August Blu-ray Release Slate

 

image While July was a huge month for Blu-ray releases, and September is set to break records with the number of releases coming out, August looks fairly modest with a little less than 60 titles scheduled for release.  While you can always see the full release schedule here, this post will highlight some of the bigger titles coming in the next month.

The month starts off on August 5, with Sony putting out the Starship Troopers trilogy (along with 1 and 3 individually).  Korn: Live at Montreux, which had previously been delayed, will finally get its proper release from Eagle Rock.  BBC is releasing both the High Definition Natural History Collection and Robin Hood: Season 1 as well.  Finally, Genius Products (distributor of Weinstein Co. DVDs) is also releasing their first Blu-ray title, the TV mini-series Lonesome Dove

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Blu-ray Deals of the Week for July 27- Aug. 2, 2008

 

sale Presented again by popular demand, here are some of the best deals from retailers and online etailers for Blu-ray disc movies and players for the week.  In-store specials are generally good Sunday-Saturday unless otherwise noted. 

Amazon.com:

  • Buy 2 Get 1 Free on 108 Blu-ray movie titles from Fox, Paramount, Lionsgate, FUNImation, and BCI
  • Up to 52% off on select Warner titles
  • Get an additional $5 off with the purchase of 3 select Blu-ray music titles
  • 45% off MSRP on Blu-ray movie bundles
  • 8 Blu-ray Titles for $80 with purchase of the Sony BDP-S300 ($339.99), PS3 ($399.99), or the brand new BDP-S350 ($399.99) Blu-ray players -- the 8 titles are:
    • Black Hawk Down
    • The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
    • Dogma
    • A Few Good Men
    • Gattaca
    • Life of Brian
    • Resident Evil: Apocalypse
    • The Fifth Element
  • Samsung BD-P1500 BonusView Blu-ray player on sale for $339.88
  • Panasonic DMP-BD50 BD-Live Blu-ray player now instock and for sale at $599.99
  • Panasonic SC-BT100 BonusView Blu-ray HTIB on sale for $828.63

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Best FREE PC Programs

 

free It seems like there’s a never-ending push for newer, better, more expensive, and more bloated programs on the part of software developers.  Fortunately, the vast majority of things most people use their home PCs for can be accomplished with excellent software that doesn’t cost a dime.  Below are some of my favorite free programs… some of which will improve your computer experience, and others that can save you hundreds of dollars versus buying commercial programs.

All of these programs are designed to work with Windows XP and Windows Vista (32-bit or 64-bit).  Most should work without issue on Windows 2000 systems as well, as long as they are running the latest service pack.

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Ebert and Roeper to be Replaced by…

Two Hollywood douchebags who couldn't get cast as extras on Entourage?

ebertroeper Nikki Finke from LA Weekly's take:

Ugh. The retooled Ebert & Roeper show premiering September 6th will be co-hosted by Ben & Ben -- a Generation Why duo who only got the gig due to nepotism. Ben Lyons is the nobody son of Jeffrey Lyons, the film critic world's biggest hack and quote whore with zero credibility, while Ben Mankiewicz is the slacker host on Turner Classic Movies, whose only claim to fame is that he's a watered-down member of the famous film family. Now, there's a working definition of the death of film criticism for you.

The closest thing to film criticism Mankiewicz has done is host a show on TCM (aka reading cue cards about movies) and mocking and stalking celebrities for TMZ.  Meanwhile Lyons has been a film "critic" for the bastion of journalistic credibility that is E!, pretty much ensuring that Nikki's wrong and he's by now supplanted his father as "the film critic world's biggest hack."

Way to go Disney!  At least Roeper is supposedly in talks to start another show that, you know, actually contains film criticism.  Maybe I'll get really lucky that show will go back to the old format of actually discussing films, rather than trying to cram a review into 10 seconds following a promo of the film and nearly 15 minutes of commercials and promo-bumpers.

Any Publicity is Good Publicity???

 

The Dark Knight In yet another sign that we should all stop paying attention to the off-screen antics of celebrities, Christian Bale apparently celebrated ‘The Dark Knight’ having the highest opening weekend boxoffice in history by… assaulting his mother and sister.

According to The Daily Telegraph, Bale was reported to London police by his mother and sister, and turned himself into custody on Tuesday (the day after the London premiere of ‘The Dark Knight.’

While ‘The Dark Knight’ continues to set records for domestic grosses, it’s star Christian Bale is currently in custody in a London jail.

