Studios to Kick HD DVD Exclusive Content Into High Gear
Posted Wed Aug 9, 2006 at 12:30 AM PDT by
Hoping to further boost fourth quarter HD DVD disc sales, the studios
will be turbocharging their biggest holiday HD DVD releases, including 'Mission: Impossible III,' with bonus
content exclusive to the high-def format.
Executives from HD DVD-supporting studios Warner, Paramount and Universal unveiled
key features of their upcoming late-2006 releases during the Entertainment Media
Expo that began Monday in Universal City, California.
Though no exact street date has yet been announced, Paramount stated that the cornerstone
title of the studio's 4Q HD DVD efforts will be the Tom Cruise action flick, 'Mission:
Impossible III.' Alex Carloss, Paramount vp of worldwide marketing and entertainment,
revealed that all of the disc's bonus content was shot in high-def during production,
and that the release would also include an exclusive "picture-in-picture
video commentary" featuring the participation of director J.J. Abrams.
Also on display from Universal were some of the unique bonus materials
exclusive to the September 26 HD DVD release of '
The
Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift' which studio representatives showed off during an invite-only "interactivity
session" on Tuesday. While watching the movie, viewers will be able to access a special
"GPS Navigational Option" to interact with the vehicles that appear
onscreen, and even calculate in real-time the "dollar amount of damage"
for each car crash.
Warner, too, plans to add exclusive material to many of its top upcoming
titles. The studio's lauded "In-Movie Experience" video commentary
feature, currently seen on such HD DVD releases as '
Constantine'
and '
The Dukes
of Hazzard,' will also appear on '
Poseidon,'
due on December 5, and in the upcoming 'Terminator 3: Rise of the
Machines,' and 'Batman Begins' (release dates not yet announced).