WDSHE Rolls into 2008 with Blu-ray (US and International)

[Loomis]

Press release:

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRel ... BW20080105

WDSHE Expands Blu-ray Line-Up with First Platinum Blu-ray Release,
BD-Live and Full Motion Picture-in-Picture

Also Announces the Extension of Disney's Magical Blu-ray Tour
BURBANK, Calif.--(Business Wire)--Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (WDSHE) announces an
exciting new line-up of Blu-ray initiatives in 2008, an ever-expanding
Blu-ray slate and new technological-advancements in bonus feature
materials, all which guarantee a superior high-definition home
entertainment experience.

"This is an exciting time for Disney as we not only announce the
release of our first Platinum Disney animated classic on Blu-ray with
Sleeping Beauty, but also allow consumers to create an entirely new
home entertainment experience with stunning new bonus features and
amazing interactive capabilities like never before seen," stated Bob
Chapek, President of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

For the first time ever, WDSHE will begin releasing its treasured
animated classics on Platinum Edition Blu-ray Disc(TM) launching with
Sleeping Beauty in the fall of 2008. Taking advantage of the numerous
technological advancements of the Blu-ray format, these all time
favorites have been revitalized to include exceptional high-definition
picture and sound quality and compelling interactive content such as
virtual games, full motion picture-in-picture and online shopping
capabilities via BD-Live broadband connection.

Sleeping Beauty will be WDSHE's first Platinum Edition Blu-ray
Disc and will feature a Virtual Castle, utilizing the new BD-Live
technology, as well as the interactive game Maleficent's Challenge
which puts viewers face-to-face with one of Disney's greatest
villains. Sleeping Beauty Blu-ray Disc will also feature an all-new
enhanced home theater mix in 7.1 surround sound.

Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo Blu-ray Disc will debut the first
Cine-Explore featuring full motion picture-in-picture (BonusView).
This interactive visual commentary with director Andrew Stanton,
co-writer Bob Peterson and co-director Lee Unkrich allows the viewer
to dive deeper into the making of Finding Nemo without ever leaving
the film. For kids and families, there is the all-new BD-Java enabled
learning mode "Mr. Ray's Ed-venture." Hosted by Dory, Marlin and of
course Mr. Ray, viewers will learn all about sea life and have the
opportunity to earn stickers for their virtual sticker book by
answering "quizlettes" while watching the movie. Viewers can also go
to their sticker book at any time and create their own scene. Finding
Nemo will also feature an all-new enhanced home theater mix in 7.1
surround sound.

As part of its continued worldwide Blu-ray release strategy, WDSHE
will be announcing the addition of many exciting movie titles to their
2008 Blu-ray line-up in North America, Europe and Asia.

In North America, WDSHE will be releasing new theatrical titles to
Blu-ray Disc day-and-date with DVD including The Game Plan (Walt
Disney Pictures) on January 22; Gone Baby Gone and Becoming Jane (both
Miramax) on February 12; and Dan In Real Life (Touchstone Pictures) on
March 11. WDSHE will expand its catalogue titles on Blu-ray Disc with
the releases of The Rock (Hollywood Pictures) and Con Air (Touchstone
Pictures) on January 8; Crimson Tide (Hollywood Pictures) on February
5; The Rookie (Walt Disney Pictures) on March 4; Hidalgo (Touchstone
Pictures), Coyote Ugly: The Double Shot Edition (Touchstone Pictures),
Unbreakable (Touchstone Pictures), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion,
The Witch and The Wardrobe (Walt Disney Pictures) and National
Treasure: Collector's Edition (Walt Disney Pictures) in spring 2008.

In Europe/Australia, WDSHE will roll out Blu-ray Discs in 2008
beginning with The Recruit (Touchstone Pictures) in January; and Dark
Water (Touchstone Pictures) in February; Underdog (Walt Disney
Pictures) and Starsky & Hutch (Buena Vista) in February; Coyote Ugly
(Touchstone Pictures) and The Rookie (Walt Disney Pictures) in March;
Hidalgo (Touchstone Pictures) and Gone Baby Gone (Miramax) in April;
Signs (Touchstone Pictures), There Will Be Blood (Miramax), Shall We
Dance (Miramax), Ladder 49 (Touchstone Pictures), The Chronicles of
Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (Walt Disney Pictures)
and National Treasure: Collector's Edition (Walt Disney Pictures) in
May; and The Game Plan (Walt Disney Pictures) and Unbreakable
(Touchstone Pictures) in summer 2008.

Japan will see WDSHE release Blu-ray titles starting with
Hollywoodland (Miramax) in February; The Rookie (Walt Disney
Pictures), Hidalgo (Touchstone Pictures), Meet The Robinsons (Walt
Disney Pictures), and Starsky & Hutch (Buena Vista) in April; The
Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (Walt
Disney Pictures), Coyote Ugly (Touchstone Pictures) and National
Treasure: Collector's Edition (Walt Disney Pictures) in May; and
Unbreakable (Touchstone Pictures) and Signs (Touchstone Pictures) in
summer 2008.

