Darth Maher

Yeah, I was just telling the wife that Black Friday would probably be a good day to pickup a Blu-Ray player.

Sadly, now we won't be picking up ANY kind of HD player in the foreseeable future.

I WILL NOT end up with a Betamax player!!!!!!!!!!

Rusty James

Here is Fox's response to the Paramount announcement. Who said competition is not a good thing?
It's a great day to be a dual format owner!


Fox and MGM Unveil Blu-Ray Exclusive Worldwide Releases for 2007
Aug 20 at 15:59


29 Titles To Debut Packed With Soon-to-Be-Announced BD Industry 'Firsts' - PLUS
- Fox's First TV Title 'PRISON BREAK' FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER
And LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD and Other Titles To Debut Day-and-Date on BD/DVD --
Blu-ray Out-Performing HD DVD 2-to-1 At Retail in 2007 --

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (TCFHE) today unveiled an
aggressive global Blu-ray Disc release strategy including 29 new release and
"must-have" catalog titles that runs through the end of the 2007 calendar year.
Among the many highlights of the impressive worldwide slate are six day & date
BD/DVD new theatrical releases from Fox including the $241 million box-office
family favorite FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER and the $335 million
box-office action powerhouse LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD, four day & date BD/DVD (U.S.
only) new theatrical releases from MGM, 19 'must-have on BD' films from the two
studios' libraries, Fox's first-ever TV release on BD - PRISON BREAK -- and
Fox's intention to release at least one state-of-the-art title per month
featuring numerous BD 'firsts.'
The only high-definition packaged media universally supported by the film,
music, gaming and computer industries, BD is the #1 selling high-definition
packaged media. In fact, on a worldwide basis, BD is averaging nearly 70%
market-share per week of all high definition titles sold this year and, in the
U.S., it is out-performing HD DVD by a margin of 115%.
"Given that Blu-ray has consistently outsold HD DVD all year, and this is
the case for any titles released by any studio in both formats, we believe that
the time is right for us to accelerate our activities and help convert the
nearly 60 million high definition households worldwide into Blu-ray households,"
noted Mike Dunn, President Worldwide, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
"By the end of this calendar year there will be expansive availability of
technically vibrant releases featuring never-before-seen, advanced BD-J
interactivity as well as a broad offering of playback devices at attractive
prices that will prove to any doubting consumers once and for all that Blu-ray
is the only way."
"And as Blu-ray continues to grows stronger, it has become survival of the
fittest which is most apparent in the retail landscape where our eager and
growing global Blu-ray consumer base has caused a shift that is forcing the
allocation of more space to the format that is selling the best. And, in many
recent instances of note, top retailers in North America are choosing to promote
the Blu-ray format exclusively in their stores," continued Dunn.
Among the BD industry 'firsts' from the Studios' upcoming global release
slate are picture in picture capability, enhanced viewing and surround sound
modes with the ability to mix and match picture and sound, direct access to
in-movie features through one of the four colored buttons on the BD remote and
the most technically vibrant BD-Java interactive multi-player challenge and
trivia games to date. The Studios' slate also takes full advantage of BD-Live
functionality this fourth quarter. Internet-connected consumers will enjoy
unique, title specific "web-enabled" interactive features and games and
"web-exclusive" downloadable content with the ability to connect and interact
with other broadband BD users worldwide.
Cementing its leadership position within the industry - previous BD
releases NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM and X-MEN THE LAST STAND rank in the Top 20
best-sellers - the vast majority of the Studios' upcoming global slate will be
presented on 50 GB dual-layer discs with advanced BD-J interactivity and feature
numerous Blu-ray exclusive high-definition bonus materials that further realizes
BD's incredible potential. Consumers will enjoy the superior video and audio
elements of AVC encoding and Lossless HD audio on many of the coming titles as
well as enhanced and integrated menus, personal scene selections, search
indexing, trivia and other title specific games and high-definition bonus
materials.
Upcoming BD-J features exclusive to priority catalogue titles from Fox and
MGM include an "Alien Scavenger Hunt" (INDEPENDENCE DAY) that challenges players
to earn points by identifying the correct number of aliens in select scenes to
unlock additional bonus features; a "Global Warming Trivia Track" (THE DAY AFTER
TOMORROW) where users must correctly answer questions about global warming to
keep the Earth's temperature from rising and being destroyed; and a historical
and geographical pop-up map (MASTER & COMMANDER) that tracks the location of
Captain "Lucky" Jack Aubrey and his enemies.
Listed below are the upcoming Blu-ray Disc releases from Fox and MGM
excluding new theatrical day & date BD/DVD releases. EXACT TITLE CONFIGURATIONS
TO FOLLOW IN THE COMING WEEKS.

