Published in News

Universal starts talking Blu-ray

by on18 April 2008

Image

Gives the initial run-down on what to expect

The moment that a lot of people have been waiting for finally happened today, with long-time and staunch HD DVD supporter Universal Studios Home Entertainment finally announcing its initial Blu-ray launch. Universal had previously announced that they would be supporting Blu-ray moving forward like everyone else in the industry, but exact details had been a bit sketchy up to this point.

The lineup for the summer of 2008 will include a mix of some interesting choices as well as some new releases. The new releases will start to flow on Blu-ray from Universal starting August 26th with the Blu-ray release of “Heroes: Season Two,” which will be the first release on Blu-ray from Universal. Season One of Heroes will also be released on Blu-ray later in time for the holiday season.

The first batch of catalog titles will be launched on July 22nd with the Blu-ray release of all of the Mummy movies including The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, and The Scorpion King. All three Mummy titles had been previously released on HD DVD.

Universal also announced the following titles for release on Blu-ray, including The Incredible Hulk, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Mamma Mia! and Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. This will lead the first batch of new releases bound for Blu-ray.

Upcoming Blu-ray Universal catalog titles that are currently planned for release before the end of the year include: DOOMSDAY, American Gangster, Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Miami Vice, End of Days, U-571 and Land of the Dead. While exact release dates were not announced for these titles, they are on track to be released before the end of the year on Blu-ray. All of them were previously released on HD DVD, as well.

Those hoping for new HD transfers for the Blu-ray titles may be disappointed to find out that Universal will be using the same HD transfer that it used on the HD DVD releases in most cases. One interesting note is, however, that at least some of the back catalog titles that were previously released on HD DVD may not make it to Blu-ray right away, as they may go back and do some new transfers for several titles or add some new features; in fact we hear whispers that some of the poor sellers on HD DVD may not make it to Blu-ray for some time.

Last modified on 18 April 2008
Rate this item
(0 votes)