Following overwhelming consumer response WDSHE is also announcing
the extension of Disney's Magical Blu-ray Tour, sponsored by
Panasonic, to eight additional North American cities. The first stop
will be to Toronto, Canada the weekend of January 25th and continue on
to Nashville, Denver, Dallas, Raleigh-Durham, Hartford and conclude
with Chicago at Unity 2008 in July.

The results of the 2007 tour not only reaffirmed consumers'
continued desires for high-definition picture without compromise but
reaffirmed the need to be educated on how to achieve the ultimate
high-definition home entertainment experience beyond just owning an
HDTV.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

One they didn't mention for Australia/Europe was Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, due out in April here in Australia.

[akhenaten]

again...nothing for asia.....thats right...we do not exist...dont blame us for supporting piracy.

[Lars Vermundsberget]

"compelling interactive content such as
virtual games, full motion picture-in-picture and online shopping
capabilities" may not be that much of a selling point to me - although I guess I might eventually appreciate even better picture and sound quality.

[Escapay]

again...nothing for asia.....thats right...we do not exist...dont blame us for supporting piracy.

Last time I checked, Japan was part of Asia...

these all time
favorites have been revitalized to include exceptional high-definition
picture and sound quality and compelling interactive content such as
virtual games, full motion picture-in-picture and online shopping
capabilities via BD-Live broadband connection.

Wonderful. In the middle of Sleeping Beauty, I can choose to buy a new Maleficent Dragon plush toy or the latest in Princess Aurora's plastic jewelry!

Sleeping Beauty will be WDSHE's first Platinum Edition Blu-ray
Disc and will feature a Virtual Castle, utilizing the new BD-Live
technology, as well as the interactive game Maleficent's Challenge
which puts viewers face-to-face with one of Disney's greatest
villains. Sleeping Beauty Blu-ray Disc will also feature an all-new
enhanced home theater mix in 7.1 surround sound.

I seriously hope that Virtual Castle is something like the one for the art galleries on the DVD. Only better, of course. But if it turns out to be some Princess Puffy Piece where you can see what kind of dresses Aurora has in her wardrobe, or just how clean the throne room is, I'm gonna vomit.

Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo Blu-ray Disc will debut the first
Cine-Explore featuring full motion picture-in-picture (BonusView).
This interactive visual commentary with director Andrew Stanton,
co-writer Bob Peterson and co-director Lee Unkrich allows the viewer
to dive deeper into the making of Finding Nemo without ever leaving
the film.

I have a feeling they'll simply take the existing Visual Commentary on the present DVD, add video footage from the commentary session, retain the 30 minutes of featurettes that the film already branched to, and rename it "Cine-Explore".

Scapsta

[PeterPanfan]

Does anyone think Sleeping Beauty Blu-Ray will have more bonus features than the DVD?

I don't quite get the onlien shopping thing, while you're watching the movie you can choose to buy things..?

[Loomis]

again...nothing for asia.....thats right...we do not exist...dont blame us for supporting piracy.

Last time I checked, Japan was part of Asia...

Also, lest we not forget that Blu-ray only has three "Regions" for coding.

Europe/Australia falls under one region, for example, and India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Mainland China, Pakistan, Russia, Central, and South Asia all fall under Region C. Mind you, Japan, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia (along with the Americas) fall under A. So its a crazy mix.

[2099net]

Does anyone think Sleeping Beauty Blu-Ray will have more bonus features than the DVD?

I don't quite get the onlien shopping thing, while you're watching the movie you can choose to buy things..?

I doubt it will be like that. HD DVD already has (had? ) on-line shopping, but it was in a totally different menu option than when watching the film.

As for PiP I'll repeat what I have said elsewhere. Normally it is disappointing. But well constructed PiP content can be made and indeed has been on HD DVD. The problem is, PiP should not be like a "featurette" or like a commentary.

Ideally, PiP should be a full length documentary explaining the making of the film, with the PiP content being relevant to the scenes being shown in the main film. So far only Blood Diamond and Poseidon really do this. Some others have come close by not quite made it. The rest of the PiP content just seems too fragmented and doesn't flow logically from one part to another, which results in it being an "unsatisfying" experience when viewed.

Of course PiP can be used to show certain aspects of a film in a different light as well. Children of Men has a "propaganda" PiP feature which lets you view all the (made up) commercials and newspaper covers seen in the background of the film in more detail (which works very well), and Heroes does the same for the artwork and highlights each appearance of the "S-DNA" symbol as it appears on the screen, which also works very well.

So far, the only example of PiP content I've had on a Blu-ray disc is the cine-explorer on Cars. I have to say I've not viewed this all the way through, so there's a disclaimer. However, what I did see seemed to make the same mistake of many of the PiP tracks on HD DVD. In Cars case it throws too much stuff on screen, which overwhelms the viewer. It's a shame because although Cars can only show static images as its PiP content, it does so better than Heroes does with its artwork. The images are slightly bigger and never shown in part – always complete. If Cars' content wasn't so hyper-active I would rate it higher – even though it has no video PiP.

