Blu-ray movie releases for the week of August 31st

Black Mask
Eraser
Every Which Way But Loose
The Gauntlet
The Invincible Iron Man
Marine Aquarium
Married Life
The Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow
Outbreak
Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles
Transformers
Under Siege 2 - Dark Territory

Blu-ray movie releases for the week of August 24th

The much-anticipated former HD-DVD exclusive TV series Heroes is making its way over to Blu-ray this week. That alone is enough to make many of us quite happy, but check out the rest of this week's releases:

* Action Starter Pack (Miami Vice / End of Days / U-571)
* The Adventures of Robin Hood
* Afro Samurai: Season One - Director's Cut
* Blue Man Group: How to Be a Megastar Live!
* Dude, Where's My Car?
* End of Days
* Guge: The Lost Kingdom of Tibet
* Heroes: Season 1
* Heroes: Season 2
* Miami Vice (Unrated Director's Edition)
* The Nightmare Before Christmas
* Ocean Oasis (IMAX)
* Pale Rider
* Postal
* Redbelt
* The Secret
* U-571
* What Happens in Vegas

A favorite amongst the Hot Topic crowd, a definitive edition of The Nightmare Before Christmas featuring a ton of new bonus materials is a must-have for fans of the film. Ashton Kutcher devotees should savor his comedic films Dude, Where's My Car? and What Happens in Vegas. The Action Starter Pack, which includes the movies Miami Vice, End of Days and U-571, are a collection of rather mediocre affairs that can be used to show off your new HDTV to the neighbors. The Secret takes an old concept of spirit possession and takes it into a taboo territory, and the results are a little mixed. Pale Rider, one of Clint Eastwood's lesser known Westerns, is also worth checking out.

PS3FANBOY

Sub-$250 Blu-ray Player Coming by Year End, says Analyst

By the end of the year, Blu-ray Disc movies are expected to sell 400% more than they did just one year ago, say analysts with Futuresource Consulting, a startling revelation considering movie studios' continuing challenge to sell catalogue/archive titles on Blu-ray. Perhaps even more startling: a cheap Blu-ray Disc player coming by year's end.
With a slumping American economy, all eyes are on Q4 and retail sales, with everyone wondering how big it will get -- or fail to reach. The movie studios clearly hope for a big season, as indicated by their decision to release so many big movies on Blu-ray the same day they appear on standard DVD.

Futuresource estimates that consumers will buy close to 45 million Blu-ray discs in the United States this year, more than 400% up on last year, indicating a strong turnaround during Q3 and Q4.

"On big titles, the share of total sales being taken by BD has already hit 5% to 6%, and by Q4 it is possible we'll see a 10% or even 12% share for some of the really big hitters," said Mai Hoang, a lead analyst in the Futuresource Home Video team. "In Europe, awareness and uptake are still lower overall, although in the key markets the retailers and the studios are reacting to an uplift in interest this year and are gearing up for a good end to 2008."

By 2012, between 40% and 50% of consumer spending on home video will be allocated to Blu-ray, according to the latest analysis from Futuresource.

DAILYGAME

Blu-ray movie releases for the week of August 17th

Tween pop-stars, superheroes, Oscar winners and killer cyborgs from the future are just some of what's on the Blu-ray menu this week. The rest of the releases are as follows:

Camp Rock: Extended Rock Star Edition
Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert
Justice League: Season One
The Life Before Her Eyes
Monster
Nixon
Prom Night (Unrated)
The Proposition
The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior
Street Kings
Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles - The Complete First Season

Fans of the Jonas Brothers will enjoy Camp Rock. They also appear in Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert as guest performers. Charlize Theron lands an Oscar for her role as the serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster. We highly recommend The Proposition, especially at $13.95, a powerfully directed and extremely violent Western about a man who must kill his older brother and save his younger one. Fans of the Terminator movies but hated the story direction Terminator 3took should check out The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Rest of the releases above.

PS3FANBOY

Criterion Collection uses PS3 as reference Blu-ray player

To people who truly care about movies, the Criterion Collection needs no introduction. The company's deep library of meticulously produced and packaged DVD titles speaks for itself, specializing in art-house fare like Stranger Than Paradise, Mishima, and Au revoir les enfants as well as lesser-known international, documentary, and cult films.

In "Meeting the Criterion," we detailed the company's plans to outfit its new Manhattan screening room/home theater for high-def video and high-rez audio playback while it waited out the Blu-ray Disc/HD DVD format war. When the war ended, Criterion wasted no time pushing forward with Blu-ray (see "Criterion Goes Blu"). And with some guidance from Sound & Vision, it also moved ahead on installing the new screening room.

