Posted Tue Feb 27, 2007 at 09:01 PM PST by
Execs from Warner Home Entertainment held court in a live online chat at the Home Theater Forum Monday night, where they dished out some tasty tidbits on what we can expect on Blu-ray and HD DVD in 2007.
Among the highly-requested classics in the studio's vault that will see next-gen release in 2007 are a quartet of faves -- 'L.A. Confidential,' 'Deliverance,' 'Poltergeist' and, in its first-ever release on disc, Kenneth Branagh's 1996 interpretation of 'Hamlet.' Each is slated to receive the two-disc special edition treatment on standard-def DVD, with a comparable, simultaneous release on both Blu-ray and HD DVD:
Due to debut on high-def in 2008 are Michael Mann's 'Heat' and the classic 'The Music Man.'
Other exciting news includes confirmation of the long-awaited collection of Stanley Kubrick titles originally expected in 2006, plus an assurance by the studio that the highly anticipated deluxe set of 'Blade Runner' coming later this year will see comparable extras on all formats (unlike the recent 'Superman' and 'Superman II' Blu-ray and HD DVD editions, which did not include all the various permutations as the standard-def releases).
The studio reps also reiterated Warner's commitment to bring all previously released HD DVD-only titles to Blu-ray in the coming year, though no actual street dates were given.
A full transcript of the discussion can be found here at Home Theater Forum.
We'll certainly keep you posted on all future Warner next-gen titles as they are officially announced. We've also updated the "Release Dates Pending" section of both our HD DVD Release Schedule and Blu-ray Release Schedule with all of the new titles mentioned in the chat.
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