Warner Unleashes 'Twister' in May

[Loudninja]

In its first official title alert since aligning itself with Blu-ray, Warner has issued full specs for its previously-announced dual-format release of 'Twister.'

Although the studio indicated in its Blu-ray exclusivity announcement that its remaining HD DVD releases would follow the Blu-ray and DVD versions after a "short window," Warner says that 'Twister' is still on track for its previously announced May 6 release date -- on both Blu-ray and HD DVD.


The studio says the long-awaited catalog release will port over all of the special features from the 2004 DVD release, including an audio commentary with director Jan De Bont and visual effects supervisor Stefan Fangmeir, the "Anatomy of a Twister" featurette, an HBO First Look special, the History Channel Documentary “Nature Tech: Tornadoes," a Van Halen music video, and a collection of theatrical trailers.

The sole fresh addition to this 2008 re-issue is the newly-produced retrospective featurette "Chasing the Storm: Twister Revisited."

Tech specs include identical 1080p/VC-1 encodes, and PCM 5.1 Surround audio on the Blu-ray, with the HD DVD getting a comparable Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround option (both include English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround dubs).

Warner has set a suggested $28.98 list price for each of the next-gen versions.

You'll find complete disc details for 'Twister' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule and HD DVD Release Schedule, where it's indexed under May 6, 2008.

We've also set up dedicated threads for Warner's latest in our Forums area -- click the following links to discuss the 'Twister' Blu-ray release and the 'Twister' HD DVD release

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http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh...DVD_Specs/1354

It comes out so late though

[darkpoet25]

Crap I was hoping we would get an AVC Mpeg video encode, but we at least will have 5.1 PCM. It will be a long wait, but the releases in between will keep me occupied.

[dahoover]

I love this movie and for some reason I never bought it on DVD, so this will be an easy buy for me.

Can't wait until May. We will probably hear an I Am Legend release date around May also.

[Sanj]

They're releasing it late cos they don't want it on HDDVD :P

[krispyjala]

I love this movie, but it's kinda old...do you think PQ will be good?

[edge]

Originally Posted by Sanj

They're releasing it late cos they don't want it on HDDVD :P

The article says it is for both HD-DVD and Blu-ray.

Isnt May the cut-off though ?

[ryoohki]

Originally Posted by edge

The article says it is for both HD-DVD and Blu-ray.

Isnt May the cut-off though ?

In fact May 31st is the Cutoff

[JackStraw]

Originally Posted by edge

The article says it is for both HD-DVD and Blu-ray.

Isnt May the cut-off though ?

They could release it the first Tuesday in may on blu and then a few weeks later on HD DVD (as the SD and blu get released first according to Warner). May's the final month they'll release on HD DVD.

[Blu-ray Fanatic]

Twister was announced for blu-ray a long time ago

[Loudninja]

Originally Posted by Blu-ray Fanatic

Twister was announced for blu-ray a long time ago

Was the date known?

[gandley]

No doubt its an HDDVD encode as well.

[inaz4sun]

Originally Posted by dahoover

I love this movie and for some reason I never bought it on DVD, so this will be an easy buy for me.

Can't wait until May. We will probably hear an I Am Legend release date around May also.

Yeah same with me, maybe subconsciously I was waiting for an HD version. This is still the only movie I watched twice in a theatre...on the same day! I watched it, loved it, went to lunch, went to another theatre and watched it again. I so wish they would make a sequel. Maybe one where they kill of Jo. (Not a big Helen Hunt fan) :-)

[KingDeezie]

I respect Warner, and love that they have helped end this war...

But they should really have pulled a Paramount....

Still releasing on HD-DVD is still going to cause consumer confusion....

Someone wanting to choose their HDM to bring home that day, walks into a Best Buy with money and hears that Warner is going Bluray exclusive, yet sees that Warner is still pumping out new movies on HD-DVD would only make them assume what they heard was wrong....

Just my two cents on the matter, but either way I am totally stoked Warner came around, just that I guess I am spoiled now and want the war to be physically over and not just theoretically over.

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by gandley

No doubt its an HDDVD encode as well.

Not necessarily. According to Max in the Insider Thread, WB and New Line intended to do a format-optimized encode for each format. Shoot 'Em Up! was the result. This was BEFORE the finalization of the change in "color".

However according to Max, if the encode is done, an optimized re-encode is probably not in the cards. So let's hope the encode hasn't happened yet since this title is not going to get a double-dip.

Originally Posted by inaz4sun

This is still the only movie I watched twice in a theatre...on the same day!

Feh. I saw LOTR:FOTR four times in the theater, twice on opening day! That's six hours in a theater!


fuad

[JackStraw]

Originally Posted by KingDeezie

I respect Warner, and love that they have helped end this war...

But they should really have pulled a Paramount....

Still releasing on HD-DVD is still going to cause consumer confusion....

Someone wanting to choose their HDM to bring home that day, walks into a Best Buy with money and hears that Warner is going Bluray exclusive, yet sees that Warner is still pumping out new movies on HD-DVD would only make them assume what they heard was wrong....

Just my two cents on the matter, but either way I am totally stoked Warner came around, just that I guess I am spoiled now and want the war to be physically over and not just theoretically over.

There's been some speculation that Warner is still under contract to produce for HD DVD until May. That might be the case. If it's not, then I'd love to see them just yank everything away the way Paramount did to us.

That's okay though. They can't look at anything Universal may have to offer and count on it streeting for them. Any day now...

[BadAss]

Warner are under contract while New Line are not. Thats why Pans Labyrinth is the first and last title for HD-DVD from New Line.

[Midnightsailor]

Awesome. I love Twister.

[msetten]

Is it true that Twister is only released by Warner in the US and that outside the US, especially Europe, it is released by Universal? I saw a notice that it is released only in HD DVD in the Netherlands by Universal. If that is true, hopefully the US Blu-Ray release will be region free.

[KT26102]

Twister's date has been known for awhile now ... going to love seeing that movie on Blu and on my sony46xbr4
awesome viewing experience no doubt

[Midnightsailor]

Originally Posted by krispyjala

I love this movie, but it's kinda old...do you think PQ will be good?

Of course...film definitely holds up.