New high-def Haunted Hill offers new interactivity
HOME MEDIA EXPO: Warner's DVD premiere movie has 96 story lines
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 7/17/2007
JULY 17 | LAS VEGAS—Warner Home Video provided the first sneak peek of its debut made-for-DVD high-definition release Return to House on Haunted Hill, during a Tuesday Home Theater Forum session at the Home Media Expo here.
Warner's Steve Nickerson hyped the interactivity at the show.
As Warner has worked closely with filmmaker Joel Silver from the beginning of the Haunted Hill production, the title will boast some of the most advanced interactive features yet for a HD DVD or Blu-ray Disc. The title streets in both formats on Oct. 16.
The new interactivity will let viewers be able to choose 96 different combinations of story lines. At various points in the film, plot questions will pop up, the answers to which will determine the course of action for the movie.
“Sometimes you can choose to watch what’s happening with the people downstairs, and sometimes you can watch to see the people upstairs,” said Steve Nickerson, senior VP worldwide for high-definition. “It’s a very interesting thing, and it will allow for repeat viewing.”
Silver appeared via video and showed scenes with featured questions including, “Should you answer the cell phone?”
“This is navigational cinema. It’s a whole new age, and people are going to love it,” said Silver. “You become a filmmaker, where you are part of the process of making the movie. If you want everyone to die, you can do that! This is the first time this has been done before.”
Additionally, Nickerson showed off the studio’s first Web-enabled offerings on HD DVD titles. With 300, streeting July 31, Warner will be selling film-related merchandise via a disc for the first time. With their HD DVD player remote, consumers will be able to type in their cell phone number to receive instructions to access 300 wallpaper and ringtones for $1.99 each.
“We are now starting to market to people—we can talk directly to you,” said Nickerson.
300 on HD DVD also contains a picture-in-picture feature that compares the actors performing with a blue-screen background with the special-effects-laden feature film.
Also demonstrated during the session, Blood Diamond kicked off Warner’s Web-enabled HD DVD offerings on July 3. Viewers can find out information about the movie’s African setting, which can be constantly updated going forward. Also, viewers can answer polls to potentially influence which movies Warner releases on HD DVD in the future.
As its high-definition titles are becoming increasingly complex, Warner has decided to stock many of its releases with instructional owner’s manuals.
