Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - (Page hghd4) fourth-quarter blowout Blu-ray Big in Q4 The home entertainment industry has its eyes on the fourth quarter, when it expects Blu-ray to make a big splash By Erik Gruenwedel lu-ray Disc is about to emerge from under the shadow of DVD in a big way. The next-generation packaged-media format in the fourth quarter will grab top billing on a cavalcade of new releases, as studios aggressively market Blu-ray beyond early adopters. Make no mistake: The target has shifted to the lucrative mainstream consumer. Blu-ray enters the holidays for the first time without competition from rival format HD DVD. Backed by a strong supply of standalone players at retail, including Sony’s PlayStation 3 game console, studios have earmarked an impressive slate of new-release titles and popular catalog fare — many stocked for the first time with BD-exclusive content, including Internet conduit BD Live. Tom Adams, president of Adams Media Research in Carmel, Calif., said studios are being more aggressive with software support, including day-and-date new releases and catalog titles, than they were with DVD due to lessons learned ascertaining how crucial high-profile content can be for driving software and B hardware adoption. “With about 8 million BD discs sold to consumers in the first half of 2008, we expect continued growth in BD player homes, including PS3, leading to more than 25 million discs being sold in the second half — the majority of that happening in the fourth quarter,” he said. The fourth-quarter disc derby is officially off and running, with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment slotting Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! for a Dec. 9 DVD and Blu-ray release — the first major theatrical film to get an official Q4 release date. At least 18 theatrical features that grossed at least $25 million in theaters are slated for Blu-ray (and DVD) releases in the fourth quarter, a period in which studios typically realize as much as 40% of their total annual home entertainment revenue. And high-profile catalog titles also are on the way, ranging from the Walt Disney classic Sleeping Beauty to Paramount Home Entertainment’s “Godfather” trilogy, slated for a Blu-ray debut Sept. 23. What’s billed as The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration Collection is coming to stores just two years after the Blu-ray Disc format launched. That’s twice as fast as it took Paramount to release the three seminal gangster classics on DVD. The four-disc BD release includes five documentaries (also presented in highdef), a “Godfather” family tree, crime organization chart and four short films on the trilogy. DreamWorks Animation SKG, whose CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg heretofore dismissed Blu-ray as a niche format, said the studio’s summer hit Kung-Fu Panda will street on Blu-ray in the fourth quarter. A mid-September Blu-ray debut for Shrek the Third is in the works as well. “We are making our product available and will aggressively promote and market our product on the Blu-ray format,” Katzenberg said in a recent financial call. Peter Chernin, president of News Corp., parent to 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, among other properties, said Blu-ray is already ahead of standard DVD comparatively in terms of adoption at this point in its life cycle, with sales of more than $200 million year-to-date through June, up about 300% from the same period in 2007. 4 HOLLYWOOD goes HIGH-DEF September 2008
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 Fourth-Quarter Blowout Industry Roundtable High-Def Data Tables Blu-Ray Disc Listings Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 (Page hghd_c1) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 (Page hghd_c2) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 (Page hghd1) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 (Page hghd2) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 (Page hghd3) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - Fourth-Quarter Blowout (Page hghd4) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - Fourth-Quarter Blowout (Page hghd5) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - Fourth-Quarter Blowout (Page hghd6) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - Fourth-Quarter Blowout (Page hghd7) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - Fourth-Quarter Blowout (Page hghd8) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - Fourth-Quarter Blowout (Page hghd9) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - Fourth-Quarter Blowout (Page hghd10) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - Fourth-Quarter Blowout (Page hghd11) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - Industry Roundtable (Page hghd12) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - Industry Roundtable (Page hghd13) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - High-Def Data Tables (Page hghd14) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - High-Def Data Tables (Page hghd15) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - High-Def Data Tables (Page hghd16) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - High-Def Data Tables (Page hghd17) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - Blu-Ray Disc Listings (Page hghd18) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - Blu-Ray Disc Listings (Page hghd19) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - Blu-Ray Disc Listings (Page hghd20) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - Blu-Ray Disc Listings (Page hghd_c3) Home Media Magazine - Hollywood Goes High-Def - September 2008 - Blu-Ray Disc Listings (Page hghd_c4)
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