in India, Sri Lanka,and Bangladesh. As part of the agreement BIG will market and distribute VCD, DVD and Blu Ray products from Warner Brothers, including sub-studios like HBO, Castle Rock, and New Line.
BIG will also try to control the abundance of piracy that exists in these parts of the world with new anti-piracy measures. Shweta Agnohotri, Chief Operating Office of BMHE said, “While piracy has to some extent been curbed in India, it is still a big menace in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh where pirated home video products account for 99 percent of the market.”
Good to see Blu-ray legally expanding into other parts of the world. No doubt this will help sales and keep spreading the format.
[BusinessofCinema]
Tags: BIG Home Entertainment, Blu-ray News, Warner Bros, Warner Home Video
Having seen a release on DVD and HD-DVD, Warner Brothers is bringing The Ultimate Matrix Collection to Blu-ray with an October 14th release date. This collector’s set will have an MSRP of $129.95 an will include extras not found on the HD-DVD version. New to Blu-ray will be The Animatrix in a 1080p presentation along with a digital copy of The Matrix. The rest of the supplemental material will be the same as the HD-DVD version.
Tags: Blu-ray Movies, Blu-ray Upcoming Releases, Warner Bros
Warner Bros. will be launching web-enabled Blu-ray titles with BD Live as soon as the winter holidays, according to Darcy Antonellis, president of Warner Bros. Technical Operations. The announcement came in a keynote address June 18 at the Entertainment Supply Chain Academy conference.
Antonellis said titles will include features such as real-time viewing, library tools, a search engine, a recommendation tool with e-mail reminders, ringtones and wallpapers. He sees BD Live enabling users to create an online community in a way that hasn’t been done before. Furthermore, he thinks these online communities will have ‘the ability to compete [with MySpace and YouTube] for a user’s time’.
It’s good to see Warner Bros. taking the natural step of adding BD Live features to their movies. However, we think Antonellis is a bit too optimistic if he thinks these Blu-ray online communities can compete with the likes of MySpace and YouTube for users’ online time.
[HomeMediaMagazine]
Tags: Blu-ray BD-Live, Blu-ray News, Warner Bros
According to Jeff Bewkes, president and CEO of Time Warner Inc., Warner Bros Studios will cut down its theatrical slate in half from two years ago. It will instead focus on “building wider consumer adoption of Blu-ray” and expanding day-and-date VOD releases, in order to increase its profits. Even though the movie studio has seen box office success, Warner Home Video gets more revenue on DVD releases than in the box office. Warner Bros is already the leading studio in the number of catalog titles released and news like this means we should see even more classics on Blu-ray.
[HomeMediaMagazine]
Tags: Blu-ray Movies, Blu-ray News, Warner Bros
Warner Bros has released full specs for The Sarah Connor Chronicles - The Complete First Season (Aug. 19) with extensive extras but no BD-Live features or high-res audio to be found unfortunately. Leatherface looks to be shredding up Blu-ray when The Texas Chainsaw Massacre gets released on Blu-ray this September 30th. Lastly Paramount will be bringing Hunt for the Red October and Clear and Present Danger, the other half of the now dead Jack Ryan Collection to Blu-ray July 29th.
Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete First Season (Warner Bros)
 |
- Warner announced the release of Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Blu-ray on August 19, debuting alongside the DVD version.
- It will feature all nine hour-long episodes from the first season which was cut short due to the strike.
- Video: Nine episode across two BD-50 dual layer discs in 1080p.
- Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround only.
- Extras: Audio commentaries on select episodes with cast and crew, featurette “Creating the Chronicles” in HD, “Terminated Scenes” compilation, gag reel, cast auditions, a storyboard animatic, and extended Director’s Cut of the episode “The Demon Hand.”
- Release date: August 19, 2008 MSRP: $39.98
|
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Dark Sky)
 |
- DVD indie distributor Dark Sky has announced its intentions to bring ’70s horror flick, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to Blu-ray September 30th.
- No tech specs or supplemental details have been announced yet, but Dark Sky promises newly-remastered high-definition image and sound, as well as extensive bonus features.
- Release date: September 30, 2008 MSRP: $29.98
|
Hunt for the Red October & Clear and Present Danger (Paramount)
 |
- Paramount announced that The Hunt for Red October and Clear and Present Danger, will join the two other Jack Ryan films, Patriot Games and Sum of All Fears for a July 29th release.
- No tech specs or extra features have been announced yet.
