Home Media Magazine - March 30 - April 5, 2008 - (Page 12)

HIGH-DEF www.homemediamagazine.com BD Penetration to Hit 30M by 2009 By Chris Tribbey RESEARCH By the end of this year nearly 30 million households worldwide will have a Blu-ray Disc player of some sort, according to a new report from Strategy Analytics. The London-based research firm predicts that by 2012, more than 132 million homes worldwide will be watching Blu-ray, with the PlayStation 3 being the dominate force only until 2009, at which point standalone player prices will have dropped enough to become dominant. “HD DVD’s withdrawal leaves the way open for Bluray to become a major revenue earner for technology vendors and content owners alike,” says Strategy Analytics analyst David Mercer. “The 265 million homes that will own an HDTV by 2012, and Hollywood’s need for a new growth engine, represent huge incentives for the industry to coordinate marketing activities and demonstrate unified support for the successor to DVD.” The report predicts nearly 19 million Blu-ray devices will be sold by the end of 2008, including 4 million standalone players. BRIEFS I TECHNICOLOR OPENS BD OPERATIONS IN INDIA Technicolor, a division of Thomson, is launching an authoring and compression operation for DVD and Blu-ray Disc to be housed in the parent’s animation and game design facility in Bangalore, India. – Erik Gruenwedel Disc is fast pulling in the lead in terms of number of titles on the market. A total of 454 Blu-ray titles have been released, with another 72 in the pipeline, according to The DVD Release Report. HD DVD, meanwhile, has 412 titles in the market and 23 planned, some of which sources say will never come to market. – Thomas K. Arnold Gangs of New York, July 1; and Sleeping Beauty, Oct. 7. – Thomas K. Arnold I FOX DEBUTS LOSSLESS AUDIO TRACK FOR ‘BATMAN’ 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment’s July 1 Blu-ray Disc release of Batman: The Movie (1966) will include an audio-only version of Nelson Riddle’s score. The track comes in 5.1 DTS lossless sound. – Chris Tribbey I STEP INTO [BLU] LIQUID Lionsgate June 24 releases big wave classic Step Into Liquid on Blu-ray for $29.99. Footage includes surfers Kelly Slater, Laird Hamilton and Taj Burrows. Extras include audio and video commentaries, deleted scenes, outtakes, behind-the-scenes, surf lessons and featurettes. – Erik Gruenwedel I DISNEY SLATES MORE BDS Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has announced an ambitious slate of Blu-ray Disc releases. National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets arrives May 20, the same day as the DVD. Also arriving in stores that day is a Blu-ray Disc version of National Treasure. The latest wave of BD releases kicks off April 1 with Hidalgo, Coyote Ugly and Unbreakable. Also in the pipeline: The Recruit and Signs, June 3; I DIGITAL PLAYGROUND Digital Playground April 4 for the ﬁrst time will bow new adult ﬁlm Cheerleaders as a Blu-ray Disc and standard DVD combo release at $49.95. The company envisions Blu-ray expanding the market for adult packaged media. – Erik Gruenwedel I BLU-RAY PULLING AHEAD Now that the format war is over, Blu-ray Blackbeard H IG H -D EF COMING UP STREETING Blackbeard Blu-ray Echo Bridge Street Date: 4/1 Category 7: The End of Blu-ray Echo Bridge Street Date: 4/1 Coyote Ugly Blu-ray Disney/Touchstone Street Date: 4/1 Hidalgo Blu-ray Disney/Touchstone Street Date: 4/1 The Last Sentinel Blu-ray Echo Bridge Street Date: 4/1 PREBOOKING P.S. I Love You Warner First Sunday Sony Pictures Blu-ray Pre: 4/1, Street: 5/6 Blu-ray Pre: 4/3, Street: 5/6 I Am Legend TOP 10 HIGH-DEF SELLERS HI GH- DE F S E L L E RS Week ended March 23, 2008 FORMAT LABEL INDEX TITLE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 I Am Legend Enchanted No Country for Old Men Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End Ratatouille 300 Casino Royale Live Free or Die Hard 3:10 to Yuma Hitman Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Warner 100.00 Disney 23.75 Disney/Miramax 15.33 Disney 9.23 Disney 7.78 Warner 7.73 Sony Pictures 7.62 Fox 7.20 Lionsgate 7.10 Fox 6.42 Source: Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data 12 Home Media Magazine March 30–April 5, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.indicanpictures.com

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Home Media Magazine - March 30-April 5, 2008 Contents News Commentary TV DVD Reviews Pipeline Top 20 DVD Sellers Research Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced

Home Media Magazine - March 30 - April 5, 2008

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