Universal's HD-DVD slate for the year

[Jack Torrance]

from the digital bits:

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/rumormill.html#030107


Our industry sources have checked in with some MAJOR release info today.

First, a bit of BVHE news: Sources are telling us to expect Buena Vista to release Mel Gibson's Apocalypto (for Touchstone) and Venus (for Miramax - the Peter O'Toole film) on 5/22.

Meanwhile, Sony Pictures is expected to debut both Catch and Release and Stomp the Yard on disc in May (exact street date TBA).

Now for that Universal news. Let's start with HD-DVD. Specific dates are still TBA, but here's what the studio is prepping for high-definition over the summer (most of the April and May titles are already confirmed):

April - The Good Shepherd, Smokin' Aces, The Game, The Jerk, The Hitcher, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Nutty Professor

May - Alpha Dog, The 40-Year-Old Virgin: Unrated, Smokey and the Bandit, Hurricane, Skeleton Key, The River, Midnight Run, The Frighteners, The Big Lebowski, Dragonheart, Lost in Translation

June - Breach, Bruce Almighty, Liar Liar, Sneakers, Born on the 4th of July, Scent of a Women, Daylight, Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, Meet Joe Black, Mallrats, Being John Malkovich, Mystery Men, American Me, The Watcher, Bulletproof

July - Billy Madison, The War, The Wedding Date, Dante's Peak, Cat in the Hat, Dead Silence, The Bourne Identity, The Nutty Professor 2, In Good Company, Streets of Fire, Hot Fuzz, Sea of Love, Darkman, Shaun of the Dead, Deliver Us from Eva

August - Heroes: Season One

September - The Last Starfighter, Legend, Battlestar Galactica: Season One, For the Love of the Game, Knocked Up, Evening, The Getaway: Unrated, Patch Adams, Cat People[/B][/B]

As of now, all the above titles are HD-DVD only, but we've learned that there's some "executive upheaval" going on in the studio's home video division right now, so things could change.


Now this last past is very interesting and goes along with the rumors I've heard that Universal are considering a switch to blu-ray, or supporting both, very soon.