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Press release; Michael McManus, DigiTimes.com [Wednesday 4 January 2006]
With Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD devices expected to hit the market this year, several movie studios have announced which movie titles will be initially launched for use with players supporting the next-generation high-definition platforms.
Paramount Pictures will release titles for both formats, while Twentieth Century Fox and Sony Pictures will release Blu-ray titles only, with Blu-ray sponsor Sony having the most aggressive plans for providing content this year.
Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment announced its upcoming slate of 10 titles for launch on both the Blu-ray and HD DVD platforms. Among the titles to be released are Four Brothers, Sahara, Aeon Flux, Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow, The Italian Job, Tomb Raider, the music documentary U2: Rattle and Hum and Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. The ten title launch slate also includes We Were Soldiers and Manchurian Candidate.
Paramount stated it will continue to roll out Blu-ray and HD DVD titles throughout 2006 and beyond, including its series of three Mission Impossible movies.
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment also announced its first wave of 20 feature films for the Blu-ray platform. The initial titles in development include Fantastic Four, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Behind Enemy Lines, Kiss of the Dragon and the CGI-animated comedy Ice Age.
The company plans for the debut of its initial line-up of Blu-ray titles to coincide with the Blu-ray hardware launches in North America, Japan and Europe in 2006.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE), in conjunction with MGM Home Entertainment, will also release 20 Blu-ray titles. The list of titles includes The Fifth Element, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Desperado, For a Few Dollars More, The Guns of Navarone, Hitch, House of Flying Daggers, A Knight's Tale, Kung Fu Hustle, The Last Waltz, Legends of the Fall, Resident Evil Apocalypse, Robocop, Sense and Sensibility, Stealth, Species, SWAT and XXX.
Black Hawk Down and The Bridge on the River Kwai will also be available on 50GB dual-layer Blu-ray discs this summer.
Starting this summer, SPHE will also deliver four catalog titles per month, accelerating to 10 titles per month by the fourth quarter of 2006. Also being readied for summer release is the complete television series of sci-fi favorite Stargate Atlantis.
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