Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - (Page 7) www.homemediamagazine.com HIGH-DEF THREE DISNEY CATALOG MOVIES HEAD TO BLU-RAY DISC By Kyra Kudick Sony Announces New BD Players By Chris Tribbey ony has announced its latest line-up of standalone Blu-ray Disc players, one featuring wireless capabilities for BD Live content and firmware updates. Shipping this summer, the BDPS560 comes with a price tag of $350, includes a front USB port, upscales standard-definition DVDs, and handles 7.1 Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio and DTS-HD Master Audio. Both it and the BDP-S360 ($300) support Deep Color video output, and handle BDMV, BDAV and JPEG video formats. “The demands of today’s home S BDP-S560 HT-SS360 theater go beyond pristine picture quality, and our new Blu-ray Disc product line offers a breadth of technologies that deliver an amazing entertainment experience,” said Chris Fawcett, VP of marketing for Sony Electronics’ home product division. “Consumers don’t want a living room cluttered with wires, and the new Blu- ray Disc product lineup breaks down the wired barriers of the past.” Sony has also announced a new A/V receiver system — the HT-SS360 — for $350, and two new 5.1 home theater systems, the BDV-E300 ($600) and BDV-E500W ($800), both coming in June. HDTV Prices Up 10% By Chris Tribbey or the first time since May 2008, the average selling price of an HDTV went up, according to data from Retrevo CE Index, which tracks more than 4,000 consumer electronics products across 40 categories. “As the economy and consumer spending weakened, manufacturers and retailers were offering steep discounts during the holidays and leading up to the Super Bowl — both important seasons F for HDTV sales,” said Retrevo CEO Vipin Jain. “The bankruptcy and liquidation of Circuit City may have also played a factor in keeping prices down.” Selling prices had been down 35% from summer 2008 before shooting up 10% in February, a jump due to merchants returning to running their businesses at more sustainable price levels, according to Jain. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment June 16 (prebook April 21) releases three renowned catalog titles on Blu-ray Disc — Sling Blade, Miracle and The Greatest Game Ever Played — at $34.99 each. The critically acclaimed Sling Blade garnered writer, director and actor Billy Bob Thornton Oscar recognition in 1997. He was nominated for best actor, and took home the Oscar for best screenplay based on material from Miracle another medium. The film is about a mentally handicapped man who is released from an institution because he is believed to be harmless, despite having killed his mother and her lover years before. All is well until he finds himself in a situation reminiscent of his past. The Blu-ray Disc features include audio commentary with Thornton; a profile of Thornton; a roundtable discussion with Thornton, Dwight Yoakam, Mickey Jones and producer David Bushell; the featurettes “Mr. Thornton Goes to Hollywood”; “A Conversation with Billy Bob Thornton and Robert Duvall”; and more. PRODUCT Miracle, starring Kurt Russell, is based on the true story of the U.S. Olympic Hockey team’s defeat of Russia at the 1980 Winter Games. The film was nominated for best family film at the 2005 Critics Choice Awards. Blu-ray features include audio commentary with director Gavin O’Connor, director of photography Dan Stoloff and editor John Gilroy; a Miracle ESPN roundtable with Linda Cohn; outtakes; and the featurettes “The Making of Miracle,” “From Hockey to Hollywood: The Actors’ Journeys,” “The Sound of Miracle” and “First Impressions: Herb Brooks with Kurt Russell and the Filmmakers.” The Greatest Game Ever Played, directed by Bill Paxton, is a golf drama based on the book by Mark Frost depicting the events of the 1913 U.S. Open, in which a 20-year-old beats his golf idol. Bonus features include audio commentaries with Paxton and Frost, and the featurettes “A View From the Gallery: On the Set of The Greatest Game Ever Played,” “Two Legends and the Greatest Game” and “From Caddie to Champion: Francis Ouimet.” Amazon Bundles Football BDs With Player By Billy Gil mazon.com is offering a free copy of NFL Super Bowl XLIII Champions: The Pittsburgh Steelers plus a choice of select Blu-ray Discs of football movies with A the purchase of a Samsung BDP1500 Blu-ray player at $249.99. Customers must place the player, the Super Bowl disc and an eligible Blu-ray title into their cart in order for the promotion to work. The selec- tion includes Gridiron Gang, Any Given Sunday, Rudy, The