A banner year for Blu-ray, to be sure, with a 100% drop in the most important stat of all, there in yellow. All this according to “Sony Figures.” They just can’t help themselves.
I was fortunate enough to see an advanced screening of Tropic Thunder last night, and it was fantastic. The one thing that really stood out for me though was that Writer/Director/Actor Ben Stiller must be a Gizmodo fan – there were gadget references everywhere.
Without spoiling too much, let’s just say that TiVo plays a big part, as do satellite phones and private jets. Plus there’s a rather lengthy explanation on why Blu-ray won the format war (yep – porn and the PS3), which you wouldn’t normally associate with a movie set in a jungle.
Definitely worth checking out when it launches next week.
HD DVD was declared dead a long time ago, and the last film to be released to the US on the format will hit (roughly three to five) shelves tomorrow. Disco Pigs was originally released in 2001 and very appropriately stars Cillian Murphy and Elaine Cassidy as friends who were born in the same hospital, at the same time, and who grew up next to one another. Unfortunately, as they reach adulthood it is apparent that their relationship has become dangerously volatile. It doesn’t end well. (Spoiler alert: Cillian Murphy’s character is the HD DVD.) [Crave]
Poor Toshiba’s still not quite over the HD DVD defeat earlier this year, as evidenced by its president saying that they will “not market DVD players that are compatible with Blu-ray,” instead opting for upconverting DVD players to bide their time before Blu-ray becomes so prevalent that the company has no choice.
Well, Michael Bay will be a happy man today, if the rumours are true – TVshowsonDVD.com are reporting that Paramount has given Transformers a release date on the Blu-ray format.
The projected street date is September 2nd, although that is for the US. The movie is scheduled to be released in a 2-disc pack, just like the HD DVD release, although details are fairly short on the ground.
Watching Transformers on HD DVD really made the format worthwhile for me – it’s why I haven’t ditched my HD DVD player. What about you guys? You likely to pick up the Blu-ray version of this?
[TVshowsonDVD.com via Blu-ray.com]
LG will stop swinging both ways with HD formats this spring, when it ceases production on its Blu-ray/HD DVD combo player. (Samsung’s is already dead.) I’m just kind of amazed an already dead format manages to keep getting deader. [DVD Town]
You guys have apparently been listening to our warnings about not jumping into the Blu pool just yet. NPD says that even after HD DVD stopping peeing in it and lied down to die, not only have Blu-ray sales have only jumped a meager two percent (after falling 40 percent from Jan.), but they’re so bad, they won’t even release the actual numbers. NPD pegs price as one major factor, with the wait for BD-Live players as another. Course, it’s more likely the deeply feared DVD problem: For most people, it’s still good enough. [Yahoo, NYT]
“Toshiba Corp. said its profit plummeted 95 percent in the January-March quarter due to costs of its exit from next-generation video HD DVD business.” US$12 million profit, down from US$251.57 million last year. Ouchies. [AP]
Don’t want to flog a dead horse, but if you’re one of the few people buying up HD DVDs on the cheap, EzyDVD is selling movies cheaper than you can buy them on DVD. It’s an exclusive offer for people who already bought bargain HD DVDs from them, but I don’t think it will matter. It’s also limited to 24 hours before it goes public, so get in early.
[EzyDVD]
Game Daily had a chat with Microsoft Game Studios VP Shane Kim about the Xbox 360, and one of the topics that came up was the defunct (but cheap!) HD DVD player, which you might still be tempted to eBay for US$1.25. But you shouldn’t! Kim effuses sentimentally about why you should hang it onto it, which is odd considering how nonchalantly other Microsoft execs have been brushing it off:
