Four studios unveil Blu-ray hi-def lineups.

http://www.localnewsleader.com/brocktown/stories/news-00119955.html

Four studios unveil Blu-ray hi-def lineups

04 January, 2006

By Thomas K. Arnold and Kurt Indvik 52 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Four studios have announced slates
of titles to be ready for the soon-to-be-launched Blu-ray Disc
high-definition format.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
and Lionsgate (formerly Lions Gate), all of which have lent their
support exclusively to Blu-ray, announced their plans Tuesday, a day
before supporters of the next-generation, high-definition optical disc
format stage a formal unveiling at the Consumer Electronics Show in
Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment, which has said it
would support both Blu-ray and format competitor HD-DVD with disc
releases, also unveiled titles it will have ready for both formats at
launch.

More studios are expected to announce their high-definition launch
slates this week.

Sony and Fox each have earmarked 20 titles, while Lionsgate and
Paramount each have lined up 10 for release on the Sony-developed
format, timed to coincide with the debut of Blu-ray hardware in North
America, Japan and Europe sometime in the early part of 2006.

Sony‘s initial offering is led by such high-profile theatrical films
as "Hitch," "The Fifth Element," "Legends of the Fall" and "House of
Flying Daggers."

Fox‘s first wave includes major releases "Fantastic Four," "The League
of Extraordinary Gentlemen," "Behind Enemy Lines," "Kiss of the
Dragon" and "Ice Age," among others.

Lionsgate‘s lineup includes "Lord of War," "The Punisher," "The
Devil‘s Rejects" and "Saw."

Paramount‘s launch slate will have recent releases such as "Four
Brothers," "Sahara," "Aeon Flux" and "Sky Captain and the World of
Tomorrow."

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment president Benjamin Feingold said he
and his executives would be meeting with consumer electronics
manufacturers at CES to pin down more specific dates for Blu-ray‘s
launch.

"Our objective is to provide a real show of support from the software
side," Feingold said. "With the announcement of these first 20 titles,
the age of Blu-ray has truly arrived. BD delivers the most advanced
high-definition experience available to entertainment enthusiasts
today, while offering filmmakers a limitless canvas to express their
artistic vision."

Mike Dunn, president worldwide for 20th Century Fox Home
Entertainment, said Fox plans simultaneous releases of its films on
Blu-ray and DVD as the format takes hold with consumers and deepens
its household penetration.

"The release of our films on Blu-ray will provide consumers with
in-home entertainment beyond anything they have imagined," Dunn said.

Lionsgate‘s upcoming May theatrical horror release "See No Evil,"
featuring WWE star Kane, will be the company‘s first title released
simultaneously on DVD and Blu-ray, Lionsgate president Steve Beeks
said. Beeks noted that Blu-ray‘s advantages extend beyond
higher-quality picture and sound. The format‘s expanded storage
capacity will enable studios to offer increased menu navigation and
other enhanced interactive capabilities "that will make the
movie-watching experience at home unparalleled," he said.

Sony said its initial slate will be released on single-layer, 25GB
Blu-ray Disc with the exception of "Black Hawk Down" and "The Bridge
on the River Kwai," both of which will be issued on 50GB dual-layer
discs in the summer.

Other films slated for Blu-ray release from Sony include "Bram
Stoker‘s Dracula," "Desperado," "For a Few Dollars More," "The Guns of
Navarone," "A Knight‘s Tale," "Kung Fu Hustle," "The Last Waltz,"
"Resident Evil: Apocalypse," "Robocop," "Sense and Sensibility,"
"Stealth," "Species," "SWAT" and "XXX."

Lionsgate will include catalog hits "Terminator 2: Judgment Day,"
"Reservoir Dogs," "Total Recall," "Dune" and "Rambo: First Blood" to
its initial Blu-ray lineup.

Thomas Lesinksi, president of Paramount Pictures Worldwide Home
Entertainment, said the company will launch its titles under the
banner Paramount High Definition and will include, in 2006, "Mission:
Impossible 3" alongside "Mission: Impossible" and "Mission: Impossible
2."

Paramount‘s other Blu-ray/HD-DVD titles at launch will include "The
Italian Job," "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," "U2: Rattle and Hum," " Tim
Burton ‘s Sleepy Hollow," "We Were Soldiers" and "The Manchurian
Candidate."

The announcements are seen by observers as a pre-emptive strike
against rival HD-DVD, which shortly after the Blu-ray Disc
presentation was set for Thursday, announced a CES presentation of its
own the night before.

