Caspian DVD to include Slovenia, ‘Castle’ extras

Disney's second Narnia film to also get BD Live treatment

By Danny King -- Video Business, 11/26/2008

NOV. 26 | When it hits the street on Dec. 2, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment’s Blu-ray Disc version of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian will include extras such as short features that include 360-degree views of the creation of the film’s castle-storming scene and a vignette on filming in Slovenia, as well as discussions with C.S. Lewis’ stepson on the Narnia author’s vision.

The 360-degree views represent an updated version of Circle-Vision, which Disney first launched in the ’50s as a way for Disneyland visitors to immerse themselves in film tours of the U.S., China and Canada.

Additionally, the Blu-ray version of the second Narnia movie from Disney—the first was 2005’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe—will have such BD Live interactive features as online chat, trivia challenges and a Narnia game.

Disney is trying to gear the titles toward both casual and diehard Narnia fans, said John Bernstein, senior producer of DVD and Blu-ray at Disney, at a recent Los Angeles presentation. The seven-book Narnia series has sold more than 100 million copies in 35 languages.

“We really wanted to find another way to use the new tools available to us,” Bernstein said at the presentation. “The fans’ experience is more important than dazzling with technology.”

More than five hours of extras will be included on both the standard-definition and Blu-ray versions, Bernstein said.

Prices are $29.99 for the standard DVD, $39.99 for the two-DVD collector’s edition and $35.99 for Blu-ray.