But, you know, PiP is a new technology and you can't expect content providers to get it right first time; or even the second, third or fourth time. It's obviously still in its infancy and people are still learning how best to use it. How long did it take for filmmakers to really get to grips with sound? I don't want anyone here to think I am being over critical. At least I'm not one of those people who instantly dismiss PiP.

PiP content on Sleeping Beauty and Finding Nemo does sound extremely cool. The design galleries I love so much on Disney DVDs will be ideal as static PiP windows – much like the Propaganda on Children of Men (perhaps while it is up, you could press enter to go to a relevant design gallery to see the image[s] in full 1080 screen detail). In addition, video footage can show storyboards, early renders, people discussing certain scenes or characterisations where you can actually see as well as hear their enthusiasm as they do so, and no doubt many more things that I can't even imagine.

All PiP needs, like a decent film or a decent book, is a decent editor who looks at the whole, bigger picture. Not just each specific 2 minute or so video featurette in isolation.

[akhenaten]

and last time i checked theres more than one country in asia..funny enough...most shops here imports HDDVD but have few on blu rays..even then..theyre imported ones..and r as expensive as imported dvds.....

so if other asian countries share the same coding as japan does this mean...

but hang on..what about language options? will there be more than 10 language options now for each region?

[2099net]

and last time i checked theres more than one country in asia..funny enough...most shops here imports HDDVD but have few on blu rays..even then..theyre imported ones..and r as expensive as imported dvds.....

so if other asian countries share the same coding as japan does this mean...

but hang on..what about language options? will there be more than 10 language options now for each region?

Warners Blu-ray Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Blu-ray disc has a bazillion languages on!

Actually it had these:

English PCM 5.1 Surround (48kHz/24-bit)
Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (640kbps)
Danish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (640kbps)
Dutch Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (640kbps)
German Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (640kbps)
Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (640kbps)
Swedish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (640kbps)
Flemmish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (640kbps)
Catalan Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (640kbps)
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (640kbps)
French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (640kbps)
Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (640kbps)

plus subtitles for

English SDH
Dutch Subtitles
Danish Subtitles
Finnish Subtitles
Norwegian Subtitles
Catalan Subtitles
Korean Subtitles
German Subtitles
Italian Subtitles
Swedish Subtitles
English Subtitles
French Subtitles
Spanish Subtitles
Korean Subtitles
Chinese Subtitles
Japanese Subtitles

So yes, a disc could have over 10 language options. In practice though, multiple releases will be made for different languages in the same region.

For example, there is at least two "Region B" releases of the Pirates of the Caribbean films available. One which majors on English, French and Spanish. One which majors on English, Italian and German. Both are "Region B" but different pressings related to the area in Europe that they are sold. And don't forget "Region B" covers the Middle East as well as all of Africa... so there's probably another one or two other pressings for each film out there too.

[Flanger-Hanger]

Wonderful. In the middle of Sleeping Beauty, I can choose to buy a new Maleficent Dragon plush toy or the latest in Princess Aurora's plastic jewelry!


Scapsta

Oh Scapsta, how did you know! I've always wanted one of those...oh your being sarcastic.

Anyway I guess the rumored Who Framed Roger Rabbit Blu-ray won't be released next year.

[Ariel'sprince]

Sounds nice i"m glad to see both Sleeping Beauty and Finding Nemo will get a Blu-Ray versions.

these all time
favorites have been revitalized to include exceptional high-definition
picture and sound quality and compelling interactive content such as
virtual games, full motion picture-in-picture and online shopping
capabilities via BD-Live broadband connection.

Wonderful. In the middle of Sleeping Beauty, I can choose to buy a new Maleficent Dragon plush toy or the latest in Princess Aurora's plastic jewelry!

.
Oh lovely! while i see the film i can even buy more things like Aurora's trash can (well,now seriously this is actually kinda fun,i can see the film *and* order the DS Sleeping Beauty while watching the film ).

Sleeping Beauty will be WDSHE's first Platinum Edition Blu-ray
Disc and will feature a Virtual Castle, utilizing the new BD-Live
technology, as well as the interactive game Maleficent's Challenge
which puts viewers face-to-face with one of Disney's greatest
villains. Sleeping Beauty Blu-ray Disc will also feature an all-new
enhanced home theater mix in 7.1 surround sound.

I seriously hope that Virtual Castle is something like the one for the art galleries on the DVD. Only better, of course. But if it turns out to be some Princess Puffy Piece where you can see what kind of dresses Aurora has in her wardrobe, or just how clean the throne room is, I'm gonna vomit.

Now i can know how to crack Aurora's vault! .

[Paka]

Dates and venues for the Blu-ray Tour have been posted.

*Yorkdale Shopping Center | Toronto, Canada | January 25-27
*Westfarms Mall | Farmington, CT | February 15-18
*Triangle Town Center | Raleigh, NC | February 22-24
*Cool Springs Galleria | Nashville, TN | February 28 - March 1
*North East Mall | Hurst, TX | March 7-9
*Flat Iron Crossing | Denver, CO | March 14-16
*UNITY 2008 Convention | Chicago, IL | July 23-27