TITLE N.A. RELEASE INTERNATIONAL RELEASE
MASTER & COMMANDER OCT. 2 OCT.
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW OCT. 2 NOV.
FROM HELL OCT. 9 OCT.
THE FLY (1986) OCT. 9 Q1 08
EDWARD SCISSORHANDS OCT. 9 NOV.
28 DAYS LATER OCT. 9 North America Only
ROBOCOP (MGM) OCT. 9 DEC.
AMITYVILLE HORROR (1979) (MGM) OCT. 9 North America Only
BATTLE OF BRITAIN (MGM) NOV. 6 Q1 08
A BRIDGE TOO FAR (MGM) NOV. 6 Q1 08
I, ROBOT NOV. 13 Q1 08
DIE HARD NOV. NOV.
DIE HARD 2: DIE HARDER NOV NOV.
DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE NOV. NOV.
RED DAWN (MGM) NOV. Q1 08
MR. AND MRS. SMITH DEC. 4 DEC.
INDEPENDENCE DAY DEC. 4 DEC.
CAST AWAY DEC. 4 North America Only
RONIN (MGM) DEC. 4 DEC.

Blu-ray Disc is a next generation optical disc format developed for
high-definition video and high-capacity software applications. A single-layer
Blu-ray Disc holds up to 25 gigabytes of data and a dual-layer Blu-ray Disc
holds up to 50 gigabytes of data. This greater storage capacity enables the
Blu-ray Disc to store over six times the amount of content than is possible with
current DVDs, and is particularly well-suited for high definition feature films
with extended levels of additional bonus and interactive material. Blu-ray also
features the most advanced copy protection, player backward compatibility with
the current DVD format, connectivity and advanced interactivity.
Fox takes advantage of the next generation format's high definition
technology and advanced functionality to present its titles with the highest
quality audiovisual elements. Showcasing picture quality with six times the
resolution of DVD and theater quality "uncompressed" audio for the purest
digital sound, the cutting-edge discs also feature enhanced and integrated
menus, games, high-definition bonus materials and Java-encoding for more dynamic
and sophisticated interactivity.
The Studio's commitment to emerging technologies is dedicated to enhancing
the consumer experience of its products and providing for backward compatibility
with their existing home entertainment libraries while also aggressively
protecting its intellectual property from piracy. The Blu-ray companies fully
embrace the Studio's steadfast commitment to the fight against piracy and the
preservation of the integrity of its properties. Twentieth Century Fox is a
member of the Board of Directors of the Blu- ray Disc Association.
A recognized global industry leader, Twentieth Century Fox Home
Entertainment LLC (TCFHE) is the worldwide marketing, sales and distribution
company for all Fox film and television programming on VHS, DVD and Blu-ray Disc
(BD) as well as acquisitions and original productions. The company also releases
all products around the globe for MGM Home Entertainment. Each year TCFHE
introduces hundreds of new and newly enhanced products, which it services to
retail outlets -- from mass merchants and warehouse clubs to specialty stores
and e-commerce - throughout the world. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
LLC is a subsidiary of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, a News
Corporation company.
Source: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Zen Peckinpah

Just got off the phone with The Kurgan, who had this to say about Paramount's exclusivity:


THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE!

EDIT: Shit, that Fox announcement has answered my prayers!

Permitting these port over all the SD extras, count me in for the first three Die Hard movies, RoboCop, Edward Scissorhands, The Fly, and 28 Days Later (here's hoping Weeks is also coming). And maybe I can finally own Ronin after failing to get it on DVD through both of its releases.

