Retailers pre-order high-def titles

UPDATE: Offerings not front and center, though

By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 3/30/2006

MARCH 27 | Without much fanfare, retailers are starting to accept pre-orders on Warner Home Video’s delayed HD DVD titles and upcoming Blu-ray films.

As of Monday, consumers could pre-order April 18 HD DVD releases Million Dollar Baby, The Last Samurai and Phantom of the Opera on both Amazon.com and BestBuy.com.

A selection of Blu-ray titles, including May 23 releases Crash and Hitch, also are available for pre-order at BestBuy.com. CircuitCity.com is accepting pre-orders for titles on both formats.

But shoppers have to do some digging. The sites are not yet making it readily apparent that they are carrying the titles. Store sources indicate they are merchandising cautiously, because of delays of HD DVD products and speculation that Blu-ray hardware will bow later than anticipated.

At BestBuy.com, individual title searches bring up the April 18 releases of Million Dollar Baby and Phantom. Each carry Warner’s stated $28.99 pricing, but the titles are listed as DVDs, not HD DVDs, in the pre-order information. Similarly, the apparent Blu-ray version of Hitch is tagged with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s expected $28.95 list pricing but is listed as a May 23 standard DVD release.

Amazon.com does describe April 18 titles as HD DVD. But linking to the site’s HD DVD store doesn’t provide an option to pre-order either Million Dollar Baby, Last Samurai or Phantom. The HD DVD store is highlighting other upcoming HD DVD releases but not for pre-ordering.

Warner senior VP Steve Nickerson said he isn’t concerned by the low profile, which he said makes sense given that retailers aren’t likely to sell huge numbers of HD DVD titles initially. “Three titles are hard to build a section around,” he said.

“Things keep getting pushed back, so I don’t think we want to play our cards too early,” said one source. “Usually, we would be talking about [a major new product] at this point, but we’re not. It’s a little odd.”

Up until the Warner title delay, WalMart.com had been accepting pre-orders on the studio’s HD DVD titles. The chain has since removed the offerings and has yet to re-instate the titles for pre-ordering.

For some time, retail had been expecting Batman Begins and other initial HD DVD titles on March 28. But about two weeks prior to launch, Warner removed Batman Begins from the first wave and pushed the batch’s street date to April 18.

Toshiba quickly followed suit, deciding to roll out its first HD DVD players mid-April to coincide with Warner’s new launch (VB, 3-27).

Relatively speaking, hardware seems to be scoring more retail emphasis.

BestBuy.com is calling out Toshiba’s HD-A1 HD DVD player as a ‘What’s Hot’ pre-order item. Amazon.com is accepting pre-orders for the player through its HD DVD store.

Looking for competitive advantages, DVD Empire has a prominent ‘high-def’ link on its home page. The retailer is accepting pre-orders only on Blu-ray software but lists HD DVD titles as announced.

“We do have pre-orders on all seven [posted] Blu-ray titles,” DVD Empire marketing manager Courtney Arthur said. “That’s a good indication to us that we are doing the right thing with the high-def section.”

She said Lionsgate’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day is capturing the most interest.

Jennifer Netherby contributed to this report.

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