Home Media Magazine - September 16-22, 2007 - (Page 12)

HIGH-DEF BRIEFS I FCC IMPOSES CABLE RULE The Federal Communications Commission adopted new rules that will ensure analog TV cable subscribers can watch all broadcast stations following the Feb. 17, 2009, transition to digital TV. The FCC reports roughly 35% of American households are analog-only cable subscribers. The rules, which extend to February 2012, will require cable operators to make local broadcasters’ programming viewable by every subscriber. – Chris Tribbey www.homemediamagazine.com Anchor Bay, Tartan Try on Blu Indies are bowing titles for the first time in the Blu-ray Disc high-definition format By Billy Gil wo independent distributors — Tartan Video USA and Starz Home Entertainment’s Anchor Bay Entertainment — are plunging into the growing pool of studios releasing Blu-ray Discs. Oct. 2, horror purveyor Anchor Bay releases John Carpenter’s Halloween, George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, and Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead II, as well as volumes one and two of the “Masters of Horror” series. All titles are $29.97 each. All releases include Anchor Bay Blu-ray previews, presented in high-definition. The single films (apart from “Masters of Horror”) include the special feature “Fast Film Facts,” exclusive to the Blu-ray releases. Starz Home Entertainment president Bill Clark announced the upcoming release of “Masters of Horror” on Blu-ray in June, during the sixth annual Home Entertainment Summit: DVD & Beyond in Century City, Calif. Additionally, Tartan Video USA will enter the Blu-ray arena with a Blu-ray Disc/DVD combo release of the cult classic Oldboy Nov. 6 (prebook Sept. 25). Oldboy is Tartan’s first official U.S. Blu-ray Disc announcement. Tartan U.K. also is releasing Black Book and The Seventh Seal on Blu-ray Disc, in addition to Oldboy. “To go with Blu-ray was a no-brainer for Tartan,” said Hamish McAlpine, founder and owner of Tartan Video, calling the format “superior to HD DVD.” ‘Spider-Man 3’ a BD Double Disc By Erik Gruenwedel he multi-platform Oct. 30 release of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s SpiderMan 3 promises to deliver for the first time a two-disc Blu-ray set and bonus material in 1080p high-definition resolution. The studio is marketing the titles with several national consumer brands, including Papa John’s Pizza, Pringles, Jolly Time, Nutella and MSN. As previously reported, Sony will release Spider-Man 3 as a single-disc standard DVD ($27.99), a two-disc special-edition DVD ($36.95), a UMD ($28.97), a DVD three-pack with Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, a two-disc Blu-ray Disc edition ($49.95) and the “Spider-Man HighDefinition Trilogy” with all three films on Blu-ray for $98.95. Spider-Man 3 grossed more than $888 million worldwide theatrically, setting records for biggest three-day total in box-office history ($151 million), biggest single day gross ($59.8 See SPIDER-MAN 3, Page 28 T T I SONY TO OFFER BLU-RAY RECORDERS IN JAPAN Sony Electronics has lined up four new Blu-ray Disc recorders for the Japanese market, for sale beginning Nov. 8. The high-end model, the BDZX90, has a 500GB hard drive, and will retail at the equivalent of about $1,758. The BDZ-T50 has a 250GB hard drive, and will run about $1,582; the BDZ-T70 ($1,406) and the BDZ-T50 ( $1,230) both offer 320GB drives. – Chris Tribbey I EUROPEAN BLU-RAY DISC PRODUCTION GETS BOOST Blu-ray in Europe got a lift last week when French disc replication company Quantum Optical Laboratories (QOL) became the second EU company to order a Blue-Line replication system from German manufacturer Singulus Technologies. – Erik Gruenwedel The Korean-language film, the second in director Chanwoo Park’s “Vengeance Trilogy,” was touted by director Quentin Tarantino at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize. For $34.95, consumers get the Blu-ray Disc, which has three commentaries and deleted scenes (standard definition) with optional commentary, as well as the standard-definition DVD, which