The Day The Earth Stood Still 2008 on Blu Feb 5 in Thailand.

[OrlandoEastwood]

http://www.catalyst.co.th/Coming_Soon/index.php?uid=97

The website is in Thai but the film is coming out on Blu-Ray, Vanilla DVD (which contains only Thai Dubbing), and 2 VCDs versions (one with English audio and Thai subs and one with just Thai Dubbing).

วันพิฆาตสะกดโลก
The Day The Earth Stood Still
รหัสสินค้า/CODE : 12575
ประเภท/GENRE : แอ็คชั่น
ผู้กำกับ/DIRECTOR : สก็อต เดอริคสัน (The Exorcism Of Emily Rose)
นักแสดงนำ/STARS : คีอานู รีฟ (Street Kings, The Lake House), เจนนิเฟอร์ คอนเนลลี่ (Blood Diamond, Hulk)
วางจำหน่าย/LAUNCHED : 2009-02-05
รูปแบบ : Blu-Ray | DVD | VCD
ราคา : Blu-Ray: 1,199 ฿
DVD: 259 ฿
VCD: 250 ฿
SCREEN : 16x9 2.35 LBX Anamorphic
SOUND : Thai 5.1 Dolby Digital
ข้อมูล DVD : ฉบับเสียงไทยเท่านั้น
(1 Disc-Vanilla Version)
ดีวีดีฉบับสากลวางจำหน่ายพร้อมกันทั่วโลกในเดือนมีนา คม 2552
ข้อมูล VCD : VCD (2 Disc)

[steve_dave]

I was in Thailand last August visiting my family and the BD market is pretty slim. Not many Thai nationals want to pay the premium for Blu-ray Discs just enthusiasts with home theaters.

With that said, when I visited the Boomerang store, I found many of the titles were either imported US or Hong Kong imported discs. So far, only Universal makes Thai local market Blu-ray Discs. Every other studio is a foreign import adding an even larger premium to the price.

In fact, the cheapest BDs were $30 US and that was in August. Fox almost always releases a Thai local DVD of recent films to combat piracy. This Thai local disc only has a Thai language track to cut down on costs. Sadly, the Fox disc will sell for around $5 US whle the street bootleg disc sells for around $1 US. With VideoCDs, its different...VCDs are the lower cost alternative to DVDs and so they can offer two versions: English with Thai subs or Thai only. These are also priced to compete with pirate copies.

This copy of The Day The Earth Stood Still on Blu-ray Disc is the Hong Kong disc since the price is under 1,200 baht. That's about $35 US for the privilege of getting it early.

[OrlandoEastwood]

Universal titles are distributed by Catalyst Alliance which is the studio releasing Day the Earth Stood Still. I talked to the owner of eThaiCD and he did say that most were imported Blus and that it is too much to pay for a movie since it's like 2,000 Baht.

I've bought numerous VCDs from Thailand with English audio and Thai subs. Most of them were before their street dates, for example; Babylon A.D., Horton Hears a Who!, Speed Racer, AVP:R, and some others. The price of the importing fees are added in when you buy off eThaiCD so the VCDs are $8.50.

The usual Kevin Smith gag; "Tell 'em, Steve Dave!" LOL.

[steve_dave]

That's good to know about The Day The Earth Stood Still. That means the price is going to be much lower but I had to skip out on a lot of exclusive BDs when I was there.

I wanted Peter Pan (2003) and The Rundown but at 1,100 baht a piece...that was just too much to pay. I did get Almost Famous and Kung Fu Hustle (which was the uncut HK disc) which was about $65 US.

Compare that to me spending less than $30 US for about six DVDs. I got Step Up 2: The Streets on DVD for about $5. I also like how Thailand does music CDs. You can save $3 - $5 US by buying the Thailand Special Edition which omits the liner notes. I got the Mamma Mia! soundtrack and Colbie Caillet CDs for around $8 US each.