- Release date: July 29, 2008 MSRP: TBA
|
(more…)
Tags: Blu-ray Movies, Blu-ray Upcoming Releases, Dark Sky, Paramount, Warner Bros
Todays Blu-ray upcoming releases news includes the release of both Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay from New Line coming July 29th. The other releases include 80’s cult classic Lost Boys: The Tribe (July 29th) and both Shrek the Third and Madagascar (both Sept. 16) from Paramount.
Check out the full details for each movie after the jump.
(more…)
Tags: Blu-ray Movies, Blu-ray Release Dates, Blu-ray Upcoming Releases, Dreamworks, New Line, Paramount, Warner Bros
Here are today’s announcements for upcoming Blu-ray releases:
Beetlejuice (Warner Bros)
 |
- Warner Bros announce the will be releases the 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Beetlejuice on September 16th alongside the DVD counterpart.
- Video: 1080p VC-1 Audio: Dolby TrueHD soundtrack and Blu-ray exclusive CD soundtrack sampler.
- Extra: 3 episodes of Beetlejuice cartoon (”A-Ha”, “Skeletons In The Closet”, and “Spooky Boo-tique”).
- Release date: September 16, 2008 MSRP: TBA
|
Tags: Blu-ray Movies, Blu-ray Upcoming Releases, Warner Bros
Here are the most recently announced titles on Blu-ray:
Signs (Disney)
 |
- Disney has released the final specs on Signs, set to be released June 3 on Blu-ray.
- Video: 1080p Audio: Uncompressed English PCM 5.1 Surround audio (48kHz/24-bit), plus English, French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround.
- Same extras as DVD release: Six-part documentary ‘Making Signs’, 5 deleted scenes, storyboard animatic, and an early Shyamalan film.
- Release date: June 3, 2008 MSRP: $34.95
|
Pushing Daisies (Warner Bros)
- Warner Bros announced the complete first season of Pushing Daisies is coming to Blu-ray September 16, 2008.
- Nine episodes will be contained across three BD-25s.
- Video: 1080p VC-1 Audio: 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack
- Extra: One featurette called ‘Pie Time: Time for Pie’.
- Release date: September 16, 2008 MSRP: $39.98
Never Back Down (Summit)
- Summit Entertainment has announced details on Never Back Down coming to Blu-ray July 29, alongside the DVD release. This is Summit Entertainment’s first release on the new format.
- No tech specs or supplemental details are available yet.
- Release date: July 29 MSRP: $34.98
(more…)
Tags: Blu-ray Movies, Blu-ray Upcoming Releases, Disney, Warner Bros
Here are today’s announcements for upcoming Blu-ray releases:
Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete First Season (Warner Bros)
|
- Warner announced the release of Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Blu-ray on August 19, debuting alongside the DVD version.
- It will feature all nine hour-long episodes from the first season which was cut short due to the strike.
- No video or audio specs have been announced.
- Extras: ‘Creating the Chronicles’ featurette, commentaries, deleted scenes, gag reel, audition tapes, storyboard animatic, Summer Glau dance rehearsal, and extended director’s cut of Episode ‘The Demon Hand’.
- Release date: August 19, 2008 MSRP: $39.98
|
Drillbit Taylor (Paramount)
 |
- Paramount has announced the July 29 release of Drillbit Taylor on Blu-ray an the ‘Extended Survival Edition’.
- Video: BD-50/1080p video Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround
- Extras: Audio commentary, full HD video extras such as six featurettes, 19 extended and deleted scenes, a ‘Line-O-Rama’ montage, and gag reel.
- Release date: July 29, 2008 MSRP: $39.95
|
Tags: Blu-ray Upcoming Releases, Paramount, Warner Bros
Here are today’s announcements for upcoming Blu-ray releases:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Warner Bros)
 |
- Warner announced it will be bringing out Jack Nicholson’s One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest to Blu-ray July 15.
- The Blu-ray release will include a 36-page collectible book that includes actor and director biographies, film trivia and more.
- All bonus material from the standard definition will be included.
- Release date: July 15, 2008 MSRP: $34.99
|
Doomsday (Universal)
 |
- Universal unveiled the box art for Doomsday (left).
- Specs have yet to be issued but the box art offers glimpses as to what we can expect from the studio, including the slogan ‘The Ultimate Hi-Def Experience’.
- Release date: July 29, 2008 MSRP: TBA
|
Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks/Bardock: Father of Goku (FUNimation)
 |
- FUNimation has announced its latest Dragon Ball Z Blu-ray release with a double feature of Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks and Bardock: Father of Goku.
- Video/Audio: Not announced yet although previous Dragon Ball Z Blu-ray included 1080p video with DTS audio and extras.
- Release date: July 15, 2008 MSRP: $34.98
|
Tags: Blu-ray Upcoming Releases, FUNimation, Universal, Warner Bros
