Official Buena Vista CES Press Release: Both "Pirates" in May

[JBlacklow]

Found this on PRNewswire (edited for formatting):

Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment Unveils Unparalleled Blu-ray Disc(TM) Release Slate for North America, Europe and Asia

Cars, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of
the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Con Air, King Arthur Director's Cut,
Chicken Little, The Rock, Cinderella Man, Face/Off, Crimson Tide, Air Force
One, Finding Neverland, G.I. Jane, The Recruit, Open Range, Remember The
Titans and Scary Movie 4 Among the Exciting Titles to Be Released on
Blu-ray Disc

BURBANK, Calif., Jan. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Buena Vista Worldwide Home
Entertainment (BVWHE) today announced the company's most extensive Blu-ray Disc slate yet, with action-packed and family titles due for release
throughout 2007 in North America, Europe and Asia. Showing its continued
commitment to the next-generation, high-definition format, the company has
selected a wide range of titles, many 50GB, to showcase the new Blu-ray
Disc format, from blockbusters and Academy Award(R)-winning masterpieces,
to popular animated movies for the entire family. In North America, BVWHE
will release titles beginning March '07 to include Chicken Little, King
Arthur Director's Cut, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black
Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Cars, Con Air, Crimson
Tide, The Rock, Finding Neverland, G.I. Jane, The Recruit, Open Range and
Remember The Titans. In Europe, titles to be released beginning March '07
will include Eight Below, Chicken Little, Enemy of the State, Flightplan,
Gone in Sixty Seconds, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Pearl Harbor,
Scary Movie 4, Sky High, The Wild, Dinosaur, King Arthur Director's Cut,
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the
Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Bruce Almighty, Con Air, Crimson Tide, The
Rock, Cars, Air Force One and Finding Neverland. In Asia, titles to be
released beginning March '07 will include Chicken Little, Face/Off, King
Arthur Director's Cut, The Wild, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the
Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Scary Movie 4,
Cars, Con Air, Crimson Tide, The Rock and Air Force One. See paragraphs
below for complete date listings.

Commenting on the announcement, BVWHE President Bob Chapek stated,
"Blu-ray is quickly becoming the high-definition standard on the market
today and we are very pleased to add this amazing slate of Blu-ray releases
that will appeal to our core demographic. With the dual-layer, 50GB discs,
the possibilities for exciting new interactive features and additional
bonus content are endless."

The company has already had tremendous success with the first
generation of Blu-ray Disc titles such as Eight Below and Dinosaur, and is
releasing most new titles on the new dual-layer Blu-ray Discs that features
a massive storage capacity of 50GB, enabling the highest caliber encodes,
expanded bonus material and exciting new interactive features.

As part of its worldwide release strategy BVWHE will release Pirates of
the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Pirates of the Caribbean:
Dead Man's Chest in all territories May '07 and Con Air, Crimson Tide and
The Rock in all territories beginning June '07. Cars will also see a
worldwide rollout schedule in 2007.

In North America, BVWHE will release Chicken Little and Finding
Neverland on March 20; King Arthur Director's Cut and G.I. Jane on April 3;
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Pirates of the
Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest in May; Con Air, Crimson Tide and The Rock on
June 8; and Cars, The Recruit and Open Range in Summer '07.

Europe will see its first Blu-ray Disc titles from BVWHE beginning in
March with the release of Eight Below, Chicken Little, Enemy of the State,
Flightplan, Gone in Sixty Seconds, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,
Pearl Harbor, Scary Movie 4, Sky High, Finding Neverland and The Wild. Next
up are Dinosaur and King Arthur Director's Cut in April; Pirates of the
Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead
Man's Chest in May; Bruce Almighty, Con Air, Crimson Tide and The Rock in
June; and Cars, Air Force One and Reign of Fire in Summer '07.

In Asia, BVWHE will release Face Off in March; Chicken Little and The
Wild in April; Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Scary Movie 4 in May; and
Cars, Con Air, Crimson Tide, The Rock, King Arthur Director's Cut, Air
Force One and Starship Troopers in Summer '07.

Blu-ray Disc is the next-generation optical disc format for
high-definition video and high-capacity software applications. A
single-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 25GB of data, and a double-layer
Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 50GB of data. Blu-ray Disc is supported by the
world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer and gaming
companies, and, with seven of eight Hollywood studios releasing their
high-definition content on Blu-ray Disc, Blu-ray will deliver the widest
variety of high-definition, home entertainment content.

About Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment
Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment, a recognized leader in the
home entertainment industry, is the marketing, sales and distribution
company for Walt Disney, Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax and Buena Vista DVD, Blu-ray Disc and electronic distribution product. Buena Vista
Worldwide Home Entertainment is a division of Disney Enterprises, Inc.


SOURCE Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment

Holy crap. I know a lot of this is old stuff, but damn it's good to see it officially announced. The "Pirates" stuff is new, tho, and very good news, as is the "Face/Off" and "Starship Troopers" in Asia. After seeing the titles Warner announced for HD DVD, I'm wondering if they'll do the same announcement with a search-and-replace for Blu-ray. And of course Fox/MGM and Sony press releases would also be nice.