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Site News - Paramount Rejoins the Blu-ray Ranks Beginning May 20th
No TV-on-BD support included in their initial plans, though |
Posted by David Lambert
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4/30/2008
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Less than 2 weeks after longtime HD DVD supporter Universal Studios announced their intention to support hi-def format war winner Blu-ray Disc ("BD") for the first time, including TV-on-BD support with two season sets of NBC's huge primetime hit show Heroes, the folks at Paramount Home Entertainment have now confirmed their own plans for getting back into the BD game.
Paramount had previously been a supporter of both rival hi-def formats, but they ended their BD support last August and threw in their lot with Toshiba's HD DVD camp. After Toshiba discontinued the format this past February, Paramount said they would return to BD support later in 2008.
Late yesterday trade magazines such as The Hollywood Reporter, Home Media Magazine and Video Business reported that Paramount had formally announced their first new BD slate, and that the first titles will hit in less than a month. No TV-on-BD titles were included in the announcement, though: all are theatrical films so far.
May 20th will see DreamWorks Animation's The Bee Movie, along with Nicolas Cage films Next and Face/Off (the latter two are almost certainly scheduled so quickly simply in order to be on store shelves the same day as Disney's BD releases of Cage's National Treasure films). Then on June 3rd we will get BD releases of Cloverfield and There Will Be Blood, both recently out on standard DVD (whew...glad I haven't opened the plastic on my Cloverfield DVD yet; now where did I put that receipt?). Then, on June 24th, Paramount will have a day-and-date release of The Spiderwick Chronicles, delivering both the DVD and BD versions to stores on that same date. All of these announced titles have bonus content unique to the BD format, which Home Media Magazine gives details about.
What's NOT mentioned in the stories at the above-named trade mags is that on May 20th, Paramount will also be re-releasing some of their BD titles that were previously out before their big switch last year. Look for easier access now to Aeon Flux, Babel, Big Snake Moan, Coming to America, Disturbia, Dreamgirls, Flags of our Fathers, Four Brothers, Mission Impossible III, Shooter, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Sleepy Hollow, The Untouchables, The Warriors, Trading Places, We Were Soldiers and World Trade Center. Also, a few of you out there will be kicking yourselves if you paid super-big bucks to get a BD copy of Blades of Glory. Some copies of that item escaped Paramount's recall last August, which they had done just ahead of its street date due to their cancellation of that release when the studio switched hi-def camps. Paramount says that the Blu Blades will also be in stores on May 20th.
Black Rain is also listed as one of Paramount's previously-released Blu-ray Disc titles that is coming back to stores. No date is marked for that item, but it's reasonable to assume it will arrive on May 20th with the others.
And there are more BD titles to come! The Hollywood Reporter story quotes Paramount Pictures' prez of home entertainment worldwide, Kelley Avery: "We will have a strong slate of titles for Blu-ray release throughout the year, worldwide, and are enthusiastic about expanding the format's offerings for a broad consumer audience while delivering an experience that goes beyond what viewers love about DVD."
Thanks, Kelley. Now if we can just get that remastered Star Trek in Blu!
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Link to this page:
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Site-News-Paramount-rejoins-Blu-ray-ranks/9508 |
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All news for this show:
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/shownews/Site-News/4873 |
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