Will Batman escape the clutches of the Gotham… er, London police?  Will Christopher Nolan allow Bale to return as the caped crusader for the third installment of one of the biggest franchises in film history?  Will celebrities ever learn how to behave as human beings rather than egomaniacs who think they can get away with anything due to their Q score?  Stay tuned for the next installment of ‘The Dark Knight Chronicles: Bruce Wayne Loses His Damn Mind.’

Historic Blu-ray Releases

 

With the first Blu-ray titles from Universal being released today, every major studio has now released movies on the Blu-ray format.  Of course, the mini-majors and several independent labels have also been releasing titles or plan to shortly.

For historical purposes, the below chart documents, all the major studio, mini-major studio, and select independent distributor first releases on the Blu-ray format.  They are sorted by the date the studio first released Blu-ray product.  I have focused on studios that do movie releases.  Many other distributors deal with primarily special interest or music product, but they are not shown in the table below.

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'The Dark Knight' Shatters Opening Weekend Records

 

tdk Everyone knew it would be huge, but not many were predicting 'The Dark Knight' to overtake 'Spiderman 3' as the highest grossing domestic opening weekend in box-office history.

Playing on a record 4,366 screens, Variety reported today that the film took in $158.3 million over the weekend, besting Spidey's previous record of $151.3 million.  The one week domestic gross is estimated to be as high as $220 million, more than the total domestic gross for 2005's 'Batman Begins.'

Combined with the impressive opening of 'Mama Mia' at $27.6 million (breaking 'Hairspray's record for biggest opening for a musical), the overall domestic boxoffice for the weekend came in at over $250 million.  That shatters the previous record set last July when 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest' led the way toward $218 million in total domestic boxoffice revenue for the weekend.  'The Dark Knight' is beginning to look like the day and date title that could do for Blu-ray what 'The Matrix' did for DVD.

Blu-ray Deals of the Week for July 20-26, 2008

 

dollar Presented again by popular demand, here are some of the best deals from retailers and online etailers for Blu-ray disc movies and players for the week.  In-store specials are generally good Sunday-Saturday unless otherwise noted. 

Amazon.com:

  • Buy 2 Get 1 Free on over 108 Blu-ray movie titles from Fox, Paramount, Lionsgate, FUNImation, and BCI
  • 8 Blu-ray Titles for $80 with purchase of the Sony BDP-S300 ($374.98), PS3 ($399.99), or the brand new BDP-S350 ($399.99) -- the 8 titles are:
    • Black Hawk Down
    • The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
    • Dogma
    • A Few Good Men
    • Gattaca
    • Life of Brian
    • Resident Evil: Apocalypse
    • The Fifth Element
  • Samsung BD-P1500 on sale for $330.47
  • Get an additional $5 off with the purchase of 3 select Blu-ray music titles
  • 45% off MSRP on Blu-ray movie bundles

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New Chinese Blu-ray Players Due Later This Year

 

sinoces The Chinese held their annual Chinese International Consumer Electronics Show (SinoCES) this past week, and the BDA and Blu-ray player manufacturers were out in force. While many people won't be familiar with the names of the Chinese manufacturers showing off players, much like the existing Funai players already on the market, many of these players will make it to US and European shores rebadged as "house brand" players for various retailers.

I haven't added any of these players to the main player database as no formal US release announcements have yet been made.

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Blu-ray Release Report: How Far We've Come

 

clip_image001As we prepare to pass the 700 title mark in the US for Blu-ray releases, I thought it was worthwhile to take a look at how far the format has come in just over 2 years.  According to the release list here on the site, we will pass the 700 title mark (not including small BD-R releases) on July 29th.  We've obviously got a LONG way to go to catch up with the 10s of thousands of titles available on DVD, but its definitely an improvement from the early days.

Blu-ray launched in the U.S. on June 24, 2006, with just 6 titles (all of them Sony).  Lionsgate and Concert Hot Spot released their first titles a week later.  Fox joined the part in July, but it took Warner until August to release their first titles.  Disney and Paramount took even longer, with the first titles not hitting until September 2006.

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NPD Group Releases June, 2008 U.S. Console Sales Numbers

 

NPD has released their console sales numbers for the U.S., for May, 2008.  The next-gen console sales for the month were:

XBox 360: 219,800 

PS3: 405,500

Wii: 666,700

"Sign of the devil" aside, Nintendo had another phenomenal month last month.  They really do seem unstoppable.  While many 'hardcore gamers' think the system is underpowered and doesn't offer enough 'typical' games, Nintendo made an extremely wise play in letting Sony and Microsoft fight over that demo, and instead went after everyone else in the world.  The unique interactivity the system provides, along with a slew of "party" games has made the system the go-to choice for casual gamers and even many people who wouldn't consider themselves gamers at all.