Damed

Black Friday will also be a great time to get an HD-DVD player.

Why is it bluray or nothing?

TheKobra

I have both formats PS3, HDA1 and HDA2. I really think this is great news for HD DVD and others may follow. I love it how all the babies come out when something goes against them or not their way. Suck it up! Your not a child anymore!

dan30oly

Who wants to bet that those FOX blu-discs come out bad in some fashion? Sounds like they are going to be rushing them pretty quick. I highly doubt they had this in mind before this morning.

lotsofdvds

I'm guessing the Blu Ray Die Hards will be mostly extra-less? That's what keeps me from wanting to support Blu Ray the most... it seems like every BR release wouldn't make me want to get rid of my DVD.

PixyJunket

Interesting news. I was almost on board for Blu-Ray. I'm still a huge Disney nerd so they've still got their talons in me pretty good, but this is making me realize the depressing truth.. I'll probably have to buy both formats now. I could deal without Universal before. Universal and Paramount would be too much.

dan30oly

I'm guessing every one of those titles is going to be featureless. To make those dates, they would have had to start printing this morning.

Ocelot

Despite selling more movies on the Blu-ray format, Paramount has announced today that they will begin supporting HD DVD exclusively. This move, rumored to be driven by a $150M exclusivity deal with the HD DVD group, comes after Paramount began favoring Blu-ray releases with higher quality video encodings and more HD features. The deal covers all of Paramount's properties excluding those directed by Steven Spielberg.


Good news there... Saving Private Ryan is still gonna be on BD... yeah baby, that's all i care (i watch that film lmost every Memorial weekend).

Too bad for Transformers of course... well, DVD format it is then...

Rusty James

I dunno, but that press release makes a lotta noise about BD-J interactivity in "most" of the titles on the list.

I suspect Fox had been sitting on this info for a while, and were just pressed to release it today because of the Paramount news.

matome

and you know those weren't already pressed?

Maxflier

I find it amusing that Blu-Ray is getting Mr and Mrs Smith on Dec 4, meanwhile it is already available on HD DVD.

PixyJunket

Orgasm!

The day this is announced (in HD), I will be buying an HD-A30. Hold me to it guys.

Gizmo

Fox and MGM have been gone for months...they could have been planning all of this months ago but held off on the press release. My guess, they were going to announce this in the next 2 weeks but since the whole Paramount thing went down...they had to do something...right?

TheHive08

All this news is going to make me do is appreciate my up-converting DVD player even more. I don't have the cash to buy both, and I'm not going to buy one if exclusive titles are going to be going back and forth.

dan30oly

I have no idea. This press conference just seemed forced and I'm wondering if pressure wasn't applied to fox to get these discs out sooner than they'd expected.

stingermck

Heh. Will Robocop make it this time, or be pulled again

The Bus

jigga was hinting at this earlier this summer.

bookcase3

Yeah, my thoughts exactly.

wewantflair

I wonder if Robocop got remastered, or will it just have a Fox distribution logo on it?

The Bus

Is $239 with 5 free movies close enough?

Or did you mean to say, even if it's under $200 you wouldn't buy it..?

Iron Chef

so, the Fox press release basically told everyone what everyone already knew - that they are in the Blu-Ray camp

next up will be a press release from Fox that they make movies

Ocelot

$239 w/ 5 free movie is close... i have to think about it, space problem... no, i didn't mean "even if it's under $200, i woudn't buy."

i'll need to check the dates for the free movie rebate offer first...


just did... it's good till 9/30, which is not bad, since i need some more times to consider the purchase (not money problem, space problem). However, given the "size" of this news, i'm curious what will happen in the next couple of days... Last thing, the free HD-DVD movies sucks...

Darth Maher

No, but as of yesterday it seemed that Blu-Ray may have been the way to go. I have no problem will HD-DVD, but it seems the HD Disc format war is no closer to being over than the war in Iraq. I'm not interested in buying two different players nor a player that might be on the losing end. I'll just have to wait. By then, maybe the "next big thing" might be announced.