Both formats are vying to become the successor to DVD, which is not
high-definition. Some industry analysts say Blu-ray currently enjoys
the advantage, with software support from five of the six major
studios, as well as Lionsgate Home Entertainment. HD-DVD, developed by
Toshiba, has three studios lined up.

At last year‘s CES, the three studios that support HD-DVD --
Paramount, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video
-- announced an ambitious slate of titles timed to hit stores in the
fourth quarter, when the first hardware units were slated to arrive.

By late summer, however, all three had pulled back, saying they would
wait until 2006 to release movies and other programming. This, in
turn, prompted Toshiba and other consumer electronics firms to delay
the introduction of HD-DVD players, as well.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter






"Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker's game
because they almost always turn out to be -- or to be indistinguishable from
-- self-righteous sixteen-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of free time."
- Neil Stephenson, _Cryptonomicon_

 

No CHARLIE'S ANGLES 2????!!



-goro-

 

Snipped bullshit cut-n-paste article that we didn't need any more
than a link to.

You're a waste.

Just so you folks know, the laser in a std DVD outlasts the mech
hardware and it's own technology. ie I bought my first player (a
Pioneer) and have since replaced it with a Progressive Scan, DTS , 6.1
capable machine (a Sony) for less than half what the first cost me.

From what I recall, they are only up to 10k hours on the life of the
blue diodes, which means that it will likely be the failure point on
any of those players.

Something to think about.

 

You re-quoted 129 lines of CRAP for that?

 

He's talking about CA2 because it was a disc that really showed off the HD
format. It was used as a test disc in presentations and such. Similar when
Armageddon came out on DVD and it rocketed to #1 on the charts.

 

whoops. sorry. i was going to say some stuff about the titles listed
but then sorta lost interest. i should snipped, tho'.

-goro-

 

The point was that he did NOT need to re-quote the entire text of the
OP.

This is Usenet. Have ANY of you young punks even read up on this
forum you so readily INVADE?

It is real simple to conform to standards. That is why you stop at
a red light.

 

Hey... at least you care. I usually get plastered with gang boy
diatribes about how lame *I* am for trying to get folks to express a
modicum of conformity to the standards the Usenet forum has had for
decades. Thanks for that.

 

in my defense, i use GoogleGroups (at work!) and since it automatically
hides quotes, sometimes you forget that there's all this krap up there!


-goro-

 

And so your great etiquette made me read 10 useless thread elements that
have nothing to do with the point of the thread. Thank you very much.

 

I suggest you think about how ludicrously unstructured your range of the
moment, seat of the pants, illogical commentaries are.

 

Did you "see" google's header today? :-]

 

Yet your retarded ass took the time to add yet one more.

Get over it, boy. WE were acting civil. You are just pissing and
moaning.

 

You obviously haven't been following the development of the newer
laser diodes.

I suggest you examine the post again. It clearly stated that current
players outlast technological change within their own genre, while the
newer units everyone (read some) wants to tout will likely die before
the technology advances. Older players die of lack of use, and these
new ones will actually have hard failures. It's really that simple.

It's commonly referred to as MTBF, and obsolescence. The two are
quite different animals.

Current players get replaced with better players of the same genre
with better features, and the new series will have failures up one
side and down the other long before any "better features" make it to
the forefront.

Can you hear me now?

 

Aren't you abrasive, Roy L. Fucher...

 

Like your unsolicited, unqualified, unprofessional, E-1 grade
assessment means a damned thing.

You must be on the side of the thieves.

Even though your idiot ass didn't quote the text to which you refer,
I guess you think that I am not supposed to get miffed about some
asswipe calling me ludicrous?

Grow up, boys. You swing, I'll block, and IN THE BARREL YOU GO!

 

Like your unsolicited, unqualified, unprofessional,

As if your off-topic, insulting, paranoid brainshit is going to hurt my
feelings, you gnat.

Kiss my chocolate starfish, Fucher.

 

Still making friends I see.






"Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker's game
because they almost always turn out to be -- or to be indistinguishable from
-- self-righteous sixteen-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of free time."
- Neil Stephenson, _Cryptonomicon_

 

snipped 122 lines of lame troll baby bullshit.

Are you pushing for ten or twenty folks in here to file a complaint
on your lame ass?

 

It took two whole minutes to declare the retard the troll that he is,
and even less to declare you the spamtard that you are.