Game Plan, Jerry Maguire, Remember the Titans, We Are Marshall, Leatherheads, Invincible, Friday Night Lights and The Longshots. Removal of any product from the Amazon shopping cart, before or after purchase, will result in deduction of the discount. The promotion lasts from 12 a.m. PST March 5 to 11:59 p.m. PDT March 11. TOP 20 HIGH-DEF BLU -R A Y D ISC Week ended March 1, 2009 LABEL INDEX* TOP 20 HIGH-DEF B D TITL E S HA R E Percentage of Sales Per Title vs DVD* Week ended March 1, 2009 LABEL PERCENT TITLE TITLE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Iron Man Body of Lies The Dark Knight Wall-E High School Musical 3: Senior Year Transformers Eagle Eye Tropic Thunder Akira Underworld: Evolution Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder Quarantine Sex Drive Cars 300 Changeling Top Gun Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the … Wanted *Units sold compared to No. 1 title Paramount/DW Paramount Warner Warner Disney Disney Paramount/DW Paramount/DW Paramount/DW Bandai Sony Pictures Fox Sony Pictures Universal Disney Warner Universal Paramount Paramount Universal 100.00 94.95 71.52 70.02 68.10 55.30 54.42 45.40 35.06 35.03 32.32 31.57 31.21 29.46 29.23 28.89 27.56 25.97 22.81 21.34 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Iron Man Eagle Eye Tropic Thunder Underworld: Evolution 300 Wanted Miracle at St. Anna Body of Lies Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the … Max Payne Zack and Miri Make a Porno Quarantine Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Sex Drive Pineapple Express Step Brothers I Am Legend Juno Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder Changeling Paramount Paramount/DW Paramount/DW Sony Pictures Warner Universal Disney/Touchstone Warner Paramount Fox Genius/Weinstein Sony Pictures Paramount/DW Universal Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Warner Fox Fox Universal 54.15% 45.98% 37.33% 35.31% 31.41% 21.83% 19.04% 17.59% 17.12% 16.30% 14.76% 13.41% 12.87% 12.59% 12.26% 10.34% 10.23% 10.16% 9.70% 8.47% B LU - R AY D I S C COMING UP STREETING Batman Anthology Warner Street Date: 3/10 Let the Right One In Magnolia Street Date: 3/10 Milk Universal Street Date: 3/10 Pinocchio: Platinum Edition Disney Street Date: 3/10 Rachel Getting Married Sony Pictures Street Date: 3/10 South Park: Season 12 Para./Comedy Central Street Date: 3/10 Transporter 3 Lionsgate Street Date: 3/10 Source: Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data *DVD & Blu-ray versions released concurrently Source: Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data March 9–15, 2009 Home Media Magazine 7 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.amazon.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 Contents News Cine Mercado Reviews Research Top 20 Sellers Top 20 Rentals Just Announced Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 (Page Cover1) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 (Page Cover2) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 (Page 1) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 (Page 2) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 (Page 3) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 (Page 4) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - Contents (Page 5) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - News (Page 6) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - News (Page 7) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - News (Page 8) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - News (Page 9) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - Cine Mercado (Page 10) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - Cine Mercado (Page 11) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - Reviews (Page 12) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - Reviews (Page 13) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - Reviews (Page 14) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - Reviews (Page 15) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - Top 20 Rentals (Page 16) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - Top 20 Rentals (Page 17) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - Top 20 Rentals (Page 18) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - Just Announced (Page 19) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - Just Announced (Page 20) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - Just Announced (Page Cover3) Home Media Magazine - March 9, 2009 - Just Announced (Page Cover4)
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.