Posted Thu Aug 9, 2007 at 04:55 AM PDT by
Responding to persistent questions from early adopters on both sides of the aisle, Warner has provided further details on the exact configuration of its upcoming high-def 'Blade Runner' releases.
As officially announced late last month, Warner Home Entertainment will at last be debuting the definitive 'Blade Runner' in two editions apiece on Blu-ray and HD DVD. Set to street on December 18 are 'Blade Runner: The Complete Collector's Edition' and the even more elaborately-packaged 'Blade Runner: The Ultimate Collector's Edition,' each a five-disc set boasting several different versions of the film and hours of newly-produced bonus content.
Since that announcement, speculation has run rampant over just how much of the material on these mammoth sets would be presented in full high-definition. (Warner famously released the HD DVD edition of 'The Ultimate Matrix Collection' last May with the final two discs presented in standard-def, a fact that wasn't revealed until just days before that disc's release.)
This time around, the studio apparently going the full disclosure route, revealing to Bill Hunt at The Digital Bits that while all five versions of the film included on the next-gen releases are being mastered in actual 1080p video, all of supplementary materials (including the new documentary "Dangerous Days," and the deleted scenes) will be presented in 480p standard definition only.
According to Hunt, Warner says the reason for this has nothing to do with disc space on either format, but rather the compressed time schedule in which the various extras are being produced.
Warner has set a $39.95 list price for the five-disc 'Complete Collector's Edition' of 'Blade Runner,' while the deluxe 'Ultimate Collector's Edition' (featuring the same disc configurations but with special "Deckard Briefcase" packaging and other collectibles) will list for $99.95.
We've added these latest details to our disc details pages for each of the four next-gen editions of 'Blade Runner', which you'll linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule and our HD DVD Release Schedule, under December 18.
You can also discuss the various editions of 'Blade Runner' in our Forums area -- click the following links to visit our dedicated threads for the 'Blade Runner' Blu-ray releases or the 'Blade Runner' HD DVD releases.
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