has five behind-the-scenes featurettes, cast and crew interviews, and the featurette “Le Grand Prix at Cannes.” Oldboy previously was available in a singledisc DVD release and a three-disc specialedition release in a collectible tin that included more featurettes (the third disc’s material is still available only on that limited-edition release). Tony Borg, president of Tartan Video USA, said the distributor may release more copies of the special edition of Oldboy in first-quarter 2008. That’s around the time it plans to release the third film in the “Vengeance Trilogy,” Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, in a special-edition DVD. Borg said the first film in the series, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, also will likely get the special-edition DVD treatment. Borg said the company was “going to see what happens” with Oldboy before determining future Blu-ray releases. “Oldboy is probably the highest-profile film for Tartan USA,” Borg said. “It’ll be really exciting to see how it does through the holidays.” TOP 10 HIGH-DEF SELLERS TOP 10 HIGH-DEF SELLERS H I G H-D E F S E LLE R S Week ended September 9, 2007 TITLE FORMAT LABEL INDEX H I G H-D E F S E LLE R S Aggregate by Title Week ended September 9, 2007 TITLE FORMAT LABEL INDEX The Condemned H I G H-D E F TH I S WE E K STREETING THIS WEEK The Condemned Blu-ray Lionsgate Street Date: 9/18 For Love of the Game HD DVD Universal Street Date: 9/18 House of 1,000 Corpses Blu-ray Lionsgate Street Date: 9/18 The Last Starfighter HD DVD Universal Street Date: 9/18 Smallville: Season 6 BD & HD DVD Warner Street Date: 9/18 Troy: Director’s Cut BD & HD DVD Warner Street Date: 9/18 Viva Las Vegas BD & HD DVD Warner Street Date: 9/18 We Are Marshall BD & HD DVD Warner Street Date: 9/18 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 300 300 Heroes: Season 1 Blades of Glory Casino Royale Planet Earth: The Complete Series Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s … Wild Hogs Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse … Planet Earth: The Complete Series Source: Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data Blu-ray HD DVD/DVD HD DVD HD DVD Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray HD DVD Warner Warner Universal Para./DreamWorks Sony Pictures BBC Video Disney Dis./Touchstone Disney BBC Video 100.00 70.92 46.32 37.20 34.09 29.26 28.58 25.68 25.66 25.17 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 300 Planet Earth: The Complete Series Heroes: Season 1 Blades of Glory The Departed Casino Royale Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead … Wild Hogs Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse … Blood Diamond Source: Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data BD; HD DVD/DVD BD; HD DVD HD DVD HD DVD BD; HD DVD/DVD Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray Blu-ray BD; HD DVD Warner 100.00 BBC Video 31.85 Universal 27.10 Para./DreamWorks 21.76 Warner 20.21 Sony Pictures 19.94 Disney 16.72 Dis./Touchstone 15.02 Disney 15.01 Warner 14.33 TOP 5 HIGH-DEF B LU-R AY D I S C Week ended September 9, 2007 LABEL INDEX TOP 5 HIGH-DEF H D DVD Week ended September 9, 2007 LABEL INDEX TITLE TITLE 1 2 3 4 5 300 Casino Royale Planet Earth: The Complete Series Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest Wild Hogs Warner Sony Pictures BBC Video Disney Dis./Touchstone 100.00 34.09 29.26 28.58 25.68 1 2 3 4 5 300 Heroes: Season 1 Blades of Glory Planet Earth: The Complete Series Batman Begins Warner Universal Para./DreamWorks BBC Video Warner 100.00 65.31 52.45 35.50 29.57 Source: Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data Source: Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data 12 Home Media Magazine September 16–22, 2007 http://www.homemediamagazine.com

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Contents News Commentary TV DVD Reviews Pipeline Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced Christian Entertainment Review

Home Media Magazine - September 16-22, 2007

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