For its part, Sony had a terrific month, outselling the XBox 360 by nearly 200,000 units in the U.S.  While the release of Metal Gear Solid 4 for the PS3 certainly helped sell systems, Sony's sales have been improving all year and don't seem likely to slow in the near future.

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Nielson Videoscan Blu-ray vs. DVD Results for Week Ending 7/13/2008

 

Another week, another set of stats comparing Blu-ray disc sales to DVD sales.  (Honestly, wasn't it much more fun to look at the graphs of BD trouncing HD DVD than to look at graphs of DVDs continuing dominance?)

Comparing Blu-ray sales data to total DVD sales data is no easy task, however.  The sheer volume of DVDs available in the retail market makes it nearly impossible to hypothesize with any accuracy how many total DVD discs are sold in any given week.  Thus, Nielson VideoScan has chosen to compare only the Top 20 selling DVDs to the Top 20 Blu-ray Discs to track Blu-ray vs. DVD sales.  While this method results in interesting results for comparing the top selling discs on both formats, it is inherently biased towards Blu-ray as it is comparing an equal number of titles on both formats.  Whilst Blu-ray has around 600 titles released in the U.S., DVD has tens of thousands of released titles.

blu-ray 7-13

Source: Nielson VideoScan via www.homemediamagazine.com

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Huge Fall for AAA Blu-ray Releases

 

a While many in Hollywood have been worrying about the lackluster overall boxoffice so far this year ('The Dark Knight' should improve that considerably), the home video departments of the major studios have been working overtime preparing a high-definition release slate for this fall that is absolutely incredible. 

With Blu-ray sales up 350% compared to BOTH Blu-ray and HD DVD sales at this point last year, its clear that Blu-ray is gaining serious ground, and the studios are no longer fearful about bringing some of the biggest titles of the summer, and from deep within ther vaults, to the format.  Here's a run-down.

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'The Dark Knight' IMAX Technical Review

(No spoilers or plot discussion)

 

tdk I had the good fortune to attend an IMAX preview screening of 'The Dark Knight' tonight, and thought I'd share a bit about the technical details of the presentation for those interested in such things.  The real question, of course, is it worth the extra money and potentially longer drive to see the film projected in IMAX?  This is just my opinion, of course, but given the 'stir' being caused by the earlier IMAX preview of the film, there's definitely quite a bit of interest in the larger film format with this film.

First of all, contrary to some isolated reports online, the aspect ratio most definitely DOES change when going from the shots done in anamorphic 35mm and those done in IMAX. Personally, I didn't find it at all distracting. The IMAX screens are a grey material (as opposed to bright white) and in a dark theatre you can't tell that the screen extends beyond what's being shown at any one time. The majority of the film was shot in anamorphic 35mm (as opposed to Super35) and got a 4k DI. The IMAX DMR process did a great job on that material and it looks better than anything I've ever seen converted to IMAX before. The material actually shot in IMAX (that received an amazing 8k DI) is completely mind-blowing in its clarity and detail.

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IGN Reviews Non-existant Blu-ray Title

 

ign If you needed further proof that you really shouldn't believe everything you read online, or that our media is massively failing us as a nation, then read on.

IGN has recently published a fairly thorough review of a Blu-ray movie title that doesn't actually exist.  The review goes into some detail on the video and audio quality of the non-existant title "Van Helsing."  I've pasted the text below, in case they remove it due an impending flood of emails, but, at the moment the review can be accessed here:

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Blu-ray Deals of the Week for July 13-19, 2008

 

sale Back by popular demand (and likely to stay this time), here are some of the best deals from retailer and online etailers for Blu-ray disc movies and players for the week.  In-store specials are generally good Sunday-Saturday unless otherwise noted. 

Amazon.com:

  • 8 Blu-ray Titles for $80 with purchase of the Sony BDP-S300 ($374.98) or PS3 ($399.99) -- the 8 titles are:
    • Black Hawk Down
    • The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
    • Dogma
    • A Few Good Men
    • Gattaca
    • Life of Brian
    • Resident Evil: Apocalypse
    • The Fifth Element
  • Get an additional $5 off with the purchase of 3 select Blu-ray music titles
  • 45% off MSRP on Blu-ray movie bundles

Read More...