When we last checked, technical director Lee Kline, video editor Chris Ramey, and director of DVD development David Phillips were scanning a list of equipment recommendations that S&V had made for them following a visit to Criterion's new Park Avenue South digs. Three guidelines had been laid out for the project: 1) The system had to incorporate the latest advances in consumer technology. 2) It couldn't be crazy expensive. 3) It had to be easy enough to use that any employee could bop by, flip in a disc, and instantly start watching a movie. Basically, those guidelines are the same things that anyone would expect from their custom home theater.

Most installation plans begin by choosing a video display, and this one was no exception. Both Chris and I had caught a presentation by all-purpose video guru Joe Kane at the 2007 CEDIA Expo and had come to the same conclusion: The new Kane-designed Samsung SP-A800B 1080p DLP front projector was a must-have.

As DVD collectors well know, the portion of Criterion's catalog that's devoted to classic black-and-white films is unmatched in its scope and quality. This crew sure takes black-and-white seriously! So, apparently, does Joe, who was screening an HD-DVD of Casablanca when I walked into the Samsung room at CEDIA. Black-and-white material can ruthlessly reveal any problems with a video projector or screen, so it's rare to see products demonstrated at trade shows using classic movie discs. But Joe's confidence in his projector's performance was so strong that he had Casablanca in regular rotation.

To make a long story shorter, Joe and Samsung agreed to provide Criterion with one of the first production samples of the SP-A800B for its installation. And Joe, who's also known in A/V circles as the creator of the Digital Video Essentials test disc, signed on to visit Criterion's headquarters after the installation was finished to calibrate and tweak the projector.

At his recommendation, Criterion acquired a 9-foot-wide (123-inch-diagonal) Stewart Filmscreen StudioTek 130 projection screen — yet another product he had a hand in designing. The list of other gear that Criterion selected for its theater includes a Denon AVR-3808CI receiver, an Axiom Epic 80/500 speaker system, an Anchor Bay DVDO VP50 Pro video processor with HD SDI option, and a Sony PlayStation 3 for Blu-ray Disc playback. The whole thing is controlled by a Logitech Harmony 890 remote.

CNET

The Dark Knight on Blu-ray: December 9

Way back in mid-April, still several months before The Dark Knight would begin its domination at the box office, we published a report regarding the film's future on Blu-ray Disc. More specifically, the report predicted a December 9 release date.

We've now received word from our trusty friends over at HDAddicts.com that Warner is indeed planning to release The Dark Knight December 9 on Blu-ray Disc per an early retailer sales sheet.

Obviously Warner has not officially announced The Dark Knight coming Blu-ray and anything can and sometimes does change.

As of right now it's looking pretty good that The Dark Knight is prepared to land on December 9 and cap off what should be a strong holiday sales season for the Blu-ray Disc format.

We'll pass along the official Warner announcement and all related goodies like disc specs and cover art immediately upon receipt.

THEHDROOM

Blu-ray movie releases for the week of August 10th

This week's Blu-Ray releases gives the consumer a variety of movie choices.

7 Seconds
Belly
CJ7
The Doors
Felon
Half Past Dead
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Maximum Risk
Prison Break - Season Three
Smart People
Supernova
The Ten Commandments
XXX: State of the Union

Iron Man Soars onto Blu-ray; Full Details and Cover Art

Paramount Home Entertainment has finally unwrapped the details to Iron Man's Blu-ray arrival previously confirmed for September 30.

Iron Man will be presented as an Ultimate Edition two-disc set on Blu-ray in widescreen 1080p video and 5.1 Dolby TrueHD audio.

Blu-ray owners will benefit from several supplemental features that won't be found on the single or two-disc DVD sets. "Hall of Armor" will let reviewers zoon in on and study the three Iron Man suits or Iron Monger, then activate a 3-D weapons schematic to see what each suit is packing in terms of firepower.

Also exclusive to Blu-ray is Iron Man IQ, a BD-Live feature allowing viewers to create their own custom multiple-choice questions based on clips from the film and then share them as a working test with friends online.

The full list of over four-hours of bonus features is as follows, most of which is presented in HD.

