Buena Vista announce first UK Blu-ray discs coming March 19th

[Blu_Ray_UK2007]

Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment has announced that its first 12 Blu-ray titles will arrive in Europe on March 19, 2007, starting in the UK and 'cascading out' to other European countries shortly after.

The 12 launch titles are:

* Eight Below
* Chicken Little
* Enemy of the State
* Flightplan
* Gone in 60 Seconds
* The Guardian
* Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
* Hollywoodland
* Pearl Harbor
* Scary Movie 4
* Sky High
* The Wild.European

BV say that all discs will include 'seamless menu navigation', plus a Movie Showcase bonus feature that will highlight select scenes in the film, as well as bonus content from the original DVD.

Chicken Little will also feature two new Java features exclusive to Blu-ray: a filmmaker Q&A, and an Alien Invasion game.

The Guardian will also have a filmmaker Q&A, whilst Eight Below and Flightplan will include a Blu-Scape HD short feature film.

Bob Chapek, President of Buena Vista, who spoke exclusively to Blu-ray Disc News, believes that Chicken Little and Pearl Harbor are both exemplary of the potential of Blu-ray discs to add value to film titles.

“Pearl Harbor is an epic motion picture produced/directed by Bruckheimer/Bay with unbelievable special effects,” explained Chapek. “ From a film perspective, it's ideal for showcasing spectacular scenes in full HD 1080p and amazing sound in uncompressed PCM.

“Chicken Little, on the other hand, is great for demonstrating just how perfect a picture can look since it's animated and based on digital files. It is the first time we restored one of our catalog titles back from files for the Blu-ray encode,” Chapek commented.

Looking forward to future releases, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest will both be released on Blu-ray in May 2007. They'll both be 2-disc 75GB releases, featuring new Java bonuses.

The Curse of the Black Pearl will include an all new Java feature called "Scoundrels of the Sea", an interactive in-movie feature that presents facts on-screen about the legends and lore of pirates. Dead Man's Chest will include an exciting new Java feature called "Liar's Dice", a single-player game, shot in live action.

Disney/Pixar's Cars will be released in the Summer.

http://www.hdtvuk.tv/2007/02/buena_vista_ann.html#more

[Chris Beveridge]

I wonder if they'll actually be coded. I want to get Hollywoodland but that's just an HD DVD exclusive here at the moment.

[phloyd]

I think that there is a good chance that it will be Region B for real.

That said, they would not be canibalising their own release so they may not bother with that title. Though all BVHE have been region coded so far I believe...

[LFletcher]

Current US region coding seems to be all over the place with Buena Vista.
Some recent titles like Chicago, Pearl Harbor and Hitchhikers Guide were coded A,B,C and others like Casanova, Flightplan and The Guardian all say A on the back. None of the last 3 have been confirmed region free via here, http://bluray.lindsite.dk/.
I wont be able to check my copies until my UK PS3 turns up in a months time.

[WriteSimply]

I have to say that for parents with small children, Buena Vista/Disney is the deal breaker for the format war. I experienced it first hand today. Since BVI (and not BVDs) is BD only worldwide, that's it for the war.

Somebody tell the fat lady to warm up.


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