Nielson Videoscan Blu-ray vs. DVD Results for Week Ending 7/6/2008

 

Another week, another set of stats comparing Blu-ray disc sales to DVD sales.  (Honestly, wasn't it much more fun to look at the graphs of BD trouncing HD DVD than to look at graphs of DVDs continuing dominance?)

Comparing Blu-ray sales data to total DVD sales data is no easy task, however.  The sheer volume of DVDs available in the retail market makes it nearly impossible to hypothesize with any accuracy how many total DVD discs are sold in any given week.  Thus, Nielson VideoScan has chosen to compare only the Top 20 selling DVDs to the Top 20 Blu-ray Discs to track Blu-ray vs. DVD sales.  While this method results in interesting results for comparing the top selling discs on both formats, it is inherently biased towards Blu-ray as it is comparing an equal number of titles on both formats.  Whilst Blu-ray has around 600 titles released in the U.S., DVD has tens of thousands of released titles.

bd 7-6

Source: Nielson VideoScan via www.homemediamagazine.com

Blu-ray represented 7% of sales (again) going into the first week of July, though it actually took a bigger hit compared to DVD week on week.  Of course, this is the season when blockbusters hit theatres, not home video.  Still, Blu-ray needs be passing 10% consistently by year's end unless they plan on remaining a secondary format to DVD for many years to come.

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Sony Releases PS3 System Software 2.41

 

241 As I reported last week, Sony had released System Software 2.40 for the PS3, but then had to pull it back after issues a number of users reported issues with the latest update.

Late last night, Sony released a new update that maintains all the same features of the pulled 2.40 update (in-game XMB access, custom music selection in certain games, and a trophy system similar to the achievements system on the Xbox 360) but fixes the install process to prevent the issues seen in last week's release.

The System Software upgrade can be updated from an internet-connected PS3 directly using the included software update feature or the update can be downloaded to a PC and transferred via memory card or USB drive by following the directions here (once posted).

Xploited Cinema Closing

 

xploited Today is a very sad day for fans of cult and import DVD and Blu-ray titles, as the online etailer Xploited Cinema has announced it will be closing its (virtual) doors.  For those who aren't familiar with the store, Xploited Cinema has been in operation for 7 years now, specializing in hard to find "cult" DVD titles as well as import titles not generally available in the United States.

The store has more recently expanded to include a selection of Blu-ray disc titles that have been released overseas but not domestically, with much faster shipping (and often lower prices) than could generally be obtained by dealing with overseas etailers. 

Unfortunately, though, the store will be clearing out its inventory and closing shop.  Tony from Xploited Cinema told me that the decision was a difficult one, and surprisingly not based on slowing sales, but rather a personal decision to do something else.  Tony is a great guy and is always committed to customer service, returning emails personally in an incredibly short timeframe.  I have no doubt that he has had to work insanely hard over the years on his business, and wish him all the best with whatever project he decides to tackle next.

In the meantime, anyone with orders or preorders already in place with Xploited Cinema shouldn't fear, as all orders will ship as planned.  Also, new orders will continue being taken, though new stock will stop coming in soon, and existing stock will undoubtedly sell down considerably over the coming months.  For anyone interested, please visit the Xploited Cinema website and take a look.

Nielson Videoscan Blu-ray vs. DVD Results for Week Ending 6/29/2008

 

Another week, another set of stats comparing Blu-ray disc sales to DVD sales.  Sadly, Home Media Magazine didn't publish their top 20 lists for the week, but they did release the basic comparison pie chart. 

Comparing Blu-ray sales data to total DVD sales data is no easy task, however.  The sheer volume of DVDs available in the retail market makes it nearly impossible to hypothesize with any accuracy how many total DVD discs are sold in any given week.  Thus, Nielson VideoScan has chosen to compare only the Top 20 selling DVDs to the Top 20 Blu-ray Discs to track Blu-ray vs. DVD sales.  While this method results in interesting results for comparing the top selling discs on both formats, it is inherently biased towards Blu-ray as it is comparing an equal number of titles on both formats.  Whilst Blu-ray has around 600 titles released in the U.S., DVD has tens of thousands of released titles.

Still, here are the results for the week ending 6/29:

bd 6-29

Source: Nielson VideoScan via www.homemediamagazine.com

Not too bad overall... Blu-ray gained a point from the week before against DVD and also was up over 5% against its own sales from last week. 