Disc 1:

Hall of Armor (Blu-ray exclusive)
The Invincible Iron Man (HD)
Origins
Friends & Foes
The Definitive Iron Man
Demon in a Bottle
Extremis and Beyond
Ultimate Iron Man
Deleted/Extended Scenes (HD)
BD Live: Iron Man IQ (Blu-ray exclusive)

Disc 2:

I Am Iron Man (HD)
The Journey Begins
The Suit that makes the Iron Man
The Walk of Destruction
Grounded In Reality
Beneath the Armor
It's All in the Details
A Good Story, Well Told
Wired: The Visual Effects of Iron Man (HD)
Robert Downey Jr. Screen Test (HD)
The Actor’s Process (scene rehearsal with cast) (HD)
The Onion "Wildly Popular Iron Man Trailer to be Adapted into Full Length Film" (HD)
Theatrical Trailers (HD)
Image Galleries

Note: Iron Man: Ultimate Edition will carry an SRP of $39.99.

Cheaper Blu-ray promised by tiny new chip

Blu-ray players and recorders look set to get considerably cheaper after a breakthrough that squeezes all their processing components onto a single chip.

Japan's NEC has announced what it calls the EMMA 3PF, which is the world's first fully functional BD controller on just one chip with its own multi-core CPU.

HDMI on same chip

Those functions include analogue-to-digital data conversion, video and audio decoding and the ability to pump the resulting data out to a TV through an on-chip HDMI processor.

When the 3PF starts shipping to hardware builders next month, they'll also be getting full BD-ROM Profile 2.0 support, network connectivity and a graphics accelerator, meaning they'll be able to make players both smaller and far cheaper than they are now.


TechRadar

Dead Space prequel Downfall coming to Blu-ray and DVD

A prequel to Dead Space in the form of an animated direct-to-video movie is heading our way October 28th, one week after the game's debut. Available on both Blu-ray and DVD, the 85-minute movie will detail how the spaceship USG Ishimura transformed into a surreal and hellish nightmare when the crew brought an alien artifact aboard the ship. The Blu-ray version will feature 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 video and a DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 Surround soundtrack. Extras unique to the Blu-ray include cheat codes for the game and a digital copy. No information yet as to what the cheat codes do exactly.

After looking at the trailer, we think this movie might actually be worthy of our money. You can pre-order the Blu-ray version here and the DVD version here. Watch the violent and slightly NSFW trailer after the jump.

PS3Fanboy

Blu-ray movie releases for the week of August 3rd

After last week's deluge of titles, this week's more subtle affair still provides a good variety. Take a look:

The BBC High Definition Natural History Collection (Planet Earth / Wild China / Galapagos / Ganges)
The Counterfeiters
Epic Conditions: The Weather Channel
Korn: Live at Montreux
Lonesome Dove
Nim's Island
Robin Hood - Season One
Starship Troopers
Starship Troopers 1-3
Starship Troopers 3: Marauder
Wild China

Two delayed releases, The BBC High Definition Natural History Collection and Korn:
Live at Montreux finally make their debut. Those of you who don't mind foreign
language films should check out the The Counterfeiters, an Oscar-winning Austrian movie about a counterfeiter faced with a moral dilemma during World War II. All three Starship Troopers films also debut on Blu-ray -- curiously, you can buy the first and third films stand-alone, but the second film only comes as part of the trilogy box set. Nim's Island is a cute, albeit a bit formulaic, family flick, but the kids should enjoy it.

PS3Fanboy

The Ultimate Matrix Collection swallows the Blu pill

Even though Warner Brothers published titles in both HD-DVD and Blu-ray at one point, they never got around to releasing The Ultimate Matrix Collection on Blu-ray, not even after they announced they were becoming Blu-ray exclusive back in January.

That has just changed -- The Ultimate Matrix Collection is set to be released on Blu-ray on October 14th for the MSRP of $129.95. Exclusive to this Blu-ray release is a 1080p presentation of The Animatrix and a digital copy of the original The Matrix. Other extras will be the same as the HD-DVD version. You can also pre-order it here for $90.95.

PS3Fanboy

Blu-Ray Sales Rise 300%

In a beneficial turn of events for the home entertainment industry, Blu-ray sales continue to rise drastically despite the staggering U.S. economy.

As DVD sales decline, Blu-ray has been filling in the gap, generating more than $200 million in the first half of 2008. This is in stark contrast to the same point last year, where Blu-ray earnings were less than 33% of current figures.

“We are trending 8% Blu-ray sales [per title], and at the end of the year, we will be between 10% and 12%," stated Mike Dunn of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Lori MacPherson, general manager for Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, North America contributed her thoughts.

