Universal Pictures announced at the HD DVD press conference in Las Vegas Wednesday that it will be releasing 10 titles on HD DVD to kick off the new high-definition format this spring, and guess which big damn movie is included? They will continue to release more movies throughout 2006.
“The launch of HD DVD marks a new era in the evolution of home entertainment,” said Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment. “With its superior image quality, greater storage capacity and unparalleled movie offerings, the format promises to exceed consumers’ highest expectations and deliver the ultimate experience in visual entertainment.”
The first releases include: “Jarhead,” “Doom,” “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Cinderella Man,” “The Bourne Supremacy,” “The Chronicles of Riddick,” “U-571,” “Van Helsing,” “Apollo 13,” and “Serenity,” which makes for an interesting mix, indeed.
HD-DVD is a high-definition DVD format currently being touted as the next big thing, although other studios and companies are backing the Blu-Ray format. Regular DVD players will not play these discs, do not buy unless you’re planning on buying a HD-DVD player as well.
While it remains to be seen what sort of sales early HD-DVDs will have since a definitive format hasn’t yet won out in the marketplace, the fact that Universal chose Serenity to be one of the first shows great support of the movie and a rather flattering opinion of the Browncoats, or at least of the Browncoats’ purchasing power.
Amazon already has a page for the Serenity HD edition (no cover pic yet). No firm release date, it’s listed for March. Add it to your wish list and let them know you’re interested!
Looks like we are going to need a lot of money to watch this – HD player, HD telly and the disc. Wonder what price the discs will be!