Entertainment Merchant Association 2008 Report Released

 

ema The EMA (Entertainment Merchant Association) has just released its 2008 report on the home entertainment industry covering the year 2007. The full report is an exhaustive analysis of the industry and is loaded with stats about sale and rental revenue of Blu-ray, DVD, video games, HDTVs, and more.

Among the interesting stats:

Home Video (Blu-ray/DVD)

  • The home video market (sales and rentals of DVDs and BDs) accounted for 49% of all consumer movie spending in 2007.  By comparison, cable and satellite TV represents 25% of consumer movie spending, cinema box office represents 23%, and 3% is made up by "on-demand"/"digital download" content.
  • Total consumer spending on home video in 2007 was $24.1 billion ($16.5 billion in sales, $8.2 billion in rentals).
  • Nearly 9 million high definition discs were sold in 2007, with Blu-ray discs accounting for 67%.  The total revenue for Blu-ray and HD DVD sales in 2007 was $260 million.  This does not include rental revenue.
  • The PlayStation 3 is expected to continue driving Blu-ray adoption through 2008, but in 2009, standalone players are expected to begin outpacing the gaming system.
  • Projecting ahead to 2012, the EMA estimates spending in the home video market will increase to $25.6 billion.  That same year, Blu-ray disc sales are projected to overtake standard DVD sales.
  • Also in 2012, the EMA estimates that 100-130 million homes worldwide will own at least one Blu-ray disc player.

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PlayStation 3 System Software Update 2.40 Now Available!

 

240 Just released online is the long-awaited 2.40 System Software Update for PlayStation 3 systems.  This major update finally brings gamers access to the XMB while in-game and a trophies system that will allow gamers to win awards within certain games that will be displayed for other online gamers to see.

The addition of in-game XMB access also means that custom soundtracks are now possible within certain games, and that within all games users can pause and chat with friends without having to leave the game.

BD playback functionality has also received an improvement, in that SD content (480p) stored on Blu-ray discs will now be upscaled to the desired resolution, just as was previously done on DVDs.

Many other smaller improvements are also featured in the update including surround sound playback of music files, enhanced noise reduction options for videos played through the XMB and more.

The System Software upgrade can be updated from an internet-connected PS3 directly using the included software update feature or the update can be downloaded to a PC and transferred via memory card or USB drive by following the directions here (once posted).

Neilson Videoscan Blu-ray vs. DVD Results for Week Ending 6/22/2008

 

Another week, another set of stats comparing Blu-ray disc sales to DVD sales.  Sadly, Home Media Magazine didn't publish their top 20 lists for the week, but they did release the basic comparison pie chart. 

Comparing Blu-ray sales data to total DVD sales data is no easy task, however.  The sheer volume of DVDs available in the retail market makes it nearly impossible to hypothesize with any accuracy how many total DVD discs are sold in any given week.  Thus, Nielson VideoScan has chosen to compare only the Top 20 selling DVDs to the Top 20 Blu-ray Discs to track Blu-ray vs. DVD sales.  While this method results in interesting results for comparing the top selling discs on both formats, it is inherently biased towards Blu-ray as it is comparing an equal number of titles on both formats.  Whilst Blu-ray has around 600 titles released in the U.S., DVD has tens of thousands of released titles.

Still, here are the results for the week ending 6/22:

bd 6-22

Source: Nielson VideoScan via www.homemediamagazine.com

Overall, it was a pretty bad week for both Blu-ray and DVD, with a substantial decline in sales from the week before.  In the end, Blu-ray only managed to account for 6% of the overall market for the week, a particularly low figure.  With a much better release slate this coming week, those figures should improve considerably.

Paramount Announces 'The Godfather Collection' for Blu-ray!

 

godfathercolblur1art2 Paramount has now officially redeemed themselves (in my eyes at least), with the announcement of the fully restored and Coppola-approved Blu-ray disc boxset of all three Godfather films, set for release on September 23.

'The Godfather Collection: The Coppola Restoration' will contain four discs, the first three including the newly-remastered transfers of all three films along with commentary by director Francis Ford Coppola.  The extensive remastering effort was led by Robert A. Harris of the Film Preserve and required a frame-by-frame restoration of the first two films.

The fourth disc will contain a plethora of extras, including all those from the 2001 DVD release, as well as numerous new documentaries (most in high definition) created by Kim Aubry, founder of Zoetrope Aubry Productions.

If there was any doubt as to Paramount's belief in the Blu-ray future, this should quickly put an end to it.