Close Encounters of the Blu kind
First Spielberg movie to be released on high-def disc
By Marcy Magiera -- Video Business, 7/26/2007
JULY 26 | Steven Spielberg’s first foray into high-definition DVD will be the Blu-ray Disc release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind: 30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition, coming Nov. 13 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
The Blu-ray edition will carry three versions of the two-hour-plus film on one 50GB disc—the 1977 original theatricaledition, the re-edited 1980 theatrical special edition and the 1998 director’s cut—through branching technology that conserves disc space by allowing footage used in all three films to be included on the disc only once. Bonus material will be included on a second disc.
The title also will be released on standard-definition DVD.
Both formats will include an exclusive interview with Spielberg and a retrospective documentary. In addition, the Blu-ray will carry a new storyboard-to-scene comparison, the original 1977 “Watch the Skies” featurette and an original theatrical preview.
Both prebook Oct. 11. DVD is $39.95; Blu-ray is $49.95.