“I think people are becoming pickier on what they spend their money on, but home entertainment always represents a good value. Thirty dollars for a Blu-ray movie that you can watch over and over again is still a great value,” she commented.

As Blu-ray production costs begin to drop, savings will be passed on to consumers and, in return, Blu-ray will take an even more prominent place in people's homes. With HDTV penetration higher than ever, Blu-ray may very well overtake DVD prior to 2012, the previously accepted prediction.

PSU

Blu-ray movie releases for the week of July 27th

There is a ton of of Blu-ray releases this week. The good news is that there is something for everyone. The bad news is that we are all going to be feeling a little broke after.

The Band's Visit
Bears (IMAX)
Beer League/The Big White
Beowulf
The Big White
Clear and Present Danger
Dark City (Director's Cut)
Doomsday
Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (Unrated)
Hotel Babylon - Series 1
Human Body: Pushing the Limits
The Hunt for Red October
The Last Sentinel/Final Days of Planet Earth
The Lost Boys
Lost Boys: The Tribe
Mortuary
Never Back Down
Patriot Games
Perhaps Love
Salvage
Salvage/Mortuary
Shine a Light
Stargate - Continuum
Stargaze HD: Universal Beauty
The Sum of All Fears
The Tiger Blade
Top Gun
Vengeance
Wolves (IMAX)

For comedy, we have Harold & Kumar's two hilarious adventures. We've got some Harrison Ford love here as well with Clear and Present Danger and Patriot Games. Indies and foreign flicks include The Band's Visit, Perhaps Love and The Tiger Blade. Education movies include Bears, Wolves and Human Body: Pushing the Limits. Former HD-DVD exclusive, Beowulf, is finally migrating over to Blu-ray. Finally, note that you can buy the indie short horror flicks Salvage and Mortuary separately or together in one box. Check out the rest of the releases above.

PS3Fanboy

Hi-Def Games Income Could Outstrip Blu-Ray Movies in Three Years, According to Industry Leader

Pioneer Erick Hansen, chair of Blue Ray Technologies, and fonder both in first DVD-ROM Games and DVDs, says latest E3 lineup and major manufacturers' promotional spending by consumers leads to $40 billion on games, $30 billion on DVD/BD movies -- retail price difference the factor. Hansen says games will outstrip movies in 3-5 years, but warns of tech probs that could derail all.

Spokane, WA (PRWEB) July 26, 2008 -- The recent avalanche of movie studio quality titles at the E3 and upcoming Comincon conventions have shown that Hollywood no longer owns a lock on preteens, with games like Halo, Grand Theft Auto and even retro-oriented Mario Brothers can earn as much as any blockbuster movie, according to industry figures and industry pundit Erick Hansen.

Since the sea change since industry leader Warner Bros' support of Blu-ray over rival HD-DVD format, all assumed it would be PS3's world, since it plays PS3 film and games.

In fact, Hansen assumes that the richness of graphics, speed of processor and massive storage (from 25GB to 50GB depending on double sided) -- and up to 400GB in near future -- are what is required from many of the new generations of games -- unless you want to change disks every number of scenes.

Which is why he strongly believes Microsoft's Xbox decision not to go with a Blu-ray drive will hurt it seriously as major game developers from need more graphics, options for players and video back-story.

"It is tragic they have chosen this. Tragic for players and tragic for the industry, which will want one disc that makes their fantasies come to life," said Hansen. "There is a semi-magic 'depth of immersion' that BD can provide that will be -- that is becoming -- the definition of gaming."

However even Hansen, who made the first three-million selling "Wing of Commander" for Creative Labs, sees more in the future.

"I have some misgivings -- there can be a better level of consumer experience -- the chips they are making use of, and the next gen -- can give the players an ever better sense of the game -- a transport away from reality that's more than a movie, a richness in graphics that not been seen of a chip in PS3 codecs and compression, and multiple layers -- and that is what Blue Ray Technologies has been working on for years."

