Sony combines Web/DVD in new product
Angel of Death to launch on Internet then come to disc
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 6/18/2008
JUNE 18 | Sony Corp. is launching in early 2009 an innovative Web-DVD hybrid project, Angel of Death, in which content will first roll out in online installments before streeting on disc at retail, according to a studio spokeswoman.
Angel of Death is expected to be released in eight-minute increments over a two-and-a-half-month frame across Sony-branded Web sites, which have yet to be specified. Its forthcoming DVD release will string all of the content pieces together into a coherent film narrative. DVD launch dates and pricing haven’t been determined.
The project follows the story of an assassin who is haunted by her killings.
Sony wants Angel of Death to be the first of several such Web hybrids, where content starts online and then jumps to other platforms, such as DVD or TV.
Digital content and DVD have become closely aligned in 2008, underscored by all of the major studios agreeing this year to sell films on iTunes on the same day they street on DVD. Also, studios are increasingly affixing digital film copies to movies’ DVD releases, hoping to broaden the titles’ appeal to consumers.
