Warner to Support High-Def DVD with Day-and-Date Catalog Releases
Posted Wed Feb 1, 2006 at 05:59 AM PST by
Warner has officially become the first studio to aggressively
push catalog titles on high-def DVD. At a press event held in Los
Angeles yesterday afternoon, the studio announced that they plan to release
over two hundred catalog titles in 2006 (up from 181 in 2005, and a record
for the studio), and that they will issue a key number of those titles
on HD-DVD, day-and-date with their standard DVD counterparts. The studio
also reiterated their pledge to support Blu-Ray when that format launches
later this year.
Although Warner made no announcements of what supplementary content, if
any, will be included on its initial high-def DVD offerings, it did give
tantalizing hints at the studio's overall gameplan. “Some high-def
titles will have features not available in standard DVD, but not all of
them,” said Warner senior VP and general manager of theatrical catalog,
Jeff Baker. “Some [standard DVD bonus features] will carry over
[to the HD DVD editions]. And some [HD DVD versions] will add material
from [initial releases].”
A sampling of the initial titles Warner announced for HD-DVD include a
two-disc double dip of the John Wayne classic 'The Searchers,' the Stanley
Kubrick faves '2001,' 'The Shining,' 'Clockwork Orange' and an unrated
'Eyes Wide Shut,' and the 14-disc 'Superman: Ultimate Collector's Edition,'
which reportedly will include the new extended cut of 'Superman II' director
Richard Donner revealed in an interview yesterday. Blu-Ray announcements
will be forthcoming with the official launch of that format.