He has a few more predictions: "The video game industry will exceed movie industry on BR. This is one of the largest evolving in the world. Entertainment always does excel in tough economic times -- since the depression. Blu ray music movies, games and software will do well, sporting themselves will price themselves out of market, when it costs $150 to go to the ballpark, and gas end everything else is involved."

emediawire

Blu-ray movie releases for the week of July 20th

We've got a number of films on Blu-ray that group together nicely this week. Let's check out what they are:

21
The BBC High Definition Natural History Collection (Planet Earth / Wild China / Galapagos / Ganges)
Earth: The Biography
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Kiss of the Spider Woman (Collector's Edition)
The Mummy
The Mummy Returns
The Perfect Storm
The Scorpion King
Urban Legend

With the release of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, a trio of The Mummy movies are being made available on Blu-ray: The Mummy, The Mummy Returns and the The Scorpion King. We also have two 90s teen slasher horrors starring young starlets of the time, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Urban Legend. The BBC High Definition Natural History Collection and Earth: The Biography both chronicle the natural wonders of our planet. The only true new release this week is 21, meaning it did not have a previous DVD release -- a mediocre film about the illicit world of casino card-counting, it does manage to redeem itself a bit with the presence of the beautiful Kate Bosworth.

PS3Fanboy

Deal: buy 2 Blu-Ray movies and get 1 free

We certainly wouldn't classify this under one of the best deals we've shared, but Amazon is currently having a buy-2-get-1-free sale on selected Blu-ray discs. Nevertheless, there are some films in this selection we haven't seen on sale before.
Avaiable at Amazon.com.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Kingdom of Heaven (Director's Cut)

The Untouchables (Special Collector's Edition)
Edward Scissorhands
The Fly
Reservoir Dogs (15th Anniversary)

American Psycho
3:10 to Yuma
Flags of Our Fathers
Dawn of the dead

Deal of the Day: 2 Blu-ray films for $30

It seems like it's the same ol' movies we are used to seeing in previous deals, but Amazon is offering you a chance to own two Blu-ray discs for $30. Don't get us wrong, there are some good flicks in this selection, but if you wanted them you probably have them already. Obviously, don't order two movies that total less than $30, as you won't be saving any money. Full list after the jump:

Blade Runner (Five-Disc Complete Collector's Edition)
Hellboy (Director's Cut)
300
Stargate (Extended Cut)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Black Hawk Down
Pan's Labyrinth
Total Recall
The Patriot (Extended Cut)
The Usual Suspects
Troy - The Director's Cut
The Punisher
GoodFellas
Gattaca

The Rock
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Appleseed Ex Machina
Con Air
Fantastic Four
Resident Evil
Crimson Tide
Donnie Brasco (Extended Cut)
Tears of the Sun
50 First Dates
28 Days Later
The Transporter

Happy Feet
A Few Good Men
Remember the Titans
Behind Enemy Lines
A Knight's Tale
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Memoirs of a Geisha

Hitch
The Rookie
Scary Movie
Rent
The Legend of Zorro
Hostel - The Director's Cut

PS3Fanboy

Blu-ray movie releases for the week of July 13th

Not quite as exciting as last week's films, but here are this week's Blu-ray releases:

The Bank Job
College Road Trip
Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks/Bardock: Father of Goku
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Shutter
Step Up 2: The Streets

Fans of Jason Statham and heist movies should check out The Bank Job. The critically-acclaimed classic One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is finally out on Blu-ray, though fans of the movie are likely to have more than one copy of the flick already. Horror fans can take a look at Shutter, a J-horror that is a remake of a 2004 Thai film, but perhaps it's more of a rental than a buy.

PS3Fanboy

Blu-ray movie releases for the week of July 6th

Now, for most of you, this week's Batman releases are what you are more accustomed to. You can bet Warner Bros. will churn out as much Batman as possible before Dark Knight. Really, we just saw a Dark Knight tie-in with Comcast cable service. That's right, cable service. Here are the rest of this week's Blu-ray releases:

Batman Begins
Batman Begins (Limited Edition Gift Set)
Batman: Gotham Knight
Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire: Live at the Greek Theatre
The Moody Blues: Lovely to See You - Live at the Greek
Roy Orbison: A Black & White Night
The Ruins
Sleepwalking
10.5 Apocalypse/Category 7: The End of the World

First up, we've got Batman Begins on Blu-ray. Unfortunately there aren't any new extras except for a Dark Knight prologue in HD. The limited edition includes Hollywood Movie Money which takes $7.50 off your movie ticket for Dark Knight and some art/comic books. Batman: Gotham Knight is the Animatrix-esque prelude for the current Batman franchise. Featuring five directors, five stories and voicework by Kevin Conroy, this is a must-have if you are a Batman fan. The Blu-ray release even includes 4 episodes from Batman: The Animated Series. The Ruins is actually not a terrible movie, as it follows in the footsteps of recent horror flicks like Cabin Fever, but we would wait till the price goes down a bit.

PS3Fanboy