Oddly, eThaiCD only stocks one Blu-ray Disc and the only physical stores I could find BDs were Boomerang and the Sony Store. Funny story: I was looking for the Boomerang store in MBK Center. I found it on the fourth floor with the mobile phones in the far corner. It was wedged between stores selling street bootleg discs. The sign for Boomerang in MBK Center has "Original VCD and DVD" added to it.

[OrlandoEastwood]

Yeah, that Blu-Ray sampler disc has been on eThaiCD for a couple of months now, I think since August. Wiwat, the site operator, said that since most are imported from other countries that they weren't stocking them until they were actually made and distributed Thailand releases from the Thai studios like Catalyst Alliance, Rose Media, and EVS.

Catalyst handles Fox, Warner/New Line, and Universal.
Rose Media handles Lionsgate.
EVS handles Sony.

I've never been to Thailand, I've just done all of my Thai DVD and VCD purchases from eThaiCD.

[DigitalfreakNYC]

are there any online sites for Thai Bd's?

[OrlandoEastwood]

Well, at the current moment, not that I know of. eThaiCD.com has a Demo Blu-Ray sampler disc that's $32.50. But that is all they all have.

[steve_dave]

Boomerang has an online store and sells BDs...

Boomerang.co.th

However, if you are a not a member, you will pay a bit higher of a price.

For example...

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is $1,199 baht but as a member it is $969 baht.

I did find out a bit more on this release...

Catalyst is handling distribution of the Thai local DVD and VCDs. However, Fox has not yet produced Thai local BDs so Catalyst has to import the Hong Kong version into Thailand and add Thai distribution stickers to the outside of the package. Since Universal makes Thai local BDs, the coverart has space for the Censorboard approval and Distribution information stickers.

Son'y BDs are a mix of US and Hong Kong imports. It depends on the title and sadly, the only version of Casino Royale '06 to be found in Thailand on BD is the cut US Blu-ray Disc. The DVD is uncut since its a local produced disc. Pacific Marketing handles distribution of Sony BDs and they are usually get US BDs versus the Hong Kong releases. Luckily, Pacific got the Hong Kong Kung Fu Hustle and not the US.

[OrlandoEastwood]

How do you become a member on Boomerang to get the discounts?

I see Silent Hill on DVD is 59 Baht which is like $1.69 in US.

[steve_dave]

You can become a member after creating an online account with them or if you can, do it in store.

[OrlandoEastwood]

A little hard to fly to Thailand and create an account. I find it odd that the site is mostly in English yet all the FAQ and how to register and stuff is all in Thai.

[unjichan]

I'm thai, I live in Thailand and all those on the website mostly are not true. They even putted up Horton to be released on last October but it came out January

Our BD industry only need imports form US and Hong Kong wherever has thai subtitle, so we will always be the last place to get any.

And about the DVD from thailand, I wouldn't even want to buy it myself, I mostly import it. Because most of them are Local (ones with cheap prices) which normally stands no more than one year and the Disc will be clear that you can see through. Even I import from USA, so I would not recommend you to buy any budget thai dvd. Other problems are, Letterbox, Poor Quality and all

[steve_dave]

I got Hard Boiled from Rose Video for about $1.50 and its a decent Thai DVD. The picture is nowhere as good as the Dragon Dynasty disc but its anamorphic widescreen and has proper English subtitles. My Step Up 2 disc has great anamorphic video and 5.1 sound. Okay, its not as packed as the US disc but it was $5 compared to the US being $20.

My Aunt bought me the God of Gamblers Collection from Thailand and again the quality is pretty good. No extras or DTS sound like the Hong Kong release but it has a great Dolby Digital Cantonese track with English subtitles.

As for disc life, my Thai imports from years ago still work great. So far none of the discs themselves are see through either. As long as you are not buying street bootlegs, you should be fine with any purchase.

As for Catalyst's Universal Blu-rays...

Catalyst made a special deal with Universal for Thailand's Blu-ray Disc releases. Essentially, the disc is the Hong Kong version but Catalyst will produce cover art for the Thai market. Of course, some differences do pop up like none of the Thai Uni BDs have a digital copy disc. Which in the case of Hellboy II means less extras than the DVD version.