Meltdown heats up high-def war
Fox's first wave puts biggest new release onto Blu-ray side
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 8/31/2006
AUG. 31 | 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment may be the last major home video distributor to announce titles in high-definition, but it’s making up for it by bringing Ice Age: The Meltdown to Blu-ray Disc at the same time as the standard-definition DVD on Nov. 21.
Ice Age: Meltdown will be the biggest new release on either high-def format.
At $195 million in box-office gross, Meltdown is the biggest new release to be announced for either high-def format this year. It is exclusive to Blu-ray as Fox does not support the rival HD DVD format.
Meltdown streets in Australia and select European territories on Nov. 13.
Other recent theatrical hits headed to Blu-ray include Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s Click, slotted for DVD and Blu-ray on Oct. 10, and Mission: Impossible III, which Paramount Home Entertainment will release on Blu-ray, HD DVD and standard DVD on Oct. 30.
Sony has not yet announced The Da Vinci Code for DVD or Blu-ray, and Blu-ray supporter Disney has said neither Cars nor Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest will be released in the high-def format this year.
Fox’s first Blu-ray titles were to be announced Thursday at the IFA Berlin conference.
MGM Home Entertainment, which is distributed by Fox, also announced its first Blu-ray titles this week.
MGM’s releases bow next month, including Stargate SG-1: Season 9, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2: The Gruesome Edition and The Addams Family: Vol. 1.
Streeting Oct. 3, the latest Stargate SG-1 set kicks off Fox’s takeover of MGM disc distribution from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The title is priced at $49.98.
The Gruesome Texas Chainsaw disc, out Oct. 10 (prebook Sept. 13) at $19.98, and the initial release of classic TV series Addams Family, coming Oct. 24 (prebook Sept. 27) at $29.98, will be part of Halloween marketing campaigns.
Commentaries, deleted scenes and the featurette It Runs in the Family punctuate Chainsaw. Addams Family also will include several commentaries.
Other MGM releases include Rocky and Bulletproof Monk, due Dec. 5, and The Usual Suspects and Windtalkers on Nov. 28. In addition to Meltdown, Fox’s initial Blu-ray titles include Kingdom of Heaven director’s cut, which will be the industry’s first release on a dual-layer 50GB Blu-ray disc, with double the capacity of the 25GB discs that most other Blu-ray titles use. It streets Nov. 10 in Japan and Nov. 14 in the U.S.“I reviewed [the Blu-ray version] … and I was astounded. It was like looking through a window of clarity,” Kingdom of Heaven helmer Ridley Scott said.
Fox’s other Blu-ray debut titles, also streeting Nov. 10 in Japan and Nov. 14 in the U.S., include Behind Enemy Lines, Fantastic Four, Kiss the Dragon, The Omen (666), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Speed and The Transporter.
Speed, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Behind Enemy Lines are the first confirmed titles to include Blu-ray-Java technology, promising format-unique interactivity. Java game “Speed Take Down,” tagged to the Keanu Reeves film, is among the included advanced features.
“Blu-ray is the superior high-definition format, and come this holiday season, it will be evident that it is really the only choice for consumers who want to enjoy pre-recorded high-definition content at home,” noted Mike Dunn, Fox president. “This first wave of titles from Fox and the incredible special features on them is an early glimpse of what they can expect from us as we assume a leadership position in the high-definition packaged media market.”
Both Fox and MGM stressed that their initial slates were chosen to appeal to early adopters and likely PlayStation 3 purchasers.
Sony’s new videogame console will be the lowest-priced Blu-ray movie player on the market when it bows in November.
All Fox and MGM Blu-ray titles are priced at $39.98.
